January 18, 2007

Chupacabras = Giant Bat?

Nick Redfern has posted an interesting Puerto Rican report from 1967 of what the witness believed to be a giant bat.

Nick speculates that this could be the culprit responsible for the Chupacabras reports from Puerto Rico.

Here is an excerpt from Nick’s post on UFOmystic.

But yesterday’s email suggested yet another avenue of investigation worth exploring. According to the story, in the summer of 1967, a strange beast was observed late one evening “struggling on the ground” on farmland in the Moca area of the island.

The beast appeared injured and the farmer, terrified that it was something demonic, fled the scene to the safety of his home. The next day, the creature was gone. Several years later, however, he confided in his son the details. And it’s the son’s story – via an intermediary – that has now surfaced.

The son does not hold to the “demonic” angle, however: he believes that what his father had seen was some form of giant bat – and he bases this on the description of the creature having “a face like a little monkey – but much bigger,” a dark colored body, and distinctly bat-like wings. Now we are not talking about something the size of a large bird of prey here. No: the witness told his son that the animal appeared to be “near human in size.”

Now, of course, some will merely scoff at this report and relegate it to misidentification, legend, or the rumor-mill. However, reports of giant bats are surprisingly common. Since this is more akin to the field of cryptozoology, I won’t go into reams of detail. But several such cases are worth mentioning, at least.

Cameroon has the Olitiau – an immense bat-like beast, with large wings, a monkey-like face, and black fur. A similar creature is said to exist on Madagascar: the Fangalabolo. From Java, come reports of the Ahool: a giant bat with a 12-foot wingspan. The Guiafairo (whose name translates to “The fear that flies by night”) of Senegal falls into the same category; while the mythology of Indonesia tells of the Orang-Bati, once again a large bat-like entity, that lurks within an extinct volcano on the island and abducts children.

Of course, many of these reports (and particularly the story of the Orang-Bati) are the stuff of legend. But, behind many legends, there is often a semblance of truth. Is it possible that the Chupacabras of Puerto Rico is not an alien entity, a straightforward superstition, or the work of U.S. psychological warfare planners; but may indeed be some form of very large bat?

Click here to read the post in its entirety on UFOmystic.

Filed under Bigfoot Report, Chupacabras, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Eyewitness Accounts, Pop Culture