Chupacabra

The Chupacabra or Chupacabras is a creature said to inhabit parts of the Americas. It is associated particularly with Puerto Rico, where it was first reported, Mexico, and the United States, especially in the latter's Latin American communities. The name, which translates literally from Spanish as "goat-sucker", comes from its reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock. Physical descriptions of the creature vary. Sightings began in Puerto Rico in the early 1990s, and have since been reported as far north as the Carolinas and as far south as Chile.

Though some argue that the chupacabra may be a real creature, mainstream scientists and experts generally contend that the chupacabra is a legendary creature, or a type of urban legend.

The legend of los Chupacabras began in about 1992, when Puerto Rican newspapers El Vocero and El Nuevo Dia began reporting the killings of many different types of animals, such as birds, horses, and as its name implies, goats. At the time it was known as El Vampiro de Moca since some of the first killings occurred in the small town of Moca. While at first it was suspected that the killings were done randomly by some members of a satanic cult, eventually these killings spread around the island, and many farms reported loss of animal life. The killings had one pattern in common: each of the animals found dead had two punctured holes around their necks. The term "chupacabra" was supposedly coined by Puerto Rican television personality Silverio Pérez, who intended the name to be a joke, although the word had already been used in Michael Crichton's 1990 novel Jurassic Park, so it seems likely that there is an earlier origin.

Soon after the animal deaths in Puerto Rico, other animal deaths were reported in other countries, such as the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Panama, Peru, Brazil, the United States and, most notably, Mexico. Both in Puerto Rico and Mexico, El Chupacabra gained urban legend status. Chupacabras stories began to be released several times in American and Hispanic newscasts across the United States, and chupacabras merchandise, such as t-shirts and baseball hats, was sold. The chupacabra is generally treated as a product of mass hysteria, though the animal mutilations are sometimes real. Like many cases of such mutilations, however, it's been argued that they are often not as mysterious as they might first appear.

Certain South American rain forest natives believe in the "mosquito-man", a mythical creature of their folklore that pre-dates modern chupacabras sightings. The mosquito-man sucks the blood from animals through his long nose, like a big mosquito. Some say mosquito-man and chupacabras are one and the same. Notable sightings in the United States include one reported by multiple eye-witnesses in Calaveras County, California, and at a recent birthday celebration of a Development Team member of a local charity in Houston, Texas. According to these reports, the creature was sighted for the first time in the early to mid 1990s, harming animals of different species - although it is now thought that people did this themselves.

In July of 2004, a rancher near San Antonio, Texas, killed a hairless, dog-like creature (the Elmendorf Creature) that was attacking his livestock. It was later determined to be a canine of some sort with demodectic mange. In October of 2004, two animals which closely resemble the Elmendorf creature were observed in the same area. The first was dead, and the second was noticed by a local zoologist who was called to identify the animal while she was traveling to the location where the first was found. Specimens were studied by biologists in Texas; the creatures are thought to have been canines of undetermined species with skin problems and facial deformities.

El Chupacabra has often been spotted in Michigan, a recent sighting occurring in Grand Haven. A forty-two year old man said he saw it suck the blood out of a cat. A famous appearance in the city of Varginha, Brazil, (see Varginha incident) is sometimes attributed to the chupacabras, the phenomenon is more frequently associate with extraterrestrials. In 1997, many similar cases were reported in Brazilian newspapers, one report coming from police officer, who claimed to get a nauseous feeling when he saw a dog-like chupacabra in a tree.

Usually, Chupacabras are said to appear in three specific forms: The first and most common: a lizard-like being, appearing to have leathery or scaly greenish-gray skin and sharp spines or quills running down its back. It stands approximately 3-4 feet high, and stands and hops in a similar fashion as a kangaroo (in at least one sighting, the creature hopped 20 feet). This variety is said to have a dog or panther-like nose and face, a forked tongue protruding from it, large fangs, and is said to hiss and screech when alarmed, as well as to leave a sulfuric stench behind. The second variety also stands and hops as a kangaroo, and it has coarse fur with grayish facial hair. The head is similar to a dog's, and its mouth has large teeth. The third form is simply that of a strange breed of wild dog that is mostly hairless, has a pronounced spinal ridge, unusually pronounced eye sockets, teeth, and claws, but is otherwise a typical canine. This animal is said to be the result of interbreeding between several populations of wild dogs, though enthusiasts claim that it might be an example of a dog-like reptile. The account during the year 2000 in Nicaragua of a chupacabras corpse being found supports the conclusion that it is simply a strange breed of wild dog. The alleged corpse of the animal was found in Tolapa, Nicaragua, and forensically analyzed at UNAN-Leon. Pathologists at the University found that it was just an unusual-looking dog. It should be noted that there are very striking morphological differences between different breeds of dogs (which wild dogs are generally descended from) that easily account for the strange characteristics of such an animal.

Some reports claim the chupacabra's red eyes have the ability to hypnotize and paralyze their prey—the prey animal is mentally stunned, allowing the chupacabras to suck the animal's blood at its leisure. The effect is similar to the bite of the vampire bat or certain snakes or spiders that stun their prey with venom. Unlike conventional predators, the chupacabras sucks all the animal's blood (and sometimes organs) through a single hole or two holes. The creature is known as both "chupacabras" and "chupacabra" throughout the Americas, with the former probably being the original word, and the latter a regularization of it. The name can be preceded by the masculine definite article ("el chupacabras"), which means "the goat-sucker" in Spanish.

From the evidence available the Chupacabras would appear to be a blend of mythic creature and sightings of mutant looking wild dogs. Much like the situation with the Loch Ness Monster where there is a strong ledged in place and unusual life forms also in the area (sturgeon fish that can live for hundreds of years and can grow to over 20 feet long) its hard to get to the real truth. All of the images on this site are of obvious hoaxes or dried dog remains. Anyone with a better picture, espcialy of the lizard-like form, please send it along.