Page 91 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

Mysterious Creatures 71

throat had most certainly not been any kind
of known canine or cat.
Rumors concerning Chupacabra’s origin
began to circulate at a furious pace. From
April to September 2000, the bloodsucker in
Chile slaughtered more than 800 animals,
and both the people and the authorities were
becoming concerned about what kind of
monster was running amuck in their country.
Some witnesses to the bloody rampages of the
creature described it as a large rodent, others
as a mutant kangaroo; still others perceived it
as a winged, apelike vampire. A number of
authorities began to speculate that the Chu-
pacabra-type creatures had been manufac-
tured by some secret government agency, a
bizarre hybrid of various animals, created for
whom knew what purpose. A number of cler-
gymen issued pronouncements stating that
the creatures were heralding the end of the
world. UFO enthusiasts theorized that aliens
brought the monsters to test the planet’s
atmosphere, in order to prepare a mass inva-
sion of Earth. Anthropologists reminded peo-
ple that tales of such mysterious, vampirelike
monsters that sucked the blood out of live-
stock had been common in Central America
for centuries.
A widely popular story spread throughout
Chile that Chilean soldiers had captured a Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufol- Chupacabra. (JOHN
Chupacabra male, female, and cub that had ogy, reported that a specialist of veterinary SIBBICK/FORTEAN
been living in a mine north of Calama. Then, medicine examined the carcass and acknowl- PICTURE LIBRARY)
according to the account, a team of NASA edged that it was an uncommon creature with
scientists arrived in a black helicopter and great eye cavities, smooth batlike skin, big
reclaimed the Chupacabra family. The crea- claws, large teeth, and a crest sticking out
tures, so the story claimed, had escaped from a from the main vertebra. The specialist said
secret NASA facility in the Atacama Desert that the specimen could have been a hybrid
of northern Chile where the U.S. space animal made up of several species, created
agency was attempting to create some kind of through genetic engineering.
hybrid beings that could survive on Mars. However, on September 5, 2000, the offi-

On August 30, 2000, Jorge Luis Talavera, a cial analysis of the corpse by the university
farmer in the jurisdiction of Malpaisillo, medical college was that Talavera had shot a
Nicaragua, had enough of the nocturnal dog. A furious Luis Talavera declared that the
depredations of Chupacabra. The beast had officials had switched carcasses. “This isn’t my
sucked the life from 25 of his sheep and 35 of goatsucker,” he groused as the college returned
his neighbor’s flock, and he lay in wait with the skeleton of a dog for his disposal.
rifle in hand for its return. That night it Today, Chupacabra reports continued
seemed that Talavera accomplished what no unabated from nearly all the South American
other irate farmer or rancher had been able to countries. While the creature remains contro-
do. He shot and killed a Chupacabra. versial and arguments ensue whether it is

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