Chupacabra was no more than a superstitious regional legend, and that encounters in Southern California were a logical extension of it, as the creature attained legendary status.

But this does not explain reports of thousands of slaughtered livestock, particularly goats, farm animals and chickens that have been found with peculiar puncture wounds and their bodies drained of blood. Nor does it explain repeated sightings of an oddly shaped beast.

A composite of supposed witness accounts pictures the Chupacabra as about four feet tall, weighing up to about seventy pounds, having gray skin with spikes or perhaps hair running down its spine, short arms with claws, and rear legs like those of a kangaroo.

The following letter concerning the disappearance of coyotes and rabbits in the area of Phelan were posted on the web at http://rampages.onramp.net/~jmurphy. They are presented here courtesy of Joyce Murphy, President and founder of the Beyond Boundaries UFO Research Organization.

Close Encounters of the Chupacabra Kind

We have lived in this current home (in Phelan, CA near Hesperia) for two and a half years and have had several interesting sightings…Some cannot be explained away by normal means. We have been seriously debating sending this to you, as we really didn't want to be seen as nuts. This is so unusual for us that at first when my family was seeing strange things, we all teased each other and thought we were seeing things.

The most recent problem we have noticed is a very rapid decrease in the coyote population. Until recently the coyotes were getting so bold they were eating dog food off our porch. Suddenly they are just all gone. We don't see them, we don't even hear them. Now, we aren't so sure. The drop in coyote population has been so sudden and unusual. Since then we also aren't seeing any rabbits. There are just a few. This time last year they were everywhere, which I think is why the coyote population was so high. Just starvation would not account for this decrease. It would have taken much longer to reach this level of no coyotes.

Last month, my pig was going nuts outside. I looked out and didn't see anything but she was going crazy squealing. As a reenactment educator I am handy with a sword and so I went outside with it. I encountered something trying to get to my pig that was unbelievable. When I came around the corner it stopped and looked up at me. This creature stood on two legs and is a dark smoky grey. It seemed to be covered by a sort of peach type fuzz in the same grey color. The eyes are enormous and almond shaped and appeared to be black. The head was an oval shape that was much wider on the top. The arms had three digits that had very long claws on the ends they connect at the shoulders. The arms themselves were very thin and gave the appearance of limited power, and yet I watched in fascination as it tore open the chainlink of the pigpen almost effortlessly.

It resembled a mini person about three to four feet tall and approximately 75 to 80 pounds. When it walked it has a slumped-over gait. It had these spiky things on its back like porcupine quills that seemed to move independently. When I got close they began to twitch and he was thoroughly convinced that this thing could launch them if he chose to.

My dogs were barking under my house and when they realized I was out there they came out and moved toward this thing. They seemed to be afraid of it until I was there to back them up. The thing looked at them and then at me and seemed to be afraid of the sword that I was carrying. I had the sword in a striking position, the dogs charged the creature, and it took off behind the house jumping our three-foot fence that sags in the middle. It then disappeared into the bushes. The dogs chased it to the fence, stopped, and came back. I think they were too afraid to go after it. Now I am getting a little worried for my dogs if this creature or creatures that have exhausted the coyote population will go after them next. This is the first time I have ever seen these creatures. As we are very near the foothills with few neighbors I will also keep a close watch… 

We have also made two amazing discoveries in the past few days. First, after a party, as is our usual fashion, we give our pig the left over soda and beer from the cans. She really loves the beer. That night, this thing came after her, only when it got close it raised its head in the air, spun around and took off. It clearly didn't like the smell of the alcohol. We have been feeding the pig a beer a night since then, and it has been left alone.

The other discovery happened after a heavy freeze. We put out some rock salt to melt the ice and to prevent further icing. The next morning we found the three-clawed tracks of this thing all around the salt, but it never came inside the salt. We have also created a safety zone around the house in rock salt now as well. The incident when I stared it down happened after the rock salt was placed around the grounds. It never once stepped inside of the perimeter, merely stood there watching. I can't tell you why these things worked, only that they do. I would highly recommend the techniques to others trying to protect their livestock.  –Name withheld by Beyond Boundaries

Campout with the El Chupacabra
Dear Weird CA;
I have never been a superstitious person. In fact, when people tell me their stories of the supernatural, or when I watch Unsolved Mysteries, I usually respond by figuring out a logical reason for whatever happened. I just never bought into all the sort of stuff you guys write about––until, that is, I saw something with my own two eyes that I will never forget––the legendary Chupacabra.

I live in California now, but growing up in Texas, and having many Mexican friends, I had heard a lot throughout my life about the Chupacabra, also known as the “goat sucker.” It was supposed to be a demon-like beast that resembled both a lizard and a monkey that had sharp claws. It would feast on goat’s blood, sucking them completely dry. It was supposedly a vicious killer, and would not hesitate to kill men. The story of the Chupacabra is particularly well known in many Spanish speaking countries. For my whole life, I dismissed it as a good story, but nothing else

In the summer of 1999, I was camping on my friend’s property. There were three of us out there that night. We had just graduated high school, were all going off to college in the fall, and spent as much time as we could hanging out, goofing off, and doing the sort of dumb things kids that age do. We often camped on Ray’s property. We’d make a fire, drink some beers, smoke cigars, that sort of thing.
That particular night, Ray seemed out of sorts. He wouldn’t tell us what his problem was for the longest time, but after a couple of brews he loosened up and started talking.

He was shaken, he had said, due to a strange discovery he had made on a road a few miles away from his property a few nights before. He was driving home and had to pee bad enough that he couldn’t make it back to his house. He was pissing when he noticed a dead deer laying in the brush about 10 yards to his right. When he finished his business, he walked over to it, like he was drawn to it. He was thoroughly creeped out to see that the deer was not roadkill, as he presumed. Instead, it had three puncture marks around its head and neck. There was no blood around or any sign that the thing had struggled with a predator. It looked like something pounced on it and killed it effortlessly, with no struggle. Ray knew this area like the back of his hand, and had never seen anything like it. He couldn’t help but think of the story of the Chupacabra when he saw it. It really messed his head up. He told us how he couldn’t rush fast enough to get away from the scene and back to his pick-up.

Now, Phil and I responded to this heartfelt confession just like a couple of high school kids would––we laughed our asses off and mocked Ray as mercilessly as we could for the next few hours before going to bed.

I awoke a few hours later to Phil shaking me. Ray was already sitting up.

“I heard something,” Phil said in a panic. I laughed again. The story had gotten to him.

“Shut up and let me sleep,” I told him. He swore that he had heard something. After a couple minutes we all calmed down and laid back down in our sleeping bags. That’s when I noticed something really foul––literally.

“Do you smell that?” I asked. Both guys told me that they did. There was an intense, bad odor infecting the tent, and it was getting worse and worse. It smelled like rotting flesh. We all were on the verge of vomiting. It was decided among us that we needed to get out of the tent and clear out whatever the hell was making that stink.

Standing outside, we saw nothing that could have possibly been producing the rancid odor. What we could perceive was that there was something severely off about the area. There wasn’t a single sound. No rustling of animals, no birds… just silence. That is until we heard a screech come from the darkness.

Ray shined his flashlight in the direction of the sound just in time for us to see a small creature that looked kind of like a really muscular light green monkey with no tail rise up from behind a rock. The thing had bristly hair and big bug eyes. It very clearly had sharp teeth, as it was baring them at us, and claws. It took off out of the light. Ray tried to follow it but couldn’t find it. We were all freaking out. We took off sprinting the considerable distance back to Ray’s house, leaving the tent and all our stuff behind.

The next morning we made our way back to the campsite only to find that the tent had holes torn into it and our belongings were scattered about. We stopped camping out. I still see those guys whenever I visit my parents’ house, and we still talk about our run-in with the infamous Chupacabra. That night made a believer out of me.  –Chris Pico

Weird California