Chupa Chasing

I got home in the early hours of this morning after spending the afternoon and night in the heart of rural Oklahoma; specifically in the little town of Tecumseh, where - a few months ago - a photograph was taken of what has become known as a "Texan Chupacabras."

Of course, the Texan critters - that appear to be spreading northwards, hence the reports now coming out of Oklahoma - have nothing to do with the legendary beasts that first surfaced out of Puerto Rico in the mid-1990s (as this post from me at Mania.com shows).

Rather, the Texas/Oklahoma animals are hairless coyotes - DNA testing has proven this, and has also proven that there is evidence of wolf DNA present in some cases. But, unknown animals they are not. However, a number of witnesses have suggested that these beasts seem to demonstrate evidence of physical mutation - the most prevalent example being the claim that the animals have forelimbs that are far shorter than one would expect to find in "normal" coyotes. The result: they seem to hop around in Kangaroo-style.

Well, I have examined a couple of corpses of these critters and even possess the skull of one (which, to the dismay of my wife, Dana, stares forth eerily from a shelf in our living-room); however, I have not had the opportunity to examine a body that displays evidence of the shortened limbs. But, last night I was shown a photograph of the Tecumseh whatsit that does appear to show an animal - loping across the landscape - with extraordinarily short front limbs.

And so, it was the sightings of the creature that prompted Fox News to call and ask if I would be interested in taking part in a quest to find the beast - well, of course I would! And that's precisely what happened yesterday.

We didn't find the animal, but we did speak with the primary witness who took the photo, and we spent 3 or 4 hours roaming around the surrounding fields and woodland, and secured photographs and film-footage of some interesting paw-prints.

As well as appearing on Oklahoma's Fox News station shortly, the feature will also appear online; and so when it does, I'll post the link here, where you'll be able to judge the photograph for yourself.

It would have been highly appropriate, while negotiating the darkened roads post-witching-hour, for me to have seen the infamous entity crossing the road in front of my car - sadly, it was not be! At least, not yet...