El Chupacabra

El Chupacabra is an extremely new figure in North American folklore. The creature is about the size of a dog, and either on all fours like one or standing on its back two legs. In some stories it has fur and in others, it's covered in scales. The ridges of its spine protrude from its back in sharp spindly points. Perhaps its eeriest characteristic is its red glowing eyes and sharp pointed teeth. 

The name, Chupacabra, comes from the Spanish language meaning "goat sucker". This translation encaptures the demonic presence that is equated with the beast. Much like a vampire the Chupacabra uses its teeth to suck the blood from farm animals. The first sighting of the creature would happen in the late 1970s in Puerto Rico and then spread into Latin America and the Southern United States. [1]

In the mid-1975s, fields of livestock in Puerto Rico were found dead with no clear reason for the widespread carnage. It is in light of this that El Chupacabra began. Though no one had seen the beast rumours of a vampire began. The first sighting of the creature wasn't until 1995 when Madelyne Tolentino saw the beast outside her house. Tolentino drew what she had seen and shared her story and her creation. The image was shared on a popular Spanish talk show called "El Show de Cristina", on this TV show her drawing was called el Chupacabra. Tolentino's drawing of the creature was more alien-looking than the dog-like creature that has become more popular. Since the first sighting in 1995, more and more people have had encounters with the creature. Sightings have expanded past the island of Puerto Rico and into Latin America and the southern states. It is with these new sightings the beast takes on its more dog-like form many people are familiar with. [2]

Not always described as a land creature el Chupacabra is sometimes seen as an alien. Puerto Rico had been historically tied to space exploration and extraterrestrials. In the 1960s, Cornell University constructed the Arecibo Observatory and radio telescope on the island. November 16th, 1974, the Observatory released the Arecibo message into space. The message was the first attempt to contact life beyond Earth through direct messages. This would only happen months before the events in the field at Moca. Aliens would become a possible theory as to why the livestock had died so mysteriously. [3]

The connections to aliens would only be furthered by Madelyne Tolentino herself. The drawing of the Chupacabra by Tolentio looked strikingly like an alien in pop culture. On July 7th, 1975, the movie "Species" by Roger Donaldson premiered in theatres. The movie followed an alien made by H.R. Giger, who like the Chupacabra, had large spikes coming from its back. Tolentino admitted that she had seen the movie but swears what she saw was the truth. But as this similarity exists, her account of the creature was widely denounced. [4] Rumours of the blood-sucking demon had spread, and the Chupacabra had become a permanent character in Latinx folklore.