South Carolina, home of incredible people such as… well, there’s not much there. Some people did love to live there, though! Bill Murray, Chris Rock, James Brown, and many, many more. There are also great animals there, such as bobcats, coyotes, bears, and salamanders. Beautiful place!
There’s also the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp. A 7-feet tall creature filled with scales, pointy fingers with claws, and red eyes like you wouldn’t believe. This one is somewhere between South Carolina’s celebrity list and its animal list. I’m pretty sure he was born and raised there.
Women fear him, hunters want a piece of him, and sheriffs are sick and tired of receiving reports about him. This big half-reptile half-man terrorized South Carolina for decades on end… or has it, really?
The Lizard Man of what now?
The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp. A terrifying beast that has caused plenty of trouble for decades on end. South Carolina’s Bigfoot with a swampy twist. The man, the myth, the reptile, the legend.
Well, not really.
The problem with this Lizard Man (yes, there are others) is that nobody has proof of him. When it comes to Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Mokele-mbembe, or aliens, there’s always a picture, plenty of witnesses at once, a recording, something.
South Carolina’s most infamous reptile does not have anything of the sort. It’s always a one-person report with a shady story – but they are great stories.
It all started in 1988. The sheriff received plenty of reports around Scape Ore Swamp. The more reports, the stronger a theory became: someone or something was marauding around the swamp. It all blew up from there.
The first time the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp was spotted
Sometime around 1988, a young man named Chris Davis was coming home from his late-night shift at a fast-food restaurant. Another day, another burger, he thought. Unfortunately, that day had a little more than burgers in it.
Davis got a flat tire on the way home. He got out of the car, probably cursed, more likely than not kicked the tire, and then began to fix it. When he was done, he saw a huge reptile coming his way. If it was Florida, it would’ve been nothing out of the ordinary – but this was in South Carolina.
He saw a 7-feet tall, green, wet, reptile-like creature filled with scales. Its eyes were red and not trustworthy at all. Chris knew this situation meant trouble, so he got back in the car and sped out of there. At 40 miles per hour, he was speeding away from trouble.
He wasn’t, though. The Lizard Man caught up to him (at 40 MPH) and jumped on top of the car. Davis, panicking, hit the brakes and the creature flew right off. That’s when he finally fled to safety.
The problem with this story
There’s only one problem with this story: it makes no sense at all. Well, that and Davis switched his story countless times.
First, he claimed that the Lizard Man had scales, then he said the creature was filled with mud. How did Davis saw the creature in the middle of the night, anyway? And let’s not forget this is a 7-feet lizard that can go as fast as 40 miles per hour.
Davis went to report this incident not right after it happened but after he heard about other reports similar to him. He went to the sheriff’s office when he heard about a creature roaming around the swamp.
He never recanted his story, though. That gets him some points.
The time the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp was shot and wounded
After Chris Davis’s report went mainstream, several newspapers reported the incident. A radio station offered a million-dollar reward to anyone who could capture the Lizard Man. Businesses were booming thanks to the nation-wide attention. Everything was well. Then, gunshots.
A month after Chris Davis faced the Lizard Man, another person went for revenge. A soldier stationed in a nearby airbase apparently saw the creature and shot him. After that, he went to see the sheriff and explain what he did. He also offered blood and scales as proof.
Was the Lizard Man caught after that? A severely wounded half man half reptile can’t travel that long with bullets inside. Was that the end of the Lizard Man? Well…
The problem with this other story
There’s a tiny problem with this otherwise great story. It’s a lie. The soldier himself admitted the truth when he was charged with a misdemeanor and arrested. Lizard Man or not, unlawful carry of a weapon and filing a false police report is a crime. Getting arrested does help with honesty.
The man cracked and explained he didn’t want the Lizard Man stories to die because they helped local businesses. It probably had nothing to do with that million-dollar reward.
The aftermath
When most people realized you could get arrested for lying to the police, the reports started to die down. A little less than a year after Davis’s report, the Lizard Man sightings disappeared for good. Either people stopped lying or the Lizard Man had to lay low. We’ll never know.
Nowadays, the Lizard Man is nothing but a myth. A local reference in South Carolina. It’s also great for shirt designers, because a green Lizard Man depiction looks great on a white or black shirt. It all turned out for the best if you love whacky shirts.
Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp: Truth or Tale?
The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp is probably a folk tale. Chris Davis made up the Lizard Man story to get fame. Or, maybe, he crashed his dad’s car and needed a free get-out-of-jail card. Either way, there’s no such thing as a 7-feet tall creature that roams around the swamp.
Unless we are talking about aliens who like to hide in the swamp. That definitely exists. Wait a minute, what if we’re not talking about the Lizard Man but alien Lizard Men instead? Did we have the story all wrong?
Want more? Check out our Podcast about the Lizard Man below!
