'My hand to God, I am not making this up. So excited!' A woman left a church in Bishopville, South Carolina, on
Sunday, and was understandably startled at the sight of
someone -- or some-THING -- running in front of some
trees. The shock lasted long enough for her to get a grip
on her senses -- as well as her phone -- to snap a
picture of what looks like a fast-moving lizard man.
To be more precise, it looked like something you might
see on the Syfy channel at 3 a.m., when you see the
cheapest in science fiction theater.
In a skeptical world where people complain about how
supposed photos of Bigfoot or Sasquatch are always
blurry, the picture above seems to suggest that lizard-
like creatures don't mind having their picture taken.
The woman who took the photograph -- identified only
as Sarah from Sumter, South Carolina -- contacted ABC
News 4 WCIV-TV in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, about
her "encounter."
"My hand to God, I am not making this up. So excited,"
she wrote to the station, explaining how she and a
friend saw the lizard man near the Scape Ore Swamp, Nearly 30 years of lizard man sightings have surfaced
from the Bishopville-Scape Ore Swamp area. The first
report can be traced to 1988 when a young man stopped
his car on a road near the swamp to change a flat tire in
the middle of the night, later claiming he'd been chased
by the creature.
Eyewitnesses have described a 7-foot-tall, human-like
being with green, scaly skin, three-toed feet and hands,
according to AnimalPlanet.com . The reports also include
glowing red eyes, like the ones in the lizard man picture
at the top of this story.
A 2012 episode of the Syfy series, "Fact or Faked:
Paranormal Files," focused on South Carolina's lizard
man legend. The investigative team, led by former FBI
special agent Ben Hansen , went deep into the forest
near Bishopville and emerged with the following video:
"There was scant evidence out there of his existence, so
we filmed what I call an ethical hoax as kind of a social
experiment," Hansen told HuffPost.
"The whole idea was to see how much buzz we could
generate on social media and online just by having a
really vague video showing a figure walking through the
dark forest.
"So, we worked with a guy who specializes in
transforming himself into a lizard man, using special
effects. He helped us create a lizard man suit, which I
wore. Being in South Carolina, one of my biggest
concerns was to keep everybody else away from the
area, because if hunters saw a lizard man walking
through the forest, they wouldn't ask questions before
taking me down!"
This wouldn't be the first time where an individual
donned a costume of a mythical creature in an attempt
to generate public reaction.
Hansen believes the picture taken of an alleged lizard
man outside that Bishopville church on Sunday is
dubious at best.
"This is an example of somebody pulling off a hoax by
leaving nothing for the imagination," Hansen said. "I
wouldn't be surprised when we see such blatant hoaxes
like this come out that they are direct publicity stunts
for tourism. It's like a paparazzi photo of a celebrity
walking down the street, yet this looks like Godzilla in a
latex suit."
HuffPost is quite familiar with lizard individuals -- one,
in particular. Erik Sprague, the self-proclaimed
Lizardman, is a performance artist who transformed
himself, through body modification, into a lizard. This
included a full-body tattoo of green scales, cosmetic
implants and bifurcated tongue.
When asked about the potential Scape Ore Swamp
competition to his lifestyle, Sprague's tweet response
says it all:
That area has a history of hoaxes & propaganda
demeaning to reptilians. I suspect more of the same.
https://t.co/ZgtpW8uVbE
— The Lizardman (@thelizardman23) August 4, 2015
But what about the overall credibility of the reality of yet
another unknown species -- alongside Bigfoot --
roaming around the various swamplands of America?
Even the ABC News 4 affiliate wondered the same thing
in their tweet about this most recent lizard man episode:
Has SC's "lizard man" returned? http://t.co/
T0mCwlSUyc #chsnews #sctweets pic.twitter.com/
wCpdBE6MXY
— ABC News 4 (@ABCNews4) August 2, 2015
Some of the more colorful online comments about the
Scape Ore Swamp guy include:
"Looks like the right foot is missing off the
costume...LOL"
"Probably the result of a fight with a sasquatch."
"The foot was possibly where the price tag was left on
the costume."
"Oh, come on. That photo looks like a frame from
'Ultraman.'"
"The picture does look like a costume. It would seem like
somebody seeing that would have approached him,
maybe asked for an autograph, taken a picture beside
him. Not very intimidating."
"This is evidence? Of a bad costume, yes, but that's it.
Nice to hype your local monster for tourists, though."
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