My Encounter with a Chupacabra

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My Encounter with a Chupacabra

Let me tell you the story of my encounter with what could have been the famed chupacabra - also known as the goat sucker from its reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock. Late one evening, I let my dog Jessie outside to pee. It was a nice warm evening so I stepped outside to check out the stars. As I stepped outside onto my deck, I saw 50 feet to my left what looked like red fire or a small red flame in some bushes, but the bush wasn't being consumed. I know what you're thinking - Tom Keating thinks he's Moses!! [Exodus 3: 2-4 God appears to Moses in the form of a "bush on fire that does not burn up" and calls to him]

These bushes line a 3 foot high rock wall that parallels the condos and with a steep 100 foot incline just feet behind the bushes. The red dots were too small and not spreading so I immediately discounted any "burning bush" or "God wants to speak to me" theories. Curious, I walked barefoot onto the grass to go check it out. I got to within 2 feet of the two red lights and I still couldn't figure out what it was. But the best way to describe the color is that they looked very similar to a red laser pointer only much bigger. The lights were perfectly symmetrical and separated by a distance of only 1.75-3 inches apart and they appeared to me to be the eyes of an animal.

However, I know of no "proven" animal that has red luminescent eyes. Sure, if you shine a bright light onto some animals (dogs, cats) you can get a reflective glow, but it was pitch black out with no light source that I could see. The only animal that I knew about that has red eyes is the rumored Chupacabra. I remembered learning about the Chupacabra on the TV show Sightings. The Chupacabra even made an appearance on one of my favorite series of all times - the X-Files. According to the Wiki, "Some reports claim the chupacabra's red eyes have the ability to hypnotize and paralyze their prey—the prey animal is mentally stunned, allowing the chupacabras to suck the animal's blood at its leisure." Well if I can avoid being hypnotized by the red lights and catch and prove that the Chupacabra exists, I'd be famous.

Some might speculate that it could have been a reflection off a mirror or something. This is not a plausible theory. There is a huge steep incline just behind the bushes so if there was some light source reflecting of a mirror, then the light source would have to be located in front of the bushes where I stood. I stood at every conceivable angle in front of the lights up to one foot away. If it was a reflection of some sort, it would reflect light differently depending on the angle I stood and I would also block the light with my body at some point, which didn't happen.

So getting back to the story - I inched my face closer and closer to the red lights (each about 1/2 - 2/3 of an inch). The red lights were perfectly still. I started to reach my hand out to touch the lights, with my heart pounding and knowing that whatever it was could probably see me better than I could see it. As my hand got to just inches away I heard this low growl coming from the lights... or at least I thought I hear a growl, but I couldn't really be sure. I thought my mind might have imagined it or it could have been my dog that was standing near me. My heart leapt into my throat and I held my hand motionless, still just inches away. Part of me, the daring and curious side, still wanted to know what the heck this thing was. I remember thinking "Should I just quickly grab it?", while the other side of me was thinking "You value your hand, right?"

Just as I was debating what to do, the red lights turned off - simultaneously. The way they turned off looked like it was an animal closing its eyelids. The circular red dots didn't just go off instantly. Rather, the top of the red dot was blackened first and the red light going off progressed downward, as would happen if you slowly closed your eyes. Now I was really freaked out. It looked precisely like eyelids slowly covering red luminescent eyeballs.

I stood there motionless for another couple of minutes waiting to hear a rustle in the bushes but I heard nothing and I saw nothing. I then quickly went back into my condo and retrieved a flashlight. I went back to the bush, shined the flashlight and saw…

nothing. Whatever it was - was now gone. I was very disappointed I didn't figure out what the heck it was. If it was indeed a chupacbra, I missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime. Of course, there is probably a much more rational explanation for what I saw. I've used every ounce of my computer engineering brain to figure out what this was. I Googled every conceivable combination of "red lights animal", "red eyes creature", etc. Nothing.

It has now officially been almost 4 years since I saw these mysterious red lights. I even remember the date - Tuesday, August 6th, 2002 and of course the location - Norwalk condos on Flax Hill Road. I returned at the same exact time several nights in a row to see if whatever it was would return, but it never did.  

I even told my then fiance', Nicole, that if she solved the mystery I'd buy her an engagement ring. She wasn't able to figure it out, so she had to wait another 6 months before I proposed. She knows that I was only kidding with her, but I really wanted to know what these lights were. If anyone has any theories on what I saw, feel free to post a comment. Until then, I'm sticking with my Chupacabra theory.

(X-Files Theme snippet:)


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