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Showing posts with label Chile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chile. Show all posts

Saturday, 22 June 2013

Argentinian+ Chilean NeoDinosaur, South American Apes + Chupabats

As recounted in a number of media articles from 2004, several different motorists driving along the main road linking Iquique and Arica, through the Atacama Desert, have reported witnessing an extraordinary bipedal creature over 6 ft tall[or long], with sharp teeth and three-toed footprints, which has been variously likened to a velociraptor or even a ‘dinosaur kangaroo’
In the words of one eyewitness, Hernan Cuevas: “A weird animal looking like a dinosaur with two legs and huge thighs crossed the road in front of my car”. Not surprisingly, the local authorities were, and remain, very puzzled.
This has also been called the local type of Chupacabras, elsewhere also compared to a reptilian kangaroo or a small dinosaur. The three-toed tracks incidentally turned out to be condor (vulture) tracks upon investigation in one specific instance. So we really don't have a good idea what the tracks of the reptilian creature are like.

Condor or Vulture tracks reported as "Chupacabras"
One of the 2002 press releases said that Cupacabras from the Atacama desert was "Los 'chupacabras' capturados medirían un metro y 20 centímetros de estatura, tendrían piernas de velocirraptor, su desplazamiento sería en zig-zag, contaría con rasgos humanoides en el rostro y su cuerpo se asemejaría a un mandril".[The captured Chupacabras stands 48 inches tall and has the hind legs like a Velociraptor, it runs a zigzag path, has humanoid features of the body (the arms?) and a face like a mandrill (Baboon-which is to say something like a dogs head but uglier)] NASA has denied any involvement and the event has been taken to be a hoax but based on descriptions of reports coming out of the area: so the overall description is probably close enough, but we need not insist on such details as the creatures' face resembling that of a mandrill.
The initial, uncirculated reports of the "Mountain Boomers" in the Southwest and Texas compared the creature's size and shape to this Charles R Knight reconstruction of an "Ornitholestes"

 
At the same time, reports of other creatures also being called Chupacabras are continuing in the area. There was and is a general confusion between the types.

More Chilean News items from the early 2000s:
http://paranormal.about.com/science/paranormal/library/blnews600.htm
 LIVE ONES?
• Chupacabra Eggs Found? Witnesses in Chile continued to come forward last
week with more about the reputed clash between Chilean Army troops and three
Chupacabras on or about May 9. Two witnesses claimed that the Chilean troops
returned with large eggs, which they reportedly obtained from a "nest" in
the Atacama Desert, not far from the Radomiro Tomic mine. According to the
newspaper La Cuarta, "Three specimens of Chupacabra, mythical creatures of
apelike characteristics who drink animal blood, were captured in northern
Chile by an expedition spearheaded by NASA and were taken back to the United
States, according to researchers of the subject. The president of the
Ovalvision Chile research group, Cristian Riffo, told La Cuarta that the
creatures were the result of genetic research by NASA using terrestrial
creatures and space entities. Several of the hybrid creatures escaped from a
secret base and propagated themselves in the southern United States, Mexico
and Puerto Rico where they were given the name Chupacabras. Riffo maintains
that in the Chilean case, the Chupacabras fled from the Atacama Desert where
where the U.S. agency is trying to replicate the conditions of a voyage to
the planet Mars. Chupacabra news is coming fast and furious from Chile. The
latest items include the following:

Between June 12 and June 15(2000?), residents of Maria Elena, a farm community 140
kilometers (84 miles) west of Calama, found mysterious clawed footprints in
the fields. "Identical to the footprints found at the (Radomiro Tomic) mine"
at the time of the reported capture, said radio talk show host Pablo
Aguilera, with the prints "highlighting their large shape and the sharpness
of the claws."

The newspaper Diario La Estrella reported, "Guards of a security company in
the sector claim to have witnessed a strange entity on the prowl, and while
they were unable to see it entirely, stated that it moved at considerable
speed."

An area resident, Miguel O., claimed that his nephew, who is in the Chilean
Army, was on guard duty at the Radomiro Tomic mine and saw one of the
creatures. "Between May 9 and May 11," Miguel O. said, his nephew "while
standing guard with his regiment, he had a chance to see a specimen of the
so-called Chupacabras and immediately called his superior. The strange
creature took prodigious leaps and bounds and, at one point, gave the
impression of floating on the air. He described it as 1.2 meters tall,
half-hairy and hunched over
 [This is perhaps the monkey or ape creature. The subsequently found eggs might not have been laid by the "Chupas" I this case, the creatures could have been gathering them up and eating them-DD]
" After gearing up, an army patrol went out into
the desert, Miguel said. "The most surprising thing is that the patrol
returned with several ‘eggs' found at the location where the creatures were
taken by surprise. He added that the patrol managed to kill two and capture
one, that the creatures were subsequently removed by NASA personnel from the
area." Commenting on Miguel O.'s statement, Pablo Aguilera, host of Radio
Pudahuel's morning show, said, "The hole discovered in the area could well
be a ‘nest' the creature was making to deposit its young." [Source: UFO
Roundup by Joseph Trainor]

THE RAMPAGE:
• Chupacabras Go on the Rampage in Chile. Less than three weeks after the
reported capture of three Chupacabras at the Radomiro Tomic mine nea Calama,
a new wave of Chupacabra incidents swept Chile. On June 4, 2000, during the
early morning hours, a Chupacabra slaughtered 14 chickens in a backyard in
Talcahuano, a port city five miles north of Concepcion, which was the site
of many Chuapcabra incidents during May. On June 7 at 4 a.m., another
Chupacabra attack took place in Concepcion while Julio Reyes and his wife,
Carmen Andrade, were still asleep. They suddenly heard a loud noise coming
from their home's backyard. "The light outside the henhouse was on," Carmen
said. "I saw the monster flapping his [bat?] wings fiercely while the hens were
crowing - something they never do at this time. That's when I saw the white
one running toward the back. Bobby [the family's terrier watchdog] came out
to take a look, but when he saw the back gate, through which the hens had
fled, he refused to follow and remained standing still." Around 7 a.m., the
couple discovered what had transpired. Their three hens and one rooster were
found dead, completely torn to shreds, as if they had been ripped open at
the chest cavity and scattered in a 33-foot radius. On June 9, at 11:45
a.m., a caller to Chile's Radio Pudahuel reported a recent Chupacabra attack
in the city of Antofagasta. Accordiung to the caller, he was asleep in his
bedroom, and the cat started making noises, waking him up. That's when they
saw the alleged Chupacabra. He says that when it saw them, the creature took
off at high speed. He says it destroyed their car and it killed the cat.
Afterward, the witness reportedly found deep scratches, "made by its claws,"
in the doors and fenders of his car. [Source: UFO Roundup by Joseph Trainor]

The claims continued and continued to grow more elaborate:
Excellent report. At the time I saw him completely. Today it is amazing of course see it again. Among the many theories I have similar data, but other sobering, to see if you can be of help, or more of the same. they metabolize the blood, that is these entities that consume the blood of animals. Like any predator draw their nutrients from there. 's kind of experimental animal, alien, of course, I agree that are made ​​by grises. Para that to see how human beings react to an ecological catastrophe, indicate some theories. weight these bugs, 55 kgs., height 1.20, color greyish, short coat volume, round head with 3 bump on the forehead, ears cat has legs or limbs with 3 fingers. Displacement: Advance of 8-10 meters. Every 10 meters, leaves a mark, I mean get jumps of 10 meters high, big eyes, small nose, no tail, hearing like a small dog. Arms like monkeys. Low frequency hearing, humanoid type figure as a mandrill, 3 fingers (plus thumb?) prehensile, intelligence of a child of seven years, fear of man, lemur vision, supports 18-degree cold, and up to 40 (Centigrade) degree heat, (Heavy fur) protection in their back, is hybrid, lives in trees, foliage or in caves in semi warm, defecates like sheep, your urine is strong as ammonia, in open ground reaches 60 kilometers per hour, has morph every two years, changes its structure, grows wings [the description has shifted to the bat reports], can fly. were paired, there are males and females, with adult males will grow three horns, works as rodent is active at night, it communicates with its space(?) for Low Power-frequency. As they arrived, there are theories that indicate that gray craft, which landed once in the Gran Chaco, Argentina, hence is north of chile despazaron were four ships, in the eyes of the salty, the other near Pucon, the other in ice fields and the last in the area of the Torres del Paine. And this part may sound fantastic but can not be ruled. Each ship brought 100 of these entities experimentation, leaving it in a systematic way along chile. There other theories that suggest that they are an experiment to see how the gray man(Alien) reacts to invasion a larger scale, this can be much but could not be excluded. During the year 2009-2010, could appear again. emit a low- utiizan frequency, which only animals and listen to paralyze or numb because instill fear. Some define it as an "biological entity extraterrestrial genetic hybrid" EGBEH. They are outsiders, not land, not man-made, are manufactured by the grays, like, well, abduct animals, they take, the cross, and the breed as a genetic hybrid form. This information is extracted from a conversation that once took place in a radio station in Santiago, and I can not remember someone did get me for years, do not know if it's true or not, but I think by now beside the point, what strikes me attention, at least those who study these topics are the small details.

Tocopilla, Chile. Date: June 18 of 2000. 12:00 AM.
Source: Miami UFO Center © 2006 sanchezocejov@bellsouth.net
 
The Eyewitnesses (Who preferred not to be identified by name but were interviewed on tape) were on the beach having a party (a cookout I presume) said the creature had long dark furry hair, long arms with hands below the knees, big round eyes, with a long snout and mouth shaped like an animal muzzle. The creature approached one of them making several guttural sounds, as if it was trying to communicate with the young man.(begging for food?) Moments later, it placed its right hand on the young man's left shoulder, leaving a green stain on his sweater, which they described as the same color as marine algae. The Bigfoot-like creature soon left, as it disappeared into the dark. (I do not find any UFO mentioned in the original report, presumably the artist just added that in)
In this case the "Bigfoot" bears a strong resemblance to the De Loys Ape in outline. 
 
Chilean Villagers Describe An Alleged Capture Of A Chupacabras
Source: Ovnivision Chile. Bulletin dated January 26, 2011     
 
Chilean law enforcement agencies have conducted an apparent successful operation to capture the legendary chupacabras creature in the small village of Huasco, Third Region of Chile.
 
Due to the constant animal deaths in the area, the community of Huasco had been very worried. Recent attacks on domestic animals have created panic and fear among local residents. Numerous reports of these attacks have prompted Customs officers of the area to conduct special operations in an effort to capture the so-called chupacabras. The purpose of the operation was to avoid new animal slaughters.
 
According to several eyewitnesses, police and customs officers were seen conducting searches and chasing an animal that was finally captured in a cave. "Local residents heard gunshots during the intense pursuit in the nearby village of O,Higgins, said Darwin Godoy, a local ufo and "chupacabras investigator.
 
Finally, the group of officers finished their search in a local cave, where they captured what appeared to be a strange giant bat. "According to descriptions, the creature was about 80 centimeters in height and it had a wingspan of approximately 1.7 meters, said Godoy. [ About 32 inches long with a wingspan of 5'8" which makes a good estimate for the Chupabat or Chonchon. The body of such a bat is a rounded mass perhaps a foot long.] 
 
The cave where the alleged capture took place is located near the thermoelectric power plant of Guacolda, just south of Huasco. Several of the eyewitnesses were employees of the electric power plant. Residents that live nearby the local cemetery also witnessed the operative.
 
Translation by Mario Andrade
Special thanks to Rodrigo Cuadra from T.O.C. Online Magazine



Wednesday, 14 March 2012

Mythical Monster Seals of Chile

THE Cuchivilu [Babel Fish Translation]
The Cuchivilu is one being with the upper body in the form of pig. Very robust, with long fangs and bulging eyes, the bottom is a very thick snake. He lives in marshy places, always by the sea, buried in the mud, leaving only its nose into the air to breathe. Man's presence irritates. They say that the female can give birth up to 12 Cuchivilus and teats with which feeds are arranged in his spine. Generally, in the early days of the pups, she gives them their favorite foods, which are exclusively oysters and clams in growth stage. This mythological creature is hated by fishermen, and who know him as the destroyer of fish weirs, chilotes system used for hoisting the fish. On the beach have a fence made of sticks, woven baskets and close together as each other, so just be possible that the sea water to drain or seep. This pen is shaped like a horseshoe, and its opening is located toward the earth, so the pen remains covered by high tide and low tide, are caught quantities of fish and seafood then easily collected in the Chiloe available in baskets. This is an ingenious way to fish, which is also utilized by The Cuchivilu, which appears in the pens destroying it, completely. Snares fish and seafood to your appetite satiated while removing the sand with its snout, like any pig of the inhabitants of the land. It is detected by the grunts and leaves the unmistakable imprint therefore not reused again that poultry considering since then, for fear of scabies in the sand leaving the body of this animal. But, some pens to be repaired again after a while and "cleaned" using a special ceremony called "Chepu", which is removed the spell. http://mitologiadechiloe.blogspot.com/2008/06/el-cuchivilu-plumaaguada-el-cuchivilu.html

If there is such a thing as a Southern Walrus it might also be called by the name of Cuchivilu as being  a tusked "Sea-Pig." There is some confusion in the mythological sea-creatures off of Chile and it is possible that the tusks are also referred to as "Horns"
From ThinkQuest:
THE CUCHIVILU
In many sites of Chiloe's province, a special and easy way of fishing is still used. In the beach a semicircular fence of branches is made open to the land. This fence is called Corral de Pesca. When the tide is high, the fish weir is covered by water, and when the tide is down, the fish that came close to the beach are trapped in the fish weir. From time to time a monster called Cuchivilu appears from the sea. This monster has half a body of pig and half snake. This animal comes into the fishing fish weir to destroy it, and eats the fish inside it. With this visit the site will become cursed, and a fish will never become trapped again inside of it. But there is a way to detroy the witchcraft : a magical ceremony called Cheputo.

--The actual creature the Cuchivilu is based on is the Elephant seal. the number of the young. the number of the teats and their arrangement are spurious inventions. The part about their destroying fish weirs and eating the fish is apparently true. The creatures are depicted as flipperless "Snakes" and then again with flippers, as on the stamp. The part about the flippers is true. A male Southern elephant seal is shown to scale with a human below.
Camahueto
It has the form of a short leaden calf fur and bright with a horn in the middle of the forehead. He lives in rivers and swampy lagoons into adulthood that achieves at twenty-five years, then migrate to the sea destroying everything in its path.
When he discovers his presence hire a witch to a kelp rope so Lacee and remove the horn to make it a gentle lamb.
With the grindings of the male Camahueto horn prepare potions to cure various diseases, as well as restore the vigor and sexual potency in men.

The Camahueto
http://mitologiadechiloe.blogspot.com/2008/06/el-camahueto.html



The Camahueto  (PEN, 0.55 X0, 75 ctms.)
The Camahueto is known as The Unicorn prodigious. This fabulous animal has a shiny coat, short and leaden looks like a vigorous calf and its most precious ornament is a golden horn that grows on the forehead. This mythical creature is something special. His birth took place in the depths of the earth and in some cases, on top of a hill near the sea. Then it is found in the lakes or rivers muddy and later, when it reaches its development, on the twentieth or twenty-five years, migrates its way with its powerful horn which will make a huge trench in the earth in its journey towards the sea, where dwell forever. Destroy everything in its path causing great damage to property and sembradíos.Hace appeared on full moon nights. Emerging from a river or a lake, its coveted horn shine like gold in the light of the moon. Seek him with ambition, because this animal is credited with healing powers, witches being macho and the only ones who can give chase. To do so use a rope made of seaweed and they will succeed only on land, but never at sea. To capture and be holders of the horn, warlocks and Machis enjoy unlimited power to use the powers of the scrape of it as beneficial or malevolent. Camahueto is said, the sea is very powerful and large vessels rammed and makes them disappear into the depths with all hands. At cortársele his horn with a machete (in the hands of a gun or warlock), the mythical animal is transformed into a meek and docile calf and stop damage to farmers. Who encounter a Camahueto and is slightly injured by his horn, will, insurance, health and much luck for life.
--The Camahueto is the mythical land-unicorn which develops into the sea-unicorn or Southern Narwhal. Incredibly, the latter one may actually be the real animal, and its long twisted tusk "Horn" is magical and used in the same was as the narwhal of the North.Karl Shuker suggests that the
Southern Narwhal is a survival of the tusked whale Odobenocetops. Eberhart says that the name ordinarily means the Sea-Elephant, which is unusual because it seems the elephant seal is a different mythological creature (see above) There is also an intermediate form of the creature, and since the Camahueto is known as the Sea-Calf, there is also the corresponding name Sea-Cow (Which might be the "Horned or tusked" sea creature all over again according to Austin Whittall)




The Millalobo present a shiny coat of gold, hence its name, and the ability to change the shape of your face. This mythological creature is said can not speak and only communicates through a kind of bleating like sea lion, but even so, the meaning of their bleating is easily comprehensible to humans. Legend has it that the view Caicai, found a being to his liking, and how after his battle with tenten wanted to delegate power to someone, Millalobo was chosen for that office The Millalobo lives in the sea floor, with his wife huechula and the three children of both the Pincoya,The Pincoy, and the siren chilota[All of them Merfolk]Who assist with the task of managing the seas.
Product of the great work that is mastering the seas, the Millalobo is subordinate to a number of mythological sea creatures to do different jobs, which range from plant and care for the development of shellfish and fish, to manage the marine climate, in addition to guiding and care for the dead that produces the sea
Sea creatures are evil, they should also pay their respects.

http://library.thinkquest.org/C005968F/acuaticos/eng/cuchi2.htm
THE MILLALOBO
The Millalobo lives in the deepest sea. He became pregnat under the command and protection of the waters spirit Coicoi-vilu, by a pretty woman and a seal. That happens when the waters invaded the Chiloé lands.

He's like a big seal, with a mix of man and fish face. The superior half body looks like man, and the rest like seal. His skin is covered by short and shining gold pelt, this is the reason of his name Millalobo or Golden Seal.

He lives with la Hunchula. She's the daugther of an old machi called la Huenchur, and when the weather conditions are good, Millalobo and Huenchula go out the sea to lonely beaches looking for the pleasure of sun rays.

Millalobo, was nominated by Coicoi-Vilu, like master of seven seas and he is the supreme boss of every creature in the waters. His power is like Neptune power from greek mitology.

Like sea master, he gives some missions to several water creatures, they obey his commands like seeding fish and seafood, watching the growing and multiplication of sea creatures, and controlling the tide and storms. He commands abo the actions of malefics creatures like la Vaca Marina [The Sea Cow], el Cuero, el Cuchivilu and el Piuchén.

With Huenchula Millalobo hase tree sons : la Pincoya, la Sirena y el Pincoy. They like good sons obey Millalobo and make important missions in the wide domain of their mighty father.
--The Millalobo appears to be simply the mythologized version of the ordinary sea-lion. Interestingly it is also supposed to be associated with the oceanic Merfolk under several different names, which are listed as its offspring
El Pincoy, the Chilean Selkie (were-seal)
Below, his sister and mate, La Pincoya, the Chilean Mermaid (Delacruz on Deviant Art)


Thursday, 29 December 2011

Chilean Gargoyles and Maryland Snallygaster Phoenixes

I am indebted to postings on the Global Warming and Terraforming Terra site for the following three news items, all connected to unusual flying creatures such as we have discussed here before. The first two involve sightings of the ChupaBats in Chile and described as gargoyles. Unfortunately the name 'gargoyle' was originally used to described a type of long-necked dragon and the name is pre-empted. The name 'devil bat'seems to be the common-usage term in many places. The text from the site also mentions the large bat Vampyrum spectrum; while I think we are dealing with a larger form of Vampyrum, I do not insist it belongs to the same species. Indeed, the rear legs would seem to be longer and more developed in the new species as compared to the known species V. spectrum.

The links in the highlighted text are integral and should take you back to the originating site.
One statement commonly repeated is that the chupacabras creatures are actually blood-sucking vampires. This seems not to be the case where tests have been made: tests generally show that in the dead animals most of the blood is still in the body but settled down after death. The animals would generally have bled to death but not have been sucked dry; in fact animals that feed on blood such as the much smaller vampire bats allow their victims to bleed freely and then lap up the flowing blood. And there are some diseases in which it seems that sick dogs will ONLY drink the blood from a victim and not touch the rest of the corpse. The dogs do not suck blood, once again they allow the animal to bleed and then drink the blood normally. This is reportedly true in some stages of/some types of rabies, at which point normal swallowing is difficult. I have printed statements from veteranary experts before stating this, and I have printed allusions to the test results which say that most of the chupacabras victims' blood is still in the bodies when tested. And once again I do have statements that the Vampyrum bats are believed to be at least occasionally blood-drinkers, although the reference sources generally deny this is so; possibly this also refers to rabid bats.

And now to the reports:

Posted: 27 Dec 2011 12:02 AM PST







Slowly but surely others are waking up to the reality that the Chupacabra phenomenon and the medieval Gargoyle phenomenon are plausibly one and the same as I argued some months back. I find it noteworthy that they seem to like open desert as hunting areas so attempts to associate them with forested areas is possibly a mistake or an artifact of observation.

The mixing of the mangy dog in the South West with the known evidence is mostly evidence of scavenging on already blood drained corpses and certainly not evidence of vampirism by dogs.

The scientific question that must be properly answered is whether blood is drained from the corpse and how much is drained from the corpse. This is not a trivial question. A downer will have all its blood quite intact and the meat will make that obvious. It is why we expertly drain the blood from slaughtered animals immediately so as to prevent coagulated blood from causing spoilage of the meat and ruining its appearance.

My point here is that a drained carcass is only possible if the blood is drained while the heart is still pumping unless the animal is immediately hung and drained. A large vampire bat would work as perfectly.

Thus all tales of cattle mutilation and blood removal is clear evidence of a large vampire bat and not of a lucky dog who may well have taken some of the soft tissue.

Since such a bat can fly over a vast natural range, the actual events appear to be quite far apart and unconnected.

This report describes four of the creatures and finally makes the kangaroo like legs well witnessed and explains the creature’s necessary launch equipment. There is no particular need to run to launch and it certainly allows it to land on a victim, swiftly drain the blood and as the prey collapses, leap back into the air and take off.



The Gargoyles of Chile



The deep, shadow shrouded jungles of South America are rife with carnivorous predators rarely seen by the human eye, but as intimidating as the creatures lurking in the dense rain forests of this mysterious continent may be, the arid plains of northern Chile are said to harbor a colony of chillingly bizarre beasts, which are quite unlike anything supposed to be living on the Earth.

Situated in the northernmost portion of Chile , less than 12-miles away from the port city of Arica , is a sprawling swathe of red sand desert known as Pampa Acha. The only real nod to the existence of humanity in this desolate region is the Pan-American Highway , which twists through this barren wasteland like an asphalt serpent.

It was on this lonesome stretch of road that in July of 2004, an army sub-officer with the “Cazadores” regiment named Carlos Abett de la Torre, his wife Teresa, their three children and a nephew would have a harrowing encounter with a group of fantastic creatures, which seemed to jump straight out of the pages of an ancient bestiary.

THE TORRE FAMILY AND THE GARGOYLES:

At approximately 7:00 pm. on the day in question, the Torre family packed into Carlos’ pick-up truck and departed from their quarters in Fuerte Baquedano, which is located in the military community of Pozo Almonte, heading toward Arica to visit some relatives.

Knowing full well that he was in for long and monotonous drive with a car full of children, Carlos gamely threw the truck into gear and began motoring down the same highway he had been traveling for the better part of 25 years.

About two hours into their journey, Carlos was cruising at about 65-miles per hour through the Pampa Acha approximately 20-miles south of Arica . The road ahead was illuminated not only by the pick-up’s headlamps, but the bright moon that hovered above them in the cloudless sky. That was when Carlos’ eldest daughter, Carmen, noticed a pair of extraordinary entities through the back window of the vehicle. According to Carmen she was astounded to see two creatures leisurely “floating” in the skies above. In her own words:

“I was traveling in the backseat with my brothers, talking, and suddenly everything went dark. Then I told my brother what I was seeing and he told me to keep quiet, because Mom gets nervous. Later I looked through the window and saw some things that looked like birds, with dogs’ heads and back swept wings. My father said they were like gargoyles.”

Carmen later estimated that the strange airborne critters that flew over her father’s pick-up truck were at least 6-feet in length and she admitted that at first she wasn’t sure if the creatures had wings or legs, but that the appendages were angled toward the rear of the creatures.

Carmen and her brother watched as the outlandish animals paced the truck, afraid to speak, lest they panic their anxiety prone mother. But their efforts were wasted as Teresa, who sat next to Carlos in the front seat, would catch sight of the peculiar avian duo through the windshield just moments later.

From her vantage point Teresa was afforded the best view of these anomalous animals, which the press would quote her as saying resembled “dog-faced kangaroos.” She claimed that the “gargoyles” seemed to match the speed of the truck, occasionally slipping ahead, then falling back, never traveling more than 60-feet from the vehicle.

By this point Carlos and the rest of his frightened brood were all stealing skyward glances and catching glimpses of these soaring evolutionary nightmares. He accelerated the truck, praying under his breath, terrified of the fate that might befall him and his family if these creatures decided to swoop down and attack their vehicle. The Torre family was in such a state of shock that none of them spoke. Carmen described the scene:

“We were speechless for some ten minutes [then] my Mom told us to react, and then we started discussing what we’d seen.”

Just when the Torre family was growing accustomed to the flying fiends above, another pair of the same species leapt in front of the truck on strong hind legs, which were shorter than their upper legs. Carlos managed to avert a collision with these land bound “gargoyles” and increased the pick-up’s speed, eventually leaving all four of the beasts behind.

When Torre family safely arrived in Arica they told their relatives about their bizarre sightings, but swore them to secrecy, concerned that the public ridicule which might follow the unveiling of their tale would somehow damage the military career of the family’s patriarch.

Although their sojourn with their extended family was enjoyable, it goes without saying that the entire Torre clan was anxious about the trip home.

Teresa even conceded: “We were terrified to go back,” but, much like every other journey Carlos had taken through Pampa Acha, the expedition proved to be mercifully uneventful.

Once back on base in Pozo Almonte, the Torre family honored their oath of silence, but when another sub-officer, Diego Riquelme, claimed to have encountered a dinosaur-like creature on the same stretch of road a few weeks later they decided to come clean.

Needless to say it wasn’t long before the press got wind of these bizarre stories and began churning out articles about the monsters seen on the Pan-American Highway .

Soon after the story broke Scott Corrales of the Institute of Hispanic Ufology translated the story for the English speaking world.

The usually open minded Chilean press was quick to claim that the eyewitnesses were likely seeing nothing more than ostriches, which must have escaped from a local breeder.

The fact ostriches are flightless and that none of the birds were reported missing in the area was ignored by the media.

It also seems unlikely that seven individual eyewitnesses would confuse ostriches for either on the wing gargoyles or prehistoric reptiles, regardless of how unbelievable the alternative may be. So if these observers were not bearing witness to bird refuge escapees, then the question remains…

WHAT ARE THESE THINGS?

It’s a fair question considering that the list of dog headed, bat winged, kangaroo legged and potentially reptilian creatures that stand over 6-feet tall is not a large one… In fact, nothing like that should exist, [a vampire bat should not exist but it does and evolving from that into a larger version is very plausible if not inevitable - arclein] nevertheless let’s keep an open mind and look at few of our options here. I have to admit that when I first stumbled across this report my initial thought was that the eyewitness descriptions were akin to reports of the infamous…

CHUPACABRA

For reasons difficult to discern the description of the notorious blood sucking chupacabra — it’s name is Spanish for “goat sucker,” which was initially said to be its favorite prey — has varied wildly since the first reports of these beasts emerged from Puerto Rico in the mid-1990s.

Nowadays many people believe that the mangy coy dogs so often videotaped near the Texas/Mexico border represent chupacabra, but these sickly canine creatures are nothing like the classic depictions of these ferocious fiends.

Initially chupacabra were described as being semi- reptilian beasts with Kangaroo legs, upon which it could leap astounding distances. These creatures were also said to have canine (and occasionally feline) features, large fangs and, very often, bat-like wings. A forked tongue and porcupine-like spines were also commonly seen attributes. All versions of this creature were said to live on the blood of animals.

The above description sounds a lot like the “dog faced gargoyles” described by the Torres and Riquelme. In support of this hypothesis is the fact that since 2004 there have been sporadic reports hailing from South America regarding similar varmints, some of which have been allegedly spotted near scores of bird carcasses that were discovered to be devoid of blood.

While many people are of the mind that the late blooming, so to speak, of the chupacabra phenomenon is the result of it being either of alien extraction or the product of an American genetic experiment gone terribly awry, the thought that these gargoyles might be the origin for tales of the enigmatic chupacabra is an intriguing one. It’s also worth considering the fact that these critters seem to look a helluva’ lot like the…

NEW JERSEY DEVIL

Although it is said to have hooves rather than coiled marsupial legs, the bat winged dog-like description of these gargoyles also seems to bear an uncanny resemblance to eyewitness accounts of the New Jersey Devil.

Nevertheless, the fact that the Jersey Devil is an ostensibly supernatural rather than traditionally cryptozoological entity, combined with the lack of any significant eyewitness accounts from outside the Pine Barrens, leads me to believe that this is just a farfetched shot in the dark.

Okay, so removing both the cryptozoological, paranormal and potentially ufological elements and look at some of South America’s indigenous fauna to see if we can come up with a culprit. There are a handful of options, but the character that seems to most fit the bill is…

VAMPYRUM SPECTRUM

Vampyrum Spectrum — also known as the Spectral or false vampire bat — is native to both South and Central America . This nocturnal predator ranges from Mexico to central Brazil and Peru . It is not only the largest bat found in the “ New World ,” but it is also the biggest carnivorous bat on the planet.

With its elongated nose and 3-foot wingspan it’s not entirely unreasonable to deduce that the Torre family spied a small group of these animals and assumed the worst. Granted the arid deserts of northern Chili are nothing like the prototypical habitat of deciduous forests and swampy areas where bunches of five Vampyrum Spectrum nest in hollow trees near bodies of water, but it is not that unusual for small colonies of creatures to occasionally stray from their usual environment for a variety of reasons.

One could also argue that a pair of gargantuan non-indigenous bats that are seen at night by young and inexperienced eyewitnesses may well appear to be larger than they are. Still, as convenient as a rogue population of bats might be in explaining away these events, they cannot account for the leaping, winged, kangaroo-like creatures that temporarily blocked the Torre’s path in full view of their truck’s headlights.

CONCLUSION:

So what is it that we are dealing with here? It seems fairly evident that if we are not contending with a mistaken identification or outright hoax, then these gargoyles must be either a variety of unknown flying mammal or perhaps a colossal species of heretofore undiscovered bat.

Strangely enough, according to both Carlos and the Carabineros — the uniformed Chilean national police force — there were no reports of strange creatures on the well traveled highway until 2004. Does this suggest a migratory pattern for these beasts or might we surmise that jungle deforestation or some other manner of likely human encroachment has forced these critters out of hiding and into the public eye?

Until one of the Chilean gargoyles is shot, captured or convincingly caught on film this mystery will no doubt endure… and if you ever find yourself traipsing around northern Chili at night, look to the skies… you never know what you’re going to see.

-I post this in deference to the owner of the blog Global warming and Terraforming and as a representation of his views, which are not necessarily the same as my own. My views are parallel but not identical. And so these are some conclusions, which he draws on that other blog:
Posted: 28 Dec 2011 12:02 AM PST








Yesterdays post on the gargoyles in Chile has given us an excellent eye witness report that has been missing in other similar reports which were often glimpses or over ridden by the initial shock of observation. This report lasted for many minutes because it appears that two pairs of gargoyles were actually playing with the moving vehicle just as we might.

They tested their own flying speed against the car running at sixty miles per hour and a pair even hit the ground running to see how they fared in their bounding along side. This was playful and exhibited curiosity but was not an overt threat. Of course the occupants were scared and soon hit the pedal and were in fact able to out run them and speed away.

We can characterize the gargoyle as follows:

1 The excellent carvings on cathedrals from the Middle Ages were modeled from real bodies of these creatures.
2 The creatures feed on blood and have been caught draining blood from a large number of chickens in a chicken coop and can obviously be blamed for the many cases of blood drained downers found on the Great Plains . They are thus clearly able to exploit a wide range of prey and like a weasel will tackle a cage full of chickens.
3 They do hunt in social groups and this readily explains the occurrence of more than one victim at a given site of so called cattle mutilation. Chile showed us two pair working together.
4 Their flying speed is easily sixty miles per hour and they certainly have soaring capacity. Put that together and we have a creature that can travel in a two hundred mile radius from its den on a given night when it is tied to the den for raising young and also able to travel five hundred miles every night if it is looking for a new range.
5 This range of movement allows the creature to easily establish dens throughout the world and the existence of examples in Europe from the medieval period pretty well assures us that this has happened.
6 They are obviously nocturnal and may be members of the bat family which has a sequence of vampires. This then suggests they use caves where they can go to den up. This may also serve to restrict the number of locales in which they operate.
7 It also appears that they are now expanding their range, This is likely because the danger from human landholders has hugely abated over the past half century. They are clever enough to avoid humanity itself as that has surely meant a blast from a shotgun until recently.

Capturing one of these alive is a tall order and locating an active den when the residents only leave at night is equally difficult. Thus our best hope is that the population will increase enough to make shooting one of them rather likely.

We have now had enough individual observations to nicely describe and confirm individual observations as been other than unique. What is missing is a mass of observations, although we do have a mass of observations confirming the draining of blood from cattle in particular. A hunting pack of gargoyles solves that in short order.
As to the sightings, smaller vampire bats are known to do a sort of rocking-horse bounce between the forelegs and hindlegs when making short jumps into the air and the characterization of the creatures as making "Kangaroo hops" could be compared. One other possibility might be that the creatures are poorly-observed condors at night, making "Gooney Bird" landings. I do not think the description matches that possibility as well. While some big bat reports in NW Argentina and Chile might be due to mistaken observations of condors, some sightings specify exactly "Bats the size of condors."

And now for the third item:


Posted: 26 Dec 2011 12:01 AM PST






This is a one off event describing a creature seen in Maryland over a couple of years. Since this creature is clearly diurnal, it has to be a transient and may have come up from South America . No such creature has actually been reported in North America .

What is troublesome is that none of the descriptions described the beak at all. That pretty well eliminates an over specialized shape such as a raptor or its like. If any thing the weight of the descriptions is toward a bulkier bird able to eat grubs and some vegetative matter.

One report noted that the wings were leathery. In fairness, bird wings are also leathery but covered with feathers. This bird is a solid flier with obvious pin feathers. The whole observation allows us to rethink the available possibilities for large birds. Purportedly the pterodactyl lacked feathers but that seems less and less likely. However a membrane wing covered as needed with small feathers makes sense on the pterodactyl configuration.

The Chinese and Asian reports suggest a homeland for this particular transient. Yet I am still seeing a large diurnal bird with a very long apparent range. Perhaps it relies on fishing like the pterodactyl. We have to get it here some how.

In the event this is at lest a very rare solitary bird that travels great distances and avoids humanity by roosting in forests and possibly flying high. Yet flying low may actually be a better route for a bird that does not hunt and perhaps fishes and is comfortable in the forest.

The forest in which the observations were made is a river valley and is well penetrated by human activity. Observation may well have been inevitable there.



Winged Enigma

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2011



A few weeks ago I was thumbing through old investigation files when I came across notations I had made in regards to a unknown bird-like creature. The sightings were reported in 1985 and continued into 1987. It was an odd situation because I knew a few of the witnesses and I was also employed nearby at the time of the sightings. Cryptid investigation was new for me since my main focus was researching spiritual hauntings, but I had studied local Bigfoot encounters and wanted to expand my paranormal focus.

During the afternoon of May 5, 1985 I received a telephone call from Alfred M., the initial witness. He and 2 other men had seen a large bird-like creature perched in a hickory tree while driving south on Thistle Rd. toward River Rd. adjacent to the Patapsco State Park in SW Baltimore Co. Maryland. Alfred stopped the vehicle and watched the creature for several minutes. It eventually flew out of the tree and landed approximately 50 ft. from the road where the witnesses were able to get a keen observation of the creature. Albert stated that it stood 4-5 ft. high and was greenish-blue in color except for the head which was bright red. The wing span was enormous...he estimated it at 15 ft. or more tip-to-tip. The legs were thick and long with distinguishable talons. The eyes were also noticeable...slanted and large with a bright yellow hue. It also made 'clucking and cackle' sounds. After a minute or so, it unfurled its wings and took flight towards the east. Alfred said it reminded him of a hybrid 'dragon and peacock', which he thought was crazy but he stuck with the description.


At the time, I thought that the creature was either a large turkey buzzard or maybe a peacock someone may have had as a pet. In fact, a peacock farm did exist in the area back in the 1950's according to people I interviewed. I went to the location but found no evidence supporting the sighting.


Later that year, I had heard a rumor of a large bird being seen near the Hilton Area of the Patapsco State Park on Hilltop Rd. After several inquiries I was able to locate the witness, Darlene M., who confirmed the sighting. She and her daughter lived nearby and had been walking along Hilltop Rd. when they observed a huge bird flying towards them. Darlene stated that the creature got within 20 ft. of them then suddenly changed direction and flew into the woods. She said that they were terrified...she was sure it was going to hit them. She had gone to the library to see if she could find a picture of the creature. She found an old illustration of aFung Hwang, or Chinese Phoenix and said it looked very similar to what they observed. She described the head was a vibrate red with fierce eyes.

The wings were leathery and tipped with large green feathers. It flew by so quickly she was unable to get a better description.

This is the image Darlene showed me - In 1886, Charles Gould reproduced this picture of the Fung Hwang, or Chinese Phoenix . In fact, the male was called Fung, and the female called Hwang. Just as dragons could be auspicious, so could these birds, said to tower over most people and enjoy music.

Once again I was stumped by the sighting. I talked to two ornithologists who basically thought I was delusional. I also contacted the state park service and asked if they had heard of any strange reports. Nothing...though they were amused by the questions.

The Phoenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Arabian, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indian and Phoenicians.

On the morning of April 29, 1986 several employees at the local paper mill observed a large bird standing in the loading area. According to the witnesses, this creature fit the description of a very large peacock...but there were some oddities. The head was red in color and it didn't have the long plumes. Other than those anomalies the overall description pointed towards a peacock. Could there be a breeding population in the state park?

In January 1987 a truck driver (Robert S.) was heading south on Thistle Rd. and was startled by a huge bird that flew across the road in front of his vehicle. I was able to interview him by telephone a few days later (he lived in Edison , NJ ). His impression was that it 'looked like a dragon'. There was snow on the ground and the creature silhouetted well enough to get a quick but detailed look. Robert stated that it was 'as long as his truck was wide' and 'was powerfully built'. He also confirmed it had a red colored head and greenish-blue body and wings.


At this point I had nothing more than anecdotal evidence. There was no natural explanation for the existence of this creature. Even today I have little to go on because I simply have not come across another cryptid that matches the description.

The Gryphon is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. As the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle was the king of the birds, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature.

The final sighting, as far as I know, took place on June 30, 1987. The witness, David, was a Baltimore Gas and Electric employee who, along with his partner, was working along the power line that runs north to south through the state park. At a point north of Hilltop Rd. near the old mill village is an abandoned church graveyard. The former church was razed in the 1930's but the graveyard was left on its own...thus, it was severely overgrown by the woods. (I do think that the graves have been relocated since). David observed a large bird-like creature that he described as a 'gryphon'...though he admits that he didn't get a very good look at it. He only noticed the creature after hearing a rustling sound which he thought was probably deer moving through the woods. He said the creature raised up from a rock, spread it's wings and vanished. David admitted that the sight of this beast was a shock and that he did not want to go back to the location.

I really wish I had more to offer. I kept the notes and vowed to go back and investigate the encounters if more sightings were reported. The witness Darlene may have been on to something...maybe this was a mythical firebird with the ability to be reborn from its own ashes. Unfortunately I have not heard of other incidents. Lon


-In this case, the dimensions are in the Thunderbird range although on the modest side (10 to 20 foot wingspan is the lower end of wingspan estimates and some estimates go up to a 35 foot wingspan or more. 15 to 25 would be seen more often and would definitely seem the more likely estimates of the size) but the colouration seems a mite gaudy. The ordinary reports would say simply black wings and a red head, but the feathers are also sometimes said to have a sort of irridescent sheen to them and could look bluish or greenish from that. Oddly enough, the more colourful Thunderbird reports nearly always emanate from the EAST Coast. Some reports say leathery wings and others say feathery; these reports DO say feathery. In the case quoted above, the suggestion it was a peacock seems too forced; it was like a peacock except for the head and tail does not leave any distinctively peacock features in between. The fact that the shape of the beak is not specified of course in itself means nothing; but then it is difficult to judge how sharp the edge of a bird's beak is from a distance. The large talons are on the other hand suggestive of a predatory bird. In this case we seem to have a more or less ordinary large condor-like bird from the description, only the fancies of observers attribute pterosaur or dragon features onto it. Or even phoenix or peacock features.

Best Wishes, Dale D.

Wednesday, 14 December 2011

ChupaBats, SuperBats

Some more details on the ChupaBats, the larger two of the giant bats reported sometimes as Chupacabras. A composite sighting scenario comes from About.com:

Chupacabras: The Blood-Sucking Creature from Hell

by Stephen Wagner, About.Com Guide


Is there a connection among chupacabras and the various small, vicious, flying monsters that have terrorized unsuspecting people around the globe for decades? Here's what they look like and what they've been up to.

THE FULL MOON rose above the mountain in the cloudless night, shining like a pale yellow lantern into the farmer's bedroom. But that is not what awoke him. It was the chickens. Their panicked cries had awoken him before, and it meant they were under attack. Wild dogs had gotten into the coop, the farmer thought, or perhaps a wolf. He leapt from bed, grabbed his shotgun from the bedroom corner and hurried outside. He checked the gun for cartridges as he jogged barefoot past the long, soft shadows cast by the moonlight toward the chicken coop. The predator will die tonight, he thought, as he pushed open the small door to the coop. He burst in and took aim. But he did not shoot. Instead, he froze, his senses overwhelmed by the sight before him. Several chickens lay dead in the dirt around the clawed feet of a creature the farmer had never seen before. This was no dog, no wolf [Although it was about the size of a dog]. It had dark gray fur noticeably longer on the back and shorter on the belly.The creature held a chicken in its mouth. It was not eating its prey, but seemed to be allowing it to bleed to death. It turned to face the farmer, its red eyes blazing, and dropped the chicken to the ground. It hissed, baring its large blood-stained fangs. Then it screeched - an unearthly, terrifying noise that drove the farmer backward into the doorway. The creature, with its front claws dangling, hopped on four legs toward the farmer. Dumbstruck, he stumbled backward out of the coop as the creature hopped past him with another deafening shriek. The farmer was knocked to the ground, and he could feel rough skin of the creature as it passed, and felt the warm, sickening smell of its putrid breath on his face. The creature sprung onto the roof of the coop, spread short, dark, bat-like wings, and with a bounding hop flew away into the darkness. It was only then that the farmer remembered he had his shotgun. He brought it to bear, but it was too late. The creature from hell had disappeared with one last shriek that echoed off the distant mountains.
Although this might sound like some horror story fantasy, it is actually based on the eyewitness accounts and experiences of those who have encountered the enigmatic creature known as el chupacabras - "the goatsucker."
The description, however, also seems to fit a number of other strange creatures that have been seen over the decades - creatures people have identified as gargoyles, the Jersey Devil and others. It's worth examining the similarities and considering whether these all might be sightings of the same mysterious creature.
CHUPACABRAS
The now-famous chupacabras first came on the scene, as far as we know, in the summer of 1975 when several farm animals in Puerto Rico were found dead. The bodies had strange puncture-like marks on their necks. The sightings intensified in the 1990s as the chupacabras' appetite seemed to grow. In some cases, farmers reported that literally hundreds of their animals were inexplicably slaughtered. Invariably, the animals were not eaten by any predator, but were horribly mutilated or drained of blood - hence the name, "goatsucker." In 1991, a male dog was found dead, with nothing inside. "It was as if all had been sucked out through the eyes," the report said. "It had empty eye sockets and all the internal organs had disappeared."
[You could conceivably extract the brain through the eye sockets but neither one conncts to the body cavity. There must have been another opening that was missed and through which the viscera was removed-DD]
For a while, the carnage seemed to be confined to the island of Puerto Rico, but toward the end of the 1990s and into the 2000s, sightings began to be reported on other Caribbean islands, in Mexico, Central America, Chile and even the southern U.S. in Florida, Arizona and Texas. In April-June in Chile of 2002, in fact, it was reported that authorities had even captured the chupacabras, which may have been taken away by people representing the U.S. government.
The descriptions of the creature over this time has [indicated more than one type of creature involved-DD]
The chupacabras phenomenon continues up to this day, with the recent reports of attacks continuing to come out of South American countries, including Chile and Argentina. In many of these cases, chupacabras - although not seen - was blamed for the deaths of chickens and other farm animals that were mutilated and drained of blood.
Next page:http://paranormal.about.com/od/chupacabra/a/chupa-from-hell_2.htm The Jersey Devil and Gargoyles
THE JERSEY DEVIL
The legend of the Jersey Devil dates back to about 1735, by most accounts, in Leeds Point, New Jersey. A Mrs. Leeds, the story goes, upon discovering that she was pregnant for an unlucky thirteenth time said that the child might just as well be a devil. Folklore says that this prophecy came true, and that Mrs. Leeds gave birth to a horrific creature with a horse's head and bats wings. Ever since, the legend goes, the creature has been haunting the pine barrens of New Jersey.
No one takes the legend seriously, of course, but the Jersey Devil has been blamed over the years for a number of mysterious livestock deaths and eerie cries in the darkness. And the first sighting in the 20th century occurred in 1909 when a Pennsylvania postmaster allegedly saw the glowing monster flying over the Delaware river. Less than a month later, the flying creature was spotted by a policeman in Burlington, New Jersey. A few days later, a woman in Philadelphia claimed to have seen a similar monster in her backyard. And that evening it was seen by two more police officers in Salem, New Jersey, and the next night by a fisherman. Note their collective descriptions compared to chupacabras:
  • long, thin wings (other accounts reported bat wings) (Wingspan of 11 feet once alluded to)
  • four short legs, the hind ones being longer than the forelegs or vice versa
  • walks on its back legs and holds up two short front legs with paws on them
  • red glowing eyes
  • a head like a dog and face like a horse. large sharp fangs
  • alligator-like skin or furry skin
  • able to breathe fire (Probably "Steaming breath" since this was in a cold January night)
  • about three feet high (some described it as much larger)
  • hoof-like feet (assumed from the tracks mostly)
  • one witness described it as monkey-like, on all fours.
There are distinct differences in the descriptions, but there are also many interesting similarities.[One researcher has said that the differences between the sightings were much greater than any similarities and that they should not all be considered as describing the same thing]
Although the Jersey Devil is alleged to have been seen over the years, none are taken as seriously by researchers as the 1909 sightings.[amend that to "none is taken seriously by most researchers"]

[Cutting article here at "Gargoyles". Dale D has amended the text above in several places to be more in line with the data at hand. It does seem that the Jersey Devil is the same creature as is also called the Snallygaster or Snollygoster in the nearby districts of West Virginia to Maryland, but in that case the desriptions are even more confused and contradictory, anbd in that case also probably based on more than one kind of creature]

It is probably more useful to remember these creatures are commonly known as Devils or Devil Bats, "The Bat Out of Hell," including in the Spanish-Language equivalents. "Chupacabras" means something else, a different creature, and the name is mistakenly applied here.
Vampyrum Spectrum Linnaeus

The Vampire of La Moca, forerunner of the Chupacabras reports on Puerto Rico by two decades or more
http://www.ufomystic.com/2007/01/18/chupacabras/

Chupacabras Thoughts, UFOMYSTIC, January 18, 2007
[After an introduction mentioning the CFZ Chupacabras expedition, Nick Redfern goes into some back history. Later on a woman witness named Norka is named and she also saw a winged creature in 1975 or 1976. She is interviewed in Jon Downe's book as well-DD]
...But yesterday’s email suggested yet another avenue of investigation worth exploring. According to the story, in the summer of 1967, a strange beast was observed late one evening “struggling on the ground” on farmland in the Moca area of the island.
The beast appeared injured and the farmer, terrified that it was something demonic, fled the scene to the safety of his home. The next day, the creature was gone. Several years later, however, he confided in his son the details. And it’s the son’s story – via an intermediary – that has now surfaced.
The son does not hold to the “demonic” angle, however: he believes that what his father had seen was some form of giant bat – and he bases this on the description of the creature having “a face like a little monkey – but much bigger,” a dark colored body, and distinctly bat-like wings. Now we are not talking about something the size of a large bird of prey here. No: the witness told his son that the animal appeared to be “near human in size.”
Now, of course, some will merely scoff at this report and relegate it to misidentification, legend, or the rumor-mill. However, reports of giant bats are surprisingly common. Since this is more akin to the field of cryptozoology, I won’t go into reams of detail. But several such cases are worth mentioning, at least.
Cameroon has the Olitiau – an immense bat-like beast, with large wings, a monkey-like face, and black fur. A similar creature is said to exist on Madagascar: the Fangalabolo. From Java, come reports of the Ahool: a giant bat with a 12-foot wingspan. The Guiafairo (whose name translates to “The fear that flies by night”) of Senegal falls into the same category; while the mythology of Indonesia tells of the Orang-Bati, once again a large bat-like entity, that lurks within an extinct volcano on the island and abducts children.
Of course, many of these reports (and particularly the story of the Orang-Bati) are the stuff of legend. But, behind many legends, there is often a semblance of truth. Is it possible that the Chupacabras of Puerto Rico is not an alien entity, a straightforward superstition, or the work of U.S. psychological warfare planners; but may indeed be some form of very large bat?
Such suggestions have been postulated before*. However, the problem with the Chupacabras is that the tales of the beast have reached near-mythical status, and as a result it is the idea that the animal is one of high-strangeness which has led to its worldwide fame – and infamy. Indeed, I know from my now-several firsthand visits to the island that, in the eyes of many people there, the Chupacabras can only be an unknown entity – alien, demonic, monstrous, or (most absurdly) the nefarious work of “secret, government genetic engineering.”
Now, if the beast does turn out to be merely a large type of bat, that should not diminish the importance of the discovery. Indeed, whatever the answer turns out to be, we should embrace it. Something is afoot on Puerto Rico; of that I am absolutely certain. But I find it intriguing that for the most part, there broadly appears to be two schools of thought: one that suggests the beast has truly exotic origins (aliens, demons, the paranormal, “the government”), and one that points in the direction of fakery, superstition, misidentification, and the rumor-mill. Neither camp (or at least very rarely) touches upon the idea of an indigenous, yet undiscovered animal of far more down-to-earth origins.
It must be said that if the creature has less sensational origins than has been perceived, then in some quarters this is bound to cause major disappointment. And, on the other hand, if the tales are found to have a basis in reality, then those that dismiss the subject completely out of hand will definitely have egg on their faces. But that says more about the “I want to believe” factor (or indeed, the “I don’t want to believe” factor) of the subject than anything else.
Perhaps it’s time that both camps broadened their horizons.

*"Before":
     CHUPACABRAS:
     Threat of the Goatsucker
     ------------------------
     By Rene Villegas

    MEXICO CITY, May 10 (Reuter) - Is it a bat? Is it a witch? Is it from
Mars?
    This much is known: it is furry, has big bulbous eyes and sucks the blood
of goats and other creatures. The mysterious vampire-like creature known as
``Chupacabras'' (goatsucker) has gripped the fevered imaginations of many
Mexicans.
    While government officials appeal for calm, enterprising trinket sellers
have jumped on the bandwagon with Chupacabras T-shirts and key-rings in the
northern city of Tijuana and are offering tours of sites allegedly linked to
the creature.
    Some say it is an extraterrestrial life form. Others say drought in
Mexico's northern states has driven bats, wolves and coyotes to carry out the
attacks to slake their thirst. Reports from at least nine of the 31 Mexican
states tell of attacks on animals and one person by the fanged menace.
    Witnesses say it sucks their blood until they die, leaving tell-tale
puncture marks on the neck and other mutilations.
    The designs on the Tijuana key-rings and T-shirts, taken from the
accounts of witnesses who claim to have seen the creature, show a giant,
furry winged rodent with staring eyes and razor-sharp teeth.[The PR. Version-DD]
    The attacks are not  just on goats. Reports from remote rural regions
list sheep, cows, horses, hens, pigs and rabbits among Chupacabra's victims.
    Only one man so far says he has been attacked. A shaken Angel Pulido, a
campesino farmer from the village of La Alameda near Guadalajara in the
western state of Jalisco, recently showed reporters two bite marks on the
right arm he says he got from ``a giant bat that looked like a witch.''
    ``And you should know that my husband is very brave and isn't easily
frightened,'' his wife, Irma Ponce, told Siglo XXI newspaper.
    Maximiliano Esparza, governor of the northern state of Durango says --
possibly tongue-in-cheek -- he is considering offering a reward for the
capture of the Chupacabra. Other officials are trying to dampen the wave of
panic with a dose of scepticism.
    Deputy Agriculture Minister Romarico Arroyo said on Thursday there is no
such thing as a Chupacabra and also took time to deny the presence of
extraterrestrials in Mexico. ``This has gone from a scare to a form of
entertainment,'' he said, adding that all the cases investigated by the
ministry showed that wolves or coyotes had carried out the attacks.
    The health ministry of the northern state of Sinaloa had a different
explanation, saying on Wednesday that the mysterious creature is most likely
a 32-inch (80-cm) bat, sometimes known for blood-sucking, which lives in
remote mountainous areas.[POSSIBLY this means the KNOWN False vampire bat-DD]
    The state's medical services chief Carlos Vega said the bats are
suffering from the drought, which has killed many of the animals they usually
feed on, and are ranging further afield than usual in search of prey.
    The rage has reached Mexico City, where among the hundreds of acrobats,
fire-eaters and clowns, many of them children, who ply the streets in search
of the odd motorist's coin, little ``draculas'' with plastic fangs have now
appeared.
    ``Goatsucker fallen on hard times: help me out,'' a sign carried by one
of them read.
       Reuters Variety
--It is notable that the Mexican sightings in these cases refer to the Giant False Vampire bat. The initial Puerto Rican reports refer to the even larger bat, The American Ahool, although reports of the more moderate-sized ChupaBat later proliferated in both Puerto Rico and in Florida.


Illustrations of Chupacabras as Devil Bats

Reconstruction of Medium-Chupabat, Vampyrum spectrum X2 in all dimensions. The man is holding a normal-sized Vampyrum False Vampire bat. His head is blocked off frankly because the photo cut the top of his head off: but in the reputed species the body of the bat  alone is supposed to be about the size of the human head and this indicates the comparison better. The shape of the body is actually rather similar to the "Devil Bat" artwork above it. Nearly all artists badly underestimate the size of bat's wings when folded up.


Vampyrum X2 compared in size to chickens, which would be a
convenient-sized food item for such a bat. The bat is comparable
in size to a moderate-sized dog, large cat, or large Chicken hawk.

Early Chupacabras as a bat, as drawn for
 a Puerto Rican Newspaper
This puzzled me until I realised that
The artist had drawn the EARS of the
False Vampire Bat as if they were EYES


Chupacabras as drawn in Chile
 
The False Vampire bat, Vampyrum spectrum



http://rlp.tripod.com/chupabat.html/



Chupacabra or Vampire Bat?

By Renee Lara

Puerto Rico, 1993, in a town named Canovanas, about a dozen goats were found dead at a small farm. Their owner found them without blood in their bodies. Similar cases started to be made public in other areas of Puerto Rico, later in California, Texas, and even in Northern parts of Mexico. The general public did not know who or what to blame for the attacks so they started referring to the attacker as the Chupacabra. The Chupacabra, or Goat-sucker as it would be said in English, obtained its name because some of the first victims found were goats. There are many assumptions on what this ‘being’ is; they range from tales on extraterrestrials to wild dogs. However, the logic of these theories do not fit the common characteristics of the Chupacabra.
Since the beginnings of time, many animals have developed new ways to survive. Some have become larger or smaller, and others have acquired brightly designed furs. All these in order to accommodate to the new habitats that man is constantly changing due to innovations in technology. So, perhaps the Chupacabra is a new form of evolution of a parasitic mammal that lives in the areas where the Chupacabra has attacked. This mammal is from the family Desmodontidae and its appearance, feeding style, and attacking mode matches the Chupacabra’s almost to a one hundred percent; the mammal is commonly known as the Vampire bat.

The Chupacabra is described as being of medium size, from two and a half feet to three feet in height. The people that claim to have seen it say that it is of a grayish to brown color, and that the hair on its back ‘sticks up.’ The eyes of the Chupacabra are one of the most striking features; according to the witnesses, the eyes are big and elongated upward with a dark-red to wine coloration. It has been said that the Chupacabra has protruding fangs and a skin-like membrane that joins the arms with the Chupacabra’s sides of the body. The membrane was also seen between the Chupacabra’s long fingers, and apparently the Chupacabra can fly with the aid of this membrane. By trying to put a picture together of all these features, anyone would deduct that the Chupacabra is an alien; however, if all the characteristics are carefully analyzed, any individual can see that the Chupacabra and Vampire bats are very similar.

There are three types of Vampire bats: Desmodus rotundus, Diaemus youngi, and Diphylla ecaudata, which can be found throughout the areas of Northern Mexico, extending into Central and South America (Walker 324-326). Vampire bats all have basic similarities among each other, and also with the Chupacabra. In Vampire bats, the fur is colored in different tones of gray, and the bats’ back have darker tones of gray that go into a dull brown. Since these bats are found in areas of warm climate, their fur is short and each hair is spaced out from the other hairs. This gives the bats’ hairs an appearance of being raised and in disarray (Brown 21), or ‘sticking up,’ as in the case of the Chupacabra. Vampire bats have very specialized teeth. The most notorious are the front incisors and the canines, which are sharply pointed in order to cut into a victim’s skin. Vampire bats have large eyes that are very dark in color, and in some areas of Sonora, Mexico, these bats have been found to have pink to red eyes (Brown 22). Bats are flying mammals; therefore, they have wings which are attached from their arms and long fingers to the sides of their bodies. These wings have a leathery appearance, just like the membranes seen on the Chupacabra. Vampire bats are not very large in size;

however, a new evolution of a Vampire bat could very well reach the size of a small toddler. This could happen since "the Largest or the Great Ternate Bat, is, in general, about a foot long, with an extent of wings about four feet; but sometimes it is found far larger, and it has been said that specimens have been seen of six feet in extent" (Brown 20). This makes it very possible that anyone, who might have seen a new Vampire bat of larger size than it is commonly known, could have , because of fright and ignorance, exaggerated its size and appearance and mistaken it as a monster from outer space.


Many of the Chupacabra believers would like for it to be a being from another world; they would like to tell skeptics that they had been wrong to think that the Chupacabra was a dog. According to veterinarians and other officers of the Department of Agriculture in Puerto Rico, wild dogs are the ones that have committed the attacks ("El Chupacabras"). However, dogs could not have been the ones to have committed most of the attacks on the animals. Many of the attacked sites were located next to the houses of the owners, who claimed that they did not hear anything. If dogs had been the ones responsible for the deaths, the owners would have heard the barking and howling of the dog or dogs attacking, and eventually the barking of all the other neighborhood dogs. Whenever a dog attacks an animal, it usually does it in a very vicious way (dog attacks leave recognizable traces). Some of the traces would be the damaged cages of some of the animals, scattered feathers in the case of chickens, ducks and geese, missing animals that could have been eaten, smashed plants and dug holes at the sides of the cages, and the wounds found on the animals. A dog’s bite can scar the entire area of skin where the bite was given, plus it can tear a victim’s muscles. In the Chupacabra’s victims none of these traces are noticeable; the skin and muscles do not have any trauma internally or externally other than the punctures through which the blood was extracted. These killings were made clean and efficient, just the way a Vampire bat would do it, and dogs definitely are not clean hunters.
So far, the Chupacabra has not actually been seen in action. Apparently the Chupacabra attacks only during the night and does it in an extremely careful manner. The way punctures have been made indicate that the Chupacabra climbs on the victim’s back in order to bite it. Non-skeptics speculate that the Chupacabra’s bite is not painful since it does not awaken the animals (including hens, which are known to be extremely scandalous). How can something bite into an animal’s skin without being noticed by the victim itself? This is quite a simple task performed by Vampire bats. Vampire bats land on top of the animals very gently, or sometimes the "Vampires advance on their targets as circumspectly as possible, on foot" (Leen 139). Their teeth are so thin and sharp that it is quite easy for them to bite into the skin and cut a small piece of it. "This operation is practically painless and usually does not disturb the sleeping or quiet animal or human being" (Walker 322). Vampire bats then proceed to lick the wound with their long tongue in order to add an anti-coagulant so that the blood will not clot. After this is done, the flowing blood is then lapped with the tongue. All of the procedure is done very cautiously in order not to awaken the victim. Even if the victim is to wake up, there is no much that it can do in order to get rid of the Vampire bat, unless of course, the victim is a human; in this case the person would probably try to hit it and then call for help. However, neither the Chupacabra nor Vampire bats get near people that often; apparently both prefer the blood of "cattle, mules, horses, and goats" (Allen 96).
Another characteristic that intrigues the owners of attacked animals is the apparent lack of blood in the victims. Almost every person that has analyzed the deaths, claim that they were not able to find any blood in the bodies of the animals. Nevertheless, when the veterinarians of the Department of Agriculture in Puerto Rico made autopsies to about twenty of the animals, they found the correct amount of blood that was expected (Navarro). The animals were not completely drained after all. Vampire bats are able to drink blood up to sixty percent of their weight and sometimes a Vampire bat can "drink its own weight or more, and starving individuals have been known to draw up to two ounces of blood from a victim" (Brown 48). Two ounces do not sound like a lot of blood; however, when a significant amount of blood is extracted, any victim becomes weak and runs the risk of dying. In chickens the extraction of two ounces of blood can be fatal, since "in nine out of ten the feathered victim dies" (Allen 96). If a small one ounce Vampire bat can do this to a chicken, then a larger developed bat of nearly three feet in height could definitely weaken a goat or cow to death.

Other characteristics of the Chupacabra that can also be related to those of the Vampire bats are the hind legs and the odor the Chupacabra emits. According to the people that have seen the Chupacabra, it is able to stand on its two hind legs. One of the witnesses said that the Chupacabra "jumped like a kangaroo down a Canovanas street and... it exuded such a sulfurlike stench that her 1 1/2-year-old son, who was in the car with her during the second sighting, was still coughing from it" (Navarro). Vampire bats, besides flying and walking almost straight on their feet, can also leap and jump. Vampire bats’ hind legs are very strong and on the bottom of their feet they may have pads that help them move silently while they jump from one place to another. Jumping is extremely necessary for Vampire bats and apparently for the Chupacabra also. Being able to jump
allows for a quick escape or swift dodge whenever they might feel attacked if sensed by the victim. As it was said before, the Chupacabra is able to emit a strong, disgusting odor whenever it is seen. This might be done in order to warn a possible aggressor not to get near. A Vampire bat can do this through a "spitting hiss from two large cup-shaped glands in the rear of its mouth" (Brown 25). As if that was not enough, Vampire bats themselves smell strongly, since their fur is impregnated by a smell of ammonia. The caves where the bats have been found have pools of bat excrement deposited all over the floor. The droppings smell of ammonia because several beetles that feed on the Vampire bats’ guano produce ammonia gas. "The amount of ammonia in the cave air was found to be three times the level that would be considered safe for humans to breathe" (Turner 55). The stench perceived by some of the Chupacabra witnesses is very similar to the one that commonly surrounds Vampire bats; however, since that particular smell is often related to the devil, demons, and other obscure beings, the witnesses could have failed to see that the animal was actually a bigger-than-usual Vampire bat.

Since Vampire bats can "become established in southern Florida, Cuba, or even the lower Rio Grande Valley" (Brown 35), it might be possible that the Chupacabra sightings in these areas were actually the apparitions of an evolution of Vampire bats. Vampire bats can be found in fairly large groups, which would explain why the Chupacabra was seen in so many different places of the southern United States and other areas of Latin America in almost consecutive days. For many Chupacabra believers, the thought of having larger Vampire bats living in these areas sounds strange; nevertheless, it can
.
happen. Any simple and permanent change in a gene or chromosome of an animal can cause an evolutionary change. The change would then be passed onto the offspring and so on. These small mutations have happened since the beginnings of time, and they eventually lead the animals, insects, and even humans to physically look the way they do now. Vampire bats have also undergone several changes. Studies and research on Vampire bats showed that maybe "vampires first fed on the blood-feeding ectoparasites of wild hosts and later directly on the mammalian blood" (Turner, Dennis 66); the electroparasites were moths and mosquitoes. It is known that the majority, if not all of the animals on earth have evolved from an earlier ancestor, so perhaps the Chupacabra has only evolved from what is commonly known as the Vampire bat.



Works Cited

Allen, Glover Morril.  Bats.  New York:  Dover, 1939.

Brown, David E.  Vampiro: The Vampire Bat in Fact and Fantasy.  Silver 
 City, NM: High-Lonesome Books, 1994.

"El Chupacabras: La Hora de la Verdad."  Ocurrio Asi de Noche.  Narr.  Enrique
 Gratas.  Telemundo.  21 June 1996.

Leen, Nina.  The World of Bats.  New York:  Holt, 1969.

Navarro, Mireya.  "El Chupacabra."  New York Times News Service 
 26 Jan. 1996: n.p.

Turner, Dennis C.  The Vampire Bat.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1975.

Turner, Edward, and Clive Turner.  Bats.  Sussex, Great Britain:  Priority 
 Press Limited, 1975.


--Once again, this author assumes living descendants of the Giant Vampires of the past and also giant bats up to 3 feet tall/the height of a child: in my case I make that out as three distinct species sorted out at the different heights because there is so much difference in the heights. The middle one is the Giant False Vampire (Vampyrum sp. nov.) and the one most often reported in Chupacabras cases as raiding henhouses and killing livestock. Even ordinary vampire bats are capable of killing humans, horses and cattle, though.

There is something of a mistaken impression going on as far as most commentators go: Many predators kill their prey by letting it bleed to death, including human hunters. Furthermore, all mammalian predators that kill warm-blooded prey by use of their mouths have experienced drinking the blood of their victims at some point or another. I have now seen statements from different sources which state that False Vampires "Sometimes" drink blood, but then so do ordinary dogs and cats.What does presumably happen is that the doublesized-Vampyrum bats bite down with their very long fanged canine teeth and the terrible wounds the teeth inflict can indeed lead to a lot of blood loss quickly, particularly if a major blood vessel is severed. The Chupa-Vampyrum has fangs estimated as an inch long and perhaps a third of an inch thick at the base: the mouth is said to extend in a gape of up to eight inches and the bite is said to be able to crush the skull of a lamb. The ordinary Vampyrum has a bite which commonly crushes the skulls of parrots and parakeets it likes to feed on and I could forsee that any ordinary hencoop or dovecote would be very tempting to an outsized Vampyrum.

Chow time for the Spectral or False vampire bat


Skull of the known False Vampire bat, Vampyrum spectrum


Scientific Illustration fot the known species of Vampyrum.
Showing the insubstantial hind legs extended. The
puny hind legs are also noted in drawings of the Jersey Devil



Toy Chupabat, Probably based on sightings of
The Giant False-Vampire Bat "Chupacabras"
 
Photo circulating around the internet and said to be a "Giant Bat" or "Mothman" taken in the environs of a large midwestern city of the USA. From the looks of it I think it is a popular style of kite.
Best Wishes, Dale D.