A Texas woman claims to have found a chupacabra. You can decide for yourself.

Dude, Chupacabras are totally real. They are a small bird that eats insects off of goats. Its portrayal as a blood sucking monster is mappable to the folkloric "Wren Hunt" (where the wren - also a small finch - is described as a fire breathing monster that children will take donations to help defeat). Which means that yes, the chupacabra stories are a joke and always have been.

The real tragedy here is that the chupacabra stories have spread beyond the natural range of the real (and non-threatening) birds, which has caused the underlying joke to be lost in the retelling.

If you go to the Smithsonian they have one stuffed and on display. The real one - that fits in your hand. It's a Central American bird. It's extremely harmless, and I am genuinely puzzled as to why this particular version of the story has UFO enthusiasts creaming themselves while the analagous Wren Hunt and Dread Starling stories do not.

-Frank

X Files episode. Gotta love it.