LIZARD MAN STOMP

For years, my daughter and I have been wanting to go to this festival honoring our nearest cryptid neighbor, the Lizard Man. Every year, we've managed to miss it due to one thing or another. But this year we made it. Huzzah! It was everything a local festival should be: live

local bands, Lizard Man re-enactors (including one in a colonial uniform for the 250th), regional food, T-shirts with great graphics, and perhaps most important of all during this seriously hot summer, shade and a breeze.

A seven-foot-tall reptilian who walks upright on three-toed feet, the Lizard Man's home is Scape Ore Swamp just outside of Bishopville, SC. First reported in 1988, you might think the scaly guy is a relative newcomer, but there are lots of legends that could refer to him by a different name. Numerous people have sighted him lurking all the way from Bishopville to Greenville. Even discounting the ones where drugs and/or alcohol might have been involved (those reports are best taken with a grain of salt), there are still plenty of people who swear the giant, scaly, red-eyed lizard exists. I'd love to encounter our resident cryptid or, better yet, meet someone who has. The possibility of the strange and inexplicable living among us adds spice and mystery to life. Until I meet the Lizard Man, I'll enjoy the festival in his honor.