The now-famous chupacabras first came on the scene, as far as we know, in the summer of 1975 when several farm animals in Puerto Rico were found dead. The bodies had strange puncture-like marks on their necks. The sightings intensified in the 1990s as the chupacabras' appetite seemed to grow. In some cases, farmers reported that literally hundreds of their animals were inexplicably slaughtered. Invariably, the animals were not eaten by any predator, but were horribly mutilated or drained of blood - hence the name, "goatsucker." In 1991, a male dog was found dead, with nothing inside. "It was as if all had been sucked out through the eyes," the report said. "It had empty eye sockets and all the internal organs had disappeared."For a while, the carnage seemed to be confined to the island of Puerto Rico, but toward the end of the 1990s and into the 2000s, sightings began to be reported on other Caribbean islands, in Mexico, Central America, Chile and even the southern U.S. in Florida, Arizona and Texas. In April-June in Chile of 2002, in fact, it was reported that authorities had even captured the chupacabras, which may have been taken away by people representing the U.S. government.
The descriptions of the creature over this time has remained fairly consistent:
* three to five feet tall
* dark gray facial skin
* coarse hair on the body, and several reports said it has a chameleon-like appearance, with the ability to change from purple to brown to yellow
* black eyes, or glowing orange or red eyes
* a wolf-like or canine nose
* sharp fangs
* short forearms with three-fingered claw-like "hands"
* a row of fins, spikes or quills running down the length of its back
* stands on two powerful-looking hind legs and clawed feet
* often hops on the ground, like a kangaroo, rather than walks (at least one witness claimed it could leap as far as 20 feet in one bound)
* some reported bat-like wings that enable the chupacabras to fly
* it makes a hissing noise that often makes witnesses nauseous
The chupacabras phenomenon continues up to this day, with the recent reports of attacks continuing to come out of South American countries, including Chile and Argentina. In many of these cases, chupacabras - although not seen - was blamed for the deaths of chickens and other farm animals that were mutilated and drained of blood.
