Texas News Covers Chupacabra Discovery

Whether or not cryptids like the chupacabra is a paranormal matter for cryptozoologist Loren Coleman. But when it becomes the focus of a movie, TV show, song, video game or newscast - well then it enters into our realm of paranormal pop culture.

Which brings us to the WFAA-TV news site out of the Dalla/Forth Worth, Texas area. According to the story (embedded below for your enjoyment), a hairless, dog-like creature with "kangaroo" legs and a rodent face was discovered on a golf course last Wednesday. Reporter Jim Douglas spoke to research assistant Sherre Sacher, of the Center for Animal Research and Education, who said she doesn't know what the creature was on first look.

For lack of a better explanation, the news site is referring to the animal as a potential chupacabra, or "goat sucker." Then again, if it is the chupacabra, it's missing the spiky spine and thin gray hair we've come to expect based on descriptions of the beast.

We'll see, but let's hope the new media actually follows up on this to let viewers know what scientists determine when they're not examining the animal on camera for a few minutes.

UPDATE: The NBC affiliate in the Dallas Fort Worth is reporting the "chupacabra" is actually a hairless raccoon. While it's still technically a mystery how the anomalous critter lost his hair, it's not exactly paranormal.



Origin: space-wanderers.blogspot.com

Chupacabras Continued

First and second photos posted here are some of the more reptilian sorts of chupacabras sightings cited on Spanish-language Mexican cryptozoology sites. Below, Chupacabras 'Aliens' closely resembling depictions of the folkloric grave-robber creature sometimes also called Timbo and referenced in the prior posting. This creature also just so happens to have been incorporated into TSR's Dungeons and Dragons game under the name 'Bonesnapper' (originally sent in by a player as an optional monster additional to the original MONSTER MANUAL.)

This illustration comes from the website: http://usuarios.multimania.es/planetaet/seres et.htm

With the caption (as translated by Babel fish) TYPE 1: CHUPACABRAS CHUPACABRAS CAME TO BE TO KNOWN IN 1995 AFTER A SERIES OF ATTACKS TO HEADS OF CATTLE IN PUERTO RICO. LATER IT WAS SEEN IN MIAMI AND ON INTO CENTRAL AMERICA, COMING TO A WIDER NOTICE ESPECIALLY IN MEXICO, COSTA RICA AND GUATEMALA. BETWEEN 1996 AND 1997 ITS ACTIVITY EXTENDED TO BRAZIL AND EVEN EXECEPTIONALLY WITH ITS PRESENCE REPORTED IN SPAIN AND ITALY. THE FEW WITNESSES WHO HAVE SEEN IT USUALLY AGREE THAT ONE IS A SPECIES OF SAURIAN OF GREAT RED EYES, SHARPENED NAILS, AND A SPECIES OF SPINE FORMED BY THORNS. ITS BEHAVIOUR IS ESSENTIALLY ANIMAL.

And following it is a depiction of a chupacabras from an 'orphan' site on the internet. (The site itself is gone but the photo still shows up on a photo search with the attributrion to The Unicorn Garden. A visit to the site The Unicorn Garden does not show this illustration in obvious view on any of the pages. Still, I leave the credit as it was listed.)

For the most part, the traditional creatures later being CALLED chupacabras in Mexico are referred to under the blanket terms of 'Nahual' or 'Nagual.' This was originally the name of an Aztec magical practitioner and healer but more usually means the same thing as witch or demon any more. The term 'Brujo' is also used. The idea behind Naguals originally was that they had certain animal totems, which granted them powers and allowed the practitioners to assume animal form - any of a number of different forms. I suppose even hairless coyote would count. So more recently the term includes shapeshifters in general AND the totem power animals as well. The name also has a more positive meaning of protective spirits in animal form. In the case of the reptilian chupacabras, I am not certain as to what the native name of the totem power animal supernatural lizard originally was, but different recent references call it the King Lizard or King Iguana, Dragon or Dragon Lizard, Cipactli and possibly Chan. There is sometimes a confusion with other creatures such as crocodiles: 'Cipactli' originally meant a crocodile and yet there are Mayan depictions of Cipactlis that are more like iguanas. A whole series of pottery design motifs from the Cocle culture of Panama seems to include crocodile designs, iguana designs, intermediate designs and some more unregognisable abstract designs derived from them. In folk art of the modern day, the reptilian sort of chupacabras (originally a 'grave-robber') is often shown as a conventional demon with a long tail tipped by an arrowhead, large claws on all four feet, standing upright, and with fangs and horns on its head.

This is a chart of Cipactli designs showing a variety of crocodilian and iguanid features, public domain. Below is another illustration from the same series, of a Mayan Cipactli. Cipactli is still sometimes used as a reference to some reptillian lake monsters reported from sinkholes, wells and sometimes volcanic crater lakes. Some of the distinctive pre-Columbian sculptures around Lake Nicaragua apparently show similar creatures as human-sized iguana lizards, and there are reports of "monsters" in the lake with a spiny ridge like that on an iguana's back, which sometimes shows above the waterline.

The following is a carcass of a supposed Mexican chupacabras, which is presumably actually some kind of an iguana lizard (specifically genus IGUANA, scale unknown. Provenance unknown, photographer unknown and from one of the cryptozoology discussion boards)

A modern sculpture intended to show an outsized iguana lizard and the photo following it to show the corresponding live lizard. The carving is from Mexico and done as a party decoration, the photograph is from Costa Rica and from a travel brochure.

Costa Rican "Cipactli" -iguana design on a pot, and below, a replica of a precolumbian iguana-effigy pot.

Best Wishes, Dale D. No infringement of any copyrights is intended and and ownership marks on the photographs chose for reference have been left as they were when the photos were found. Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

The Chupacabras An Unknown Creature Or An Extraterrestrial Beast

Written by Nelson C. Rivera (PRUFON)Many ufologists state that the phenomenon known as the Chupacabras is an extraterrestrial beast, while cryptozoologists claim that it may be an unknown, yet to be discovered, terrestrial creature roaming the wooded areas of Puerto Rico and the Americas. Others say that it is just a figment of people's imagination. One thing is certain; the Chupacabras has formed part of Puerto Rican folklore and culture.The first known animals killed by their blood being sucked occurred in the municipality of Moca, Puerto Rico. As early as 1975, in the town of Moca, many farm animals; chicken, rabbits, goats even cows and horses were found with their bodies bled dry through a series of small circular incisions in the throat or neck leaving their carcasses intact without being eaten. At that time the killer was dubbed, "the vampire of Moca" but there was no description of the killer and the name "Chupacabras" was not yet given.In March of 1995, the municipalities of Orocovis and Morovis, in the interior of the island, discovered that their farm animals were being killed in an unconventional manner, and in a different way, wild animals kill their prey. In this attack, eight sheep were discovered dead, each with three puncture wounds in the chest and completely drained of blood. However, when the attacks frequently occurred in the municipality of Can'ovanas, the phenomenon spread rapidly throughout the island and internationally.The first description of the mysterious killer came in September of 1995 by Madeline Tolentino of the town of Can'ovanas and other subsequent witnesses who described the creature as being bi-pedal and hopping like a kangaroo or a rabbit. The descriptions further presented the killer as being a horrendous looking reptile-like creature with a leathery or scaly greenish-gray skin and sharp spines or quills running down its back. It stands approximately 3 to 4 feet (1 to 1.2 m) high, and stands and hops in a similar fashion to a kangaroo. The creature is said to have a dog or panther-like nose and face, a forked tongue, and large fangs. It is described to hiss and screech when alarmed, as well leaving behind a sulfuric stench. When it screeches, some reports assert that the Chupacabra's bulging eyes glow an unusual red, which gives the witnesses nausea.Soon after the first incidents were reported in the press, Puerto Rican comedian and entrepreneur, Silverio P'erez, said jokingly, in a live television program, called the creature "El Chupacabras (the goatsucker)." People took it seriously and the name stuck and popularized internationally. This was in reference to the creature implicated in the attacks with a habit of drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats. Soon, thereafter, Chupacabras sightings were reported in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Peru, Colombia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Brazil, and United States.In the United States, a hairless dog-like creature began attacking livestock in several areas in Texas. This has made people to believe in the U.S. that the Chupacabras is a hairless dog or coyote with mange. No dog sucks blood and leaves the carcass intact without being eaten. No dog leaves puncture wound(s) on its victim's throat or neck draining all the blood. No dog is bi-pedal and hops like a kangaroo. No dog has sharp spines or quills running down its back. It may be wild dogs attacking livestock in Texas, but the situation in Puerto Rico is a lot different.Most ufologists agree that the phenomenon known as the Chupacabras is an extraterrestrial beast. In some cases, it has been seen with the Gray aliens in Puerto Rico and other places in Latin America. Numerous of animal deaths occurred in almost identical circumstances coinciding in the same geographical area with dozens of cases of UFO sightings and other phenomena.The British cryptozoologist, Jonathan Downes, has traveled to Puerto Rico in search for the Chupacabras in the rainforests of the island. He believes that it is a cryptid creature like the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot and not an extraterrestrial. An unknown terrestrial creature hiding in a small heavily populated island, for me it is unlikely. According to Wikipedia the on-line encyclopedia, out of 238 countries in the world, the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico is number 21 in population density, number three in density in the Americas and number two in the United States. Can an unknown creature finally appear in the 1990's without being seen for 500 years of the island's history? If it were an unknown animal, it would have been caught or killed by now.Read more about the Chupacabras on the following:Chupacabras sighting in Puerto RicoA Puerto Rican police officer shoots the Chupacabras