Chupacabra

The Chupacabra, also known as the Chupacabras, El Chupacabra or the "goat-sucker," is a creature of American urban legend, ranging all across North and South America.

Description:
Reports of the Chupacabra's appearance vary wildly. In many sightings it is described as dog-like, the size of a small bear, and covered in spines running down its body from the neck to the tail.

Other sightings depict the Chupacabra as a humanoid with large eyes, a scaly body and amphibious features.

Origin:
The first killings attributed to the Chupacabra occurred in March 1995 in Puerto Rico. Eight sheep were reportedly killed via three puncture wounds in the chest and completely drained of blood. A few months later in August of the same year, the reported deaths of around 150 pets and farm animals were attributed to the Chupacabra. It was during this event that the first major eyewitness report by Madelyne Tolentino occurred. All of these killings were attributed to the Chupacabra later on.

The Vampire of Moca:
In 1975, a number of animal killings which would later be attributed to the Chupacabra occurred in the small town of Moca. These killings were originally attributed to El Vampiro de Moca, or The Vampire of Moca. The killings were also blamed on a Satanic cult before the blame finally fell to the Chupacabra.

US Refutation:
In October 2010, Barry O'Connor, a biologist from the University of Michigan, concluded that Chupacabra reports in the US were all simply coyotes infected with the parasite Sarcoptes scabiei, resulting in their strange appearance which caused them to be perceived as Chupacabras.

Tracking the Chupacabra:
Benjamin Radford conducted a five-year investigation on the Chupacabra, which was recorded in his 2011 book Tracking the Chupacabra. He came to the conclusion that the original eyewitness report of the Chupacabra by Madelyne Tolentino was fake, as the description she gave of the creature perfectly matched the alien Sil from the sci-fi horror film Species. He deduced that Madelyne was perceiving the events of the movie in real life, and that the Chupacabra she saw was likely just a normal animal.

Chupacabra in India?:
In October and December 2018, many reports of a suspected Chupacabra occurred in Manipur, India as domestic animals and poultry were being killed. Many people claimed to have seen the Chupacabra, but authorities stated that feral street dogs were likely the culprits of the animal killings.