Chupacabras: The Truth About a Strange Blood-Sucking Monster
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on November 13th, 2016
A trail of bodies, seemingly left behind by the vampire-like chupacabra, enabled one man to solve the mystery
Everyone loves a good monster story.
The problem is, monsters always insist on living in faraway lands, at the bottom of lakes, or in the depths of forests. While this adds to their mystique, it is little wonder that our knowledge of them comes exclusively from grainy photos and unreliable witness reports.
This is what first drew Benjamin Radford to the chupacabra, a supposedly vampire-like creature. Its roots are in Latin America, but stories about it have since spread to the rest of the world, including his native New Mexico.
“This was a much more local mystery to me,” says Radford. “I didn’t have to go to Inverness or Borneo, it was right here in my backyard.” Helpfully, the chupacabra also seemed to be less shy than your average monster. That meant Radford had a good chance of figuring out whether or not it was real.
Tales of the chupacabra first emerged in Puerto Rico in the late 1990s. They described a bipedal creature four or five feet tall with large eyes, spikes down its back and long claws. This beast, people claimed, was responsible for killing and draining the blood of livestock, an act that earned it its name – which is Spanish for “goat-sucker”.
In his extensive investigation, which took a total of five years and saw him travel as far as the jungles of Nicaragua, Radford even located the person who first reported this beast: chupacabra patient zero.
Her name is Madelyne Tolentino and she comes from Canóvanas, a town in the east of Puerto Rico. In 1995, she spotted a scary alien-like creature out of her window.
What is remarkable is how fast the story travelled. After more reported sightings, and links made subsequently in the media with livestock that had been found “drained of blood”, the legend of the chupacabra spiralled out of control. First it spread around the island, then the rest of Latin America and into the southern US states. It also flourished online, where it was latched onto by UFO enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists.
Read the rest of the story here.
Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
” As with all his missions, Radford approached the chupacabra with an open mind, employing what he calls “investigative scepticism”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Radford approached the subject with an open mind? Since when? Radford and Nickel are strictly debunkers. I can almost guarantee you he had a preconceived notion, and tailored his story to fit it.
I do have to give credit where credit is due though. He noticed the same thing I did several years ago; namely, (I don’t remember the year) that the original Chupacabra was a bipedal alien with fangs and spikes on its back, somehow morphed into pics of mangy dogs and coyotes (that look absolutely nothing like the original).
The biggest problem I have with this “fair” story is that he blows off the animal attacks by saying it is common for dogs to bite livestock in the neck, and the livestock bleeds to death internally. I have a lot of rural family. My ex-wife’s family are Minnesota Dairy Farmers that have a lot of cows and dogs. Never heard of a neck bite that bled out “internally”. If there is a hole in both the skin and jugular, THAT blood will take the path of least resistance, and squirt out the hole. Captain Obvious states that when a creature is dead, the heart stops pumping blood, so when the rancher cuts into the animal he doesn’t get the expected blood squirting. HOW FREAKIN’ STUPID IS HE? Think ranchers that hunt all year around don’t know that? These same people that have been hunting and killing animals since they were barely out of diapers wouldn’t already know that?
Personally: I COMPLETELY believe the “modern” hairless dog Chupacabras are just mangy known animals. What are the originals? Imagination? Misidentification? Lies? Who knows? If it weren’t for a bunch of bloodless livestock (and yes, a rancher would EASILY be able to see the difference between an animal that had no blood left, and one that had bled out internally, where the blood would still be there). Because of that, I withhold any serious opinions until I see more.
EDIT:
After reading my post, I had to add something. Picture this: An animal gets dog bit in the jugular. If most of that animal’s blood is under the skin in the neck, imagine how bloated it would be with coagulated blood?