The tale of El Chupacabra began in Puerto Rico in 1995 when farmers claimed they found livestock dead – sucked dry of blood – with no signs of a normal predator. Hence, the name, Spanish for “goatsucker”, was coined. The descriptions of the chupacabras were not clear or consistent and the ultimate reconstructions were an amalgamation of many different animals. Nocturnal, walking (or hopping) on two legs, with sharp fangs and claws, red eyes, and even spikes down its back, it resembles no single known creature. Even the description of location and number of puncture wounds was variable.
The monster story spread mainly through the Hispanic and Mexican communities but, thanks to the Internet, it reached rapidly to all corners of the world. The media went into a frenzy over the chupacabra. In short order, the phenomenon spawned tee shirts, figurines and other memorabilia. The rapid dispersion of the chupacabra legend certainly influenced reports that came from Florida, Texas and Arizona. Any dead livestock was suggested to be the work of chupacabras when they might simply be the result of dogs or native predators. At the same time, chupacabra “attacks” blended with the paranoia over other cases of animal mutilation. As with the disturbing mutilations, the history of the chupacabras can be traced back to an association with UFO sightings. In the mid-seventies, amidst reports of UFOs in Puerto Rico, arose the legend of the “Moca Vampire” whose method of killing was also neat and complete blood removal. El Chupacabra, the second-generation bloodsucker, curiously incorporated the modern description of a “gray” alien. After the initial “flap”, chupacabras sightings petered out but the explanations for the creature become more outrageous. Shall we believe there is a large, bizarre, unknown monster (possibly of extraterrestrial origin) lurking around the southern US and Central America subsisting on the blood of domestic animals? Or is it more realistic to assume that a few cases of mistaken identity were transformed by overt credulity, mass hysteria and media sensationalism into a widespread myth? We actually find many more examples of the latter, but those usually don’t make a hair-raising story.
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