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墨書 Inktalez
A few weeks after the incident, the police received several reports of early encounters with strange creatures. First, a local construction worker, George Holloman, reported that about ten months prior, in early October 1987, he was riding his bicycle past a natural artesian well on the south side of Skepol Bridge. He stopped to drink some water and, after finishing his second cup, lit a cigarette. By instinct, he glanced toward the swamp across the road and noticed what appeared to be a “dead tree” struck by lightning. He quickly realized it was not a tree but a shadowy figure standing like a person, approximately 7 to 8 feet tall and completely black.
Terrified, his hair stood on end and his arm muscles tensed; the creature seemed to be staring at him. It wasn't until a car drove by and its headlights illuminated the creature's eyes that Holloman saw its enormous red eyes. The being appeared startled by the car and turned to walk into the dark swamp, disappearing from sight.
At that moment, Holloman reacted, jumped on his bicycle, and pedaled home without looking back.
On August 13, 1988, Holloman provided a complete written statement, which the sheriff deemed credible. Another resident, George Preller, reported an incident that occurred two years earlier in the spring of 1986.
At that time, he was working with three other men in the swamp to build a pigpen, where some areas were muddy enough to submerge them up to their waists and knees. As they walked into the middle of the swamp, he felt a chill as if someone were watching him. He turned around expecting to see a deer peeking from behind a tree.
However, he quickly realized it was not a deer but an incomprehensible strange creature.
Preller described the being as having a human-like face with red around its eyes. Its arms were longer than those of an average human and hung down like those of an ape. Its legs were long and thin, and it had no tail. Aside from its head, its skin resembled that of a lizard. The creature stood there watching him for a while before pushing through the underbrush and running away.
Preller stated that if it weren't for the recent reports of the Lizard Man, he wouldn't have intended to tell anyone about this incident for fear of being considered insane. He identified himself as a Christian with a good education and insisted he was not lying; he was certain of what he had seen.
Following these reports, local pesticide sprayer Frank Mitchell came to the police station at his wife's urging. He explained that due to his job, he fueled and loaded spraying materials into his small plane every dawn.
About a month before Chris encountered the monster—on a foggy morning at the end of May 1988—he delayed his takeoff until the sun dissipated the mist.
As he taxied along the grass runway in his plane, just as he pulled back on the control stick, he suddenly saw a humanoid creature cross in front of his aircraft. Mitchell noted that the being looked at him as it walked slowly past. After taking off, he tried hard to get a better look at it.
In his interview, he expressed: “I don’t know if it had scales or fur; it was overall grayish-brown with a monkey-like face. I turned my plane around as quickly as I could after taking off, but by the time I got back, it was gone.”
Later, when Mitchell was asked if what he saw was the Lizard Man, he stated that he felt the creature resembled a tall monkey, walking upright like a human.
On August 6, 1988, the front page of the Columbia State News featured a report titled "Florence Man Claims to Have Injured Lizard Man."
The article recounted how a pilot from the Bishopville Air Force Base, Kenneth Ohl, was driving to the military base at 6 AM when he spotted a lizard-like creature rushing towards him from the land.
He immediately stopped his car and drew his gun as a warning, but the creature continued to approach. Ohl then shot at the monster, hitting it in the neck, causing it to lean against his car before it stood up and fled into the woods. He provided the police with blood and scales from his vehicle as evidence.
Sheriff Truesdale doubted the authenticity of Ohl's testimony and evidence, claiming that the scales clearly belonged to a fish. Ultimately, the incident was resolved a week later when Ohl admitted to fabricating the story in hopes of keeping the legend of the Lizard Man alive.
On August 18 of that year, Christopher Davis underwent a lie detector test conducted by the police. He was asked various questions, including whether he had been drinking or using drugs, the color of the creature, and the speed of his vehicle at that time.
The polygraph indicated that Davis's statements were credible. Although the reliability of such tests is often debated, Sheriff Truesdale believed that Davis must have seen something beyond his understanding that night.
On August 28 of the same year, Lee County police received another report. The witness was an active-duty Army Corps of Engineers colonel whose name was withheld for privacy reasons; Sheriff Truesdale referred to him as Mason Phillips.
The colonel reported that two days prior, on August 26, after attending a wedding reception with his wife, he was driving home along McDufrey Road when he saw a large dark brown creature dash across the road near Lake 25.
He described it as a bipedal creature approximately eight feet tall, with its tail not touching the ground. He slowed down to get a better look, but by then, the creature had vanished into the dense forest.
Given Phillips's position, Sheriff Truesdale deemed his account credible and dispatched officers to search for clues in the area the following day. However, due to several days of continuous rain, they found nothing—no footprints or any other evidence.
This marked a lull in sightings of the Lizard Man. As media attention waned, public interest began to fade as well; the so-called Lizard Man seemed to have vanished from people's minds as suddenly as he had appeared.
Until the 1990s, local police began receiving reports of sightings of bipedal humanoid creatures again. However, the monsters described in these reports resembled more of a Sasquatch type of elusive ape-like figure, so I will not recount them here.
One particularly notable incident occurred in 2008.
On February 28th of that year, Bob Rosen, a resident of Bishopville, discovered that his Dodge Durango was covered in scratches just as he was preparing to drive out. The edges of the front fenders were severely scraped and bent, and there was a jagged line of missing paint along the hood, as if something had bitten into it.
There were unidentified bloodstains on the side and front of the vehicle. Mr. Rosen and his wife carefully searched the area around their car and found shredded newspapers and some towels from their home.
What puzzled them most was that they had not heard any strange noises the previous night. They also noticed that about ten feral cats were missing from the area on the day of the incident. They suspected that some animal had chased the cats, forcing them under the vehicle, which led to the damage.
Later, police found a cow and a coyote carcass in a field near the Rosen home. No one knew if the marks on the car were a result of a struggle between them.
The University of California Veterinary Medicine Forensic Laboratory tested blood samples found on the vehicle and concluded that it likely came from a pet dog. Sheriff Melvin expressed his disbelief at this conclusion, stating that he did not think a dog could cause such extensive damage.
The Rosen couple mentioned that they had contacted a neighbor who owned a shepherd dog before the samples were taken, and it was possible that the dog contaminated the samples while sniffing around the bloodstains.
On July 4, 2011, police received another similar report. Local resident Leon Marshall stated that when he went outside to feed his cats, he found his Dodge Journey had been damaged.
The front side of the vehicle, including both side doors and the hood, was covered in marks resembling animal bite marks. Saliva traces and white-brown fur were also visible on the damaged bumper.
Ultimately, police classified this incident as damage caused by ordinary animals, such as dogs. However, the Marshall couple insisted they had not heard any unusual sounds the previous night.
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