Members,
Here are Mike Mott's comments about Chupacabras from his book:
- El Chupacabras and Other "Hybrid" Beings.
Puerto Rico is a small island, only about 150 miles long by 45 miles wide;
yet it has experienced enough paranormal and cryptid activity in its history
to be a continent. The native Taino, an Arawak tribe of the West Indies,
feared creatures like the Araidai (jungle goblin) and Konokokuyuha, a type
of evil dwarf. The island has long been a haunt of hairy humanoids,
mysterious winged creatures (some described as "pterodactyls"), and
Unidentified Flying Objects, with the entire human populations in some areas
at times living in terror.
During 1975, Puerto Rico was stricken by a mysterious wave of livestock
mutilations, accompanied by UFO sightings. Many times animals were drained
of blood and left like emptied wine-skins for investigators to puzzle over.
Twenty years later, in 1995, things turned really weird.
The mutilations and blood-drainings returned with a vengeance, and over a
two-year period, the "culprit" was seen or encountered first-hand by dozens
of witnesses. Termed "El Chupacabras," or "The Goat-Sucker," the creature
seemed like something out of a cartoonist's nightmare: Described as four to
five feet tall, generally reptilian in appearance, with a kangaroo-like hip-
or haunch-structure, spines along a back-ridge, and a humanoid head with
protruding, incandescent eyes reminiscent of descriptions of the "gray
aliens" of UFOlogy. Sometimes the creatures would be gray-green and
hairless, sometimes they would have flat black or gray fur. With folding
flaps of skin under their arms which connected to their ribcages, they could
purportedly glide like flying squirrels, or fly outright, and they had
three-pronged, retractable mouth-organs used for slicing, dicing, and
sucking blood and fluids.
At first it was thought that the sightings were surely an elaborate hoax, or
simply hysteria, until the sheer number of incidents and reports reached
overwhelming proportions. Hair was obtained from one mutilation site, and
analyzed by a Japanese lab; while deemed to be "similar to the hair of a
wolf," it was labeled as coming from an animal which was "unknown."
The creature was a typical cryptid in some respects, seemingly popping in
and out of existence at a moment's notice, and generating fear and confusion
all over the island. From Puerto Rico, the Chupacabras events quickly spread
to the rest of Latin America, including Mexico, South Florida, and the
desert southwest of the United States. This marked it as a distinctly
cultural phenomenon (Hispanic), but that by no means indicates that it was
not genuinely taking place. A connection was soon suspected in Puerto Rico
between El Chupacabras and the mountainous, rainforested region of El
Yunque, which is honey-combed with mostly-unexplored cavern systems. In
fact, caverns underlie much of the island. Several witnesses reported seeing
the creature or creatures fleeing to the El Yunque region, when discovered
or pursued. Soon, other parts of the Spanish-speaking world were reaching
similar conclusions. And, like the demons of old, an acrid, debilitating
foul odor often accompanied the visits of the beast.
One brave soul, Jesus Sanchez, was victimized repeatedly, his rabbits being
drained of blood. Finally, at four in the morning, he surprised the invader
by blinding it with a bright light. When it rushed to escape, he struck it
with a machete, only to discover that "the blow sounded as if it had hit a
drum." The creature, unscathed, made its disappearance as usual.
What is to be made of a report like this? How can a creature both "have
hair," yet "sound like a drum" when struck (or shot, for that matter), and
escape unharmed? Why the almost methodical and indeed selective nature of
the animal mutilations? Sometimes only blood was taken; other times,
specific organs like livers would be missing. It should be noted that blood
and the "meaty organs" were the very items offered to the dark gods of
antiquity, in the ancient Middle East and even in Pre-Columbian America. The
description of El Chupacabras is very reminiscent of that of the Sumerian
Utukku, or even of the Gala, and of the Egyptian Ushabtiu, designated as
"artificial" lifeforms (yet no less alive) created to do the bidding of the
lords of the underworld. Maybe times are tough in the subterranean realms,
and the "gods" have taken to stealing the substances which are no longer
offered to them; or could it be that the Nagas are coming out to play?