WHY CHUPACABRAS ARE EVERYWHERE

A mysterious dead animal that was first spotted July 31 on a Douglas County road in Minnesota. Photo: KSAX-TV

Last week workers at Prince George's Hospital Center in Maryland found a strange, nearly hairless animaldescribed as "a kangaroo, dog, rat mix." X-ray technician Joe Livermore said "It's got a rat tail and a head like a deer. I don't know what it is." Even though no one knew what it was, they knew what to call it: "Prince Chupa," after the mysterious vampire chupacabra (the world's best-known monster after Bigfoot and Nessie). The animal has been tentatively identified as a fox with mange.

About a month ago a Texas boy shot and killed a weird-looking animal he claims is a chupacabra. Carter Pope saw the four-legged, dog-like animal walking across an open field before he opened fire: "It had no hair at all on it," he said. "Its back legs were shriveled up. I honestly think it's a chupacabra." DNA results are pending, though it's likely a coyote or dog.

And just a few weeks ago a strange animal was found on a rural Minnesota road, described as “ghostly white and hairless, its neck bloated out of proportion with the rest of its limp body" and “half human." There was a lot of speculation about the monster (which turned out to be a badger), including, you guessed it: chupacabra. Earlier chupacabras found in Texas and elsewhere have all turned out to be known animals like dogs and coyotes.

Photos: Chupacabra Legend Inspired by Horror Film Beast

What's going on? Chupacabras in Maryland, Minnesota, and Texas? Are we in the midst of a national invasion of Hispanic vampires? How can badgers, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, dogs, and other animals all be (at least temporarily) called the chupacabra? How is it that chupacabras can be everywhere and yet their existence remains unproven?

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