Chupacabras!

The TRUE February 1996

Expedition Story

A Report by Joseph L. Palermo

 

First, it is with great sadness that I must report the very unexpected death of my Chupacabras research colleague, Bob Buck (August 19, 1945 - August 18, 2003).  Bob was at work when he suddenly, and literally, dropped dead of an arterial aneurism, similar to what killed the late actor John Ritter.

While Bob and I had our many debates, and ups and downs regarding the numerous subjects of unexplained phenomena, we developed a great friendship of brotherly proportions. I will miss him.  As my tribute to one of the most gentle souls I've ever known, I dedicate all my current and future Chupacabras investigations and research to the memory of Bob Buck.

At some point, I would recommend to the reader, to understand how I think and act as an investigator and researcher of the unexplained, that you view the codes of UTIA. In order to investigate, or research (the two are not the same), you must have a code, or criteria, that you operate by.  Part of the reason that this article is being written is to make my personal codes known, as well as to challenge the "codes" of others alleging to be "investigators" or "researchers."

This article has overtones of annoyance. This is because I have kept quiet on the many instances of absolutely ridiculous "Chupacabras reports" being published or put online. Finally, in April of this year, 2000, the Dream Masters Studios, LLC. webpage for the ordering of our documentary on the Chupacabras experienced 551 views and our Executive Producer's page experienced 592 views, with 31% coming from Chile, 15% from Mexico and with only 20% coming from the United States (all other percentages accounting for countries outside of the United States, primarily in Europe). 30.8% of visitor spent 1-5 minutes on the site, 17.3% spent 5-10 minutes, 23.1% spent 10-30 minutes and 7.7% spent 30 to 60 minutes on site. Most came from the search engine AltaVista. All of this sudden activity led me to the fact that there was news of alleged Chupacabras activity occurring in Chile. This indicates that, in fact, the "legend" is continuing.

This is the first real wave of Chupacabras activity that I'm aware of since the 1995-96 activity in Puerto Rico.  There's been small reports here and there, but nothing that grabbed media in this manner.  Of course, nothing was heard on mainstream American news. Now, for the first time, I'm relating what happened on the expedition in brief, supported by stills from our documentary.

 

Now, on with the TRUE account...my "feature article" which by the way is backed up by 10 hours of video I brought back from our February 1996 Puerto Rico expedition.

While there were enough anomalous items that happened on this expedition, this information will primarily deal with the Chupacabras ONLY.

THE EXPEDITION...THE ITINERARY

The itinerary....the schedule by which you know what's going on. First I want to show you our itinerary, taken directly from the printed version by Beyond Boundaries.

 

DAY 1 - SATURDAY - arrive at SJU (San Juan)-report to exit at baggage claim where a Beyond Boundaries representative will be waiting for you-transfer to La Concha Hotel (we may change our mind on hotel)-orientation dinner with dignitaries.

DAY 2 - SUNDAY - 8am breakfast-load vans for checkout of hotel-drive down hwy 52 to Caguas arriving Ponce by noon for sightseeing and lunch. Proceed on to our hotel in Joyunda-formerly called the Antibes Hotel (built around pyramid structure) and now redecorated and called Joyunda Hotel-free time to get acquainted with the area-dinner at local fish restaurant-conference with the people of the area at 8pm at the hotel.

DAY 3 - MONDAY - Continental breakfast at the hotel, 9am departure to Lajas to investigate recent major UFO sightings-interview persons in area-Combate beach dimensional portal area for noon picnic with Juana and family who had the back in time episode at Combate beach-afternoon swim-visit Laguna Cartagena -visit former CIA headquarters-view the aerostat-back to the hotel area for dinner-night watch at the gravitational anomaly-investigation of the area.

DAY 4 - TUESDAY - breakfast-9am departure for fishing village of La Parguera-optional boat ride through mangrove swamps-interview with contactees as scheduled from Sunday evening conference with Raphael's group-more sightseeing and investigation of dimensional portals-dinner at la Parguera-night watch in the area of Bigfoot sighting.

DAY 5 - WEDNESDAY - breakfast-9am checkout out of hotel-depart for area around Arrecibo-arrive rainforest guesthouse by early evening-dinner-night walks into the forest-night watch with local residents in area.

DAY 6 - THURSDAY - breakfast-investigate all questionable areas around forest near Casa Cubuy-interview nearby residents-picnic lunch in the forest-back to beach area by 4pm for swim-hotel area for dinner-night watch area and subject to be announced.

DAY 7 - FRIDAY - last day in the forest to finish all pertinent research-area of greatest interest to be chosen-expedition recap dinner

DAY 8 - SATURDAY - transfer schedules for airport to be announced.

Sounds very intriguing, doesn't it? Now, and only in regards to the Chupacabras (with the exception of one item which was at the core of why our expedition leader Marc Davenport came), I'll give you the reality...

DAY 1 - SATURDAY - arrive at SJU (San Juan)-report to exit at baggage claim where a Beyond Boundaries representative will be waiting for you-transfer to La Concha Hotel (we may change our mind on hotel)-orientation dinner with dignitaries.

Day 1- Everything went according to what was said with the exception of one thing. According to the 1996 Encarta Encyclopedia, the definition of "dignitary" is "a person of high rank or position." No disrespect meant to Jorge or his lovely wife Marlene, but I was expecting a mayor, a council person, a police chief...someone of "high rank and position" that would brief us on what had been going on and what our investigative boundaries would be. There was no "dignitary." Everyone got together for dinner and visited. As far as the Chupacabras goes, we did witness both radio and television news reports involving the creature.

DAY 2 - SUNDAY - 8am breakfast-load vans for checkout of hotel-drive down hwy 52 to Caguas arriving Ponce by noon for sightseeing and lunch. Proceed on to our hotel in Joyunda-formerly called the Antibes Hotel (built around pyramid structure) and now redecorated and called Joyunda Hotel-free time to get acquainted with the area-dinner at local fish restaurant-conference with the people of the area at 8pm at the hotel.

Day 2-The immediate morning was eating breakfast and getting into vans.  However, fortunately, instead of heading towards sightseeing (yeah...that's what I came down here to do...sightsee...), we began on Sunday with our first stop at a police station outside of Canovanas. We were led by Jorge Martin and were taking our cues from expedition leader Marc Davenport.

I'd like to take a moment and say that originally, Marc and his wife, Leah Haley were supposed to lead the expedition however Leah became quite ill just before the trip. My understanding is that they courageously decided that Marc should go without her. The courageous decision was second guessed after Marc left and there developed quite a bit of friction between the two over the phone because of this, however, Leah recovered her courage and in a letter that met us in Cabo Rojo, expressed her love for Marc and her great disappointment in not being able to be with us, but wished us great success. Leah is quite a lady. Anyway...

We arrived at the police station and were able to speak with two police officers, one of them Officer Carrillo (in photo). The first officer we encountered on our way in to the station in the doorway I was never able to identify, however Jorge began asking some questions.  He was very forth coming about the animal deaths and that there were investigations going on. This officer was very honest and explained he could not offer any personal thoughts because he himself had not encountered the alleged creature. He knew of fellow officer who had had experiences and who had participated in investigations but he himself had not been part of any of it.

Inside, we visited with Officer Carrillo. As the other expedition members settled into a positioning the room and two or three other cameras rolled besides mine, I asked Jorge what our status was. He said that their superior was coming to talk to us. Marc asked if Carrillo had seen anything. He had not. There came a lull in action and questions, the expedition members were busy trying to get cameras loaded and working, so I began asking questions (and I had told myself I wasn't going to be the investigator). Jorge started back up with questions and Officer Carrillo volunteered information about a recent television news piece where the press tried to pass off the Chupacabras attacks as being dog attacks. More was said about the "public relations imperative" to cover up the Chupacabras attacks. The suggestion of monkeys doing the attacks was also presented by the media. As I came to a communications problem (Jorge could understand what I was trying to ask about medical analysis) Buck assisted me with some other words that Jorge understood and then also began asking some questions and asked about the possibility of collecting tissue from animal victims for analysis (Buck was very into the work of Linda Moultan Howe). The question being posed, Carrillo offered that maybe the Chupacabras situation is genetic experiment (and he didn't get that from Bob Buck). One interesting thing we uncovered was that it was the Civil Defense who was now always contacted to perform on site investigation of any alleged Chupacabras attacks. Marc asked about any reports which might have included telescoping time or missing time. Buck made sure to point out that he was equipped to take a tissue sample of any dead animals that might be discovered during our stay.

(NOTE: I don't know when this police department meeting was arranged. I was taken by surprise as I'm sure Marc Davenport was. Had I been there as a full fledged investigator versus the "official videographer", I would have pursued official reports [albeit they would have been in Spanish] and asked to get interviews with the officers who had HAD an encounter.  Why this was not done, I don't know.)

Next, we visited with Carmen Martinez at her mountainside home. She and her daughter had both seen the creature. We got a very detail report of their experiences (far too lengthy to completely report on here but it's in the video...), including the fact that part of the way they know when the creature is around is because of the red beams of light that emanate from the creatures eyes. The most impressive part of the interview was Ms. Martinez' sincerity. There was never a hint of deception or joking. We spent almost an hour interviewing Ms. Martinez. This was an excellent interview.

One more thing. There have been numerous on-line reports of Chupacabras attacking human beings. This creature was within 40 feet of Ms. Martinez and made definite eye contact but It did not come towards her nor did It make any menacing moves in response to her.

From there, we went to an hour...hour and a half lunch and then we went to meet with and interview Madelyne Tolentino and her husband Jose Miguel Agusto (pictured in yellow).  Similar to Carmen Martinez, Madelyne is also said to have had two encounters with the creature, though with the second there was no visual, only odor of the creature. Madelyne's eyewitness account was quite remarkable because it was a daylight encounter on a residential street. She gave us a very detailed description of the creatures physical appearance, emphasizing the fact that It "doesn't have nails, It has claws!" Her encounter was also witnessed by one of her husband's employees, Dito(sp?).  The location of the sighting was across the street from Miguel's auto garage. Dito attempted to capture the creature but was warned off by hissing, a show of fangs and the quill like appendages on the creatures back standing straight and changing colors.  The creature literally ran off with it's legs moving so fast they were almost impossible to see.

Now, the Madelyne I have on video is an attractive, well composed, articulate woman who delivered her answers with dedicated seriousness, but never really any fear. She even made light of the secondary encounter she had. Madelyne's name is one of the most associated in on-line publications regarding the Chupacabras. Other "interviews" I've read on-line want to emphasize how "afraid" Madelyne was during her encounters, however Madelyne was never attacked by this creature, even at the close range of the first encounter (within five feet) and recounts her experiences with calm and some humor.  Additionally, regarding Chupacabras attacks on humans, even with the creature being within five feet of Madelyne, her recount indicates the creature never even looked her direction. Even when Dito(sp?) went to grab it, the creature only made defensive posturing and quickly moved off the other direction. Because of these on camera interviews, I have to doubt any of the on-line reports about Chupacabras attacking humans. Now, were those people reporting that they were attacked, attacked by something?  Certainly possible, but I would offer that the attacks were something other than a Chupacabras.

We then proceeded to our final destination for the evening in Joyunda. It was extremely late when we arrived, too late for any real dinner. My understanding was that Marc as supposed to give a lecture that I would video tape. This is not what happened, and I was truly thankful that it didn't, because I really didn't feel like having to deal with a huge set up, though I did set the camera up to shoot some of the indoor gathering of a handful of locals interested in conversing about their experiences.

DAY 3 - MONDAY - Continental breakfast at the hotel, 9am departure to Lajas to investigate recent major UFO sightings-interview persons in area-Combate beach dimensional portal area for noon picnic with Juana and family who had the back in time episode at Combate beach-afternoon swim-visit Laguna Cartagena -visit former CIA headquarters-view the aerostat-back to the hotel area for dinner-night watch at the gravitational anomaly-investigation of the area.

Continental breakfast!  It always sounds so....continental. All it is is donuts or pastries and beverage, but most of us would like to be "continental" once in our lives instead of just being from our town or state! Makes it sound like you're on a Lear jet all the time (maybe with Marilyn Monroe)! What a marketing idea someone came up with. Anyway...

Outside of the fact that we heard television and radio news reports about the Chupacabras, this day had nothing to do with the Chupacabras, with the exception of our exposure to the merchandising of the legend. This day was dedicated to our meeting Juana  (don't have a last name) and her family,

Lagra, Milagros, and Louie including her alleged  human-alien hybrid daughter, Meredith.  The family claims many UFO, alien and paranormal experiences. This family had even managed to snap a picture of one of the alleged aliens sneaking around their home (not a very good picture at all and I personally have some serious *questions about it) *When I doubt someone, it doesn't mean I believe that they are lying.   To the contrary, MANY people have been fooled by hoaxes. Remember that magicians tricks are all about a convincing illusion...a slight of hand that makes you look one way when the real action is the other way!

Juana was very cordial, the kids and grandkids very nice and sweet. Lagra and Milagros wore the Chupacabras t-shirts. We even "went to town" (so much for being continental) and saw first hand the various t-shirts and bumper stickers, etc. available for purchase (Good for them! My only question is was a portion of the proceeds going to a monetary pool for assisting those who had lost some of their livelihood because of the Chupacabras?) As far as the "hybrid daughter", and Marc said in the van on the way back what I had been thinking, this poor woman simply looked VERY anorexic. If there was any actual biological evidence of this woman being either something other than human or in addition to being human, any medical record documentation of an unusual or abnormal biology or physiology that could not be explained, it was never presented to me.

One more thing to set straight here. We went to Combate Beach to investigate the alleged dimensional portal area that took Juana "back in time" where she and children were 20 years younger, as reported (Item #3) by Joyce Murphy. In fact, the testimony of Juana to a "back in time" situation was what truly convinced Marc Davenport and Leah that Marc should go on and lead the expedition in spite of Leah's ill health. We spent considerable time interviewing Juana at Combate Beach. As we began to attempt to take electromagnetic readings of the rock (seen below; photo left with compass, photo on right with low-end gauss meter,

where this incident was alleged to take place,   we finally got to the truth! As our interpreter for the day, John Montalvo translated  ..."Oh, oh, oh, oh..... okay...okay... uh...it wasn't that she went back 20 years, it was that her son-in-law saw her 20 years ago, the way she would have been 20 years ago. In other words the way he saw her (her image in a blue light projection of some sort), she was 21 to 24 years old  and the girls, were six and seven years old."  I asked "So, in other words, this was more of a vision that he had rather than a time/dimensional thing?"   Montalvo.. "no, no, no, this was a vision that he had."  So if you are promoted to Combate Beach because of the story of a "time portal" involving this family, remember, THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED.

Also, in all fairness to Joyce, she may not have been aware of our findings because she usually set herself aside and away from the interviewing or actual research activity (in this instance, being picnic table side getting lunch ready ... which is why you'll see and hear Marc Davenport say in the video clip "This is why we came to Puerto Rico.  They'll have to wait.") Also, shortly after my return home, Joyce and I had a tremendous misunderstanding which caused a falling out and she has seen none of the 10 hours of video I shot.  In fact, through the grape vine of expedition participants Anne Culevier and Kim Albertson, I found out Joyce was accused me of shooting "very little footage" and what a "waste of time I was" for her. Further topping off this misunderstanding was a letter from Joyce, which I still have on file, claiming that I had brought "old, worn out batteries" and that's why I spent more time "playing psychic" and almost no time shooting tape. My "playing psychic" went like this...

The first night as Bob Buck was taking about one of his experiences, I "third eye" saw a shaft of golden light leading from the ceiling to Bob's head and a number of images of different alien types.  Once we got to Cabo Rojo, during a morning waiting to find out exactly what we were going to do, Bob told Marc Davenport what I had told him. Marc grinned and said "so, you're a psychic, huh?" I told him I considered my self an emergency field psychic, that I don't market myself as a psychic. He challenged me to read him, I did, and he was impressed.  Thursday night, before we went to El Yunque rainforest for the first time, we were sitting around eating dinner with Bob and Joyce talking about the previous years weird event with quote "Navy Seals" getting lost in the rainforest (Bob Buck has the recovery incident on video). As they chattered, Joyce suddenly blurted out "that wasn't a child they brought out of the rainforest." Her eyes got big and she slapped her hands over her mouth. Marc asked her what she meant and she said she had no idea where that comment came from. Marc called down the tables to me and asked if I would try to read Joyce. We hadn't gotten our dinner yet and I figured it might take some time to get it, so I agreed and asked Kim Albertson to accompany me (Kim and I had struck a good friendship as co-researchers on this trip, her psychic abilities complimenting mine quite nicely). We took Joyce outside to one of the vans and I asked Kim to act as my "backup." We also audio cassette recorded this reading (I attempted to document everything as much as I could on the trip). What I got was that the "Navy Seals" getting lost in El Yunque was no such thing. Without going too much into it, suffice it to say that there were some military personnel that were "tired" of being forced to work with certain other "co-workers" and decided to act on their feelings of anger. When they did, they found they had bitten off way more than they could chew and they became the victims instead of the attackers. I also witnessed "third eye" a "dimensional doorway" of some kind existing in the rainforest. It was truly amazing. I wondered how in the world I was able to see it and activate it and then it dawn on me that when I'm doing a reading, I'm at a different level of consciousness. That's why human's are typically unable to open such doorways, and very likely how aliens are able to move humans through walls or closed windows. Once the abductee is placed in this alternate consciousness, it allows them to be moved via the "doorways" created by the abductors.

DAY 4 - TUESDAY - breakfast-9am departure for fishing village of La Parguera-optional boat ride through mangrove swamps-interview with contactees as scheduled from Sunday evening conference with Raphael's group-more sightseeing and investigation of dimensional portals-dinner at la Parguera-night watch in the area of Bigfoot sighting.

Nothing to do with the Chupacabras.

DAY 5 - WEDNESDAY - breakfast-9am checkout out of hotel-depart for area around Arrecibo-arrive rainforest guesthouse by early evening-dinner-night walks into the forest-night watch with local residents in area.

Nothing to do with the Chupacabras.

 

DAY 6 - THURSDAY - breakfast-investigate all questionable areas around forest near Casa Cubuy-interview nearby residents-picnic lunch in the forest-back to beach area by 4pm for swim-hotel area for dinner-night watch area and subject to be announced.

Nothing to do with the Chupacabras.

DAY 7 - FRIDAY - last day in the forest to finish all pertinent research-area of greatest interest to be chosen-expedition recap dinner.

 

Here we go! We caught up with Jorge in Canovanas and got with the Canovanas  Minister of  Education, Sr. Jose Batalla,

the Mayor's aide, Sr. Rossa and then the man  himself

Mayor Jose "Chemo" Soto. We got a solid interview with Mayor Soto with Sr. Rossa acting as interpreter. The Mayor explained that he had been trying to come up with a plan in conjunction with the Civil Defense people, to lure and capture the Chupacabras. A most interesting thing is that as Mayor Soto was trying to give us a visual of what he'd been investigating, he used Linda Moultan Howe's book, Alien Harvest,  and pointed to the photographs. To me, that's an indicator that some of the animal killings being attributed to the Chupacabras creature may in fact involve Black Helicopter or UFO activity. Marc Davenport continued questioning in expert fashion. He asked the hard questions and even Mayor Soto said that apparently there's something that has been *hidden from the people by the federal agency and we are trying to find an explanation to give to the people (*this is in sharp contrast to the television news report information we received at the police station on Day #2. Is this an indicator that there is friction between local and "state/federal" government regarding the existence and effects of this creature?).

As we were waiting to for Mayor Soto to call and direct a homicide detective who had shot at one of these creatures to interview with us, we were fortunate that the Civil Defense was being dispatched to investigate a Chupacabras attack that was only a few hours old! We were allowed to accompany them and document the investigation. And luck may have been really been with us. As Marc was examining the retainer wall in the back of the attack location and I was giving Bob an on-camera thought, Marc discovered hair samples on the retainer wall. He collected them in a plastic 35mm film container.

  As I understand it, some of these hair were given to several laboratories, including a lab in Japan for analysis. The Japanese lab was the only one to give a result( the others claiming they "lost' the samples). Unfortunately for us, it's in Japanese. It is alleged to say that the closest comparative match is wolf hair. According to experts I've checked with, Steve Bircher at the St. Louis Zoo, along with some on-line wolf preservation organization, there's no natural occurring wolf population in Puerto Rico. In fact, the natural habitat of wolves seem to be global except for tropical regions. Last I talked with Marc Davenport at the Eureka Springs UFO conference, 1999, he still has some of the hair samples left.  As revenues come available, we'll pursue a Bigfoot research contact I've made who said they would be happy to analyze the hair samples, as they do for the Bigfoot organization they do analysis for.

While this part of the day was the most exciting of the entire trip, it also made me want to smack somebody. The owner of the residence where this Chupacabras activity took place indicated that the Chupacabras had been coming to the neighborhood almost every night for THREE MONTHS!!!! What do we do!!!????   Instead of making overnight plans at this residence to maybe, possibly accomplish what I had set out to on this "expedition" like any responsible, self-respecting researchers would and which the owner was more than happy to allow us to do,... what do we do???!!!  We had to go to El Yunque rainforest for the night because a certain member of our party believed...and I mean in a maniacal fashion...that he was supposed to receive *communication from Pleiadian beings in the rainforest (*I do understand and accept, and have personally been involved with, communications of this nature).  Not only was this a complete departure from any serious expedition activity, it was placing us in potential danger that I will write about later. Even at the entrance to the rainforest, a signed very clearly indicates that El Yunque is much more than just a rainforest, it's an "experimental" rainforest. It's much more than it seems.

And no, the Pleiadian communication didn't happen (duuhh!)

DAY 8 - SATURDAY - transfer schedules for airport to be announced.

We all sang "Just sit right back and you'll hear a tail .. a tail of a fateful trip. That started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship...", traded phone numbers and business cards and hugged each other before proceeding with departures.

 

ALL PICTURES IN THIS ARTICLE ARE FROM OUR DOCUMENTARY

which is available as a

Digital Download

EXPEDITION ADDENDUM

 

Since the expedition, and my eventual on-line capability, and producing "Chupacabras! The Legend Begins" from the footage I shot on this expedition, I have come across numerous on-line reports about the Chupacabras.  That which you read from Jorge Martin should be taken seriously because, after all, he is in the heart of Chupacabras territory.  That which you read on other websites, unless directly attributed to a legitimate newswire, (please remember that everything is still very much under investigation and subject either to discovery of false reports or a refinement in details gathered) should be filtered through your power of discernment.  As for other websites that ask you to "think about" their HUGE SPECULATIONS, again, remember that very little is known about this creature and, in my opinion, anyone who goes much beyond the very basic outline of information we have on this thing, is letting their "speculative imagination" run away with them.

I've also seen alleged photographs of the Chupacabras, beginning with the Art Bell website. Art Bell will be the first one to tell you, and his webmaster the second, that they claim no responsibility for the authenticity of anything on their site not published by Art Bell himself. Other websites claim to show the corpses or skeletal remains of a Chupacabras. When you examine the detailed physical characteristics of Chupacabras eyewitnesses like Carmen Martinez, Madelyne Tolentino, and Miguel Agusto, these photos don't hold up as being Chupacabras. They may certainly be something...but they're not Chupacabras.

What I do look forward to, even if it's not me who does it, is a real photograph, or better yet video, of this new creature. I assure you, as of the writing of this article, April 30, 2000, no one has yet presented an authentic photograph of a live, or dead, Chupacabras. Such evidence would at least surface at UFO conference such as Lloyd Pye's Starchild Project anomalous skull. The only report I've heard that might have been real was last year this time when Hilly Rose was interviewing Lloyd Pye about the Starchild project and mentioned on-air that he (Rose) had recently heard, from what he considered a reliable source, about a storm in Honduras that was alleged to have turned up the body of a creature, the description of which exactly fit the Chupacabras. I would really like a follow up on that report.

I know that skeptics will say that since there's never been a valid photo, film or video of the Bigfoot creature, or any other cryptozoological creature, what makes me think that it will ever happen with the Chupacabras?  My answer is simple and is directed to all the cryptozoological creatures. At one point, the gorilla was a cryptozoological creature, thought to be only in the imaginations of superstitious 1800's Africans. FACT: If it's there, it can be found. If it's terrestrial, we can track it. If it's extra- terrestrial or inter-dimensional, we have to be in the right place at the right time. It's a matter of money, time commitment, and a solid game plan, which wealthy big game hunters used to do in the last century...put his/her money up to go out for three months or a year with provisions and wait it out. With the right funding and the right patience, we could find all cryptozoological considered creatures.

The field of the unknown is very important to me...and to the world.  Discovery is the most exciting thing a human being can experience.  To be among the first one in line to see something exists!  Even with children, you watch their eyes when the "light bulb goes off" in their mind when they comprehend something you've been trying to teach them...discovery!  You should've seen the excitement when Lloyd brought the "anomalous skull" forward. People stood in line until 2 AM to look at it.

The ONLY way we're going to get to the truth about any of this is to report the facts, and then objectively analyze the facts to their own *logical and **actual conclusions (e.g., *logical being relative to the framework of reality wherein the subject of analysis resides...e.g. purchasing a block of clay to help your artist friend is logical only if the artists deals in clay. If the artist is an actor or a musician, the block of clay isn't part of the regular workday reality. **actual meaning "evidence points towards" versus "it must be."  An incident, such as a dead animal in the case of the Chupacabras, becomes the investigation, or puzzle. If, in truth, the investigation, or puzzle, has 100 pieces to view to begin seeing and evaluating the picture presented, and the investigator uncovers only 35 pieces, such as the evidence, or lack thereof, at the scene of discovery, the picture is not complete. "Investigators" who are into "the adventure" are prone to say "it must be..." in order to continue the drama quickly. Investigators wanting the truth of the incident will persists because the picture is not yet complete. They want to uncover all 100 pieces so they can say with relative assurance, "at this point, all evidence points towards..." and has as complete a picture as possible to analyze in order to know what the next step should be, IF there's a next step possible.). The only time it's proper to speculate is when the facts have not, or cannot lead to a logical, complete conclusion. This is when the basic journalistic questions of Who, What, When, Where, Why and How have not have been answered satisfactorily. Two lines of dialog from the 1972 Dan Curtis TV-Movie of the Week *"The Night Stalker" are a prime example of this (*For those who have access to this movie, it's an excellent examination of speculative reporting).  In this scene, the Sheriff, a couple of uniformed officers and news reporter Carl Kolchak are at a crime scene involving a murdered woman, whose body is bound in the middle of a very deep rock quarry. Here's the initial questions...

WHO: Victim...WHAT: Dead...WHEN: During the night...WHERE: Rock Quarry...WHY: Dead due to massive loss of blood...HOW: Unknown.

The Sheriff, an officer, and Kolchak have made their way down into the construction site to the victims body.  A medical technician is examining the body, while the Deputy is up near the edge of the construction site where a purse has been found. The woman's face is a light blue from the loss of blood. As the throat is examined, the puncture wounds on her jugular vein are quite visible and nasty looking.  Kolchak grimaces and snaps a few pictures.  Here's the dialog:

Officer: (At edge of site, stating a fact) Sheriff! There's a purse and signs of a struggle up here!

Sheriff: (Looking at another fact, the considerable 40 foot space between the victim's body and the top of the quarry) ...and not a track in between.

Kolchak: (Speculating) Wha'd he do...throw 'er?

Officer: (Unnerved) That's not possible.

Sheriff: (Expounding on Kolchak's speculation based on the fact of no footprints between the victim and the struggle point) If it happened, it's possible.

Those in attendance look at the 40 space between the victim and the edge of the site.

Sheriff: (voicing evidence that is a fact and is supportive of the speculation) And not a track in between.

Medical: (voicing fact) She's lost a lot of blood, Sheriff, but she didn't loose it here.

Kolchak: (Remembers another fact he got from an informant) Sheryl Hughes lost a lot of blood.

Sheriff: (Shoots Kolchak a hard, suspicious look) You read that in a newspaper, Kolchak?

Kolchak: No...I didn't read it in any paper.

Next scene.....Kolchak being chewed out by his editor, Tony Vincenzo.

Vincenzo: Did the Sheriff say it was a vampire? (Vincenzo is looking for a verification of a suggested fact)

Kolchak: I didn't say it was a vampire. (justifying his unfounded, speculative, sensational headline)

Vincenzo: Well, what does your suggestive headline read...? (identifying the flaw in Kolchak's published story)

Kolchak: I didn't say ...(still trying to justify his hunch based, unfounded, speculative, sensational headline)

Vincenzo: (Angrily quoting the headline) "VAMPIRE" KILLER LOOSE IN LAS VEGAS?" question mark! (throwing Kolchak's hunch based, unfounded, speculative, sensational headline in his face)

Kolchak: The story makes it clear!  (STILL trying to justifying his unfounded, speculative, sensational headline)

Vincenzo: (staying angry) Do I misread, or did you use the word "vampire?"

Kolchak: (Now saying what he SHOULD have said) Some nut who thinks he's a vampire IS loose in Las Vegas and the people ought to be told!

In light of the facts at hand, in combination with another fact, Kolchak was speculating...going where the limited facts led him.  Based on the facts laid out here, was he right to say it was a vampire?

A responsible investigator or researcher DOES NOT make up stories to fill in as facts, nor merely accept someone's story without any kind of correlative evidence (even if it's only an independent witness who can corroborate identifying details), and then draw an alleged realistic conclusion, which is, unfortunately, the case in many of the current websites dealing in the unknown. From what I've seen, an explanation I would offer for this would be the "copy cat syndrome."  The webmasters of these websites have same information because they're taking, as gospel, information from another website who has come up with either non-verified, or worse, non-factual, creative "realities", which, in turn are reported as factual by the "copy cat" website. It's similar to grabbing a story from the Associated Press except that the "AP" has established a line of qualified journalists they trust to submit accurate and verified reports per journalistic guidelines.

Please keep in mind I am not trying to cast aspersions on any other websites.  I don't believe any of these people are doing this with any malice in mind.  These are people who are very excited about the subject matter and get carried away with a "good story."  These are people who may not have a well developed ability for discernment.

Whenever I read a presentation (or hear a lecture at a conference, for that matter) and I hear someone making a statement of fact with no support information, I have to ask myself "how does he/she know that for a fact?"

The only way to be one of those few good "fact gathering investigators and speculating researchers" is to have the persevering, investigative mind of a police detective (Sherlock Holmes?), the news gathering balls of Woodward and Bernstein (the two reporters who cracked the case of "Watergate" and past US President Richard Nixon...and if you don't know what "Watergate" is, you may be to young to understand what I'm trying to say anyway), and the minimum of  the fact gathering integrity taught in the basics of journalistic reporting (as in my college journalism teacher, Tony Ott, who pissed me off a lot with his hammering of my tendency to try to fit the facts to the conclusion I wanted versus any other possible truth, but taught me well! Thank you Tony!).

I hope you have found my report worthy of reading.  Imagine what it would have been like if there had been video running during the first wave of UFO sightings, or Bigfoot sightings, Lochness creature sightings, or Mothman sightings. We were there first, with cameras rolling in a sincere and qualified interest. Once you see our documentary, you can truthfully say, "I saw the Chupacabras legend unfold from the beginning!" And as is said in the video, "We're sure the legend will continue."  As we come into more information, we will post such.

Stay tuned to this website! Thank you, "mochas Gracias!"

ADDENDUM

As of April 20, 2000, this page has experienced an increase in views, primarily from either Chile or Mexico.  As I went about my business on the Internet, I wondered why. Then I stumbled across news reports issued by Reuters on April 21, 2000 and additional articles at UFO City.Com (unfortunately, these articles are no longer available for reading). Apparently, in April of 2000, there had been significant activity of animal killings, some of which are being attributed to the Chupacabras.

I wish to say something about these animal deaths.  First, the people of Chile being affected by this sudden outcropping of animal deaths must be precise in whatever investigation and reporting is done.

Second, if (and ONLY if) the means by which these animals met their deaths MATCHES the way a Chupacabras kills, then don't be misled by the "dogs did it" statements. Until thorough examinations (necropsies) are performed, you don't know for sure. Of course, you have to have veterinaries that are willing to be completely honest in the face of "officials" desire to keep such a report secret.

Third, those who can, GET A VIDEO CAMERA ready in case you come across the creature.  As of the date of this information NO ONE has a picture or video of the creature.  Also, if you get any footage or any pictures of the Chupacabras, DO NOT release the negative or raw video.  In the case of a photograph, when you get the film processed and printed, order THREE SETS OF PRINTS from the negatives FIRST and put two away.  In the case of a video, MAKE THREE COPIES of the video and secure the original BEFORE YOU tell anyone.  DO NOT release the ORIGINALS!!!!!

I am preparing to produce another, up-to-date documentary on the Chupacabras.   Those of you who become eyewitnesses to a Chupacabras, PLEASE e-mail me with a full report and complete contact information! When we get ready to actually do the documentary, I may need to be in touch with you.

Gracias!

Joseph Palermo

"The year 2012 ... potentially the most important time of the universe ... is the current focus of UTIA research."

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