by Mike Kaplan
The concept of a Chupacabra is not very different from the American Sasquatch or Bigfoot, they are both large creatures that dwell in the woods and are popular subjects for those who believe that such magical creatures exist alongside us with barely any recognition. Both creatures have at least half a dozen television shows featuring themselves or hunters and believers across the continent and the world. While Bigfoot is almost always described as being large and hairy, El Chupacabra is more often described as a smaller lizard type beast; but many believe his body to be hairy as well. The biggest difference I could find between the two in my research is that while we see Bigfoot as mostly harmless, El Chupacabra strikes fear into many peoples of Mexico and Latin America. El Chupacabra literally means “goat-sucker” and it survives by eating goats, or really any farm animal. Reports of its specific looks range quite dramatically, some have said it was a huge hairy beast very much like bigfoot, others claiming it was like a bear with rows of spines on its back, some swear it had fangs like a walrus, and hopped like a kangaroo. Yet others report Chupacabras to be smaller hairless wolf type creatures. One thing is for sure though, they survive by drinking all the blood of whatever prey they chase.
The evidence of the existence of Chupacabra is staggering, with reports dating back to the 1990s, and some claiming they have been around since a time when the Aztecs rules the lands. Even as recent as 2014, or 2010, people have reported seeing, and being petrified by fear when witnessing El Chupacabra. Sightings have been reported, across Mexico, most of Latin America, some of South America, and even on many Caribbean Islands. Once was once reported as seen in the State of Maine and the country of Russia. Blurry photos of the beasts and closer pictures of their footprints make believers sure that there is something out there to find. A YouTube search bring up over 210,000 videos about the monster, there are people who literally spend their lives in pursuit of this monster. Of course, most of these sightings and “proof” can be explained, other large animals leave large footprints, and a wolf with mange may easily be confused with the demon creature of your worst nightmare. Some would swear on their lives they have seen it, but let’s be real folks, by now someone would have captured or killed it and sadly there is no solid scientific evidence of the existence of El Chupacabra at all. Wouldn’t that be a phenomenal find!
Why do people claim to see El Chupacabra? Why is he so popular in the Americas, but not in the rest of the world? It is my opinion that those who swear to have seen El Chupacabra either mistook what they saw or are crazy. El Chupacabra is a popular children’s story in Mexico, and it ensures that the children behave. Another source of believers may be people who heard these stories as a kid, and never learned that they were fiction. These believers then pass down the stories to their children, and I believe this created the regional and cultural myth of El Chupacabra. Another explanation could be those who came across sick wild wolves or dogs who would in all appearances then resemble a Chupacabra, a wild, frightening looking hair hairless beast, with red eyes; I would certainly run away.
In conclusion, while very effective for ensuring your children go to bed on time, it is a safe bet that the Chupacabra is more of a story, and not a real monster lurking in the night. People believe in the Chupacabra out of fear, and those who claim to have seen it both have a too wide range of descriptions to be believable and were likely seeing something else and mistaken. No one has ever gotten a good picture of a Chupacabra or captured one. No reliable source has ever encountered one. While much like Bigfoot, El Chupacabra is its very own monster, and while it may not exist in this world, it haunts millions of people’s dreams.
Google has millions of articles you can dig through, but here are some sources I looked at while creating this post:
https://www.chupamacabre.com/chupacabras/legend-el-chupacabra/
https://blogs.transparent.com/spanish/el-chupacabras/
https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/what-is-el-chupacabra
https://www.livescience.com/24036-chupacabra-facts.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra
I was definitely perplexed reading your post because I have never heard of this extraordinary belief and knew nothing about this small, lizard-like beast. I think it is interesting that this creature is more popular and has more sightings in certain parts of the world. I also like how you discussed that this creature is in Mexican children’s books in order to teach them a lesson. This shows how similar this creature is to folk-tales.
I think its interesting to notice how El Chupacabra is only known and believed to be in America. It makes me wonder if other countries and other parts of the world have their own version of “El Chupacabra” and if so is it also a product of a children’s book and is closely related to mythical creatures. Also, if these creatures also have little to no evidence and most of the evidence being anecdotal.
This post caught my eye because I have heard of the Chupacabra before. My older brother use to joke that El Chupacabra would come for me in the middle of the night if I didn’t eat all of my vegetables so it was interesting to read that the myth helps keep other children in line too. I recall seeing an episode of scooby doo when I was a kid that featured a Chupacabra monster in it. It’s fun to see these extraordinary beliefs in the media.
It’s interesting to think about the possibility of obscure creatures living deep in the woods. After googling el chupacabra and going through some pictures, the monster looks quite terrifying. I definitely hope this thing isn’t real! The first instance I’ve heard about this creature is from the show The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. They featured an episode with a chupacabra, it was small hairless purple blood sucking creature. It’s funny to see how different urban legends are depicted in the media.
Every culture seems to have its own scary story to pass along from generation to generation but it is pretty I interesting that El chupacabra has stood the test of time and has integrated itself into more than a local story. With sightings in Russia and a huge cultural following outside of Mexico this legend seems to be able to lend itself to anyones imagination. This creature seems a lot more believable than Bigfoot and the evidence could be a lot easier to find, dead goats are pretty hard to miss.
It’s interesting that legend of El Chupacabra seems to only exist in Latin American countries. It seems as though because children grow up hearing stories about this creature that it causes many adults to also think that they see this creature. I believe that all these sightings come from adults who grew up hearing about something like this and they associate animals that eat their livestock to be El Chupacabra since they were so used to thinking that there is such a creature roaming around instead of trying to find another cause. I agree with your point that if it actually did exist it probably would have been hunted down, because if so many people’s goats are dying from this then some action must have been taken to stop these creatures.
I have never heard of El Chupacabra before, so this post was very interesting to read. I think its funny that it is used as a story for children, yet there are adults who actually believe in its existence.
This is one of those beliefs that I find to be so far fetched. Stories about creatures like this are so clearly just a myth. After all these years I do believe we would have had a least a lick of evidence that they exist, rather than just believing it based off of word of mouth or mistaking something they saw.
I totally agree Abigail. We seem to have hunted every beast on land, and many into extinction. If El Chupacabra was running around in Mexico killing every goat in town, a hunting party would have been formed, the Chupacabra caught, and its body displayed for the world to see. Then once we had proof they existed, we would likely hunt them into extinction. So, either way, they would basically just be a myth.
You make a great point. If the El Chupacabra was as big of a problem that legend says, then I think the creature definitely would’ve been caught by now and the evidence of its existence would be broadcast to the world. As of now, it only seems to be present in folklore, but who knows.
Mike, I really liked how you compared this belief to the belief of the American Sasquatch or Bigfoot. It helped put it all into perspective and you did a great job using imagery in describing your findings. I thought the most interesting part was that people believe this creature to be dangerous and evoke fear. The most surprising was that this is something that people in America believe. In doing your research, did you ever come across to why people came to believe it in the States?
I think the sightings could easily be chalked up to people being primed and therefore already have it in their minds that it is real, so when they are trying to interpret ambiguous stimuli, they default to that thinking rather than try to explain it otherwise. This sounds like the boogey man, a way to scare children in to behaving.
I find it very interesting that this belief has stuck around as long as it has. It is rare that a belief as extraordinary as that of Chupacabra could survive generations. Given the technology and knowledge we have today, one might think that this myth would have been debunked. Oddly enough, it appears that the strong cultural element has kept this belief alive.