Mistaken Memories of Vampires: Pseudohistories of the Chupacabra As well-known monsters go, the chupacabra is of very recent vintage, first appearing in 1995. However, some writers have created pseudohistories and claimed a false antiquity for the Hispanic vampire beast. These examples provide a fascinating look at cryptozoological folklore in the making. BENJAMIN RADFORD ost people assume that the chupacabra, like its acy-laden Frankenstein scenario. Not coincidentally, these two origin stories cryptozoological brethren Bigfoot and Nessie, dates are identical to those of Sil, a chupaca- Mback many decades or centuries. However, as dis- bra-like monster in the film Species (see Figure 1 and Radford 2014). cussed in my book Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire The alien/Frankenstein’s monster Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore and in the pages of the explanation, though embraced by SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, the origin of the mysterious vampire many Puerto Ricans and others soon after the chupacabra’s 1995 appear- beast el chupacabra can be traced back to a Puerto Rican ance, was unsatisfactory (and perhaps eyewitness who saw the 1995 film Species, which featured too outlandish) to some, who then offered their own histories of the a nearly identical monster. Though both vampire legends vampire beast. A blank slate history and “mysterious” animal predation date back many centu- creates an information vacuum easily ries, there seems to be no evidence of any blood-sucking filled by mystery-mongering specu- lation. (For analysis of historical ch- “chupacabra” before the 1990s. upacabra claims since the 1950s, see my SI columns “The Mystery of the The beast turned twenty last year, accounts of encounters with unknown Texas Chupacabra” in the March/ and its recent vintage poses a thorny corporeal creatures. (For more on this April 2014 issue and “Texas Monsters problem for those who wish to claim process, see Daniel Loxton and Don- and the Chupacabra” in the May/June it exists, because any evolutionary ald Prothero’s Abominable Science! Ori- 2015 issue.) provenance for these unknown mon- gins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous sters is glaringly absent. Real animals Cryptids; and Michel Meurger’s Lake Chupacabra Lore Attributed don’t simply appear out of nowhere; Monster Traditions: A Cross-Cultural to Early New Mexico all animals are subject to the same Analysis; as well as the book I coau- evolutionary pressures and must have thored with Joe Nickell, Lake Monster Because the chupacabra first appeared descended from earlier, equally known Mysteries: Investigating the World’s Most in Puerto Rico and for several years animals. The tree of life simply doesn’t Elusive Creatures.) was mostly reported in Spanish- have a branch for the chupacabra, any The chupacabra has two origin sto- speaking countries, it’s not surprising more than it does for Bigfoot, Nessie, ries invoked to help explain its sudden that Latin America would serve as a dragons, or the Jersey Devil.1 appearance: the first is that the crea- plausible setting for an origin story. In When forced to account for this ture is an extraterrestrial brought here his book Enchanted Legends and Lore conspicuous lack of historical record, by visiting aliens; the second is that the of New Mexico, Ray John De Aragon proponents often co-opt native myths chupacabra is an escaped entity cre- includes a fanciful tale titled “The and legends of supernatural spirits, tak- ated in a top-secret U.S. government Sheepherder and the Chupacabra,” in ing them out of context and mischar- genetics laboratory experiment gone which a shepherd named Francisco acterizing them as actual eyewitness wrong—essentially a classic conspir- recounts a story: 50 Volume 40 Issue 1 | Skeptical Inquirer Dona Serafina, the old curandera [medicine woman] . said that many, many years ago, people were finding dead cattle, dead chickens, dead cibolos (bison), dead sheep, and goats and even a person who seemed like the blood had been drained out. Since whatever it was mainly attacked goats, she said—a goatsucker—the people called the mys- tery animal a chupacabra. Dona Serafina went on to tell them that ancient Indians had this strange breed of animal. She said that she herself had seen one with her own eyes following an Indian witch doctor who had it as a pet. “The chupacabra stopped and stared at me,” she said. “It was an evil stare that sent a chill up and down my spine. But I was not going to show it that I was afraid. I just took out my detente, my picture with an embroidered edge that said [in English] The Sacred Heart of Jesus is with me. Detentes are to keep evil away from you and protect you. When the chupacabra saw the detente, it gave me a mad stare and followed its master, dragging its long skinny tail and turn- Figure 1. The “chupacabra” first described in ing to look back at me every now and then. I just held my 1995 in Puerto Rico by eyewitness Madelyne detente out with my hand toward him. I don’t go anywhere Tolentino, along with the movie monster from the without my detente. You never know when you’re going to film Species, which she’d recently seen. see a chupacabra.” Illustration by the author. Some time after hearing this emotional story, while out on the plains tending sheep, Francisco encountered a strange creature . sniffing and giving the shepherd a mad stare. It was a chupacabra, and it hungrily looked around at the scared sheep. Francisco took his detente out of his shirt pocket, and while holding it in his hand he recited the Lord’s Prayer several times in succession. The chupacabra looked at him with its red eyes and growled fiercely, then turned and walked away. His detente had saved The idea that a chupacabra his life. (De Aragon 2012, 91–92) was kept as a pet by a Native Anyone familiar with folklore or the true story of the chupacabra—and I modestly count myself in both catego- American witch doctor centuries ries—will recognize that it has no basis whatsoever in fact or history. If it is indeed a “legend” of New Mexico, it’s a ago is a novel twist. new one fabricated in 2012 by De Aragon with no truth or historical provenance. It’s a brand new story featuring a creature that first appeared in 1995, retroactively provid- ing the beast with a fictional—and to many readers likely plausible—ancient heritage. The idea that a chupacabra was kept as a pet by a Native American witch doctor centuries sent even a shred of corroborating evidence (for example, a ago is a novel twist, and the theme of a threatening demonic written historical mention of the creature or even an inde- beast being scared off by the faithful who invoke Jesus is pendent “eyewitness” account of an encounter with one), it’s straight out of standard Catholic canon. (For more on the safe to assume that this “legend” is wholly fictional. chupacabra being used as a symbol of Satan by religious authorities—primarily Pentecostals—see pages 53 to 55 in Coronado, Zuni, and the Chupacabra Tracking the Chupacabra.) Another “legendary” claim to a natural history of the This fictional story, while making for an entertaining tale, chupacabra comes from Bob Curran in his book Vampires: runs the very real risk of being taken as a genuine historical legend by the book’s readers. Though De Aragon clearly cre- A Field Guide to the Creatures That Stalk the Night. He ated the story, he implies that it is based on a legend told to describes early explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado’s him as true. Folklorists are careful to give references and cita- encounter with the goatsucker (see Figure 2). In a chapter tions for the stories they offer, to demonstrate both scholarly titled “El Chupacabra,” Curran writes: diligence and proper attribution, but these are unfortunately A legend says that as he camped during the night, absent in De Aragon’s book. Coronado’s livestock were attacked. It is told that some Even if De Aragon had heard some odd kernel of a of his men drove off the attackers—described as small, dark, horny-skinned men—with torches and spears. In the demon vampire story that he embellished into his chupaca- morning, many of the cattle, which made up the main herd bra tale, the details and facts he offers are so far removed (1,500 animals), were dead, drained of blood. Despite this from the original sources that any historical account of a real setback, Coronado was able to buy cattle from local Indians, chupacabra encounter is hopelessly lost and garbled. Ab- replacing most of those that he’d lost, and press onward in Skeptical Inquirer | January/February 2016 51 Zunis, not swapping friendly stories with them, and it’s possible that the tribe told him the stories of the savage knife-spined dwarfs as an indirect warning to Coronado of the dangers his men faced in the area unless they moved along. Even if the legend is true—and there’s no reason to think it is—there’s also the problem that Spaniards and Indians didn’t speak the same language; in fact, the two groups communicated largely through hand signals and rough interpretations. In his book Cities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest in Pursuit of Coronado, Douglas Preston (1992) describes several instances in which the meanings of words and messages got mangled and mistranslated between Coronado and Zunis (chickens were mistaken for turkeys and cattle for buffalo, for example).