Chupacabra, Fact or Fiction?

Author: Joshua Sunderman

A picture of A Chupacabra

Chupacabra, A mass-hysteria creature or real-life horror? As the Chupacabra is a myth that first started in Puerto Rico. Where a farmer had reported his cattle dead by means of their blood being sucked dry. Soon reports of the Chupacabra began appearing all over the North and South America. Where it was unknown exactly what the creature looked-like that cause a feat but many theories it to look like this. A creature, according to “Tracking the Chupacabra” by Benjamin Radford, that has many variations of descriptions leaving it to be cryptid (unidentifiable animal). One description of a Chupacabra being covered in glossy matted hair and has a feral face with long limbs that end in massive claws. Making it able to transverse any terrain at a huge distance and some say the Chupacabra even has wings. Most often though, the creature is described as having red eyes, feathery-like spikes going down its spine.

A Chupacabra with wings by Cristart (2001)

Chupacabra ways of killing its victims could even be described as a vampire as it meets all the classifications to be classified as a vampire. While the stereotypical vampire is more like Count Dracula, a tall, thin, pale, white-haired and or bald man with fangs that can transform into a bat. However, as informed by Benjamin Radford the Greeks described vampires as malevolent undead creatures that stalked the living, bring death and disease. Vampires would also puncture two holes into the victim’s neck as they suck their blood dry and that is exactly what victims of the Chupacabra were found dead two punctured holes in the neck bleed dry. Which scientist examined the puncture wounds and they would be that of canine’s teeth.

A Chupacabra being examined

Upon closer inspection of the Chupacabra lead scientist to logically conclude that it is actually a canine, typically a coyote or a dog, with a disease called mange. Where the hair of the creature is at a loss leaving them bare-skin and more in a weaken state. Which the reason it is so close vampires is that it is the canine’s instincts is to go straight for the neck of its prey. Then the canine would go off and kill another animal for food or sport while the victim dies from suffocation, internal hemorrhaging, and or infection (Benjamin Radford).

So, while the Chupacabra may not have its extreme alien-like features it is most certainly a real creature just in more of a disease that is affecting a canine.

Resource links:

"The Chupacabra & Bigfoot" , Scholastic Scope. 2/14/2011, Vol. 59 Issue 10, p16-16, 1p, Academic Search Premier, http://ezproxy.usca.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=58030972&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Lopez, Lalo “Media-Fueled Chupacabra-Mania Raises ‘Fact or Fiction’ Hysteria.”, Hispanic. Aug1996, Vol. 9 Issue 8, p12. 2p. 1 Color Photograph. Academic Search Premier, http://ezproxy.usca.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9608164065&site=ehost-live&scope=site

“Not a Monster.”, Outdoor Life. Feb2005, Vol. 212 Issue 2, p21-21. 1/7p. 1 Color Photograph, Academic Search Premier, http://ezproxy.usca.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=15632026&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Further Research:

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20161109-the-truth-about-a-strange-blood-sucking-monster
A local article that goes into further detail about the Chupacabra explain this monstrous story and even talks about the author who wrote “Tracking the Chupacabra” Benjamin Radford and talks about his research.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004XOGILY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Benjamin Radford is someone who has been investigating this mysterious and unusual phenomena for over a decade, and in this chapter “A Brief History of Vampires” it gives off a summary of how there are many vampires in the world ranging from the European, to African, to Latin American.

https://study.com/academy/lesson/quotes-about-count-dracula.html
This is for information for about Count Dracula and their appearance along with some more explanation about his powers he can do.

The Chupacabra…fact or fake?

Author: Ashley Sharpe

Image from parazzare.

The chupacabra is a wretched, blood-sucking, vampire like creature who attacks helpless livestock animals in the dead of night. Ok, the chupacabra may not really be that severe, but it is a cryptid. A cryptid is a term used to refer to a creature whose existence is suggested but has never given scientific credit.

The chupacabra legend began sometime in the 1990’s when animals in Puerto Rico were turning up dead. The animals were killed by having their blood drained by what looked like a vampire bite to the neck. The owners of these animals said that the creatures were a grayish color, walked on its hind legs, and had vampire like fangs. Other locals described the creatures as looking like dogs.

Scientists concluded that these chupacabras were mearly coyotes with mites that had burrowed under the skin. This gave them the grayish mange look. So I ask you, do you believe in the chupacabra or do you believe that it is mearly a legend?

Works cited:

Viegas, Jennifer. "Chupacabra Mystery Solved." Discoverynews.com. Discovery Communications, LLC, 22 Oct. 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2013.

“Definition of Cryptid”. Monstrous.com. n.p. n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

http://parazzare.webs.com/photos/Mysteries/El%20Chupacabra.jpg

Links for further research:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggMWBHivne0

This is a video that gives more information about the chupacabra.

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20130912/NEWS/130912024/

This is an article in which a man claims he has killed a chupacabra.

The Chupacabra

Author: Sarah Henagan

The chupacabra, a beast that sucks its victim’s blood and then liquefies its organs, first “arrived” on the scene in Puerto Rico in 1995.  Several farm animals were found dead from, what was said to be a chupacabra’s exsanguination (blood draining) via two puncture wounds located on or near the jugular.  This started a chupacabra craze as farmers claimed that the chupacabra killed their livestock.  The first sighting of the chupacabra, however, wasn’t until five months after the first attack.  The descriptions after sightings ranged from unusual to outrageous, and in the end three definitive physical groups of characteristics surfaced.  The first and best know description is that of a five-foot-tall, two-legged creature with lengthy claws and an easily recognizable row of spikes running down its back.  The second description is of a small creature that looks very much like a coyote or dog.  The third description is a collection of just about anything from kangaroos with wings to dead ocean animals (Radford).  Typically, though, when people refer to the chupacabra, they either mean the five-footed, clawed, spiked beast (Type A) or the dog-like creature (Type B).

Chupacabra Action figure (Type A)

Phylis Canion’s first Chupacabra (Type B)

Most witnesses can agree on a few things: (1) chupacabras are incredible jumpers (which explains the statements that they have back legs much like those of kangaroos), and (2) their eyes glow red as a defense when trapped and cause nausea and vomiting if you were to look into its eyes directly (although I cannot fathom how one could corner a chupacabra in fields and farmlands).  If this tactic were to fail, however, the chupacabra would emit a hiss and produce a deafening scream, then disappear into the underbrush (Brown).

            Since the first sightings in Puerto Rico, the chupacabra became the third most popular cryptid (unidentified animal), and the world started hearing reports of the chupacabra from all over the Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries, specifically Latin America, Spain, Florida, and Texas (Radford).  As expected the investigations came up with nothing or some common animal, like a dog or a coyote or a mongoose.  In 2007, a farmer in Cuero, Texas, found a strange-looking creature, dead. It had been preying on her chickens and an occasional cat.  She proceeded to freeze its head, and in 2008 MonsterQuest hosts visited her for an episode on the chupacabra.  They took DNA samples from the head and had a laboratory analyze them.  The laboratory reported interesting findings: an X chromosome from a coyote and a Y chromosome from a wolf.  Despite these results, other results from Elmendorf, Texas, and Puerto Rico were merely dogs with scabies that attacked livestock. (MonsterQuest)

 Video of the most recent chupacabra sighting in Cuero, Texas

Personally I believe that the chupacabra is real in the sense that unidentified animals are attacking livestocks; however, I think that the animals result from a coyote-wolf mix, or perhaps inbred coyotes, or common dogs with mange, or most likely, a combination of all of them.  That is it, no more and no less.  I say this because if we look at the information given in the eyewitness descriptions, the Type A chupacabra is highly unlikely to actually exist, whereas Type B chupacabra is more likely to exist just because that is more likely to occur in real life.

Works Cited:

amcintosh32.  “”Chupacabra” Caught On Tape?”  Youtube.com.  Youtube.  18 Sept. 2012.  Web.  22 Oct. 2012.

Brown, Nathan R.  “Chupacabra.”  The Complete Idiot’s Guide to The Paranormal.  New York, New York: Penguin Group, 2010.  133-134.  Books.google.com.  Web.  16 Oct. 2012.

Canion, Phylis.  Contributed Photo.  2007.  Cuero, Texas.  cryptomundo.com.  Web.  22 Oct. 2012

Chupacabra Action Figure.  n.d.  .  Web.  23 Oct. 2012.

CryptoZooKeepa.  “MonsterQuest – Chupacabra.”  Youtube.com.  Youtube.  20 Jun. 2012.  Web.  19 Oct. 2012.

Radford, Benjamin.  Tracking the Chupacabra.  University of New Mexico: Albuquerque, 2011.  Print.

Links for Further Research:

 Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCsEj31vFs8&feature=share&list=UUKtx6Xt_iHtIAXiHfpYtU_A

This is the episode of MonsterQuest that discusses the history of the chupacabra and details a search for the chupacabra in Cuero, Texas.

Unexplained Stuff

http://www.unexplainedstuff.com/Mysterious-Creatures/Creatures-of-the-Night-Chupacabra.html

This is an encyclopedia of unusual, unexplained, and paranormal things.

Chupacabra Headquarters

http://www.cuerochupacabra.com/

This is the official website for the Cuero chupacabra.