INVESTIGATOR BENJAMIN RADFORD PUTS THE LEGEND TO REST AFTER FIVE YEARS OF RESEARCH

Scientific paranormal investigator, Skeptical Inquirer magazine managing editor, and Discovery News columnist Benjamin Radford has definitively solved the mystery of the chupacabra—a previously-unexplained creature thought to drain livestock of blood throughout Latin America and the Southwest United States.

Mr. Radford has investigated the chupacabra for over five years and assembled eyewitness accounts, field research, and forensic analysis into the most comprehensive study of the chupacabra mystery to date.

“There are basically two forms of the chupacabra,” Radford explains. “The first and most widely known is that of a bipedal creature with spines along its back, long limbs, and large dark eyes. The second reported form of the chupacabra is that of a canine-type creature, often hairless—usually found in the American Southwest.”

Radford reports that dead bodies of the canine form of the chupacabra have been subjected to numerous biological and DNA tests and in every instance the body has been identified as a dog, coyote, racoon, or other common mammal—usually stricken with mange or another parasitic infection that causes the animal to lose its fur and take on a gaunt, monsterous appearance.

“The real mystery has been the origin and nature of the Type 1 chupacabra—the bipedal, spiky-backed, alien-looking creature which has captured the world’s attention and become the third most popular unexplained creature besides Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster,” said Radford. “This is where I focused my research over the past five years.”

Radford traced the origin of the creature to a single eyewitness, a type of “patient zero” whose account of the chupacabra went “viral” in 1995. Her name is Madelyne Tolentino,  a homemaker living in Canóvanas, Puerto Rico and it was her August 1995 sighting that became the basis for all other accounts of the creature.

Because Ms. Tolentino offered such a detailed description of the chupacabra: bipedal, dark eyes, long limbs, and spiny-like protrusions along its back, Radford’s first research objective was to determine if there existed any similar depictions—from other eyewitnesses, in the historical record, or in popular culture. He discovered that Tolentino’s description of the chupacabra was remarkably similar to an alien in the 1995 science fiction film Species. Further research, including an extensive in-person interview with Tolentino in 2010 revealed that not only did Ms. Tolentino’s description match up with the alien in Species, but she admitted seeing the film just a few weeks before her chupacabra “sighting.”

“I don’t believe that Ms. Tolentino was deliberately trying to engineer a hoax,” explains Radford. “She simply confused a movie monster with real-life, and inadvertently spawned the chupacabra legend.”

Radford concludes, “There are no remaining chupacabra mysteries. Case closed. We may not yet have a definitive answer to Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster, but this chupacabra vampire has been slain.”

Radford published his preliminary theories into the chupacabra mystery in late 2010 in his book Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries. An expanded version of his research, including new findings, extensive background material, and a study of the chupacabra in popular culture has just been published in his new book Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore (University of New Mexico Press, 2011).