New documentary evidence of Chupacabras ? They wish
The Chupacabras phenomena is a relatively recent one. There is, in fact, no mention of the phantom goat-sucker prior to the mid-1990′s, although there have been attempts to try and retro fit the concept into earlier myths. To date we have been treated to many tales of encounters with the creature, along with various photographs and videos of strange looking animals. The anecdotes tend to vary wildly from place to place, showing that the mythology has not yet homogenised in the same way that some of the older creatures. The photographic and video evidence seems to fall squarely into the mangy canid camp. A few carcasses are said to exist, but again, the ones that have been sighted or examined have been unhealthy canids, and not anything unusual. The others are unavailable for close examination, or are ‘being examined by experts and the proof will be forthcoming”.Ben Radford is a skeptic with an strong interest in cryptozoology. He has written numerous articles on various cryptids, including Bigfoot, and has co-authored “Lake Monster Mysteries” with renowned skeptic investigator Joe Nickell. His next book, soon to be released, looks at the history of, and evidence for, the Chupacabras. Ben’s views, while skeptical in that he wants to see evidence for the claims, are not a priori dismissive. He is also co-host of the excellent scientific cryptid podcast, Monster Talk (See Podcast list).
So it was interesting to see Cryptomundo call him out on his new book, telling him to watch Nick Redfern’s new documentary, Island of Blood and then make revisions. I am not sure that Ben has too much to be concerned about. Island of Blood is a brisk 30 minutes long and was filmed in Puerto Rico. Nick talks to the locals, and elicits nothing more than a series of anecdotes and some low quality video footage taken of dead animals. Little is convincing, and some – well, maybe something got lost in the translation, because “is was the size of a dog, but not a dog” just sounds like gibberish. Especially coming from someone who is running around at night, in the dark, trying to stop an animal attacking his livestock. Obviously something was there, but aside from tall tales, we get nothing. No evidence at all.
If you are going to throw down the gauntlet, it would be nice if it had a little weight behind it. This one is paper thin.
Further watching :
Island of Blood Parts 1, 2 and 3
