South Carolina Lizardman Police Incidents

Q&A With Lyle Blackburn

What do you think the Lizardman is exactly when it comes to cryptozoology classifications?

It’s one of those creatures that falls in a gray area. The biological possibility of a hybrid between human and reptile is very improbable, so that’s one reason researchers have had a hard time trying to figure out just what it is people might have seen. In a cryptozoological sense, it might be more logical to conclude that it was a sasquatch covered in algae, or had patchy hair or mud that made its skin appear scaly. In a paranormal sense, some researchers have proposed that the creature could be part of a race of underground reptilians or something much more otherworldly. As far as my book is concerned, I just present the facts of the story as I know them and let people decide what the creature may or may not be.

What did the police have to say about the incidents?

This is one of those rare cryptozoology cases in which law officials took the sightings seriously. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office – in particular Sheriff Liston Truesdale – felt that many of the witnesses legitimately saw something unexplainable. During the bulk of the sightings in 1988, he investigated all aspects of the case and interviewed as many of the witnesses as possible. He realized that the notion of a “lizard man” was fantastic, but since the thing apparently attacked a young man one evening near Scape Ore Swamp, the sheriff felt he better follow up. If it turned out to be nothing, then fine. But if it turned out to be something dangerous – even if that was a bear or some other normal animal – then he didn’t want to risk somebody getting killed and his department not having done something to prevent it. When I was in Bishopville I had the opportunity to visit with Truesdale for several days and look through his archive of police documents regarding the case.

For the rest of this interview you can visit the following link

http://www.examiner.com/article/lyle-blackburn-on-lizard-man-the-true-story-of-the-bishopville-monster