Is The Legendary Chupacabra Just The Result Of Some Lousy Natasha Henstridge Movie?

Five months to the day that a biologist attempted to disprove the existence of the chupacabra — the mysterious, cryptid vampire that terrorizes livestock — skeptic Benjamin Radford has put forth a theory as to the monster’s terrifying origins. Turns out some lady from Puerto Rico had gone to the movies in the period leading up to the first-ever chupacabra sighting.

Radford dug through every El Chupacabra mention and traced the physical description of the monster to a single event in the second week of August 1995, when a sketch from an eyewitness named Madelyne Tolentino ran in a Puerto Rican newspaper. Locals immediately tagged the alien-looking animal as El Chupacabra.

The creature, Radford noticed, shared a strong resemblance to the alien/human hybrid in the 1995 sci-fi thriller “Species.” When he spoke to Tolentino, he asked her if the thing that she saw could have been inspired by the film. Indeed, she had seen the movie in the weeks prior to making her description.

“You can make a direct connection between the film hitting theaters, her seeing the creature in the film, seeing it in the street, making the report and entering the public conscious,” Radford said.

Oh, sure, you can make a direct connection, but why would you want to? It says here that the chupacabra is real, and he is coming to suck your goat. Be afraid.