The legend of chupacabras is fed with stories that have, as the main character, an animal of unusual appearance with dreadful red eyes. This animal was, for many years, the representation of one of the most dreaded creatures in rural zones of the American continent.
The legend of chupacabras began in the mid 90s, when in various zones of Mexico and Puerto Rico, there were many cases of livestock and domestic animals that appeared dead in ranches and farms. Unlike common attacks, these had strange characteristics; all of them were bloodless, but the bodies were not devoured by the assailant.
Considering that the first attack was reported in Moca, Puerto Rico, the peculiar creature was named the Vampire of Moca. Puertorican comedian, Silverio Perez, was the one who gave it the name of chupacabras.
The increase of similar cases extended to other countries of the continent like Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile, and soon embraced the whole continent. This made the authorities start to investigate those events to determine what was responsible for the attacks.
At the beginning, investigators used the description that witnesses gave according to what they saw. They insisted on the fact that the animal was greenish, invertebrate, with big fangs and horns at the back. However, since the first descriptions were published by the press, their veracity was questioned.
The strange case of the chupacabras took a scientific turn and the experts of the University of Michigan dedicated their time to run tests, using as evidence a number of dead animals in the United States and Latin America in similar situations.
The study indicated that the animals might have been attacked by coyotes infected with the parasite ‘sarcoptes scabiebi’, which causes scabies, but considering the fact that this kind of mammals only hunt small animals and the marks left are not characteristic of them, made this conclusion not very convincing for some.
The fact that the scientific community wasn’t able to give an accurate conclusion ended up making the legend of the chupacabras even more popular, and increasing the fear of the people who live in rural areas, who feared an attack.
Since the first sightings occurred, witnesses say they have seen and even captured the true chupacabras.
In July 2014, a woman who lived in Texas, United States, said she might have seen chupacabra in her backyard. The event awakened the curiosity of the community, but later they found out that it was a coyote infected with severe scabies.
Although reports of massive animal murders of this kind are less frequent now, the lack of irrefutable explanation makes the legend of the chupacabra something that won’t disappear any time soon.