Unsolved and Solved Myths: Chupacabras and “Goat-Milking” Birds

Abstract

Since the years 1992–1995 until now, a still growing new myth (urban legend) arose from findings of dead and apparently bloodless animals close to human dwellings in the regions spreading North from Bolivia to the South of Texas with especially many cases in Mexico, Puerto Rico and on the Caribbean Islands. Many of the killed animals were goats and sheep. Thus, these mystic killers were called chupacabras, the name of which comes from the Spanish words chupar = to suck and cabra = goat. Since the murdering occurred at night, many myths arose to explain these killings. When finding remnants of strange looking degrading bodies, they were kept for chupacabras and in many cases explained as remnants of “aliens” visiting us from other worlds or as mystic animals mostly reaching a length of up to about 1.5 m. Rational explanations, however, were not accepted by the local people, where “voodoo” is still common practice. This wish to believe in a miraculous witch world is not restricted to the population of the New World but has also been common in times of the Greek and Romans as well as in the centuries of the so-called “dark Medieval” in Europe. Therefore, not only nightly active animals like bats but also silently flying birds like owls or nightjars were believed to be helpers of the devil. Thus, a harmless insect-feeding bird like the nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus) got the trivial genus name “goat-milking bird,” which comes from Latin capra = goat and mulgere = to milk and was thus feared for many centuries (although no more nowadays).