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Description:
This is a picture of an interpretation of what a Chupacabra looks like, dog sized, hairless, spikes on it's back, large claws and teeth to grab and bite on to it's prey.

Connection:
The reasons of belief for why the person who made this interpretation of a Chupacabra is ideology and perception/observation. The reason ideology is a reason for belief is because the Chupacabra has been told as bed time stories as a way for parents to keep their children safe. Perception/observation is a reason of belief is because many people have reported on seeing a Chupacabra and they could misinterpret the features of what they just saw.

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Description:
This is a picture of what seems to be the decomposing corpse of a Chupacabra floating in water.

Connection:
A pseudoscience red flag that can connect with this image is proof of verbosity. The reason why it connects to proof of verbosity is because of the huge amount of corpses found of cryptids like mermaids and loch ness monster corpses washing up on beaches which are usually hoaxes or other animals corpses' so this Chupacabra could easily be another hoax or a dingo corpse.

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Description: This is a picture of a goat that has been recently bitten by a Chupacabra. The only wounds on the goat is the neck because Chupacabra's are known for biting into goat necks and then sucking the blood out from there and that's how they got their name "Goat Sucker".

Connection:
The pseudoscience red flag that connects to this image is simplicity. the reason that this image connects with simplicity is because imagine you own a goat and you find out the blood has been sucked out of it and recently your neighbor had also had one of his goats killed and all of it's blood was also gone and you remember him blaming Chupacabras, would you not believe the same thing happened to your goat.

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Description:
This article is about Chupacabras in Texas talking about how they are most likely dogs mixed with wolves that are hairless because if infections and how the people who are affected by them always fixate on the blood being gone from their livestock.

Connection:
The pseudoscience red flag that connects with this article is red herring. The reason for red herring connect to the article is because even though that the most probable creature that the Chupacabra is a dog the people who believe it's not always talk about the blood sucking part.

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Texas chupacabras have a way of leaving behind bodies - or perhaps, bodies in Texas have a way of becoming chupacabras.

by Asher Elbein
October 27, 2016

The first time Phylis Canion saw the chupacabra, it was slipping through the pastures on her South Central Texas ranch in broad daylight. It was June 2007, and Canion, a naturopathic doctor and hunter, had just returned to Cuero from Africa. She'd seen some odd things there but nothing like this: a hairless canine figure with blue-gray flesh and bony limbs. Soon after, she and her husband found one of their chickens with its throat torn open, apparently drained of blood.

Over the next few days, the mystery predator struck again, leaving what appeared to be exsanguinated chickens across the ranch. Canion set up cameras hoping to catch it in the act. When that failed, she asked her neighbors to let her know if they saw, captured or killed it. In mid-July, a neighboring rancher called to say that one of the creatures had been hit by a car near his property. As Canion stood puzzling over the scrawny body, they got another call, about another strange carcass, this one closer to Canion's ranch. She sped back in her car, and there it was; thin, hairless, bizarre.

Canion loaded it into her tractor and took it back to the ranch to photograph it. That brush with celebrity changed her life.

"We've done documentaries on National Geographic, History Channel, Discovery, Animal Planet. We've done about 13 shows overseas, we've done about 60 documentaries in the States," Canion said. "Everybody wants to know more about the chupacabra."

The chupacabra is among the most popular of the mystery beasts, an integral part of Texas folklore and a semi-regular guest star in sensational cable documentaries and credulous local news reports alike. For 10 years, legends of the blood-sucking monster have been a staple of rural life throughout the central part of the state, fueled by a succession of alleged carcasses, sightings and tall tales. According to Ben Radford, researcher with the Center for Skeptical Inquiry and author of Tracking the Chupacabra, Texas is a "chupacabra factory," one of the foremost states associated with the vampire.

But the chupacabra wasn't always a resident of the Lone Star State, and it didn't always look like a dog. In the 21 years since the first supposed sightings of the creature, it has been a spine-backed alien, a winged kangaroo or a goblin, a predatory monkey or an unusually ambitious mongoose. Only one facet of the tale has remained constant: The chupacabra is out there in dark thickets and empty deserts, and it wants your livestock.

In the summer of 1995, a wave of livestock killings rocked the towns of rural Puerto Rico. The victims were found with wounds at their throats, seemingly empty of blood. Without a culprit, dark rumors spread throughout the island. Somebody, somewhere, gave the culprit a name: chupacabra, the goat sucker.

That August, as the panic was building to a fever pitch, a woman named Madelyne Tolentino reported a bizarre sighting outside her mother's house in Canovanas. A long-limbed, earless creature with a spiny back appeared in the yard, she said, huge eyes staring through the window. Spooked by her scream, the thing leaped into the jungle.

In the wake of Tolentino's account, aided by a sketch she later produced with local UFO researcher Jorge Martin, reports of bipedal, spiny and red-eyed creatures proliferated - over 200 in Puerto Rico alone. Some asserted that it was an escaped United States genetics experiment, or an alien collecting blood to spread AIDS. Its form fluctuated wildly - the number of spines on its back, whether it crept or leaped, or flew on bat wings, or floated through the air using psychokinesis. The first sighting in the continental United States took place a year later in Miami, with others appearing in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Spain and Portugal. Within a few years, the chupacabra had transformed into a full-blown global phenomenon.

But the most radical change was yet to come. In 2000, Radford said, a Nicaraguan rancher shot and wounded something attacking his goats. A few days later a ranch hand found the carcass - a hairless, rangy-looking canid. It was the first time an actual body had been associated with the legend, and despite claims by the rancher and an overzealous media that it was a genetics experiment or a cross between a wolf and a crocodile, a cursory examination by anatomy specialists at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua revealed that it was a common dog, likely stricken with mange. The rancher protested, accusing the university of a conspiracy. But a new model for the goat-sucker had emerged - a skulking, monstrous canine, much like the ones Canion would collect in Cuero.

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Most cryptids - mystery animals of folklore - do not leave much in the way of physical evidence, surfacing instead in blurred photographs or ambiguous tracks. But Texas chupacabras have a way of leaving behind bodies - or perhaps, bodies in Texas have a way of becoming chupacabras. In 2004, 2007 and 2009, several chupacabra carcasses popped up in the central part of the state, many with warty skin and protruding teeth. All of them, including Canion's, have been subjected to DNA testing, and the results have been the same: mangy, sickly coyotes or dogs.

This diagnosis doesn't satisfy Canion. "I have now done DNA at five different universities. All of them came back identical. They do not match any animal in the archive," she said.

This isn't true: as reported in Radford's book, Texas State University researchers found that the DNA was a complete match for a coyote. Other labs concurred. But Canion is undeterred. She's kept the carcass and skull in her freezer and has a taxidermy mount of the the gnarled, ugly creature on display.

When pressed, Canion said she doesn't know what her chupacabra is. She speculated that perhaps it's a hybrid with a Mexican wolf, or an escapee from some dog breeder in the area. But she's adamant that it isn't a normal, mangy coyote. Perhaps, she said, the chupacabras are a type of coyote, but of a rare sort - naturally hairless, probably living underground, and very fond of blood.

No matter the creature's appearance, the chupacabra's believers fixate on its alleged thirst for blood, pointing to drained livestock as evidence of its existence. But most people aren't clear on how to interpret forensic evidence. In dead animals, the drop in blood pressure leads to the blood pooling in the lowest portions of the body, Radford said. "If you stick it with a knife, it's not gonna bleed unless you've flipped it over where the blood has seeped to. And people don't do all of that."

Even assuming the blood had been drained, the bodies that Canion describes don't seem physically capable of doing it. There are real vampiric animals - mosquitos, lamprey eels, vampire bats - and blood is not an easy thing to make a living off of. It's high in iron, and can cause a dangerous buildup in the bloodstream. Actual vampires, said Radford, "have structures in their mouths and digestive systems that would allow them to suck blood and digest it without injuring them." The creatures that have been offered up as chupacabras may look bizarre, but they just don't have the anatomy for vampirism.

What, then is killing the livestock? The answer is a disappointingly common one: coyotes and feral dogs. It's commonly, and mistakenly, believed that feral dogs eagerly devour their prey. But domestic dogs often kill with a bite to the neck and then leave the carcass. By the time the kill is found, its blood has settled to the bottom - with a rip or puncture at the neck the only sign of attack.

The chupacabra is too thoroughly enmeshed in mass culture to be dismissed by mere physical evidence. And for believers, any attempt to explain away the creature is simply more proof that it exists.

"The history of the chupacabra and its origins are intertwined with conspiracy theory in a way that is unique in cryptozoology. That sort of keeps it afloat," Radford said. Some speculate about genetics testing, escaped aliens or black helicopters collecting chupacabra eggs in the Atacama Desert. Others are simply convinced a species of ugly vampiric dog haunts rural Texas.

But these theories thrive on the fundamental conviction that experts are blinkered, unable to see the truth. Similar convictions are common with cryptids like Bigfoot or Nessie. But unlike those creatures, the chupacabra did not exist prior to 1995; it has no folkloric predecessors to fall back on. The figure bears a whiff of the uncanny - seldom seen, constantly shifting, known only by its victims. The chupacabra is a tautology: it exists because we know that it must exist. Why else would we be talking about it?

All of which lends a final absurd twist to the creature's beginnings. For the likely origins of the chupacabra lie not in the folk traditions of Puerto Rico or in sightings of mangy coyotes, but in Hollywood. On July 7, 1995 - a month before the Tolentino sighting that sent the chupacabra rocketing to stardom - the sci-fi thriller Species was released across the United States and Puerto Rico. The film featured a seductive, organ-draining, human-alien hybrid designed by Alien concept artist H.R. Giger. The leaping creature had a spined back, lanky proportions and huge eyes. According to an interview with Tolentino included in Radford's Tracking the Chupacabra, she had seen - and enjoyed - the film.

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Texas chupacabras have a way of leaving behind bodies - or perhaps, bodies in Texas have a way of becoming chupacabras. by Asher Elbein October 27, 2016 The first time Phylis Canion saw the chupacabra, it was slipping through the pastures on her South Central Texas ranch in broad daylight.

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Description:
This website was made and maintained by Tito Armstrong. It seems to be very old and unused with some of the links not sending you anywhere.

Connection:
In this website there is a theory that the Chupacabra is an alien or a pet of aliens and that connects to the belief in the unexplained because how would we know that, because it's just a theory.

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The Chupacabra Home Page is looking for contributors. If you have a report of anything related to the Chupacabra, we'll probably include it.

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Description:
In this video it talks about different theories of what the Chupacabra is about.

Connection:
While the video is short the narrator has so much to say about the Chupacabra and if you actually think about the theories they seem dumb and that connects to proof by verbosity.  The two other red flags that connect to this video are suppression by authorities and ancient wisdom. This is because the theories that the narrator said was that the Chupacabra is a lab experiment that got out and the other red flag is that tribes had similar creatures to the blood sucking Chupacabra.

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Stuff They Don't Want You To Know - HowStuffWorks

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Description:
In this video a man captured what he thinks is a Chupacabra.

Connection:
Confirmation bias and appeal to authority connect to this video because the man who caught this animal said that it must be a Chupacabra because he has never seen an animal that sounds or looks like what he just caught. appeal to authority also connects to this video because a wildlife official also appears in the video but he's skeptical about it being a Chupacabra and thinks it's an animal with mange.

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is this animal a real chupacabra? - cnn video

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A Texas man says he's caught the mysterious chupacabra, but a wildlife official isn't so sure. KAVU reports.

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Description:
In this video a man claims that he saw a Chupacabra he also claims that he's hunted down one, also in the video is an animal rehabilitator who says that the Chupacabra is actually a coyote.

Connection:
Just like the last video confirmation bias and appeal to authority connect to this video, with the man only believing that what he saw and hunted were Chupacabras and not coyotes with mange. The video connects to appeal to authorities because of the animal rehabilitator

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Houston man claims to have seen chupacabra

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1. The thing that most surprised me was that there are different versions of the Chupacabra, even if they don't exist it's not like bigfoot or the loch ness monster how there is supposedly only one of them.

2. This might be a stretch but the Chupacabra is relevant to to real life because in a way it's an example of don't judge a book by it's cover because while Chupacabras might look scary they are most likely a normal animal but with mange.

3. The research that I found most interesting was Post #7 not for it being particularly eye catching but because it was cool to see a old website and seeing this guy little theory on what the Chupacabra is.

4. I'm definitely gonna remember what a dog with mange looks likes but i'm also gonna remember how hard it is to find websites that believe in the Chupacabra and not just say that it's most likely a dog with mange.

5. I believe that the pseudoscience belief that is most harmful is emotional connection because they might use all their money on ways to communicate with their dead loved one. The least harmful belief to me is the unexplained it is the least harmful because I can't think of anything wrong with questioning things that we do not understand.

6. If I could pass on my knowledge to a family member of friend I would pass on to be optimistic and open minded learning doesn't seem fun but it can be.

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Description:
This website is about the legend of the Chupacabra and the other versions of it.

Connection:
The reason of belief that connects to this website is ancient wisdom. This connects to ancient wisdom because they used to blame attacks on livestock on the Chupacabra.

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chupacabra, in Latin American popular legend, a monstrous creature that attacks animals and consumes their blood. The name is derived from the Spanish words chupar ("to suck") and cabra ("goat") and can be translated as "goat-sucker." As a fearsome but probably nonexistent creature, the chupacabra has been characterized as the southern equivalent of the Sasquatch.

The chupacabra only recently joined the vampire in the bestiary of bloodsucking creatures. Chupacabras were first reported in 1995, in Puerto Rico, where they were blamed for attacks on goats, sheep, and other domestic animals, supposedly leaving uneaten carcasses that were drained of blood. Early reports described a creature that stood upright and resembled a large reptilian kangaroo with huge red eyes. No actual specimens were found, and skeptics suggested that "witnesses" may have been influenced by the Hollywood science-fiction horror film Species (1995), which features a monster of similar appearance. But other sightings were reported throughout the Americas and as far north as the United States.

A different type of chupacabra was also reported in many of the same places. These chupacabras were smaller and stood upon four feet. They were generally canine in appearance but hairless. Actual specimens were produced, but they were identified by biologists as coyotes, dogs, or canine hybrids. The animals owed their strange appearance to hair loss resulting from mange, an infestation of the mite Sarcoptes scabiei. It was suggested that the canines attacked livestock because the debilitating effects of the infestation put wild prey out of their reach.

The chupacabra soon found its way into popular culture. Both types of the creatures served as monsters in low-budget motion pictures.

Robert Lewis

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Chupacabra, in Latin American popular culture, a monstrous creature that attacks animals and consumes their blood. As a fearsome but probably nonexistent creature, the chupacabra has been characterized as the southern equivalent of the Sasquatch. Chupacabras were first reported in Puerto Rico in 1995.

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By: Symon Bautista (Working Individually)