Chupacabra
New Member
The single most notable cryptozoological phenomenon of the past decadeis undoubtedly El Chupacabras, the fearsome Goatsucker of LatinAmerica. The legend of this livestock-slaughtering monster was born insmall villages in Puerto Rico in 1995, and quickly spread to Mexico andHispanic communities in the United States, ultimately becoming aworldwide sensation like no unexplained creature since the Bigfoot filmof 1967.
El Chupacabras was preceded by a Puerto Rican monster known as the MocaVampire, which had been reported in conjunction with a rash of UFOsightings in 1975. A number of farmers discovered animals massacredafter strange lights appeared in the sky. Investigators examining theslain animals, which included ducks, goats, geese and cows, noted withastonishment that they had been completely drained of blood with almostsurgical precision. The Moca Vampire was apparently never sightedfirsthand, but perhaps whatever it was possesses some connection to thecreature that made itself known 20 years later.
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<font size="-1"> El Chupacabras, the Goatsucker</font>
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The first sightings of the creature were reported around September ofthat year. Madelyne Tolentino and other witnesses described thecreature as a sort of a cross between a kangaroo, a gargoyle, and thepop-culture conception of the alien "Grey." It was said to be aboutfour feet tall, with a large, round head, a lipless mouth, sharp fangsand huge, lidless red eyes. Its body was small, with scrawny, clawedarms and webbed bat wings, and muscular hind legs that appeared to bebuilt for jumping. The creature also had a series of pointy spikesrunning from the top of its head down its backbone. Paranormalinvestigator Jorge Martin drew a sketch based on these descriptions (asshown on this page), which rapidly became the classic visual image ofEl Chupacabras, as the local media had dubbed the monster. The name, ofcourse, is Spanish for "the Goatsucker."
Sightings and slain livestock continued to be reported in various partsof Puerto Rico throughout the fall of 1995. The Goatsucker allegedlykilled 11 goats in the town of San German, and on one occasion a groupof townspeople said they chased the creature away as it was attemptingto kill three roosters. In Canovanas, seemingly an epicenter ofChupacabras activity with more than 150 animal slayings reported in1995, the town's Mayor Jose "Chemo" Soto sanctioned paramilitarypatrols to hunt down the monster. Soto's political candidates accusedhim of pandering to his constituents' fears, and attempting to capturethe anti-Chupacabras vote instead of the creature.
After December, there was a lull in Goatsucker sightings, which somesurmised was because the creature withdrew to inactivity during thewinter months. And indeed, come springtime El Chupa rose again --although this resurgence owed more to the mass media than to warmweather. In March 1996, a segment on the Goatsucker appeared on TV talkshow Christina,the Spanish-language Univision network's very popular counterpart toOprah Winfrey. The show drew a tremendous response, and Chupacabrasupdates became a regular feature of the program. This exposurespearheaded the migration of Chupamania into Mexico and the UnitedStates... and, perhaps not coincidentally, also preceded the firstsightings of the strange predator in these new lands.
