See, I told you the monster count-down wasn’t going to be what you expected…
I’m just not that into the traditional horror monsters. Vampires, zombies, ghosts, witches…they just aren’t that scary. They’re too strongly rooted in various folk traditions to strike me as anything but quaint. (I will confess to having a fondness for werewolves, but that’s purely a symbolism thing, and nothing to do with the fact that werewolf movies generally have lots of male nudity.) Plus, they’re too human. Let’s face it, monsters should be strange, alien and weird. They should be outside human experience, not just a dead guy in a bad tux.
And so, El Chupacabras. I first became aware of him in the mid-90s. In Southern California we have a lot of slow news days, and a large Spanish-speaking population, so we started to hear about the mysterious creature in Puerto Rico killing livestock early on. It was mostly in a highly suspicious, “it’s the Mexican version of Bigfoot!” style of reporting, but never outright saying that of course the animals were just attacked by wild dogs. I just thought it was a really cool looking monster, just preposterous enough to be really enjoyable. And those rows of spikes are so distinguished looking.
Wikipedia’s Chupacabras page, notable mainly for explaining the entomology of the word and explaining why it looks like a plural in its singular form.
Why, it’s a blurry photograph of something at a distance, it must be proof that Chupacabras exists.
A scientific paper noting the lack of rigor mortis or blood clotting in Chupacabras victims, also a link to UFO sightings. Of course.
A brief timeline of Chupacabras sightings, including a possible pre-Columbian carving of one.
A dessicated, mummified Chupacabras corpse was found in New Mexico. It must be real, and not just a Jenny Haniver. (image via)
This Italian site has a photo of a fresher Chupacabras corpse, or possibly it’s a dead ghoul. In any case, it’s certainly not just a dead coyote with mange and skin parasites.
Japanese “mystery figure” style Chupacabras figures (via)
Mexican Chupacabras robot toy.(via)
Gallery of Chupacabras themed t-shirts.
Lots of utterly convincing Chupacabras photos, including some very rare sound files.
True tales of encounters with Chupacabras.
This page has a trailer for a Chupacabras film staring John Rhys-Davies and Giancarlo Esposito.
The Spoil-Sports Guide to the Chupacabras
Account of an expedition to find the Chupacabras. Also, scroll down a bit on this page for the actual film of the expedition.
Is the goat-legged creature of Calaveras County…a Chupacabras?
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