In Chile, during the year 2000, there were a slew of cryptid sightings and encounters. El chupacabras and humanoid / mothman-like creatures were reported nationwide. In this post, I'm going to concentrate on the chupacabras rampage that occurred during the months of April-June:
Calama, Chile - April 2000 - night
A witness riding his bicycle was passing by the local Lion's Club building, when he heard a groan and stopped to see what had happened. On the side of the building, he saw a dead dog in the grass, and next to it, a pair of large shining eyes. The eyes were so shiny that the witness could not make out any detail of the creature's body. Suddenly the creature lifted the dead dog with its hands, and in the wink of an eye was only 10 meters away from the witness, after being 50 meters away a second before. Shocked the witness quickly pedaled away stunned as to the manner that the creature moved.
Source: Calama UFO Center
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Eight young locals looking for the reputed blood predator in the local hills saw a strange short creature apparently covered with hair make a prodigious leap then run into a nearby cave, near the River Loa.
A few nights later, several locals living on the slopes of a hill saw a strange entity quickly climbing up the side of the hill at incredible speed. It moved up on practical vertical cliffs using reptilian like movements, it seemed to expand as if possessing dark wing-like membranes on its back that apparently propelled it up the cliffs. Once it reached the summit, the witnesses began hearing strange growling and screeching sounds coming from the area.
Source: Paranigma Chile
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Tucapel Chile - April 29, 2000 - 8:00pm
Farm worker Jose Ismael Pino was looking for a loose wild bull when he came upon a four-foot tall creature, simian in appearance, with long clawed arms, enormous fangs protruding from its mouth, as well as a pair of wings. Scared he ran to fetch some dogs that attacked the creature. One of the dogs came back with a bloodstained neck.
Source: UFO Roundup Vol. 5
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Maria Elena, Chile - May 6, 2000 - 5:00am
Three men that had been driving a refrigerated truck had stopped at a local truck stop in order to obtain some rest. As the driver turned off the truck's engine and lights, they all noticed that the truck seem to tilt slightly to the right, and its lights began blinking on and off. Stunned they now saw behind the right side passenger window a strange figure, described as having abundant hair; an elongated oval shaped head, with several protruding fangs in his mouth, and with large yellowish slanted eyes. It also had large pointy ears and what appeared to be pig-like whiskers. The creature remained a few moments at the window, then left. The terrified witnesses quickly drove away from the area. Strange marks were found on the truck's cabin.
Source: La Estrella de Loa
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Santa Elena de Codao, Chile - May 7, 2000 - 11:00pm
33-year old, G Alejandro Canales was returning back to his home after guarding his rabbit pens. As he took a short cut through an unlit alley he felt something fall on his back. He struggled with the "thing" and managed to shine a flashlight on it. He was stunned to see a short simian looking creature, with large pointy fangs, black fingernails, large golden luminous eyes, and dark leathery wings on its back. He also felt a strong musty odor during the encounter. The creature quickly scurried away disappearing into the darkness. Others found the witness in a state of shock upon hearing his screams. Deep scratches were found on Canales body.
Source: OVNIS Chile
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Near Calama, Chile - May 8, 2000 - unknown
According to various sources, Chilean military units in an area near the desert captured three strange creatures, reported to be blood predators or the unfortunately named "Chupacabra." On May 12 at 0627A a Boeing 767 arrived from Miami at Arturo Merino Benitez Airport. It was flight number 501, later a Boeing 767 from Air Lan also arrived at the airport. These supposedly brought special containers clearly marked NASA. Both aircraft then left enroute to Calama at 0800A. The captured creatures were then transferred to special flights that left towards an unknown destination.
Source: Patricio Borlone Rojas, Paranigma Chile
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Near Calama Chile - May 10, 2000 - night
A soldier stationed near the city reported seeing a strange creature that was able to make incredible leaps and bounds at times seemingly suspended in mid-air. He described the entity as about 1.20m tall, kind of hairy, and sort of hunchbacked. A patrol was supposedly sent after it. Supposedly the patrol found some strange "eggs" that they brought back to the barracks. Later another patrol reportedly killed two of the creatures and captured a third. It is said that NASA personnel retrieved all three creatures.
Source: Paranigma Chile
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Sierra Gorda, Calama, Chile - May 14 2000 - 5:00am
Several security guards posted at the entrance to La Minera El Tesoro spotted several moving figures in the nearby brush. Upon shining their flashlight at the creatures they could tell that they were simian in appearance and moved using incredible leaps and bounds at very high speed. One of the creatures stood up on two legs and it measured about 1.60m in height. It had large glowing yellow eyes and its body was covered with thick hair. The next day the men found a dead dog, which was missing all its organs.
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Local residents heard strange howling and screeching noises in the area, at the same time that several domesticated rabbits were found dead and completely bloodless. Another resident in Magallanes street saw a strange humanoid, with large bright yellowish eyes, that seemed to have a kind of hypnotic affect on him. Another resident saw a similar being standing on top of some rocks.
The next night, a young couple was parked in an isolated area making out, when suddenly a humanoid figure, covered with hair and with large luminous reddish yellowish eyes appeared in front of the vehicle. The young woman then received an apparently telepathic message from the creature, telling her to open the car door and step outside. She was about ready to open to door when she suddenly realized what she was doing. The panicked couple attempted to start the vehicle in order to leave, but could no move their legs. Finally they were able to move and drove away from the area.
Source: Paranigma Chile
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Tocopilla, Chile - May 30, 2000 - 2:00am
Local residents living next to the Tocopilla hills were suddenly awaken by strange loud noises. At first they thought it was a person climbing the hill, but after observing it in greater detail, they realized that, whatever they were seeing, not only was not human; it was something they have never seen before. It was a creature that was climbing the hill very rapidly despite the seventy to eighty degrees steep. They described the being as very agile and fast, making reptilian like movements like a small lizard. The creature appeared to be much bigger than a condor, brown in color, with bright red eyes and what appeared to be feathers throughout its body. It emitted loud quack like noises that were heard every night for a couple of weeks, causing dogs to bark and howl at night.
Source: Dr. Virgilio Sanchez Ocejo, Miami UFO Center
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Baquedano, Chile - May 30, 2000 - 6:00am
37-year old Evelyn Esbry woke up early in the morning in order to use the toilet facilities located outside in the terrace. On her way there she heard sounds coming from the patio area. Suddenly an entity jumped on her back, paralyzed with fear she turned around to see a bizarre hairy creature, with a large nozzle, about 4-feet tall, and with large luminous orange, oval shaped eyes. Terrified, Evelyn fainted and did not see the creature depart. She suffered from shock and was treated at the local hospital for deep scratches. The victim told local paramedics that the creature seemed to communicate with her, using telepathy telling her not to scream.
Source: Paranigma Chile
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Quillota, Chile - May 31, 2000 - midnight
A local villager heard a loud commotion on the roof of his house. Upon investigating he was confronted by a strange creature that was standing on the roof. He described it as looking like a centaur without a nose, about 90 cm in height. The creature then jumped to a nearby ravine and vanished. The next day the body of a completely bloodless dog was found.
Source: Paranigma Chile
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by Joseph Trainor
Editor - UFO ROUNDUP
May 11, 2000
Last week saw another rash of Chupacabra attacks in Chile. Eyewitnesses also sighted two weird humanoid creatures, said to be Chupacabras, near the city of Concepcion,located 300 kilometers (180 miles) south of Santiago de Chile, the national capital.
The new round of Chupacabra incidents began Wednesday, April 12, 2000 in the small town of Tucapel, in Bio Bio province just east of Concepcion. Witnesses reported that "a large bunch of dried brambles were crushed by a strange luminous phenomenon."
On Saturday, April 29, 2000, Jose Ismael Pino, 59, a farm worker employed at the Esperance Ranch two kilometers (one mile) east of Huepil, near Tucapel, had a face-to-face meeting with the Chupacabra.
Leaving the barn at 8 p.m., Pino explained, "There was a large bull running wild. I was walking along when I saw something, and I thought that was it. 'Hey, damned bull!' I shouted, and then I saw that it wasn't. It hardly moved. It just stood there, looking at me. It stood about 1.5 meters (four feet) tall, like a big monkey, with long clawed arms, enormous fangs protruding from its mouth, as well as a pair of wings. I was so scared I turned and ran back for the hounds. I set them all loose and let them chase after 'The Bird.' Cachorro (one of the dogs--J.T.) came back with a bloodstained neck."
"Pino's boss, Jorge Venegas, owner of the 75-acre farm, carries a loaded shotgun on his shoulder."
"Venegas, on his part, lets his employees leave early, since they are fearful of walking around at night, and he himself since the night of the luminous phenomena in Tucapel, has slept with his shotgun beside him."
"'We don't know what we're dealing with here. I'm not so concerned about the attacks on the animals, but I have two children, 12 years old and 15 years old, and I'm not going to let anything happen to them. In fact, right now I'm going to get a floodlight to see at night, in case something weird shows up,' explained the planter, hefting the shotgun to his right shoulder."
Farms in the Huepil-Tucapel area "were affected by the alleged predator, which killed four sheep on one farm and a cow on another."
However, not everybody believes that the the Chupacabra is the culprit. The manager of the Raul Perez farm told the newspaper Cronica, "Years ago, we had a (wild) dog problem. They managed to kill 70 sheep one single night, but we gave it no further importance at the time."
On Tuesday night, May 2, 2000, Carabineros (Chile's national police--J.T.) from the cuartel (barracks) in Santa Fe reported that "eight sheep, all of them pregnant, had been attacked by an unknown animal, which had left them half-dead, making it necessary to put them down."
The attacks were "blamed on wild dogs. Subofficer Alviro Valdebenito of the Santa Fe barracks further added that a characteristic of these dogs is that they are barkless."
Lt. Walter Koch of the Huepil Carabineros stated, "No, there were no reports about it (Chupacabra--J.T.) whatever. We don't even have pumas in this sector, and only in the pre-Cordillera ranges will you find foxes. The only predator of the type we've had are Siberian dogs which have feasted on some chickens."
"Carlos Villalobos, a schoolteacher in Huepil, said, 'I think it's linked to some unknown life-form, possibly alien in origin, but the authorities take the position of not acknowledging it, and they are probably very justified, since a collective panic situation could be unleashed.'"
The Chupacabra attacks continued without letup.
On Wednesday, May 3, 2000, "at 1:30 a.m., professor Liliana Romero Castillo slept soundly in her apartment located at Laguna Redonda in Concepcion, when she was awakened by the barking of the five stray puppies she had picked up some time earlier." The Puppies were living "in the building courtyard with Black, her large, fierce mastiff."
"'I crouched and looked through the window. The puppies were whining, and Black had cowered against the wall and was motionless. I could see the back of what appeared to be an immense man, standing more than two meters (6 feet, 8 inches) tall. The shoulder blades were split, as if he had wings. Its attitude (posture--J.T.) recalled that of a person choking another. That was my impression,' said Sra. Romero."
"Concerned that a crime was taking place in her garden, she woke her husband, who gave the matter little attention. 'I'm not getting up,' he said, half-asleep."
Sra. Romero returned to the window to get another look at the creature, but by then it was gone.
"The following day (Thursday, May 4, 2000) Liliana sent her children out to buy groceries at the local store. using a shortcut located behind their building. Upon their return, they told their mother that they had seen 'a dead dog'" in the alleyway.
Liliana asked her husband to check, and he returned saying that a wooly, beige-colored dog was lying on the ground with two puncture marks in the throat."
'I don't know if I might be in a suggestive state,' he said, 'But it had two deep holes in its jugular (vein), about the size of a Bic pen, separated by five centimeters between them. What impressed me the most was the way the body was completely bloodless and was as light as a feather. The dog was incredibly wooly (furry--J.T.) and in fact I had to move the fur to see the puncture marks.'"
Summoned by Liliana, a team of Carabineros arrived at the crime scene and took custody of the dog's body. They loaded the dog into a black plastic garbage bag and "ordered the family to remain silent, so as not to panic the local residents."
"'But I'm scared,' Liliana said, 'Since I have very young children, and I'm afraid that whatever was there will come back.'"
The Carabineros took the dead dog to the First Comissariat in Concepcion so it could be autopsied by pathologists.
The same day, May 4, 2000, "35 dead birds were found on a ranch 12 kilometers (7 miles) from Pucon on the road leading to the village of Caburuga. The animal attacks, attributed to the mythical Chupacabras, presented the same characteristics as the earlier attacks. (See UFO Roundup, volume 5, number 17 for details) since the dead chickens had cuts and scratches on different parts of their bodies.."
Capt. Roberto Saldivia, deputy chief of the Pucon Carabineros, "confirmed that the animals were found dead in a pen, without a single drop of blood in them."
"Cesar Hidalgo, regional director of Servicio Agricola y Ganado (Chile's Agricultural and Livestock Service--J.T.). explained that SAG professionals were at the scene" in Caburuga and would investigate further. (See the Chilean newspapers Cronica of Concepcion for May 2, 2000; El Sur for May 5, 2000, "Mysterious Nocturnal Apparition in Building Courtyard--Dead Dog Found Later" by Carlso Saso Prieto; and Orbe for May 5, 2000, "Further Chupacabras Attacks." Muchas gracias a Scott Corrales, auto de los libros Chupacabras and Other Mysteries y Forbidden Mexico, Gloria Coluchi y Ricardo Concha para esas historias.)
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NASA Experiments Gone Wrong?
Chilean Chupacabra watchers remain suspicious, and the case continues. In June of 2000, Chilean newspapers printed accusations from Chilean "UFOlogists" — people who study unidentified flying objects in the same northern deserts where Calama lies — of Chilean military officials finding three "Chupacabra eggs" and even catching the animal itself. The Chupacabra material was then turned over to NASA, according to Chilean press accounts. Radio programs in Chile have also accused the American space agency of creating the Chupacabra in a lab in the first place, while conducting genetic tests in the Chilean desert on mandrills, an animal similar to the baboon.
NASA denies the charge with more annoyance than amusement. "Before this it was the face on Mars, and before that it was modifying the weather, before that we were beaming radiation from satellites to make people impotent," says a decidedly weary-sounding NASA spokesman, Brian Welch. "Before that they were saying we faked the moon landing." Welch suggests the Chupacabra is blamed on NASA because the space agency is the last place anyone in Chile would think to call and ask about it.
"If you were persuaded to believe that sort of thing, you'd blame the last person you would go to for confirmation of it. I mean, people who believe this sort of thing certainly aren't beating down the door to ask us about it." - animal.discovery.com
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El Chupacabra has been crawling all over Chile in the last few months, raising many new questions about this mysterious creature, and resulting in astonishing claims about its origin.
It stands three to four feet tall, has a flexible row of spines down its back, eyes that glow red and long, sharp fangs... some even say it has wings. This is how eyewitnesses have described the strange, unworldly creature known as El Chupacabra - Spanish for "the goat sucker." The creature, as elusive as Bigfoot and as terrifying as a demon, earned its name from the way it kills its victims (mostly farm animals, including goats) - by sucking the life blood from them.
Chupacabra first made the headlines in 1995, when several attacks were reported in Puerto Rico. The small island still claims the most number of attacks to date, but slaughtered chickens, ducks, goats, cats, dogs and other small animals have been attributed to Chupacabra in Mexico, Central America, South America and even parts of the Southern United States.
During April, May and June of 2000, however, there were reports of a spate of attacks coming out of Chile. The mysterious deaths of farm animals followed the same pattern as those in Puerto Rico and other countries, and descriptions from eyewitnesses who claim to have actually seen the creature in Chile match the hideous features detailed in previous accounts.
The animal victims had incisions in their throats and their blood had been sucked out... blood-curdling sounds were heard in the dark.
The stories that came out of Chile - many reported in Chilean newspapers - had an incredible twist. A few of the dreaded creatures, they said, were actually caught and killed... and then their bodies were taken away by representatives of U.S. government agencies. That was the claim, anyway.
The Attack Begins
The recent attacks began in April, and newspapers carried stories of the mysterious deaths of close to 200 goats, sheep, chickens and rabbits in northern Chile. At first the deaths were blamed on packs of wild dogs, but one trademark feature of the killings turned the suspicion on the legendary Chupacabra. The respected Reuters news agency reported that some of the animal victims "had incisions in their throats and their blood had been sucked out." The report also said that "detectives swept the zone with night vision equipment and that blood-curdling sounds were heard in the dark, causing residents not to venture outside."
Victor Espinosa, an investigator for Chile's Ecology Department, was said to take hair samples and footprint castings for examination. "The paw prints do not match those of horses, cows, goats, pigs, felines or wild dogs," Espinosa said. And, according to Dr. Virgilia Sanches-Ocejo of the Miami UFO Center, Espinosa also said that evidence shows that the animal walks on two legs and only attacks hot-blooded animals and not snakes or lizards of the region.
The Capture
In late May / early June, rumors surfaced that three of the creatures had actually been captured. Reported chiefly by Marcial Campos Maza of the Chile's EFE news service and by Joseph Trainor of UFO Roundup in the U.S. among others, the stories claimed that three of the creatures had been caught in the desert near a mine just north of the town of Calama. In the struggle to capture the Chupacabras, they said, one Chilean soldier had been killed. The Chilean military allegedly would not discuss the matter.
More bizarrely, after the little monsters had been held in an army barracks for several hours, a team of NASA representatives arrived by helicopter from the U.S. (closing the local airport, according to one story) and took them away. How it was assumed that these people were from NASA is unclear, as is where the notion came from that NASA - the U.S. space agency - would have jurisdiction over such a matter, if it were a fact.
"Residents of Calama and nearby communities continued to blame NASA for the apparitions and attacks of the mysterious Chupacabras," Maza reported, "which has killed many farm animals in the region and other parts of Chile... their bodies completely exsanguinated and undevoured by the mysterious predator. It was said that the captured animal was kept all day at the regiment's barracks until NASA experts arrived to take it away."
Why NASA? Some residents believe that the deadly Chupacabras are the result of some diabolical genetic experiments gone awry by NASA, or some other U.S. agency. "The gringos had at least three genetic experiments run away from them," one respected Chilean architect was quoted as saying, but it was not disclosed how he came upon such information.
The Chupacabra Strikes Back
It seemed El Chupacabra was not pleased with having a few of its kind carted away. A new rash of animal killings started to occur in early June. In the backyard of a home in the port city of Talcahuano, 14 chickens were mysteriously slaughtered on June 4 - and Chupacabra was blamed. A few days later, the newspaper Diario El Sur ran a story about another attack in the city of Concepcion:
The strange case took place around 4 a.m. while Julio Reyes and his wife, Carmen Andrade, were still asleep. They suddenly heard a loud noise coming from their home's back yard, a kind of small farm in which they have a henhouse and a garden containing tomato, potato, chocla and pepper plants. "The light outside the henhouse was on. I saw the monster flapping his 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. At this time, Bobby [the family's dog] 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. He then ran toward the street gate and began barking," explained Carmen, who did not witness the events herself out of fear that the intruder might be a burglar. "Bobby became sort of dopey and turned back. He didn't dare go forward," Julio said. Around 7 a.m., the couple discovered what had transpired. In the very rear of the backyard - which can only be reached by crossing two gates - 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 10-meter (33-foot) radius. It is worth noting that the house's entrance is a gate covered with chicken wire."
Chile's national police blamed the attack on wild dogs, but Reyes did not accept that explanation. "Based on several paw prints found on the site," the newspaper article continued, "twice the size of Bobby's, the owner was not satisfied with the explanation, given the difficulty a dog would have had in getting into the area." Also, Reyes said he had previous experiences with dogs attacking his chickens, and they took the chickens away one by one to eat them, they did not slaughter them in this manner.
Two days later, another report was called in to a local radio station. The caller, from the city of Antofagasta, claimed to have actually seen the Chupacabra. He said he was awakened by strange noises his cat was making. When he got up to investigate, the creature saw him and "took off at high speed." He claimed that the Chupacabra had virtually destroyed his car by making deep scratches in it with its claws. And it killed the cat.
Certainly, this is not the last we'll hear of Chupacabra. The attacks might die down in Chile, but the nasty little creature will surface again somewhere else. It might be a good idea to keep all your goats and chickens securely locked up. - paranormal.about.com
