Lexchront@yahoo.com

A Chapin resident has a mystery story.

Donna Faircloth went out to her koi pond near Lake Murray about 3 weeks ago to feed her fish, a colored variety of carp.

She found a small, dead alligator floating upside down in the water.

Faircloth and her husband measured the gator. It was about 30 inches long.

She said she was surprised.

“It’s not something you expect,” Faircloth said.

She has been a Chapin resident since 1972. Her house on Jake Meetze Road is not on the lake.

The subject of alligators is one that arises for residents near the lake from time to time.

Faircloth said some people have claimed to have seen gators in the lake over the years, but she had not seen one until this one showed up in her koi pond.

She contacted the Department of Natural Resources to see if they tracked alligator sightings.

She was told that if the animal were larger, or in the road, they would come and remove it. Since it was small, they advised she bury it.

The DNR representative told her Lake Murray is too cold for alligators.

Faircloth said her koi pond is covered. Another animal could not have dropped it in. She believes the gator may have wandered into the pond and then could not climb up its vertical walls.

Faircloth shared a picture of the animal on Facebook. She said one comment claimed it could have been someone’s pet that was turned out when it got too big.

She noted its color was odd, the scales a light gray.

She guessed that could be because it was dead when she found him.