Local radio group searches for Lizard Man
By Jackie Alexander
Edited by Gina Vasselli
April 22, 2009
In the parking lot of the Burger King on Bluff Road, a motley crew straggles in and assembles.
A blue Saab convertible swoops in and Ryan Ward, leader of this expedition, gets out and pulls on a slightly snug "Got strange?" shirt. The afternoon sun is shining and it's 72 degrees - a great day for a lizard hunt.
The group from "Strange Tales," an Internet radio show from Columbia-based AvenArk Broadcasting, starts a caravan to the Congaree National Park.
Their mission - find the ever-elusive Lizard Man.
Ward, the show's host, has studied the target carefully. The Lizard Man is thought to be more than 6 feet tall with scaly green skin, glowing orange eyes and three toes on each foot.
It was first sighted in Bishopville in 1988, and recent reports are that Lizard Man attacked a woman's car in the same area last year. Although the Congaree National Park is more than 40 miles from Bishopville, a local hiking group claims he has been sighted in the swamp. "Strange Tales" also wanted to start small and close to home.
"We're not out to believe or disbelieve," Ward says. "We're just out to have a good time."
After arriving, the group checks its supplies and the map. Items needed for a Lizard Man hunt include granola bars, lots of water, bug spray, and flour and glue for homemade plaster of Paris to make molds of any Lizard Man prints they find. A professional cartographer doesn't hurt either.
Chris Yonke, the husband of "Strange Tales" co-host Jackie Yonke, pulls out a GPS and directs the crew along the Bluff Trail.
Each of the 10 members begins scouring the endless maze of trees for a glimpse, a sign. A bird chirps in the distance. Water bubbles up into small pond. Mud sticks to shoes and in nostrils.
This is just the first of what the team hopes is several. "Strange Tales" chronicles tales of the weird across the Southeast. Ward said he wants to experience and report on strange occurrences, not regurgitate old information, so the team hopes to visit The Citadel soon and take electromagnetic readings to show evidence of ghosts.
Ward led vacationers on adventure expeditions in Costa Rica, technician Andre Buckland came to Columbia from Jamaica to go to Benedict College, and Jackie Yonke is eight months pregnant. None are from South Carolina.
"We're a hodgepodge little group," Ward says.
Less than five minutes into the excursion, Ward stops. He thinks he has a footprint. After much discussion, they determine it is much too small for the Lizard Man. It probably belongs to a dog.
Ward is disappointed, but not defeated.
"The world is a strange and mysterious place," he says.
AvenArk CEO Rob Francis films while Yonke and Ward trudge through mud and prickers. Francis hopes to turn the Internet radio show into a TV show and video game. He says AvenArk plans to make nearly $30 million with those additions by the end of next year. Francis is investing his own money in the startup to get it off the ground.
The group crosses a large gravel road and continues along Bluff Trail. Soon Jackie screams.
"What is it?" Ward says, spinning around.
A small black snake crawls across the trail.
"It's just a little snake," says Buckland, snapping several pictures. No Lizard Man here.
Buckland, a tall man with dreadlocks, continues shooting photos. He saw an ad on Craigslist and joined the team as a technician.
"The job I used to have I spent ridiculous hours making generic text graphics," he says.
So he quit going. If he didn't see the Craigslist ad, he'd still be trapped inside an office.
"I think I made a pretty good trade," he says.
After a while, the crew leaves the trail and heads towards a stream. Slowly, Jackie falls behind.
She stops and bends over in pain.
"It's cramps," she says. "You get them when you overexert."
That's more than enough for Chris. Baby Hannah comes first. They turn back.
The rest of the group follows behind shortly, not wanting to get lost off the trail without the GPS. A small campsite welcomes them.
"Granola bar anybody?" Francis asks. "Going once, going twice..."
A team member pulls thorns out of her leg. The rest sit around and joke. The day is starting to wind down, and the sun will soon disappear.
Francis stands, gazes across the open field and thinks. The amount of noise the crew made stomping through the swamp would have disturbed any animal.
"A creature like that would have migrated," he says.
The question remains - where?
