Since the 1970s, people in
Puerto Rico have reported mysterious attacks on their livestock and pets that
resulted in death. In all of these cases, the animals have had puncture wounds
on their necks and chest that caused them to bleed to death, but there is
rarely any blood found at the scene. While
no known cause has ever been determined, these reports, which continue to this
day, have spawned the belief that a mystical, possibly alien creature is
responsible. This creature is known as the "chupacabra", which is Spanish for
"goat sucker."
First Reports of the Chupacabra
The first documented attacks
occurred in 1975 in Moca, Puerto Rico. The people initially blamed satanic
cults and referred to the perpetrator as El Vampiro (the Vampire) de Moca. As
more killings were reported, the mystery grew and a comedian named Silverio
Perez coined the term "chupacabra."
Since then, similar killings have been reported in 13 other countries
including the Domincan Republic, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Mexico and the United
States.
Common Depictions of the Chupacabra
No chupacabras have been
captured and no officially accepted chupacabra pictures have ever been taken.
But, similar descriptions have been cobbled together over time to become the chupacabra
images we recognize today. In artists' depictions of the creature, the chupacabra
is usually about three to four feet in height and the chupacabra's head
generally has large black eyes. Overall, it has a lizard like appearance, with reptile-like
skin, fangs and sharp pines that go along its head and down its back.
Chupacabras in Recent News
As recently as August of
2007, sightings of chupacabras in Texas have been reported. When a women named
Phylis Canion found a dead animal that looked like the famed chupacabra near
her ranch in Cuero, Texas, it made national news. Canion believed her finding
could be the mythical beast because it had vampire-like teeth and blue, mostly
hairless skin.
"There
have been so many stories for so long. The chupacabra is a mythical thing and
maybe it is, but this is something...a cross between something. What? I don't know,
I'd love to find out," Canion told a KENS-TV reporter.
When biologists who studied the
creature got the DNA results back, it was determined that the animal was a mix
of wild dog or grey fox. Read
the initial news story.
Could the Chupacabra Be Real?
Most scientific experts agree
that the likelihood the chupacabra is real is very low, but many people who
have seen the aftermath of livestock attacks in both North and South America
disagree. In fact, the growing popularity and belief in chupacabras has made
them a phenomenon similar to Big Foot. America's leading cryptozoologist and
author of Cryptozoology A to Z, Loren Coleman, has even called the
animal "the single most notable cryptozoological phenomenon of the past decade."
With so few scientific answers, the mystery of
the Chupacabra will likely remain a mystery until one is captured and the DNA
is determined to be a creature of unknown origin.
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