- [Narrator] One of the most modern urban legends
is the ferocious el chupacabra.
One part vampire, two parts rabid beast, people all across
the Americas have claimed to have seen it.
Yet no one has ever managed to catch or kill it.
So, is there any actual evidence that el chupacabra is real?
Or is it nothing more than a silly hoax?
Lets find out on today's episode of
Colossal Mysteries.
According to the legend, the mysterious monster called
el chupacabra is a blood thirsty creature found mostly in
Puerto Rico but sightings have been reported as far south
as Chile and as far north as Maine.
Descriptions of this devil differ depending on who you
ask but a few key features are usually mentioned.
A large, reptile like creature with greenish gray skin,
about the size of a small bear and sporting a terrible row
of razor sharp spines that stretch from it's neck all the
way down to it's tail.
They supposedly stand on two legs, moving around like some
kind of creepy kangaroo.
Though other depictions of el chupacabra describe the
monster as an unknown menacing breed of wild dog,
hairless with a spine that sticks out.
Claws and fangs and extra large eyes.
But no matter the look, the creature's monstrous method
is always the same.
You see, el chupacabra got it's name from mashing two
Spanish words together, chupa
and cabra,
which when put together roughly translate to goat sucker.
Why such a worrisome name?
Well legend has it that el chupacabra loves to bite farm
animals on the neck and suck all the blood from them like
a viscous vampire.
Goats they say, are their prey of choice.
It's an uncanny urban legend to be sure, but is there any
chance this blood thirsty beast could indeed exist?
Or is it nothing more than a horrible hoax?
Well according to experts, there's no compelling evidence
that el chupacabra is real.
But they don't believe it's a hoax either.
You see, the memories of el chupacabra are most likely
taken from a science fiction movie.
Here's how.
A researcher named Benjamin Radford worked his way through
each and every eyewitness account of el chupacabra
which led him to the original drawing made from the first
ever description.
Radford noticed that the sketch of el chupacabra looked
an awful lot like the creature from a science fiction film
from the same year called Species.
He reached out to the woman who'd given the first
description and asked if she had in fact, seen the film.
She had, just weeks before seeing el chupacabra.
So this whole monster mystery according to Radford,
can be chalked up to a classic case of someone confusing
what was real with what was fictional.
Okay so that explains why people thought they saw
el chupacabra but it still leaves one big mystery.
What attacked all those animals?
Researchers are fairly confident that most if not all cases
of el chupacabra attacks were actually wild dogs or
coyotes with severe cases of mange.
Mange is a parasite that causes certain animals to lose
hair, develop thick ugly skin, smell awful
and even become extra aggressive.
Wild animals with mange have an extra hard time hunting
and can resort to killing defenseless animals trapped in
pens when they're desperate.
So is el chupacabra real?
No, but dangerous, infected animals certainly are.
So having a little Hollywood imagination in the woods
at night might not be the worst idea.