Chupacabras: the mystery is why there is a mystery at all…

For over thirteen years, Unknown Country has been researching and bringing you news on the subject of the mysterious chupacabra, an anomalous creature which has been witnessed across all South America, Puerto Rico and some parts of the US including California, Maryland, Texas and Utah.

‘Chupacabra’ is a Spanish word which means literally ‘to suck goat’; the creature is known as the ‘goat sucker’ due to the fact that it is reputed to kill by piercing the skin of its prey – usually sheep or goats – and draining their blood. From the puncture wounds found on the exsanguinated carcasses of its victims, it appears that the chupacabra actually possesses vampire-style ‘fangs’.

The mythical creature is part of Latin American folklore, but in reality, credible evidence to support its existence is overwhelming, with countless first-hand eye-witness accounts, along with video footage and even the remains of dead chupacabras submitted for examination.

In one such case recently, a hunter in Leake County killed a mysterious, hairless animal whilst out hunting for racoons. The incident occurred in Pigstown, a small village near Lena, Mississippi., and the hunter, Matt Hewharrell, explained how he thought that the creature was about to attack him, and how he saw its ‘red, glowing eyes’ in a pile of hay, before the beast began to move in to attack him.

"I was seeing the teeth and red eyes. It looked like he was going to jump down and I didn’t give him the chance," Hewharrell said.

He took the body to show his neighbour, Wayne Thompson, who had already been advised by another local that a strange animal had been seen sniffing around chicken sheds in the area a few days previously. The carcass appeared to be that of the same hairless creature, described by the witness as ‘running funny’ due to its rear end appearing to stand much higher than its front.

The description given by the Lena witnesses is very similar to that of the ‘Elmendorf Beast’, a strange hairless coyote-like animal found dead in Elmendorf, Texas, which has featured in previous Unknown Country stories. The Elmendorf Beast is different in appearance to the original descriptions of the original chupacabras back in the 1990s; those beasts were described as bipedal, spiky-backed and sometimes as having wings or a beak.

DNA analysis of the remains of the Beast, organized by Whitley Strieber, resulted in conflicting results, with one biologist stating that the remains were ‘unidentifiable’, and another concluding that it was a coyote with sarcoptic mange and a bone structure deformed by some kind of disease.If this was the case, then there must have been an epidemic of the same disease, as the creatures were seen running in packs. Eye-witnesses who saw them alive at very close range reported that the beasts were totally different to coyotes, in the way they looked and also in the way that they ran and moved.

Despite this, the standard response to any sighting or remains that are put forward to the authorities is that these are ‘coyotes with mange and bone deformities’, though it is not made clear what type of disease could cause reconfiguration of the skull, the hind quarters, and don’t forget those glowing red eyes. True to form in the Lena case, The Mississippi Department of Wildlife and Fisheries reported that the chupacabra was "a coyote with mange".
The eye-witnesses in that case were experienced hunters, certainly capable of identifying a coyote at such close range, even with mange, and they remain unconvinced that this is the explanation for their find.

"I told him there ain’t no way because, look at it," said Hewharrell. "My dog, even when it’s dead, my dog’s been scared of it".

There is also no explanation given for the ‘goat-sucker’s’ victims and their bloodless bodies, which have sometimes been found in multiples of up to 35 at a time as though a pack of creatures had gone on a midnight killing spree.

We are still no further forward with a definitive identification for these weird animals, yet the sightings just keep on coming… You can, however, count on Unknowncountry.com to keep reporting the sightings as we get them, so why not subscribe today and make sure you’re among the first to know.