Chupacabras Reappears in Chile
by Raúl Núñez

The situation being experienced in Chile as regards the attacks of the so-called Chupacabras can be qualified as a genuine psychosis. The events which gave rise to this situation started in the town of Calama, an urban center in northern Chile located some 215 kilometers from Antofagasta.

In the early hours of April 7, 2000, farmer Gastón Villegas stumbled across twenty-eight dead sheep on his property, only to find another 26 exsanguinated ones the following day. All of the animal carcasses presented double puncture marks on the jugular vein approximately the same size as a 100 peseta coin. Over the course of the following days, other animals were found dead: goats, pigs, birds and even a cat. All these killings to place in the most absolute silence: no one heard a thing and the dogs refrained from barking.

As the days went on and the attacks continued, the situation grew worrisome. Faced with panic on the part of the population and claims of massive animal deaths, the Servicio Agricola Ganadero (SAG--Agriculture and Livestock Service) sent in a veterinarian through the intervention of Dr. Oscar Camacho in order to analyze the carcasses. The expert stated that wild dogs had been responsible for the massacre, but this explanation convinced no one, much less when that very same weekend, residents of Lavanda found 90 goats dead in their pens. On April 11, the dead animal count had already soared to 215, and the situation was becoming untenable from the authorities' perspective.

Police personnel combed the area using infrared equipment, managing to see a slight figure which moved with great agility among the pastures. Four footprints or claw-marks were found at the site, and another set of prints was discovered three meters away.

The name "chupacabras" spread by word of mouth among the population, perhaps due to the frustration of not being able to find the mysterious animal. All the while, new evidence continued to emerge. Juan Curiqueo, a correspondent for Chilevisión, claimed having seen a strange being during a nocturnal vigil with other journalists on farms adjacent to the Calama municipal cemetery: "What I saw was something similar to an ape moving around the pastures..."

According to sheriff Germán Oyanedel, tracks were found near the Calama cemetery and hair samples were discovered in the pens of the attacked animals. Other evidence includes saliva, which has been forwarded to the Laboratorio de Criminalistica (Criminology Laboratory) in the capital city, Santiago. Among the policemen taking part in the affair was inspector Victor Espinoza, an agronomic engineer from the Department of Illegal Ecological and Environmental Practices, who stated: "As a policeman and a professional, I must dismiss the presence of the famous chupacabras or Anomalous Living Species (EVA). What we are dealing with is a warm blooded animal--a single one--which feeds on mammal blood, hunts at night and sleeps by day. The strange thing has been our inability to locate any fecal matter to confirm the foregoing...the footprints do not correspond to goat or horse hooves, nor do they correspond to dog paw-prints. The tracks stand all by themselves in that they resemble five fingers but completely different from human fingers. They are preceded by impressions made by smaller hand-like structures..."

          Since late April, the situation in Calama has been one of utter bafflement. Residents are fearful to emerge at night and newspapers, adventurers and civilian delegations are arriving to hunt the mysterious entity.

          Hilbert Martínez, chief of SAG for the II Region, insists that the attacks are result of wild dog pack activity. However, local planters have dismissed this, since they have been on guard at night expecting new Chupacabras attacks. This is how Juan Carlos Camacho, one of the affected farmers, has categorically dismissed the authorities, textually saying: "A band of dogs or a pack of wild dogs..No! No! They're completely wrong. We're up all night with the lights on, all night. Nothing can be heard, no barking, nothing..."

          The mysterious animal's activity continues unmolested. In southern Chile, a criminal process has already been opened against it by the Third Criminal Court of Concepción following the strange deaths of seven animals in the Quilacoya sector of the Hualqui Commune.

Apes from a Vanished Circus?

The authorities have put forth a number of hypotheses to account for the deaths of so many animals at the same time. The most widely circulated explanation suggests that these are animals which escaped from a circus and are currently living in the wilderness surrounding Calama. In this regard, journalist José Abaroa of Radio Topater recalled an episode which occurred two years ago, when the Frankfurt Circus went bankrupt in Calama and the animals were transferred to Peuco, a country club located on the banks of the Loa River. De Filippi, the owner and trapeze artist of the circus, took the larger animals with him but left the smaller ones behind, several apes among them. According to Abaroa, nothing else was ever heard about these animals. Could these starving apes have been responsible for the animal attacks in Calama? How are they able to cross thousands of kilometers without being discovered?

Conducting investigations has been difficult, since the lurid nature of the events is giving rise to talk about the Chupacabras having reappeared throughout the country.

The authorities have still not provided the results of their findings on the remains of hair, saliva and tracks found at the crime scenes. Researcher Virgilio Sánchez-Ocejo has provided the tracks of the Chupacabras he researched in Miami several years ago for comparison purposes, but the plaster casts provided did not match those of the Chilean Chupacabras.

Word has spread of a strange event which occurred on May 12, 2000, suggesting that the strange animal may have been captured by Chilean Army personnel. According to journalist Pablo Aguilera of Radio Pudahuel 90.5 FM, a series of phone calls were received that day from Calama and Antofagasta from certain parties who suggested that the Chupacabras had been captured--only there were three animals involved, not one. The informants were unable to describe the physiognomy, shape or appearance of the specimens, nor if they had been captured dead or alive. On the other hand, Patricio Borlone, a former air traffic controller, managed to ascertain that at 06:27 AM on that day, Flight 501, a Boeing 767 belonging to LAN (Chile's national airline) inbound from Miami, landed at the Arturo Merino Benitez Airport, followed at 07:05 AM by another LAN aircraft, Flight 503. One of them was a cargo plane transporting two containers on which the unmistakable NASA seal and logo was affixed. These elements were supposedly reshipped immediately aboard Special AVANT Flight No. 474--a Boeing 737-- which took off for Calama directly at 08:00 AM on May 12th.

A UFO/Chupacabras Connection?

Researcher Aquiles Castillo has managed to compile an itinerary of this surprising animal's activity, but he has also determined certain items of information which are not known to the unspecialized news media. Several eyewitnesses have claimed that a few days prior to the Chupacabras' appearance, red lights were seen in the sky over the locations where the attacks would later take place. The lights were so out of the ordinary that they were noticed by many people. Furthermore, strange triangular marks have been found on the ground not far from where the predator's activities have taken place. This detail is reminiscent of U.S researcher John Keel, who on more than one occasion has linked these fantastic and impossible beings to the UFO phenomenon. This relationship has not been disclosed in Chile, since the atmosphere surrounding the Chupacabras apparitions has caused rumors to fly wildly, even causing "cryptozoological experts" whom had never been heard of previously to catapult to prominence.

There exists a significant piece of information: this strange creature apparently attacked a security guard with the SOQUIMICH company (SOciedad QUIMica y MInera de CHile). The guard was able to establish that he had been attacked from behind by a strange kangaroo-shaped creature that buried its claws in its back. He was able to see dense fur and a pair of yellow eyes. Is it possible that a creature matching such a description can move freely around this planet without drawing any attention?

Based on this data, we can say that animal mutilations and similar cases in Chile have an extensive curriculum, but they become lost among the disbelief and massification of the information.