YEAR: 1964

SEASON: Fall

DATE: unknown

STATE: South Carolina

COUNTY: Richland County

LOCATION DETAILS: on Fort Jackson i would say to the south

NEAREST TOWN: columbia south carolina

NEAREST ROAD: n/a

OBSERVED: I just read a report from South Carolina and not far from where this happened is Fort Jackson, near Columbia, South Carolina.

Fort Jackson is an Army base. While I was serving in the Army on Fort Jackson something happened that might be related.

We were on a training mission for escape and evasion. I was supposed to escape through the enemy lines and make it back on my own. This was about seven or eight miles to walk through the woods, alone. As I remember the incident happened at seven pm just after dark. There was no moon. It was the darkest night I ever spent in the woods alone. Being from West Virginia and hunting all of my life, this did not bother me too much.

As I made my way down a fire lane at around two am I come to a crossing of fire lanes and stopped to rest for a minute and get my bearings. Back then there was no lights coming from Columbia or Fort Jackson to direct your way. I was about one step passed the crossing resting trying to decide on the way to go when I heard something coming. Immediately I thought another person was coming. I was happy that I would have someone to be with this dark night. I could not see my watch or my hand in front of my face only a faint white sand line path. I waited until this thing (or maybe two things) was within a few steps of me. Then I said who goes there. This thing went to its left in a flash. It went about fifty to seventy-five feet away and just stood there. Then I heard what sounded like someone talking backwards in a sort of growl as I was standing their confused about what was going on. In about a minute a two I heard this thing coming back toward me so I took one step to my left an kneeled down as it rounded the corner. Then I stood up and said I got you now. That's when all hell brook loose. It took off running, crashing through the brush like a train. This is when I got really scared. The hair on my neck raised and I started to speak but was unable to. I said to myself boy you get out of here. I must have run a half mile or so to my left and stopped to see if this thing was coming. I only stopped for a second and started running again luckily in the right direction. I run up on an airport sergeant who had a fire built and a truck waiting. I never wanted to see a person so bad before.

ALSO NOTICED: sound like two people talking backwards in a growling tone.

OTHER WITNESSES: none just myself

OTHER STORIES: only the one just north in lancaster south carolina.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: time around two am lighting no moon very very dark could not my hand in front of my face

ENVIRONMENT: Forest with fire lanes

Fort Jackson, SC Topographical Map

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Don Tart:

I spoke with the witness, LB concerning his experience while on night maneuvers at Fort Jackson, SC and found his story to be credible. His experience concurs with other related sightings in the Fort Jackson area of Lexington County, SC. A number of incidents have been reported from troops stationed at the base over the years.

Ft Jackson is in the Sandhills region of South Carolina. It is best described as rolling sandhills with a maze of sandy fire lanes, with pine forests with many small streams that feed into swampy and dense wooded areas nearby. The fort covers over 52,000 acres and has over 53 ranges located in its area. This area abounds with wildlife including deer, wild turkey, bobcat, and many species of fish. The general population is not allowed in these areas and when military maneuvers are not going on, the area would be an undisturbed sanctuary for any large animals to reside undetected.

There have been many sightings in this general area of SC -- Lexington and Kershaw Counties. "Lizard Man" sightings happened less than an hour from this area.

The sightings of the "Lizard Man" actually describe a bigfoot and not a lizard-man. One witness saw a bigfoot emerging from an algae-filled swamp. He described it as being wet, slimey and green (covered with algae). He did not say it looked like a lizard. He said it looked like a bigfoot, but others who heard the description second-hand or third-hand twisted the description into a green, slimey, lizard-like figure. That's how the term "Lizard Man" came about.

About BFRO Investigator Don Tart:

Don T. is an I&C/E Commissioning Engineer in Waynesboro, Ga. Don is an avid outdoorsman. He is a Life Scout, member of the Order of the Arrow and a Boy Scout Commissioner for Oconee County,SC. Don & his team scouted for "Finding Bigfoot" series for SC episode. He attended the 2006/2007/2008 NC Expeditions. He supported the pre-scouting activities for 2007 SC Expedition & 2007 Ga Expedition. He was a guide for the 2007 SC Expedition and the 2008 Florida expeditions.Don was the sponsor of the 2011 SC BFRO Expedition. Don is a founding member of SE BFRO Tracking Team.