Chupacabra (also chupacabras
/tʃupa'kabɾas/,
from Spanish chupar: to suck, cabra: goat; goats sucker) is a
cryptid said to inhabit parts of both 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 translates
literally from the Spanish as "goat sucker." It comes from
the creature's reported habit of attacking and drinking the
blood of livestock, especially goats. Physical descriptions
of the creature vary. Eyewitness sightings have been claimed
as early as 1990 in Puerto Rico, and have since been reported
as far north as Maine, and as far south as Chile. Though some
argue that the chupacabras may be real creatures, mainstream
scientists and experts generally contend that the chupacabra
is a legendary creature, or a type of urban legend. It is
supposedly a heavy creature, the size of a small bear, with a
row of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail.
History
The
legend of cipi chupacabra began approximately in 1987, 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. It is
predated by El Vampiro de Moca (The Vampire of Moca), a
creature blamed for similar killings that occurred in the
small town of Moca in the 1970s. 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 had their bodies bled dry through a series of small
circular incisions. Puerto Rican comedian and entrepreneur
Silverio Pérez is credited with coining the term
"chupacabras" soon after the first incidents were reported in
the press.[1] 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,
Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Peru, Brazil, the United
States and Mexico.
Alleged sightings
In
July 2004, a rancher near San Antonio, killed a hairless
dog-like creature, which was attacking his livestock. This
creature is now known as the Elmendorf Creature. It was later
determined to be a coyote with demodectic or sarcoptic mange.
In October 2004, two animals said to resemble the Elmendorf
Creature were supposedly observed in the same area. The first
was dead, and a local zoologist who was called to identify
the animal noticed the second while she was traveling to the
location where the first was found. Specimens of the dead
animals were studied by biologists in Texas, who found that
the creatures were coyotes suffering from very severe cases
of mange.[2]
In Coleman, Texas, a farmer named Reggie Lagow caught an
animal in a trap he set up after the deaths of a number of
his chickens and turkeys. The supposed animal was described
as a mix between a hairless dog, a rat and a kangaroo. The
animal was provided to Texas Parks and Wildlife in order to
determine what species it belonged to, but Lagow reported in
a September 17th, 2006, phone interview with John Adolfi,
founder of the Lost World Museum, that the "critter was
caught on a Tuesday and thrown out in Thursday's trash."[3]
In April of 2006, MosNews reported that the chupacabra was
spotted in Russia for the first time. Reports from Central
Russia beginning in March 2005 tell of a beast that kills
animals and sucks out their blood. Thirty-two turkeys were
killed and drained overnight. Reports later came from
neighboring villages when 30 sheep were killed and had their
blood drained. Finally eyewitnesses were able to describe the
chupacabra. In May of 2006, experts were determined to track
the animal down.[4]
In mid-August 2006 Michelle O'Donnell of Turner, Maine,
described an "evil looking" rodent-like creature with fangs
that had been found dead alongside a road. The mystery beast
was apparently struck by a car, and was otherwise
unidentifiable. Photographs were taken and witness reports
seem to be in relative agreement that the creature was canine
in appearance, but unlike any dog or wolf in the area. The
carcass was picked clean by vultures before experts could
examine it. For years, residents of Maine have reported a
mysterious creature and a string of dog maulings.[5]
In December 2006, a local farmer in Peru claimed to have seen
a creature resembling a Chupacabra attacking a wild boar on
his farm. The man, who referred to the creature as "Zahir,"
later told the authorities that he feared for his life when
he saw the creature devour the boar within minutes. The
creature then ran faster than any animal the farmer had ever
seen. Shocked at the sight of the creature, the farmer stated
that he is haunted by the evil in the Zahir's eyes.
In May 2007, a series of reports on national Colombia news
reported more than 300 dead sheep in the region of Boyaca,
and the capture of a possible specimen to be analysed by
zoologists at Universidad Nacional of Colombia.[6]
Appearance
The
most common description of Chupacabra is a lizard-like being,
appearing to have leathery or scaly greenish-gray skin and
sharp spines or quills running down its back.[7] This form
stands approximately 3 to 4 feet (1 to 1.2 m) high, and
stands and hops in a similar fashion to a kangaroo. In at
least one sighting, the creature hopped 20 feet (6 m). This
variety is said to have a dog or panther-like nose and face,
a forked tongue protruding from it, large fangs, and to hiss
and screech when alarmed, as well as leave a sulfuric stench
behind. When it screeches, some reports note that the
chupacabra's eyes glow an unusual red, then give the
witnesses nausea. For some witnesses, it was seen with
bat-like wings.[8]
Another description of Chupacabra, although not as common, is
described as a strange breed of wild dog. This form is mostly
hairless, has a pronounced spinal ridge, unusually pronounced
eye sockets, fangs, and claws. It is claimed that this breed
might be an example of a dog-like reptile. The account during
the year 2001 in Nicaragua of a chupacabra's corpse being
found supports this conclusion. The corpse of the animal was
found in Leon, Nicaragua, and forensically analyzed at
UNAN-Leon. Pathologists at the University found that it was
an unusual-looking dog-like creature of unknown species.[9]
Unlike conventional predators, the chupacabra is said to
drain all of the animal's blood (and sometimes organs)
through a single hole or two holes.
Has
a Chupacabra turned up in Texas ?
Submitted
by Mars: Phylis Canion lived in Africa for four years.
She's been a hunter all her life and has the mounted
heads of a zebra and other exotic animals in her house
to prove it. But the roadkill she found last month
outside her ranch was a new one even for her, worth
putting in a freezer hidden from curious onlookers:
Canion believes she may have the head of the mythical,
bloodsucking chupacabra."It is one ugly creature,"
Canion said, holding the head of the mammal, which has
big ears, large fanged teeth and grayish-blue, mostly
hairless skin.Canion and some of her neighbors
discovered the 40-pound bodies of three of the animals
over four days in July outside her ranch in Cuero, 80
miles southeast of San Antonio. Canion said she saved
the head of the one she found so she can get to get to
the bottom of its ancestry through DNA testing and then
mount it for posterity.She suspects, as have many rural
denizens over the years, that a chupacabra may have
killed as many as 26 of her chickens in the past couple
of years. "I've seen a lot of nasty stuff. I've never
seen anything like this," she said.What tipped Canion to
the possibility that this was no ugly coyote, but
perhaps the vampire-like beast, is that the chickens
weren't eaten or carried off — all the blood was drained
from them, she said.Chupacabra means "goat sucker" in
Spanish, and it is said to have originated in Latin
America, specifically Puerto Rico and Mexico. Canion
thinks recent heavy rains ran them right out of their
dens. "I think it could have wolf in it," Canion said.
"It has to be a cross between two or three different
things."
FAIR USE
NOTICE: This site may contain copyrighted material, the use
of which has not been specifically authorized by the
copyright owner. This website distributes this material
without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use
of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C
§ 107.
NOTE TO AUTHORS: If you are the author or owner of an article
or video that I have made available through THEINFOVAULT.NET
and you do not wish to have your article or video posted on
theinfovault, please contact me and I
will remove the item.