Lizard Man a no-show in SC during solar eclipse, keeps social media buzzing

South Carolina residents and visitors to the Palmetto State got to experience the first U.S. total solar eclipse – visible from coast to coast – in nearly 100 years. What they didn’t see was the Lizard Man.

At least if anyone saw the infamous South Carolina folk creature, they were keeping it to themselves.

There were no reported sightings Monday, despite the hopes of many fans of the Lizard Man or other conspiracy theorists. Even South Carolina’s Emergency Management Division was anticipating a possible sighting.

“SCEMD does not know if lizard men become more active during a solar eclipse, but we advise that residents of Lee and Sumter counties should remain ever-vigilant,” the service tweeted out, with a helpful map of where previous lizard sightings coincide with the path of totality.

While there were several posts on social media mentioning the towering creature, none claimed to have spotted him. That extended his public absence for more than 2 years.

The legend of the Lizard Man started in 1988, when a 16-year-old reported the monster attacked his car one night.

In that report in The Sumter Item, a young man from Bishopville swore to have had an encounter with Lizard Man. Since that time, numerous sightings have encouraged the production of Lizard Man paraphernalia. The first sightings were reportedly near Scape Ore Swamp.

The Lizard Man has been described as 7 feet tall, with red eyes, skin like a lizard, snake-like scales and three pointed fingers on each paw. He tends to prefer cars and truck fenders over humans. And he has successfully eluded authorities for nearly 30 years.

The last reported sightings of Lizard Man were in 2015. That was when Jim Wilson told The State newspaper that the Lizard Man had crawled back out of the murky waters of Scape Ore Swamp near Bishopville in August 2015.

“It was a tall, dark figure that had a tail and appeared to have scales,” Wilson said. “It was almost like an alligator with a short nose and long legs.”

Wilson wasn’t the only one who allegedly spotted the Lizard Man that weekend.

A woman who identified herself only as “Sarah” reportedly saw Lizard Man while attending church Sunday with a friend in Bishopville, about 10 miles north of Scape Ore Swamp. “We saw Lizard Man come out of the woods and run along the tree line,” she said in an email to The State. “My hand to God, I am not making this up.”

This story was originally published August 21, 2017 at 8:14 PM with the headline "Lizard Man a no-show in SC during solar eclipse, keeps social media buzzing."