Chupa Invades U.S. El Chupacabras has succeeded in blazing a horrific northward migration: the mysterious predator originated in Puerto Rico, tore across Mexico in a bloody swath, and has now with great fanfare attacked the United States of America -- as a wildfire icon of modern folklore, if not an actual menace of
unknown taxonomy with a thirst for goat blood.
Full-fledged U.S. sightings of the Goatsucker have only been reported as of this year, although there are antecedents that some have retroactively linked to El Chupacabras. As long ago as the 1950s there were reports of a
"vampire kangaroo" creature in the Southwest, the Midwest and the Southeast. This beast has generally been described as a large mammal with powerful hind legs, looking like a cross between a kangaroo and a rat, which kills animals and sucks out their blood -- all in all, a remarkably familiar characterization. Variant descriptions of this creature as a flying, pterodactyl-like reptile have also circulated in the Southwest.
The American Northeast has allegedly played host to a similar creature called the Jersey Devil. Indigenous to the backwoods of New Jersey, this is another kangaroo-type beast said to possess a savage disposition and large red eyes. Witness have insisted for decades that the Jersey Devil is real, including a forest ranger who spotted it in 1993.
A more widely known U.S. phenomenon with a possible Chupa connection is the rash of mysterious cattle mutilations that began in the '70s. The animals were often left with wounds unlike those that would be inflicted by typical
predators, and in some cases their blood had been sucked dry. These mutilations have been popularly associated with aliens, but some now suggest that El Chupacabras should be implicated instead.
The first major American sighting of the Goatsucker, as such, took place this past March in Miami, Florida. In the predominantly Hispanic south Miami neighborhood of Sweetwater, 69 various animals were slain overnight. The
massacre included goats, geese, ducks and chickens, all of which had wounds that looked like bite marks. The livestock were not drained of their blood, though, and police and investigating zoologists felt that the attacker was a large dog. The animals' wounds were consistent with canine bites, dog hair and dog footprints were found, and an entryway had been dug under a
fence just as a dog would do.
Still, there was at least one eyewitness to El Chupacabras in Sweetwater. An elderly woman in the area described seeing a large, doglike creature. "It stood up on two legs and was hunched over like this with big arms and looked at me with these red eyes," she said before a phalanx of TV news
cameras.
The Goatsucker reportedly struck Texas's Rio Grande Valley in early May. A goat belonging to Sylvia Ybarra was found dead with three puncture wounds on its neck. It was the pet of 19-year-old Ybarra, who called it Nena. Ybarra had recently seen news reports of El Chupacabras and was convinced
that it was responsible for the killing, although no one saw the creature in this case. A veterinarian who examined the goat believed that it was killed by a dog.
Soon afterwards, in the predawn hours of May 9, the Espinoza family of Tuscon, Arizona reported encountering El Chupacabras at their home. Joe Espinoza claims to have found the creature outside his door, gesturing and mumbling and smelling terrible, "like a wet dog." It then entered the house through an open window and briefly sat atop Espinoza's seven-year-old son.
The Chupa did not harm the boy, nor any animals, but the Espinozas claimed to find its footprints afterwards. Tuscon police, brought to the scene by a 911 call, believed the prints were actually those of one of the young Espinoza boys.
This sums up the major U.S. Goatsucker sightings to date, but judging by the burgeoning media frenzy and public fascination, they won't be the last. Who knows... maybe the North American Chupapalooza Tour will soon be rolling into a town near you!
(c) Copyright 1996 ParaScope, Inc.
by D. Trull
Enigma Editor
(PSCP [email protected])