The chupacabra (“goat-sucker” in Spanish) is a blood-drinking creature first reported in Puerto Rico in 1995, blamed for killing livestock and pets and draining their blood. The original reports describe an upright, spiny-backed creature with large eyes. Within a few years the name had spread across Latin America and the United States, where it was attached to a completely different animal: hairless, dog-like creatures found dead in Texas and elsewhere, which turned out to be coyotes and dogs with severe mange.[1][2]
| Name | Chupacabra or chupacabras, “goat-sucker” |
|---|---|
| Precursor | The “Moca vampire,” Puerto Rico, 1975 |
| First reported as chupacabra | Puerto Rico, 1995 |
| Name coined by | Comedian and radio host Silverio Pérez (1995) |
| Original description | Upright, about 1.2 m tall, large dark eyes, a row of spines down its back |
| US “chupacabras” | Hairless, dog-like animals, identified as coyotes and dogs with mange |
| Key investigation | Benjamin Radford, Tracking the Chupacabra (2011) |
A precursor: the Moca vampire, 1975
Twenty years before the chupacabra, Puerto Rico had a similar scare. In March 1975, around the town of Moca, farmers began finding cows, goats, chickens and other animals dead, some reportedly with puncture wounds and apparently drained of blood. The death toll was said to reach dozens of animals, and the unseen killer became known as “el vampiro de Moca,” the Moca vampire.[3]
Puerto Rico, 1995
In March 1995, eight sheep were found dead in Puerto Rico, reportedly with puncture wounds and drained of blood. Over the following months, hundreds more livestock and pet deaths were blamed on the same creature, especially around the town of Canóvanas, where the mayor led armed search parties to catch it.[1][2]
In August 1995, Madelyne Tolentino of Canóvanas described seeing the creature outside her mother’s house. Her account became the standard description: an upright animal about four feet tall, with large dark eyes and a row of spines along its back.[1][2]
The comedian Silverio Pérez is generally credited with coining the name “chupacabras” while joking about the attacks on his radio program, and the name spread almost overnight.[1]
The Species connection
The writer and investigator Benjamin Radford spent five years researching the chupacabra, including interviewing Tolentino. In his 2011 book Tracking the Chupacabra, he showed that her description matched, feature for feature, the alien creature Sil from the science-fiction film Species, which was released in July 1995, shortly before her sighting, and that Tolentino had seen the film. Radford concluded that the most important chupacabra description could not be trusted.[1][2]
The chupacabra spreads
Reports spread quickly to Mexico in the mid-1990s, to the southern United States, to Chile around 2000 and later to other countries. In each place, unexplained livestock deaths were blamed on the creature. Some Puerto Ricans believed the chupacabra had escaped from secret US military or genetic experiments, a theory that drew on the long American military presence on the island.[1][4]
From Puerto Rico to Texas
In the United States, the “chupacabras” that were actually found looked nothing like Tolentino’s creature. They were hairless or nearly hairless, gray-skinned, dog-like animals with large teeth.[1]
- Elmendorf, Texas, 2004. DNA testing at the University of California, Davis identified the animal as a coyote with sarcoptic mange.[1]
- Cuero, Texas, 2007. Researchers identified the animal as a coyote; a second analysis found it was a coyote–Mexican wolf hybrid, with mange explaining its appearance.[1]
- 2010. The University of Michigan biologist Barry O’Connor concluded that US chupacabra reports were coyotes infected with the mite Sarcoptes scabiei. Mange makes the hair fall out and the skin thicken and wrinkle, and sick animals weakened by the disease are more likely to raid livestock and pets.[1]
Were the animals really drained of blood?
The defining claim, that victims were drained of blood, has never been confirmed by a necropsy. A veterinarian who reviewed some 300 reported chupacabra victims found that none had actually been bled dry. After death, blood settles and clots inside the body, so a carcass with small puncture wounds can look bloodless. Dogs and coyotes often kill without eating their prey, leaving exactly the kind of scene blamed on the chupacabra.[1][2]
Why the chupacabra matters
The chupacabra is one of the best-documented examples of how a modern legend forms: a real wave of livestock deaths, a vivid witness description shaped by a popular film, a catchy name from a comedian, fast-moving media coverage and, later, real animals with a real disease that seemed to fit the story. For other blood-drinking legends, see the Aswang of the Philippines and the Abchanchu of Bolivia.
References
- “Chupacabra,” Wikipedia, citing S. Pérez (2000), Texas State University (2007), Discovery News (2013), K. Ross-Flannigan (University of Michigan, 2010) and others.
- Benjamin Radford, Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2011).
- “The Blood-Sucking Chupacabra of Puerto Rico,” American Ghost Walks.
- “This is why some people think the chupacabra was a military experiment,” We Are The Mighty.
Correction note (October 2026): This entry was rewritten from documented sources, replacing an earlier general description. The illustration above is an artistic impression.