Chupacabre, directly translated, means ‘Goat Sucker’. There are different descriptions of what the Chupacabre really is, but the death and damage it leaves behind is the same. The creature attacks livestock, like goats, leaving behind a corpse that is essentially drained of blood. Kind of brings thoughts of vampires to mind. Maybe that is another reason there is a great fear of this cryptid.
There have been reports of Chupacabre attacks in South America, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the United States. It is believed that the first reported attacks happened in Puerto Rico in 1995 when 8 sheep were found dead with puncture wounds in the chest and drained of all blood. I would like to add a lesser known story of the ‘Vampire of Moca’ as the first reported killings by the Chupacabre.
The Vampire of Moca killings happened in the great year of 1975, which is the year of my birth. In the town of Moca, Puerto Rico, there was the first report of dead goats that had been cut open and drained of blood. At first, blame was pointed at a satanic cult using the animal blood in some of their rituals. However, the killings became more widespread across the island. All livestock animals from cows to ducks were turning up dead and drained of their blood. This incident is similar to the incidents that started in 1995 when 8 sheep were found dead and drained of blood. Back in 1975, there were no sightings of what the thing was that was causing these animal murders. At the time, the term Chupacabre was not coined yet, so it was given the name the Vampire of Moca.
One item I like to point out about the 1975 animal killings is that it happened during a time of increased UFO activity. I like to make the connection between the UFO sightings and the animal deaths to be similar to the cow mutilations that happened, and are happening, here in the United States. Maybe the aliens found it easier to take animals and kill them for study or whatever they used the death of the animal for, because the people on the island held many superstitious beliefs. One other point that I wanted to make is the 1975 killings seemed to slow down and stop as the UFO sightings stopped. Animal mutilations by UFOs or Aliens is a subject for another article, I just wanted to make a quick connection between the two here.
Back on track with the Puerto Rico killings in 1995 and the eye witness sighting of the Chupacabre. This is where I want to draw a line between the Puerto Rican Chupacabre and the reports from North and South American mainlands. In Puerto Rico, a witness described the Chupacabre as a bipedal animal with skin like a lizard, raised spines down its back to its tail. The witness says that the creature stood about 4 feet tall and had long claws on its hands and very large dark eyes. Many have said it looks like a ‘living gargoyle’. Once the creature spotted the witness, it ran back into the forest area. Could this be a new species, an alien lifeform left from the 1975 sightings, or just the imagination of a frightened witness?
The description of the Puerto Rican Chupacabre does not match that of the ones from Mexico, United States, Argentina, and Chile. That is why I would like to separate the Puerto Rican Chupacabre from that of the mainlands.
The descriptions of the Chupacabre in North and South American main lands are similar. Witnesses have described it as being a large rat or doglike creature with sharp fangs and skin similar to an elephant or hippo. It is said to be a nocturnal animal that attacks its prey by creating puncture wounds and drinking the blood.
There have been numerous sightings and even creatures shot or found dead that many witnesses said were Chupacabres. Two of my favorite reports come from the great state of Texas. The first is the video footage filmed by the dashboard camera of Dewitt County Deputy cruiser. This video shows a hairless creature with short front legs, longer back legs and a long snout. My second favorite report is from Blanco, Texas where a Chupacabre had died after ingesting rat poison in a barn. The body was sent to taxidermist Jerry Ayer and has since been stuffed and sold to a museum where it is said to be undergoing further testing at an unspecified University.
Most recently, a Chupacabre has been shot and killed in Kentucky. This incident made local news and national newspapers. Testing was conducted on the corpse of the animal and it turned out to be a hairless raccoon. The raccoon had a parasite similar to mange or scabies. This seems to be the trend for many of the reports where a carcass was found. After testing, most of the animals were said to have internal parasites and scabies which caused them to lose their hair and appear the way they do. Some of the tested animals caught in Texas were a hybrid of a dog and coyote that had similar parasites in them.
As the Chupacabre goes, we are not going to know if they exist until one is caught and studied, or found in the wild and studied. Of course I am referring to the main land Chupacabre. The Puerto Rican version, ‘living gargoyle’, I believes needs some further investigating. Its description and shape remind me of the Loveland Frogman legends from Ohio. Could it be a related creature? Hopefully, before my time is done, I will have been able to make the trek to Puerto Rico and conduct my own investigation of the Puerto Rican Chupacabre.
The dashboard video from Dewitt County, Texas
