Alligator/Lizard Men

[MrRING]

Cool article claims the Lizard Man is really an Aquatic Ape:

http://home.att.net/~mhall.profiles/

It's apparently from a book called LIZARDMEN: THE TRUE STORY OF MERMEN AND MERMAIDS by Mark A. Hall

and just the begining of his article:

Archibald Rutledge (1883-1973) is remembered as the first poet laureate of South Carolina. He was also a frequent contributor to Nature Magazine, the journal of the American Nature Association, in the 1930s prior to its merger with Natural History. We are indebted to him for a record of a unique mystery. While the solution can never be known for certain, we can do more than marvel at his report. We have a possible solution, a candidate among the creatures found in cryptozoological records. Cryptozoology is a field of enquiry that takes on the most difficult enigmas of natural history, those animals that are not easily caught and taken into a laboratory setting.

Naturally there are people who are content to insist that cryptozoology is pursuing only phantoms. But time is the ally of cryptozoologists. The march of progress churns up evidence that supports the findings of cryptozoologists as opposed to discouraging their efforts. Small animals are turning up all the time, like the rodent called Kha-nyou in Laos, or the Ivory-billed Woodpecker found to have come back from "extinction" in Arkansas. Large animals are also a possibility. The latest block-buster for scientists was the realization that "Little People " -- now called Homo floresiensis -- were living in Indonesia recently. The find prompted an editor at the United Kingdom's Nature Magazine to remark that "cryptozoology can now come in from the cold."

Among Archibald Rutledge's reminiscences of observing wildlife in the American South was one particular experience in South Carolina. He had permission to wander at will the 40,000 acres of the Santee Gun Club, a wild preserve.

On one of his excursions he came upon what he said was "an enormous bull alligator, a regular primordial dragon." It was dead when he saw it. It was located in a pine glade more than a mile from a reedy area of wetlands known as Blake's Marsh. His description of it was extraordinary. Rutledge wrote:

"From the tip of his burly snout to the end of his tail he was a perfect wreck. He was dead. His broad malignant head, his burly body, his massive tail -- all were literally cut to ribbons. There were great gaping holes though his ponderous bulk."

Rutledge thought the damage was inflicted by "some enemy, far his superior." Rainfall had removed any tracks of the combatants. Signs of the struggle remained, however. Vegetation was broken and matted. The bark on a nearby yellow pine had been torn away in the struggle. Rutledge went on to speculate on the identity of the victor in this battle. He considered another alligator, a buck deer, and one or more razorback boars. But each possibility he found wanting. He could not connect the wounds with any of the wild creatures he knew to inhabit those woods. He concluded his account this way:

"I only know that his assailant must have been terrible both in his strength and in his wrath. Only triumphant hate could produce such a malignant orgy of mutilation."

 

[Human_84]

If there were aquatic apes, wouldn't they still like to climb trees? How would they compensate? (didn't read article)

 

[MrRING]

The WIKI on the Thetis Lake Monster has some interesting points that may solve the mystery and connect it to the Loveland Frog:

Case Solved and Closed
On 26 August 1972, police received a call from a man claiming to have lost a pet Teju lizard in the area the previous year. The carnivorous Teju (also called Tegu) lizard, indigenous to South America, can grow up to three feet in length and are commonly kept as pets though they are considered aggressive (though the pointed crest may refer to an iguana). The Colombian Tegu can grow to nearly four feet in length. Teju lizards are also prized for their hide, which is used to make a range of goods such as boots and wallets. The investigating police believed the lizard matched the description the creature and the case was closed.

Despite the fact that Thetis Lake is relatively small and is used heavily as a recreational area, and the fact that no other sightings have been reported since, many individuals and websites still promote the Thetis Lake monster as a genuine cryptid, some even describing it as a species of reptilian alien.

Similar Sightings
Teju lizards have been reported to startle and scare individuals in unsuspecting locations. Such an example was reported in Bergen, Norway on 03 Nov 2005. According to the newspaper "Bergensavisen", a woman raised a toilet seat for her toddler son only to find a 1.5 kg Teju lizard.[7]

The Loveland Frog has a very similar description to the Thetis Lake monster. It was described as lizard or frog-like in appearance, 3-4 feet long, and were all seen at night. Many lizards have the ability to stand and/or run on their hind legs. This bipedal behaviour in a large reptilian animal not native to an area seen late at night (or anytime it suddenly appears with aggressive behaviour) could easily startle and confuse anyone who saw it. Though the initial incident in 1955 reported one of the creatures holding up a "wand" that emitted sparks, the fact that it was observed on a country road at 3:30 am is not lost. It is most likely that the Loveland Frog is an out-of-place lizard, such as an iguana, Teju lizard, or other reptile that has likely escaped its owners.

Interestingly, the latter sightings of the Loveland Frog by two police officers occurred in the same year as the Thetis Lake creature, 1972.

Does this more down to earth explination sound reasonable?

 

[551166G]

Might be one of those escaped/loosed exotic pet scenarios, where somebody decides that big lizard, snake, or other non-native pet wasn't such a good idea after all.

 

[Zilch5]

Lizard Man Reportedly Mauls And Bites Through South Carolina Couple's Car

He stands 7 feet tall with glowing red eyes, a scaly body and three-fingered hands, and has a nasty habit of biting, ripping and pulling apart car fenders, hood ornaments and radio antennas. Some local citizens think it could be the work of the infamous Lizard Man of South Carolina.

"Whatever it is, somebody needs to find out what's mauling these cars because if it can do that kind of damage to a vehicle, look what it could do to a person," former Lee County, S.C., Sheriff Liston Truesdale told The Huffington Post.

After an automobile had a run-in last week with something mysterious in the rural area of the state, the car owners, Leon and Ada Marshall, discovered that their vehicle was riddled with what appeared to be teethmarks that went completely through the fender, according to WLTX television.

It had all the earmarks, or toothmarks, of similar occurrences in the county that began in 1988.




He stands 7 feet tall with glowing red eyes, a scaly body and three-fingered hands, and has a nasty habit of biting, ripping and pulling apart car fenders, hood ornaments and radio antennas. Some local citizens think it could be the work of the infamous Lizard Man of South Carolina.

"Whatever it is, somebody needs to find out what's mauling these cars because if it can do that kind of damage to a vehicle, look what it could do to a person," former Lee County, S.C., Sheriff Liston Truesdale told The Huffington Post.

After an automobile had a run-in last week with something mysterious in the rural area of the state, the car owners, Leon and Ada Marshall, discovered that their vehicle was riddled with what appeared to be teethmarks that went completely through the fender, according to WLTX television.

It had all the earmarks, or toothmarks, of similar occurrences in the county that began in 1988.

"I can remember it just like it was yesterday," said Truesdale. "We got a call that something had mauled a car, and whatever it was did a good job on it.

"We dispatched two deputies to go see what had happened. Then they called me, saying, 'Sheriff, we've never seen anything like this before,' and you know what? I never have seen anything like that before!"
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Truesdale recalled that the chrome on the front car fender "was snapped in two, like you would snap a toothpick. It tore off sides, other pieces of chrome and the radio antenna -- it was all over the car. While we were there, we learned there had been a big strange creature seen lurking around a nearby swamp."

The 82-year-old retired sheriff told the story of a 17-year-old eyewitness who claimed to have a very close encounter with the creature in 1988, dubbed locally as Lizard Man. Truesdale added that the young man came from a responsible, respectable family and he even passed a polygraph test.

"He never changed his story," said Truesdale. "He was coming home from work and putting his tools back in his car after fixing a flat tire. He saw something running toward him which he described having red eyes and three-fingered hands. When he jumped in his car, he felt a bump on the back of it as he drove out of there like a bat out of hell.

"The creature went from the trunk to the top of the car, looking down at him through the windshield, and he was able to move his car back and forth to throw it off the car. His parents said he was so afraid, it took two hours to settle him down."

Two years ago, Truesdale was called in again to help with the investigation of another case because of the similarities to the 1988 reports, when something mauled a van by biting through the metal and bending the fenders.

"Back in 1988, I tried to find out if anywhere else in the southeast had anything that had mauled cars, and nobody came up with anything," he said.

Sheriff Lisdon Truesdale? :shock:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/1 ... 97476.html

 

[Ulalume]

Just came across this nice 2012 article about the Loveland Frogmen -

Loveland, Ohio can best be described as a sleepy, pocket suburb in the hills north of Cincinnati. Nestled along the Little Miami River, Loveland is a community that straddles three counties and is home to a true enigma of the aquatic realm. Loveland, Ohio is home to the legendary Loveland Frogmen.

http://weekinweird.com/2012/07/24/classic-cryptid-legend-loveland-frogmen/

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, but this is the only thread I could find that mentions them.

 

[Heckler]

Grooooovy!