One of the things I have mentioned in various posts (at equally various blogs) over the years is the story of how, on one of my expeditions to Puerto Rico, I became immersed in a strange story of near-vampire-like qualities.It was during the course of my 2004 expedition with Jon Downes - of the Center for Fortean Zoology - that I visited the farm of a man named Noel, who bred chickens.
On one particular night some time earlier, Noel's chickens had been slaughtered in a very weird fashion, and under highly peculiar circumstances.
So the story went, the cages in which Noel's chickens were held had been carefully opened by "something" that proceeded to slaughter the animals one by one.
The fact that that the cages had been opened (rather than torn apart) by something or someone familiar with fairly complex locks, suggested a culprit with a not-insignificant degree of intelligence.
And, of course, the most obvious culprit would have to be a human. But, what made this story even weirder was the way in which each and every one of the chickens were killed after the they were taken out of their cages.
First, there was the total silence that reportedly accompanied the deaths. Noel's chickens were held right below the windows to his home. And yet, there was no late night or early morning commotion from the chickens. Just quick and silent death.
And there was the mode of the killings too: a pair of puncture wounds to the neck that, Jon and I were told, led to the loss of significant amounts of blood reportedly confirmed by a local veterinarian.
As for the culprit, well, your guess is as good as mine. A Chupacabra? A deranged human with a compulsion to kill poultry in the dead of night?
All I can say about this particular story is that it made no sense at all. But that doesn't take away the fact that something peculiar occurred...
The picture above shows (from left to right) Noel the farmer (demonstrating how the cages were opened), Carola (our guide and translator on the expedition), Jon Downes, and our cameraman, Kevin.
PS: Although the photo above shows a date of 1992, it was indeed taken in 2004. I had an issue with the camera (long discarded!) that screwed up the date formatting, and which I gave up on trying to fix. Plus, I forgot to trim the photo when I scanned it for posting here, and I can't be bothered to edit it again. So, it remains as it was!
Mink is the most likely culprit. Happened to me several times when I had chickens. This is precisely what they do.
ReplyDeleteHi Nick,
ReplyDeleteI've PERSONALLY traveled to Puerto Rico back in 1998 (Inspired in part by my friend Scott Coralles of Inexplicata) and by "chance", met an actual witness to a chupacabra who had seen one take a chicken from his backyard. He was reluctant to talk about it with anyone due to ridicule, but I was a tourist and with a little down to earth friendliness and supportive attitude, the witness felt comfortable with me enough to share it in brief. He was visibly disturbed by the traumatic event and so I didn't get a whole lot out of him.
This relatively young (in his late 20s/early 30s) local told me one night that his dogs (which were indoors at the time) were going berserk barking at something in the backyard and he thought it was due to an intruder. He told me that he grabbed his gun and when he opened the back door to investigate what the fuss was about, he was immediately confronted with a site he had never before seen. A creature that stood on its hind legs clutching in it's front arms/claws was one of his chickens.
At this point he said he could not move , that he was frozen and also a tremendous fear while this creature stared at him. Therefore he could not fire his gun. The creature, which he basically described as the typical chupacabra (grey bodied, slanted RED eyes, kangaroo shaped)then leapt out of his backyard over a fence in one single bound.
I wish I could have got more details but he didn't want to talk about it and he was nice but somewhat intimidating I didn't want to push it (considering he had mentioned he had a gun). Ulp!
The seemingly supernatural ability of these "life forms" to cause human paralysis (as has been mentioned in other reports outside of my own recounting of this story if I remember correctly) and a seemingly supernatural ability to leap or fly away, almost like magic. It really makes me wonder with what we are dealing. It's disturbing yet extremely fascinating.
One thing for certain, this is no ordinary animal. As your article suggests with the lock picking, appears to have a significant level of intelligence.