http://www.wistv.com/global/Story.asp?s=7948448
BISHOPVILLE, SC (WIS) - After a nasty surprise Thursday morning for one Bishopville resident, she's wondering if the "Lizard Man" is back.
Dixie Rawson of Bishopville sent WIS News 10 an e-mail about a big surprise she got at her home Thursday morning. "The whole front half of our van is chewed up. There are bite marks right through the front grill. Both sides of the van above the wheel wells were bitten and the metal is bent like a piece of paper."
It reminded Dixie of the local legend of the "Lizard Man" that stretches back for decades. Now some are wondering if the Lizard Man is back.
The legend blows in with a brisk winter wind, sending chills through neighbors in Lee County.
"I couldn't believe it, I just couldn't believe it," says Bob Rawson. He looks down at the blood and claw marks on his van. "He literally bit, you can feel where he bit straight through here."
Who is "he"? It's a point of renewed debate in the area. Some are sure they know the only creature capable of this kind of damage is the Lizard Man.
If it is the Lizard Man, he's back nearly two decades after first being spotted near Scape Ore swamp.
No one's ever been able to confirm the account of the seven-foot monster with green skin, three toes and a three clawed fingers.
In addition to the car damage, the Rawsons didn't find their cats in the boxes where they usually sleep. They did find the towels inside shredded, and the same story with the morning paper. Whatever did this, the Rawsons aren't taking any chances.
His Glock loaded, Mr. Rawson is ready to shoot what he feels is most likely a bear. Lee County Sheriff E.J. Melvin says it could be a coyote, but then again, "All the scratch marks, people are saying, 'Sheriff, it's Lizard Man.' Don't know. It's hard to say."
Several of the Rawsons' 20 plus cats have also disappeared. They're hoping they were just scared away.
Update: Alert WIS News 10 viewers asked about the blood found on the Rawson's van. Authorities tell us they've extracted a sample - sending it off for DNA analysis. It could be a month before those results come back.
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?s=7978464
LEE COUNTY, SC (WIS) - We have been following a renewed investigation into the "Lizard Man."
Thursday we have learned that two dead animals were found in a field near the home of Dixie and Bob Rawson. The Lee County Sheriff's Department says it could be linked to some pretty serious damage to the Rawson's van.
Last week, the Rawsons showed us how the van's front grill was chewed up, and how the wheel wells on both sides were bent. When some of the Rawson's cats went missing too, neighbors said the "Lizard Man" might be responsible.
Lee County Sheriff E.J. Melvin is out to inspect the field near the Rawsons on his four-wheeler. "Just going to ride the field, see if there are anymore animals laying out dead."
Already, they've found a cow and a coyote. It's significant in that they were both found only yards away from the Rawsons' car.
"This is out of a book," says Dixie Rawson. And now, Rawson doesn't know what's fiction and what's real.
WIS News 10 first showed you last week the bite marks and bends on her van. Neighbors told her it was the Lizard Man - a seven-foot green giant whose first reported sighting near Scape Ore Swamp 20 years ago entrenched him as a legend in these parts, a legend that's never been confirmed.
So investigators told the Rawsons not to worry, all that must have been done by some other animal - likely, a coyote. Now Dixie Rawson asks, "If the coyote did this damage, what killed the coyote and the cow? Was it the Lizard Man? I don't know."
Sheriff E.J. Melvin says, "I don't want to get anybody alarmed. But for some reason, I'm sticking with the coyote. But the coyote, that coyote is dead."
What's left now is more speculation. Authorities had hoped to extract some blood left on the van's hood, but the Department of Natural Resources says the sample taken was somehow contaminated. For the record, DNR believes the holes were made by a dog - a dog trying to get at cats underneath the cars.
About a half-dozen of the Rawsons cats are still missing nearly a week after the attack on their car. The passing time is doing little to answer their questions.
Dixie Rawson says, "We're here in this quiet little town and all of a sudden, this happens."
How this happened, no one is quite sure yet - making clear only that the Lizard Man mystery isn't ready to be solved.
― latebloomer, Monday, 10 March 2008 21:40 (seventeen years ago)
some background info:
http://www.weirdus.com/stories/SC01.asp
― latebloomer, Monday, 10 March 2008 21:41 (seventeen years ago)
http://www.purple-twinkie.com/images/LeprachaunDrawing.jpg
― J0rdan S., Monday, 10 March 2008 21:42 (seventeen years ago)
lol
― latebloomer, Monday, 10 March 2008 21:44 (seventeen years ago)
it's 20 years after the original sightings...it seems the lizard man's making an anniversary tour
my great great great great great great great grandpappy was a lizard
― latebloomer, Monday, 10 March 2008 21:45 (seventeen years ago)
When some of the Rawson's cats went missing too, neighbors said the "Lizard Man" might be responsible.
I know what I'm saying next time a neighbor can't find their pet.
― Alex in Baltimore, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 01:55 (seventeen years ago)
they used to have Lizard Man scratch lottery tickets here in SC
― latebloomer, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 06:43 (seventeen years ago)
I remember the original Lizard Man hysteria from when I was a kid in Simpsonville. I think I had a t-shirt...
― petey_carnum, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 13:56 (seventeen years ago)
xfiles.gif
― Jordan, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 15:36 (seventeen years ago)
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/8059/32993870ie3.jpg
used to see that guy around albany all the time...
― bb, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 17:54 (seventeen years ago)
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article902014.ece
― cutty, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 18:18 (seventeen years ago)
also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u4GS2gHQV4
― cutty, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 18:19 (seventeen years ago)
I would have to move away from Albany then.
― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 18:27 (seventeen years ago)
that gnome video OMG
― latebloomer, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 18:40 (seventeen years ago)
that gnome video is amazing. What is it?!
― ENBB, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 18:56 (seventeen years ago)
probably a drunk midget in a gnome hat
― latebloomer, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 18:56 (seventeen years ago)
or a real gnome
Yeah, that makes sense.
My favorite line: "The midget - which wears a pointy hat and has a distinctive sideways walk . . ."
― ENBB, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 19:00 (seventeen years ago)
i wish there was more audio of the kids screaming
― cutty, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 19:04 (seventeen years ago)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMzoBkaFxh4
― latebloomer, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 19:14 (seventeen years ago)
re: sideways walk
― latebloomer, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 19:16 (seventeen years ago)
Ok - for some reason the idea of hammer dancing drunk midget wearing gnome hat is the funniest thing I've ever heard right now. I can't stop laughing. Or watching that video.
― ENBB, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 19:25 (seventeen years ago)
From the comments section:
Posted by: kitty53
calm down all of you. it`s maybe some deformed human being who is too afraid to come out during the day. a little compassion goes a long way.
― ENBB, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 19:47 (seventeen years ago)
Posted by: EJ82
That's a bit harsh! calling a person a thing??? no wonder he/she only goes out at night, they'd probably try to drown him/her. What is wrong with people????? drug dealers and rapists are mainly on the street at night...i'd be more scared of them. What has this person done wrong apart from wear a hat and walk at night?
You know, EJ82 kind of has a point.
― ENBB, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 19:49 (seventeen years ago)
Lee County Sheriff E.J. Melvin says it could be a coyote, but then again, "All the scratch marks, people are saying, 'Sheriff, it's Lizard Man.' Don't know. It's hard to say."
this guy is awesome
― deeznuts, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 21:03 (seventeen years ago)
CAPS
― and what, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 18:49 (seventeen years ago)
RIP
http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/davis-obit/
On Monday, June 22, 2009, Chris Davis will be laid to rest. Few involved in cryptozoology can forget the shy young man who would find himself in the limelight after he came forth to say, yes, he’d seen a bipedal reptilian creature in South Carolina.
Last Wednesday, June 17th, Davis, 37, was shot to death. Investigators say the killing was likely a home invasion. Deputies identified the gunmen as 19-year-old Lakiem Butler and 22-year-old Anogory Slater.
The local paper, The Item, noted that…
Christopher Davis was killed shortly before 11 p.m. in an incident at his home at 5230 DuBose Siding Road. Investigators say Davis was targeted in a drug-related incident.
In another story, the cause was clarified:
His killing…was drug-related. A narcotics officer recovered 10 grams of marijuana and two scales from the kitchen of his home, the sheriff said.
Because the investigation is still pending, he was unable to provide more information, except that a shotgun was used as the murder weapon and that Slater and Butler both had criminal records.
According to the police report, five other people were present at the time of the shooting. They were Davis’ girlfriend, his brother, the brother’s friend, Davis’ 12-year-old daughter and his 14-year-old son, who witnessed the shooting. None was injured.
Christopher Davis, a Lee County native, recently moved to Sumter County, Lee County officials said. Davis became an international celebrity at the age of 16 when he reported the first sighting of the legendary Lizard Man of Lee County.
Former Lee County Sheriff Liston Truesdale told the media that “there would be no Lizard Man without Davis.”
“In July 1988, Chris was the first witness interviewed as seeing the Lizard Man,” Truesdale said. “And what impressed me was that he told the same story every time. And he had to tell the story over and over again to the media and others. If you’re lying, you can’t tell the same story twice.”
Everybody wanted to hear the Lizard Man story from the eyewitness, Truesdale said.
Davis served as a grand marshal at a festival parade and signed T-shirts at a mall in Myrtle Beach, he said.
“At that time, he was super, nice kid,” he said. “You know, I bet he told the story more than 100 times every week for several weeks.”
Truesdale said he believes the media attention and publicity became too much for him.
“He could have made a mint from this,” Truesdale said. “A lot of people don’t know that he was scheduled to go to the Oprah (Winfrey) Show, but he canceled it. I think finally he just had enough.”
Funeral services for Christopher Davis will be held at 1:00 p.m. Monday, June 22, 2009, at the New Haven United Methodist Church in Bishopville, South Carolina.
― dorkus malorkus (latebloomer), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 12:50 (fifteen years ago)