http://www.mania.com/lair-beasts-apeman-sumatra_article_131611.html A Monstrous Book
Nick Redfern
November 19, 2011
Just published by Britain’s CFZ Press is a brand new book from Richard Freeman, of the Center for Fortean Zoology, one of the very few full time groups in the world dedicated to uncovering the truth behind Bigfoot, the Yeti, sea-serpents, the Chupacabra, and much more of a beastly nature.
Over the course of the last few years, Richard has been on a number of expeditions to the island of Sumatra in search of its very own equivalent of Sasquatch: It has become known as the Orang-Pendek.
And, having collected an absolute mass of very impressive reports, credible on the record testimony, numerous stories, and taken hundreds of photographs, Freeman has now gone ahead and published his many and varied findings in his latest book, which is titled: Orang-Pendek: Sumatra’s Forgotten Ape.
Richard says of his quest to find the answers behind the legendary mystery: “We are impressed by big things; dinosaurs, whales, rhinos, super-tankers, skyscrapers. Mention mystery apes to the man in the street and he will imagine bipedal hairy giants, 10 feet tall. Indeed most reports of such things speak of massive animals; the Yeti, the Yeren, the Sasquatch, and the Yowie.”
He continues: “But for every Bigfoot there is a Littlefoot. Stories of little hairy men are widespread - but none are as famous as Sumatra’s Orang-Pendek.”
As for the specific nature of the Orang-Pendek, here’s what Freeman has to say: “Orang-Pendek means ‘short man’ in Indonesian. The creature is said to be powerfully built and immensely strong but relatively short at around 4½ to 5ft in height. It walks upright like a man and rarely, if ever, moves on all fours.”
And as Richard has come to learn during the course of his various expeditions, the Orang-Pendek is “…generally said to have dark brown or black fur but honey colored or reddish hair has been reported. Sometimes a long mane of hair that falls down to the shoulders is also mentioned. The Orang-Pendek generally seems to be a solitary creature, though there are rare reports of groups of them being seen together.”
CFZ Press note of Richard Freeman’s Orang-Pendek: Sumatra’s Forgotten Ape that: “This book looks at the history of sightings of the Orang-Pendek; similar creatures across the world; has in-depth accounts of the author’s four CFZ expeditions in search of the creature; and finally analyses the evidence to produce a cogent theory as to what the elusive short man of the forest might actually be.”
The editor and director of the CFZ, Jonathan Downes says of Freeman’s work that: “It is a tour de force by Richard Freeman, one of the most popular cryptozoology authors on the planet and the author of Dragons: More than a Myth and The Great Yokai Encyclopaedia - The A-Z of Japanese Monsters.
And if all of that has caught your attention - and you’re interested in learning much more about a mysterious ape that isn’t Bigfoot or the Abominable Snowman - then I most definitely recommend you get hold of a copy of Freeman’s Orang-Pendek: Sumatra’s Forgotten Ape at the earliest opportunity.
Written skillfully, and in an entertaining fashion, by someone who knows his way around the island of Sumatra, who has extensively searched for the animal, and who has some amazing stories, data, and witness testimony to share, the book is likely to become one of the most important, new cryptozoological-themed books in a very long time. I don’t exaggerate!
Nick Redfern’s new book, Keep Out, is published by New Page Books in December
Showing posts with label Chupacabra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chupacabra. Show all posts
Friday, December 2, 2011
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Chicken deaths spark talk of Chupacabras
Chicken deaths near Horizon City spark talk of Chupacabras
By Jay Koester / El Paso Times
01/13/2010
HORIZON CITY -- The legend may be back, just as mysterious and dark, to stalk the unsuspecting.
Until last weekend, Cesar Garcia and brother-in-law Juan Miranda saw their life near Horizon City as secluded and peaceful.
They moved to the area from Chicago three years ago, but have suddenly been beset by strange and unexplained occurrences.
Their rabbits went into hiding, their cat spent the weekend on the roof of their house, their roosters didn't crow, and their dogs didn't bark.
And at least 30 of their chickens were killed by an unknown interloper.
The brothers are hesitant to say what they think spooked their animals or killed their chickens.
But when pressed, they said it: El Chupacabras.
The legend of El Chupacabras has been part of border folklore since stories of the creature's existence in Puerto Rico emerged in the early '90s. The creature has rarely, if ever, been seen, but it leaves dead animals behind. Its name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats.
But El Chupacabras is very real to Cesar Garcia, who came out of his house Saturday morning and found 20 dead chickens.
"I saw the chickens were dead, but there was no blood around the sheet metal" in the coop, Garcia said. "All of them were just dead in one big pile. But, really, I don't know what it was because there was no blood.
"If it had been a dog, there would have been blood everywhere because a dog tears them apart."
Garcia was puzzled by the wounds on some of the chickens, which he described as "two pokes."
"We looked it up on the Internet -- the Chupacabras," he said.
On Sunday morning, Garcia's brother-in-law, Miranda, found 10 more dead chickens in a different coop. Sheriff's deputies responded both mornings to investigate, Miranda said. El Paso County sheriff's spokeswoman Chris Acosta confirmed that deputies went to the house in the 15600 block of Slippery Rock.
Miranda said he could not figure out why the family's three dogs did not bark either night. "Nobody heard anything. Nobody saw anything," he said.
Miranda said whatever got the chickens left tracks that included a paw and a heel, and looked like Chupacabras tracks they found on the Internet. "We followed them all the way past the trailer over there, then over the fence. We walked about four blocks and then the footprints vanished."
Henry Flores, director of the Paso Del Norte Paranormal Society, said his group in the past has searched for El Chupacabras in far Northeast El Paso and in Chaparral. The group may now expand the search to the Horizon City area.
"Chupacabras ranks right up there as one of the creatures that has supposedly been seen," Flores said. "It's something we want to try to hunt down when we get a chance."
On their past hunts, Flores said, the group has never glimpsed El Chupacabras, but has found fresh carcasses drained of blood.
"We do see some trails of remains that we think could be the Chupacabras, but we just don't know," he said.
Tony Zavaleta, a professor of anthropology at the University of Texas-Brownsville and an expert in border folklore, said the story of El Chupacabras is kept alive by Spanish-speaking media.
"The Chupacabra is a mythical creature," Zavaleta said. "I reserve the right to say that until someone produces one."
Zavaleta said belief in El Chupacabras has become something of a game to people. Belief is widespread in Latin America and the American Southwest because any mention of the creature quickly gets picked up in the Spanish-speaking media and feeds the craze.
"I don't like to use the word 'hysteria,' but I'll use it with a small 'h.' " Zavaleta said. "Usually, the stories start when a small mammal is killed by a possum, coyote, mountain lion or something. Suddenly, people create an association with the Chupacabras."
The Chupacabras craze was biggest in El Paso in 1995, when T-shirts with images of the goat-sucker, based on "witness accounts," were hot items.
Chupacabras stories made the rounds in El Paso-Juárez that year, but one story stood out. A woman in the Juárez area told reporters that she was bitten by the creature on her neck. Her claim was debunked later as a ploy to divert attention from a lover's hickey and her supposed marital infidelity.
El Chupacabras even stumped TV FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in a 1997 episode of the "X-Files" that starred Ruben Blades.
But Garcia was left to wonder whether his trouble is over and whether it could have been worse: Until three weeks ago, there was still a herd of goats -- allegedly El Chupacabras' favorite food -- on his property.
"Now I'm left with no chickens. Thirty chickens -- gone," Garcia said. "Imagine if we still had the goats."
Jay Koester may be reached at jkoester@elpasotimes.com; 546-6130.
Chupacabras details
"Chupacabras" literally means "goat sucker," but the creature is purported to attack much more than goats, including chickens, birds, dogs, horses and sheep. Some theories of what the Chupacabras may be include a prehistoric dinosaur animal, a top-secret genetic manipulation project gone awry, a demon or a UFO experiment.
Though reports of the Chupacabras' physiology vary, many say that the creature has glowing red eyes, is about 3 to 4 feet in stature, and has small, membrane-like wings.
Mutilated animals that are reported as victims of the Chupacabras are usually reported to be missing their blood and to have two puncture wounds to the neck.
The Chupacabras was first reported in Puerto Rico in the early 1990s.
Soon after the reports in Puerto Rico, strange animal deaths and Chupacabras sightings began to be reported in the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, the U.S. and Mexico.
A New Mexico man kicking through the dirt of the West Mesa found the small cadaver of what appeared to be a Chupacabras. He put the specimen in a box, and took it with him to his construction job sites to scare and amuse colleagues, until the creature was finally identified as a type of ocean skate.
The UNAN (National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, Leon) holds the skeletal remains of a supposed Chupacabras cadaver submitted for analysis. The UNAN determined that the cadaver was that of a common dog.
Source: National Geographic
By Jay Koester / El Paso Times
01/13/2010
HORIZON CITY -- The legend may be back, just as mysterious and dark, to stalk the unsuspecting.
Until last weekend, Cesar Garcia and brother-in-law Juan Miranda saw their life near Horizon City as secluded and peaceful.
They moved to the area from Chicago three years ago, but have suddenly been beset by strange and unexplained occurrences.
Their rabbits went into hiding, their cat spent the weekend on the roof of their house, their roosters didn't crow, and their dogs didn't bark.
And at least 30 of their chickens were killed by an unknown interloper.
The brothers are hesitant to say what they think spooked their animals or killed their chickens.
But when pressed, they said it: El Chupacabras.
The legend of El Chupacabras has been part of border folklore since stories of the creature's existence in Puerto Rico emerged in the early '90s. The creature has rarely, if ever, been seen, but it leaves dead animals behind. Its name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats.
But El Chupacabras is very real to Cesar Garcia, who came out of his house Saturday morning and found 20 dead chickens.
"I saw the chickens were dead, but there was no blood around the sheet metal" in the coop, Garcia said. "All of them were just dead in one big pile. But, really, I don't know what it was because there was no blood.
"If it had been a dog, there would have been blood everywhere because a dog tears them apart."
Garcia was puzzled by the wounds on some of the chickens, which he described as "two pokes."
"We looked it up on the Internet -- the Chupacabras," he said.
On Sunday morning, Garcia's brother-in-law, Miranda, found 10 more dead chickens in a different coop. Sheriff's deputies responded both mornings to investigate, Miranda said. El Paso County sheriff's spokeswoman Chris Acosta confirmed that deputies went to the house in the 15600 block of Slippery Rock.
Miranda said he could not figure out why the family's three dogs did not bark either night. "Nobody heard anything. Nobody saw anything," he said.
Miranda said whatever got the chickens left tracks that included a paw and a heel, and looked like Chupacabras tracks they found on the Internet. "We followed them all the way past the trailer over there, then over the fence. We walked about four blocks and then the footprints vanished."
Henry Flores, director of the Paso Del Norte Paranormal Society, said his group in the past has searched for El Chupacabras in far Northeast El Paso and in Chaparral. The group may now expand the search to the Horizon City area.
"Chupacabras ranks right up there as one of the creatures that has supposedly been seen," Flores said. "It's something we want to try to hunt down when we get a chance."
On their past hunts, Flores said, the group has never glimpsed El Chupacabras, but has found fresh carcasses drained of blood.
"We do see some trails of remains that we think could be the Chupacabras, but we just don't know," he said.
Tony Zavaleta, a professor of anthropology at the University of Texas-Brownsville and an expert in border folklore, said the story of El Chupacabras is kept alive by Spanish-speaking media.
"The Chupacabra is a mythical creature," Zavaleta said. "I reserve the right to say that until someone produces one."
Zavaleta said belief in El Chupacabras has become something of a game to people. Belief is widespread in Latin America and the American Southwest because any mention of the creature quickly gets picked up in the Spanish-speaking media and feeds the craze.
"I don't like to use the word 'hysteria,' but I'll use it with a small 'h.' " Zavaleta said. "Usually, the stories start when a small mammal is killed by a possum, coyote, mountain lion or something. Suddenly, people create an association with the Chupacabras."
The Chupacabras craze was biggest in El Paso in 1995, when T-shirts with images of the goat-sucker, based on "witness accounts," were hot items.
Chupacabras stories made the rounds in El Paso-Juárez that year, but one story stood out. A woman in the Juárez area told reporters that she was bitten by the creature on her neck. Her claim was debunked later as a ploy to divert attention from a lover's hickey and her supposed marital infidelity.
El Chupacabras even stumped TV FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in a 1997 episode of the "X-Files" that starred Ruben Blades.
But Garcia was left to wonder whether his trouble is over and whether it could have been worse: Until three weeks ago, there was still a herd of goats -- allegedly El Chupacabras' favorite food -- on his property.
"Now I'm left with no chickens. Thirty chickens -- gone," Garcia said. "Imagine if we still had the goats."
Jay Koester may be reached at jkoester@elpasotimes.com; 546-6130.
Chupacabras details
"Chupacabras" literally means "goat sucker," but the creature is purported to attack much more than goats, including chickens, birds, dogs, horses and sheep. Some theories of what the Chupacabras may be include a prehistoric dinosaur animal, a top-secret genetic manipulation project gone awry, a demon or a UFO experiment.
Though reports of the Chupacabras' physiology vary, many say that the creature has glowing red eyes, is about 3 to 4 feet in stature, and has small, membrane-like wings.
Mutilated animals that are reported as victims of the Chupacabras are usually reported to be missing their blood and to have two puncture wounds to the neck.
The Chupacabras was first reported in Puerto Rico in the early 1990s.
Soon after the reports in Puerto Rico, strange animal deaths and Chupacabras sightings began to be reported in the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, the U.S. and Mexico.
A New Mexico man kicking through the dirt of the West Mesa found the small cadaver of what appeared to be a Chupacabras. He put the specimen in a box, and took it with him to his construction job sites to scare and amuse colleagues, until the creature was finally identified as a type of ocean skate.
The UNAN (National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, Leon) holds the skeletal remains of a supposed Chupacabras cadaver submitted for analysis. The UNAN determined that the cadaver was that of a common dog.
Source: National Geographic
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The Chupacabra Caught?
http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/92971
The Chupacabra Caught?
by Mike Krumboltz
9-2-9
It really does exist! Maybe! The famed chupacabra has apparently been found, and it's a Texan.
Or at least it was. The beast is now dead, but news of its capture near Blanco, Texas, inspired Bigfoot-sized searches. Lookups on "chupacabra" surged a whopping 571%, and related queries on "what does chupacabra mean" also roared. (For the record, its rough translation is "goat sucker.") The find also inspired renewed interest in the equally notorious Montauk Monster.
Jerry Ayer, owner of Blanco Taxidermy School, has possession of the mythical beast's body. According to CNN, the animal was discovered by one of Ayer's students. The student had "placed poison...to catch an unidentified animal that had gotten into a family member's barn." Little did the student know the animal in question was (maybe) the chupacabra.
In the video from CNN (which is pretty gross, so beware), Ayer shows off some of the unusual features of the animal, including abnormally long legs and teeth. It looks a bit like the world's ugliest (and meanest) dog.
Of course, this is hardly the first time someone has claimed to have captured the chupacabra. In years past, brave souls have spotted it in places ranging from Russia to Maine to the Philippines. Often the animal is spotted by folks who conveniently forget to snap a photo.
Not so this time. Ayer says he plans to preserve the animal and then donate it to a local museum so it can be enjoyed by others. As the taxidermist puts it, the beast is "a tremendous conversation piece." Sort of like the Mona Lisa or a really stellar collection of garden gnomes.
The Chupacabra Caught?
by Mike Krumboltz
9-2-9
It really does exist! Maybe! The famed chupacabra has apparently been found, and it's a Texan.
Or at least it was. The beast is now dead, but news of its capture near Blanco, Texas, inspired Bigfoot-sized searches. Lookups on "chupacabra" surged a whopping 571%, and related queries on "what does chupacabra mean" also roared. (For the record, its rough translation is "goat sucker.") The find also inspired renewed interest in the equally notorious Montauk Monster.
Jerry Ayer, owner of Blanco Taxidermy School, has possession of the mythical beast's body. According to CNN, the animal was discovered by one of Ayer's students. The student had "placed poison...to catch an unidentified animal that had gotten into a family member's barn." Little did the student know the animal in question was (maybe) the chupacabra.
In the video from CNN (which is pretty gross, so beware), Ayer shows off some of the unusual features of the animal, including abnormally long legs and teeth. It looks a bit like the world's ugliest (and meanest) dog.
Of course, this is hardly the first time someone has claimed to have captured the chupacabra. In years past, brave souls have spotted it in places ranging from Russia to Maine to the Philippines. Often the animal is spotted by folks who conveniently forget to snap a photo.
Not so this time. Ayer says he plans to preserve the animal and then donate it to a local museum so it can be enjoyed by others. As the taxidermist puts it, the beast is "a tremendous conversation piece." Sort of like the Mona Lisa or a really stellar collection of garden gnomes.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Bigfoot and chupacabra double feature
http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2008/08/bigfoot-and-chupacabra-found-c.html
Bigfoot and chupacabra double feature
Wednesday August 13, 2008
posted by Rod Drehe
Woo, it's a great week for cryptozoologists. Not only has a south Texas sheriff's deputy filmed the dreaded chupacabra with his dashboard cam, but a couple of likely suspects in Georgia (Boss Hogg's Georgia, not Saakashvili's) claim to have found a Bigfoot body. You can see the alleged Bigfoot photos here (handsome devil, he is). They say they're having it independently analyzed, and will present the results at a Friday press conference in California. If these boys really are onto something, they'd do well to hire a press agent, because this goofball press release doesn't do much for their credibility. Still, we might know on Friday.
Belief in Bigfoot is not altogether crazy, though skepticism is of course in order. From Michael Shermer in Scientific American:
The reason cryptids merit our attention is that enough successful discoveries have been made by scientists based on local anecdotes and folklore that we cannot dismiss all claims a priori. The most famous examples include the gorilla in 1847 (and the mountain gorilla in 1902), the giant panda in 1869, the okapi (a short-necked relative of the giraffe) in 1901, the Komodo dragon in 1912, the bonobo (or pygmy chimpanzee) in 1929, the megamouth shark in 1976 and the giant gecko in 1984. Cryptozoologists are especially proud of the catch in 1938 of a coelacanth, an archaic-looking species of fish that had been thought to have gone extinct in the Cretaceous.
Although discoveries of previously unrecorded species of bugs and bacteria are routinely published in the annals of biology, these instances are startling because of their recency, size, and similarity to cryptid cousins Bigfoot, Nessie, et al. They also have in common--a body! In order to name a new species, one must have a type specimen--a holotype--from which a detailed description can be made, photographs taken, models cast and a professional scientific analysis prepared.
If such cryptids still survived in the hinterlands of North America and Asia, surely by now one would have turned up. So far all we have are the accounts. Anecdotes are a good place to begin an investigation--which by themselves cannot verify a new species. In fact, in the words of social scientist Frank J. Sulloway of the University of California at Berkeley--words that should be elevated to a maxim: "Anecdotes do not make a science. Ten anecdotes are no better than one, and a hundred anecdotes are no better than ten."
Scientific American also profiled a Bigfoot researcher (not the good ol' boys who claim to have rustled up a Sasquatch carcass).
When I was a kid growing up in the country, I used to scare myself silly reading Bigfoot books. No kidding, I still get chills thinking about it (commercials for the 1972 B-movie "The Legend of Boggy Creek" rocked my first-grade world; a mere description of this scene made me afraid to go to the bathroom after sundown; you can imagine how that worked out). I hope this Bigfoot is real, so we can find them all and kill 'em daid before they git us.
Bigfoot and chupacabra double feature
Wednesday August 13, 2008
posted by Rod Drehe
Woo, it's a great week for cryptozoologists. Not only has a south Texas sheriff's deputy filmed the dreaded chupacabra with his dashboard cam, but a couple of likely suspects in Georgia (Boss Hogg's Georgia, not Saakashvili's) claim to have found a Bigfoot body. You can see the alleged Bigfoot photos here (handsome devil, he is). They say they're having it independently analyzed, and will present the results at a Friday press conference in California. If these boys really are onto something, they'd do well to hire a press agent, because this goofball press release doesn't do much for their credibility. Still, we might know on Friday.
Belief in Bigfoot is not altogether crazy, though skepticism is of course in order. From Michael Shermer in Scientific American:
The reason cryptids merit our attention is that enough successful discoveries have been made by scientists based on local anecdotes and folklore that we cannot dismiss all claims a priori. The most famous examples include the gorilla in 1847 (and the mountain gorilla in 1902), the giant panda in 1869, the okapi (a short-necked relative of the giraffe) in 1901, the Komodo dragon in 1912, the bonobo (or pygmy chimpanzee) in 1929, the megamouth shark in 1976 and the giant gecko in 1984. Cryptozoologists are especially proud of the catch in 1938 of a coelacanth, an archaic-looking species of fish that had been thought to have gone extinct in the Cretaceous.
Although discoveries of previously unrecorded species of bugs and bacteria are routinely published in the annals of biology, these instances are startling because of their recency, size, and similarity to cryptid cousins Bigfoot, Nessie, et al. They also have in common--a body! In order to name a new species, one must have a type specimen--a holotype--from which a detailed description can be made, photographs taken, models cast and a professional scientific analysis prepared.
If such cryptids still survived in the hinterlands of North America and Asia, surely by now one would have turned up. So far all we have are the accounts. Anecdotes are a good place to begin an investigation--which by themselves cannot verify a new species. In fact, in the words of social scientist Frank J. Sulloway of the University of California at Berkeley--words that should be elevated to a maxim: "Anecdotes do not make a science. Ten anecdotes are no better than one, and a hundred anecdotes are no better than ten."
Scientific American also profiled a Bigfoot researcher (not the good ol' boys who claim to have rustled up a Sasquatch carcass).
When I was a kid growing up in the country, I used to scare myself silly reading Bigfoot books. No kidding, I still get chills thinking about it (commercials for the 1972 B-movie "The Legend of Boggy Creek" rocked my first-grade world; a mere description of this scene made me afraid to go to the bathroom after sundown; you can imagine how that worked out). I hope this Bigfoot is real, so we can find them all and kill 'em daid before they git us.
An X-Files Invention or an Unidentified Mammal?
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/949849/the_chupacabra_an_xfiles_invention.html
The Chupacabra: An X-Files Invention or an Unidentified Mammal?
Texas Deputy Catches Chupacabra on Tape
By By Angie Mohr, published Aug 12, 2008
Dewitt County Sherriff's Office's deputy Corporal Brandol Riedel caught images on his cruiser's dash cam on August 8 of what he believes to be a real live chupacabra. What makes this chupacabra sighting different than others in the southern United States and Mexico is that Riedel committed the creature to tape in full daylight. The tape, lasting less than a minute, shows an animal, supposedly a chupacabra, loping down the road away from the squad car. The animal is dark-skinned and hairless. Its front legs appear slightly shorter than its hind legs, giving the creature a stilted and awkward gait. But it is when the animal turns its head in profile that you realize you are not seeing a run-of-the-mill dog. The animal's snout is longer than a normal dog's snout, giving it an out-of-proportion appearance.
The chupacabra (a Spanish name that roughly translates into "goat sucker") became an almost mythical creature in 1995 when the first attacks on farm animals were discovered in Puerto Rico. The first documented attack left eight sheep dead and exsanguinated (drained of blood), a feat not possible by dogs or coyotes. Since then, many other instances of farm animal or poultry death have been attributed to the chupacabra, who has taken on mystical and dangerous properties in common lore.
In August of 2007, three unidentified animals were found dead by Phylis Canion in Cuero, Texas. She photographed one of them before turning the animals over to the Texas State University for testing. DNA testing showed that the animals were most likely coyotes with extreme cases of mange. Riedel's chupacabra bears a significant visual resemblance to the 2007 case.
The re-emergence of the chupacabra tale coincides with the discovery of the "Montauk Monster" on a beach at the eastern end of Long Island last week. The Montauk Monster is also a hairless animal with features that are somewhat doglike but also resemble a reptile.
What are these creatures? Undiscovered species? Alien migrants? The answer is likely more mundane yet more frightening than that. Here in Georgia, loggerhead turtles show up on the beaches with no natural shell. Pigs living in isolation on a nearby barrier island have developed physical characteristics unknown to other pigs. The answer is likely that the impact we, as humans, are having on the earth is causing genetic mutations in wild species. All animals, including humans, attempt to adapt to climate change in an effort to continue the species. Perhaps the chupacabra is simply an adaptation of an animal just trying to get by. Eventually, science will know the answer, but, until then, people will continue to speculate about scary monsters.
Sources:
http://www.local10.com/news/17168183/detail.html
The Chupacabra: An X-Files Invention or an Unidentified Mammal?
Texas Deputy Catches Chupacabra on Tape
By By Angie Mohr, published Aug 12, 2008
Dewitt County Sherriff's Office's deputy Corporal Brandol Riedel caught images on his cruiser's dash cam on August 8 of what he believes to be a real live chupacabra. What makes this chupacabra sighting different than others in the southern United States and Mexico is that Riedel committed the creature to tape in full daylight. The tape, lasting less than a minute, shows an animal, supposedly a chupacabra, loping down the road away from the squad car. The animal is dark-skinned and hairless. Its front legs appear slightly shorter than its hind legs, giving the creature a stilted and awkward gait. But it is when the animal turns its head in profile that you realize you are not seeing a run-of-the-mill dog. The animal's snout is longer than a normal dog's snout, giving it an out-of-proportion appearance.
The chupacabra (a Spanish name that roughly translates into "goat sucker") became an almost mythical creature in 1995 when the first attacks on farm animals were discovered in Puerto Rico. The first documented attack left eight sheep dead and exsanguinated (drained of blood), a feat not possible by dogs or coyotes. Since then, many other instances of farm animal or poultry death have been attributed to the chupacabra, who has taken on mystical and dangerous properties in common lore.
In August of 2007, three unidentified animals were found dead by Phylis Canion in Cuero, Texas. She photographed one of them before turning the animals over to the Texas State University for testing. DNA testing showed that the animals were most likely coyotes with extreme cases of mange. Riedel's chupacabra bears a significant visual resemblance to the 2007 case.
The re-emergence of the chupacabra tale coincides with the discovery of the "Montauk Monster" on a beach at the eastern end of Long Island last week. The Montauk Monster is also a hairless animal with features that are somewhat doglike but also resemble a reptile.
What are these creatures? Undiscovered species? Alien migrants? The answer is likely more mundane yet more frightening than that. Here in Georgia, loggerhead turtles show up on the beaches with no natural shell. Pigs living in isolation on a nearby barrier island have developed physical characteristics unknown to other pigs. The answer is likely that the impact we, as humans, are having on the earth is causing genetic mutations in wild species. All animals, including humans, attempt to adapt to climate change in an effort to continue the species. Perhaps the chupacabra is simply an adaptation of an animal just trying to get by. Eventually, science will know the answer, but, until then, people will continue to speculate about scary monsters.
Sources:
http://www.local10.com/news/17168183/detail.html
Vampire hound caught on film?
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1554118.ece
Vampire hound caught on film?
By VIRGINIA WHEELER
Published: 13 Aug 2008
TWO US sheriffs have captured footage which appears to show the mythical Chupacabra – a ‘Vampire Dog’ that feasts on the blood of goats.
The cops chased and filmed the beast after catching a glimpse of its strange elongated nose and fangs – unlike any coyote or dog they had seen before.
Patrollers Ellie Carter and Sheriff Brandon Riedel filmed the animal – which has Bigfoot-style status in America – in Cuero, near Nordheim, Texas, last week.
Miss Carter yesterday said: “We were checking fences in Cuero when this, this - thing - just jumps out at us.
“I shouted: ‘It’s a Chupacabra’. I recognised it instantly from a programme about them in a History Channel episode of MonsterQuest.
“It had big teeth, a big head, short legs in front and long legs in back.
“I was raised on a ranch and I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Fangs
Sheriff Riedel added: “It sure didn’t look like any dog I’d ever seen.”
The Sun reported on a possible sighting of Chupacabra in Cuero, Texas last year.
Scientists carried out tests on a terrifying creature that died near a farm – after sucking the blood of hundreds of chickens and goats.
Farm owner Phylis Canion said at the time: “My land is littered with the corpses of bloodless animals, untouched except for two fang marks.
“Dozens of chickens were sucked dry - it’s eerie.
“I’ve seen a lot of nasty stuff in my life - but nothing like this.”
Although the tests were inconclusive, many scientists believe that the Texas ‘Chupacabras’ are hybrids of coyotes which have bred with Mexican gray wolves.
Mrs Canion – who has now collated records of hundreds of sightings of the beasts – yesterday said: “There’s something very strange going on with these animals and we better find out what it is very quickly.”
Chupacabras are mythical hairless beasts that originate from the Spanish legend of El Chupacabras – a ‘devil’ dog that sucks goat blood.
They also featured in TV Sci-fi drama the X-Files.
Vampire hound caught on film?
By VIRGINIA WHEELER
Published: 13 Aug 2008
TWO US sheriffs have captured footage which appears to show the mythical Chupacabra – a ‘Vampire Dog’ that feasts on the blood of goats.
The cops chased and filmed the beast after catching a glimpse of its strange elongated nose and fangs – unlike any coyote or dog they had seen before.
Patrollers Ellie Carter and Sheriff Brandon Riedel filmed the animal – which has Bigfoot-style status in America – in Cuero, near Nordheim, Texas, last week.
Miss Carter yesterday said: “We were checking fences in Cuero when this, this - thing - just jumps out at us.
“I shouted: ‘It’s a Chupacabra’. I recognised it instantly from a programme about them in a History Channel episode of MonsterQuest.
“It had big teeth, a big head, short legs in front and long legs in back.
“I was raised on a ranch and I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Fangs
Sheriff Riedel added: “It sure didn’t look like any dog I’d ever seen.”
The Sun reported on a possible sighting of Chupacabra in Cuero, Texas last year.
Scientists carried out tests on a terrifying creature that died near a farm – after sucking the blood of hundreds of chickens and goats.
Farm owner Phylis Canion said at the time: “My land is littered with the corpses of bloodless animals, untouched except for two fang marks.
“Dozens of chickens were sucked dry - it’s eerie.
“I’ve seen a lot of nasty stuff in my life - but nothing like this.”
Although the tests were inconclusive, many scientists believe that the Texas ‘Chupacabras’ are hybrids of coyotes which have bred with Mexican gray wolves.
Mrs Canion – who has now collated records of hundreds of sightings of the beasts – yesterday said: “There’s something very strange going on with these animals and we better find out what it is very quickly.”
Chupacabras are mythical hairless beasts that originate from the Spanish legend of El Chupacabras – a ‘devil’ dog that sucks goat blood.
They also featured in TV Sci-fi drama the X-Files.
Chupacabra Spotted In Texas
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Chupacabra_Spotted_In_Texas_Real_Blood_Sucker_Or_Urban_Legend_22217.htmlChupacabra Spotted In Texas - Real Blood Sucker Or Urban Legend?
By Dee Chisamera
August 14th 2008
The chupacabra could be more than a legend, a deputy sheriff suggested last week, after videotaping an unusual creature during one of his patrols. The video reveals a dog-like animal; however, there are a couple of physical features that drew suspicion it may not be a dog or a coyote: apparently its front legs are slightly shorter than the back ones, while the head revealed an unusually long snout.
The name of the legendary creature chupacabra comes from Spanish, and it literally translates as “goat sucker.” The animal has been reportedly spotted in multiple locations across North and South America, from the United States, to Mexico, Puerto Rico and Chile.
While the scientific community continues to dismiss the existence of the chupacabra, calling it an urban legend, the animal has been held responsible for unusual attacks on several types of animals, from chickens to turkeys, dogs, sheep and cows.
The killings have been attributed to the mythical creature due to the signs left behind: puncture wounds and the lack of blood in the attacked animals.
Although the physical descriptions of the creature vary from one region to another, the most recent reports talk about a sort of a hairless dog- or coyote-like creature. However, examination of the carcasses left behind revealed a not so unusual fact: the attacked could have been a coyote with mange, a parasitic infestation that causes loss of hair and inflammation.
The most recent encounter with the creature, which was caught on tape, resulted in the following description: nig teeth, big head, short legs in front, longer legs in the back, not a dog, unlike any other animal ever seen. It does sound like a chupacabra, doesn’t it?
“I shouted: It’s a chupacabra!” patroller Ellie Carter described her encounter with the animal. “I recognized it instantly from TV,” she added, saying the creature was like no other animal she had ever seen, although she grew up on a farm.
However, scientists might disagree with the assumption that it was indeed a chupacabra, based on a 2007 investigation which revealed that the blood-sucking dog was in fact a coyote suffering from extreme mange.
Logically speaking, if that’s possible, all signs seem to indicate striking similarities with dogs or coyotes, but there is still one troubling fact: why do these unusual attacks leave completely blood-drained bodies behind?
In recent years, there have been multiple reports on chupacabras attacking livestock, and the news didn’t just come from the Americas, but also from Russia, the Philippines and Australia. On every single occasion, the witnesses spoke of horrific creatures that stroke fear into the hearts of animals and men alike.
Authorities continue to investigate the tape and are now looking for clues on the animal recently spotted. The first assumptions are that it may have been a coyote, possibly crossed with the grey fox, but what if it wasn’t? Is the chupacabra merely an urban legend?
Montauk Monster and the best cryptids of all-time
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2008/07/31/182279.aspxThe Montauk Monster and the best cryptids of all-time
Posted: July 31, 2008
by Mark Medley
By now, you're certainly have had nightmares about the Montauk Monster story that Gawker broke on Tuesday. Is it a turtle missing its shell? A dog thrown in the ocean by its evil owner? A nutria? A viral marketing campaign for Cloverfield 2? Someone call a cryptozoologist, on the double.
This isn't the first monster to grip our collective consciousness -- there's Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Chupacabra -- but these are certainly not the only famous cryptids.
• Jersey Devil -- Ever wondered where the NHL's New Jersey Devils get their name from? This creature reportedly has a long, slender neck, hooves, and wings, with its height ranging from three to seven feet. Back in the 19th century the devil was blamed for the killing of livestock. More recently, the creature popped up in an episode of The X-Files.
• Jackalope -- Part rabbit, part antelope, all trouble. It lost all its mystique when it was repeatedly featured on the very unfunny America's Funniest People -- and named Jack Ching Bada-Bing -- in the early 1990s. Thanks Dave Coulier.
• The Mothman -- A large, moth-like creature that was spotted in West Virginia in the late 1960s. Richard Gere can't be wrong.
• Goatman -- A half man-half goat creature first spotted in Maryland in the late 1950s. Since then, there have been sightings as far south as Florida and as far north as Ontario.
• Dropa -- A race of mini-aliens said to be discovered in China in 1938.
• Mokèlé-mbèmbé -- The African equivalent to the Loch Ness Monster. A dinosaur the size of a small elephant, there have been several expeditions -- right up until this year -- to try and locate it.
• The Beast of Bray Road -- The first sightings of this werewolf-like creature were in Wisconsin in the 1980s. After a spate of sightings, one local reporter wrote a book about the beast.
Bigfoot Found In Georgia
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_212164504.shtml
Aug 13, 2008
Bigfoot Found In Georgia: Pictures Released and Press Conference Pending
by Steven Kane
The man-ape known as Bigfoot was found in the northern woods of Georgia according to a company that calls itself "Searching for Bigfoot, Inc". First the Monster of Montauk, then el Chupacabra. and now Bigfoot.
The group has scheduled a press conference for Friday, and a hotel in Palo Alto, California where they claim they will be able to provide DNA evidence as well as picutures of the creature.
The press release announcing the event describes the hybrid "manimal" to be over seven and a half feet tall, male and weighs over 500 pounds. It has reddish hair and blackish-grey eyes, two arms, two legs and five fingers and five toes right where you would expect them to be. There are many measurements included in the release, including a footprint of nearly 17 inches in length.
The list of features even claims that other live versions of the species were seen as well.
The group's website includes the full press release and a photo of the bounty stuffed into a freezer chest.
Larger versions of the picutres have been posted at www.cryptomudo.com and the Inquisitor.
Aug 13, 2008
Bigfoot Found In Georgia: Pictures Released and Press Conference Pending
by Steven Kane
The man-ape known as Bigfoot was found in the northern woods of Georgia according to a company that calls itself "Searching for Bigfoot, Inc". First the Monster of Montauk, then el Chupacabra. and now Bigfoot.
The group has scheduled a press conference for Friday, and a hotel in Palo Alto, California where they claim they will be able to provide DNA evidence as well as picutures of the creature.
The press release announcing the event describes the hybrid "manimal" to be over seven and a half feet tall, male and weighs over 500 pounds. It has reddish hair and blackish-grey eyes, two arms, two legs and five fingers and five toes right where you would expect them to be. There are many measurements included in the release, including a footprint of nearly 17 inches in length.
The list of features even claims that other live versions of the species were seen as well.
The group's website includes the full press release and a photo of the bounty stuffed into a freezer chest.
Larger versions of the picutres have been posted at www.cryptomudo.com and the Inquisitor.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Creature ID'd as coyote, not chupacabra
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071102/ap_on_sc/mythical_chupacabra
Creature ID'd as coyote, not chupacabra
Fri Nov 2, 2007
The results are in: The ugly, big-eared animal found this summer in Cuero is not the mythical bloodsucking chupacabra. It's just a plain old coyote.
Biologists at Texas State University announced Thursday night that they had identified the hairless doglike creature.
San Antonio television station KENS provided a tissue sample from the animal for testing.
"The DNA sequence is a virtually identical match to DNA from the coyote (Canis latrans)," bioligist Mike Forstner said in a written statement. "This is probably the answer a lot of folks thought might be the outcome. I, myself, really thought it was a domestic dog, but the Cuero Chupacabra is a Texas Coyote."
Phylis Canion and some of her neighbors discovered the 40-pound bodies of three of the animals over four days in July outside her ranch in Cuero, 90 miles southeast of San Antonio. Canion said she saved the head of the one she found so she could get to get to the bottom of its ancestry through DNA testing and then mount it for posterity.
Forstner said the testing provided an opportunity to demonstrate how science answers questions.
Chupacabra means "goat sucker" in Spanish, and it is said to have originated in Latin America, specifically Puerto Rico and Mexico.
"This is fun, not scary, but if people are worried about the chupacabra, it is probably even more important that we explain the mystery," he said. "Folks can fear what they don't understand, and a big part of the goal in science is to explain the natural world."
He said additional skin samples have been taken to try to determine the cause of the animal's hair loss.
Creature ID'd as coyote, not chupacabra
Fri Nov 2, 2007
The results are in: The ugly, big-eared animal found this summer in Cuero is not the mythical bloodsucking chupacabra. It's just a plain old coyote.
Biologists at Texas State University announced Thursday night that they had identified the hairless doglike creature.
San Antonio television station KENS provided a tissue sample from the animal for testing.
"The DNA sequence is a virtually identical match to DNA from the coyote (Canis latrans)," bioligist Mike Forstner said in a written statement. "This is probably the answer a lot of folks thought might be the outcome. I, myself, really thought it was a domestic dog, but the Cuero Chupacabra is a Texas Coyote."
Phylis Canion and some of her neighbors discovered the 40-pound bodies of three of the animals over four days in July outside her ranch in Cuero, 90 miles southeast of San Antonio. Canion said she saved the head of the one she found so she could get to get to the bottom of its ancestry through DNA testing and then mount it for posterity.
Forstner said the testing provided an opportunity to demonstrate how science answers questions.
Chupacabra means "goat sucker" in Spanish, and it is said to have originated in Latin America, specifically Puerto Rico and Mexico.
"This is fun, not scary, but if people are worried about the chupacabra, it is probably even more important that we explain the mystery," he said. "Folks can fear what they don't understand, and a big part of the goal in science is to explain the natural world."
He said additional skin samples have been taken to try to determine the cause of the animal's hair loss.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Has a mythical beast turned up in Texas?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070901/ap_on_fe_st/mythical_chupacabra
Has a mythical beast turned up in Texas?
By ELIZABETH WHITE, Associated Press Writer
9-1-7
Phylis Canion lived in Africa for four years. She's been a hunter all her life and has the mounted heads of a zebra and other exotic animals in her house to prove it. But the roadkill she found last month outside her ranch was a new one even for her, worth putting in a freezer hidden from curious onlookers: Canion believes she may have the head of the mythical, bloodsucking chupacabra.
"It is one ugly creature," Canion said, holding the head of the mammal, which has big ears, large fanged teeth and grayish-blue, mostly hairless skin.
Canion and some of her neighbors discovered the 40-pound bodies of three of the animals over four days in July outside her ranch in Cuero, 80 miles southeast of San Antonio. Canion said she saved the head of the one she found so she can get to get to the bottom of its ancestry through DNA testing and then mount it for posterity.
She suspects, as have many rural denizens over the years, that a chupacabra may have killed as many as 26 of her chickens in the past couple of years.
"I've seen a lot of nasty stuff. I've never seen anything like this," she said.
What tipped Canion to the possibility that this was no ugly coyote, but perhaps the vampire-like beast, is that the chickens weren't eaten or carried off — all the blood was drained from them, she said.
Chupacabra means "goat sucker" in Spanish, and it is said to have originated in Latin America, specifically Puerto Rico and Mexico.
Canion thinks recent heavy rains ran them right out of their dens.
"I think it could have wolf in it," Canion said. "It has to be a cross between two or three different things."
She said the finding has captured the imagination of locals, just like purported sightings of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster have elsewhere.
But what folks are calling a chupacabra is probably just a strange breed of dog, said veterinarian Travis Schaar of the Main Street Animal Hospital in nearby Victoria.
"I'm not going to tell you that's not a chupacabra. I just think in my opinion a chupacabra is a dog," said Schaar, who has seen Canion's find.
The "chupacabras" could have all been part of a mutated litter of dogs, or they may be a new kind of mutt, he said.
As for the bloodsucking, Schaar said that this particular canine may simply have a preference for blood, letting its prey bleed out and licking it up.
Chupacabra or not, the discovery has spawned a local and international craze. Canion has started selling T-shirts that read: "2007, The Summer of the Chupacabra, Cuero, Texas," accompanied by a caricature of the creature. The $5 shirts have gone all over the world, including Japan, Australia and Brunei. Schaar also said he has one.
"If everyone has a fun time with it, we'll keep doing it," she said. "It's good for Cuero."
Has a mythical beast turned up in Texas?
By ELIZABETH WHITE, Associated Press Writer
9-1-7
Phylis Canion lived in Africa for four years. She's been a hunter all her life and has the mounted heads of a zebra and other exotic animals in her house to prove it. But the roadkill she found last month outside her ranch was a new one even for her, worth putting in a freezer hidden from curious onlookers: Canion believes she may have the head of the mythical, bloodsucking chupacabra.
"It is one ugly creature," Canion said, holding the head of the mammal, which has big ears, large fanged teeth and grayish-blue, mostly hairless skin.
Canion and some of her neighbors discovered the 40-pound bodies of three of the animals over four days in July outside her ranch in Cuero, 80 miles southeast of San Antonio. Canion said she saved the head of the one she found so she can get to get to the bottom of its ancestry through DNA testing and then mount it for posterity.
She suspects, as have many rural denizens over the years, that a chupacabra may have killed as many as 26 of her chickens in the past couple of years.
"I've seen a lot of nasty stuff. I've never seen anything like this," she said.
What tipped Canion to the possibility that this was no ugly coyote, but perhaps the vampire-like beast, is that the chickens weren't eaten or carried off — all the blood was drained from them, she said.
Chupacabra means "goat sucker" in Spanish, and it is said to have originated in Latin America, specifically Puerto Rico and Mexico.
Canion thinks recent heavy rains ran them right out of their dens.
"I think it could have wolf in it," Canion said. "It has to be a cross between two or three different things."
She said the finding has captured the imagination of locals, just like purported sightings of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster have elsewhere.
But what folks are calling a chupacabra is probably just a strange breed of dog, said veterinarian Travis Schaar of the Main Street Animal Hospital in nearby Victoria.
"I'm not going to tell you that's not a chupacabra. I just think in my opinion a chupacabra is a dog," said Schaar, who has seen Canion's find.
The "chupacabras" could have all been part of a mutated litter of dogs, or they may be a new kind of mutt, he said.
As for the bloodsucking, Schaar said that this particular canine may simply have a preference for blood, letting its prey bleed out and licking it up.
Chupacabra or not, the discovery has spawned a local and international craze. Canion has started selling T-shirts that read: "2007, The Summer of the Chupacabra, Cuero, Texas," accompanied by a caricature of the creature. The $5 shirts have gone all over the world, including Japan, Australia and Brunei. Schaar also said he has one.
"If everyone has a fun time with it, we'll keep doing it," she said. "It's good for Cuero."
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