In 1995 farmers in Puerto Rico began finding goats and chickens dead with small puncture wounds. Witness Madelyne Tolentino described a spiny, bipedal creature with large dark eyes, and comedian Silverio Pérez coined the name chupacabras.
As reports spread to Mexico and Texas, the Chupacabra changed shape: in the US it is usually a hairless, dog-like animal. Most of those carcasses have turned out to be coyotes or foxes with severe mange, but the original Puerto Rican version remains a mystery.
What witnesses report
- Livestock with neat puncture wounds
- Spines or quills down the back
- Hairless, grey-blue dog-like animal (US version)
Witness stories
First-hand accounts people have shared publicly, retold in full and credited to them. All witness stories
Reader reports
Encounters sent in by our readers and checked by a moderator.
Famous cases
- 1995Canóvanas attacks
Canóvanas, Puerto RicoIn 1995 dead sheep and other animals with puncture wounds were reported across Puerto Rico. In August a Canóvanas resident described a strange creature, and the town became the centre of the scare, with claims of up to 150 animals killed. Investigator Benjamin Radford later concluded her description closely matched the alien in the 1995 film Species.
- 1995Eight sheep with three puncture wounds
Orocovis, Puerto RicoIn March 1995 eight sheep were found dead with three puncture wounds in the chest, said to be drained of blood. Months later, comedian Silverio Perez coined the name chupacabras on his San Juan radio show, and more than 200 reports followed that year.
- 2000A hundred animals killed in Calama
Calama, ChileIn April 2000 about a hundred farm animals in the mining city of Calama were found drained or mutilated, and reports carried on until 2002. One farmer killed a guina, a small wild cat, and the case made international news.
- 2004The Elmendorf Beast
Elmendorf, near San Antonio, TexasA rancher shot a hairless dog-like animal attacking his livestock. DNA testing at UC Davis showed it was a coyote with sarcoptic mange, and two more carcasses found nearby that October were the same. Mangy coyotes explain most Texas 'chupacabras'.
- 2006A roadside carcass in Maine
Turner, MaineIn August 2006 Michelle O'Donnell photographed a strange dead animal by the road, which her husband said looked like a cross between a rodent and a dog. DNA later showed it was a wolf-dog hybrid.
- 2007Cuero carcass
Cuero, TexasIn 2007 a rancher near Cuero, Texas, preserved a strange hairless carcass she believed had killed her chickens and called it a chupacabra. Experts from Texas State University tested the DNA and found it was a coyote.
- 2008A deputy's dashcam video
Cuero, TexasA year after the Cuero carcass, DeWitt County deputy Brandon Riedel filmed a hairless, long-snouted animal with short front legs running down alleys. The sheriff thought it was the same kind of coyote.
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