Fact or fiction?

It’s a phrase we’re often faced with, especially if we’re playing some mindless a trivia game.

It’s a question that often comes to my mind when hearing about the latest “discovery” of a creature straight out of someone’s imagination.

I consider myself a pretty logical person and when I observe something unusual happening; I tend to go through a mental check list of rational reasons. While I agree there are things and occurrences in this world that cannot be explained, I believe 95 percent of the time there is a solid explanation.

And when it comes to the latter, the mythical chupacabra, for me, falls into that 95 percent category.

The first time I ever heard of “el chupacabra,” I was about eight and watching my favorite television show at the time “Unsolved Mysteries.”

I sponged up the show’s story on the creature that supposedly roamed Puerto Rico killing goats by sucking the blood out of them, hence, “el chupacabra” literally meaning “the goat sucker.”

Various eyewitnesses have described the creature and all have done so differently. At first the chupacabra was described as reptile-like with green scales and a bumpy spine that stood two to three feet tall on its hind legs. It supposedly has a sulfuric stench that it leaves behind and, to boot, red eyes that with one look give those witnessing it nausea.

Another portrayal is that of a hairless wild dog-like reptile.

So exactly what the chupacabra looks like, who knows?

In Texas recently, a couple of chupacabras have apparently turned up dead.

One man supposedly kept the body of a chupacabra after he poisoned it while another got his in a less creative way by striking the creature with his vehicle.

Both men have been featured on various T.V. stations about their “catches.” Photos, a videotape and one preserved body have publicized their evidence.

Their stories have prompted headlines like “Chupacabra or mangy coyote?”

From what I’ve seen both seem like a hoax. From the “evidence” supplied at glance one can tell the “chupacabras” are in fact mangy coyotes…ones that met a pitiful end.

Though bald from a parasite, in the end it’s not hard to distinguish one coyote from another. It makes me wonder about these guys’ mental states (as well as the reporters who interview them) as the obvious stares back at them. But I guess anything goes for a moment of fame now days.

Where’s Bigfoot when you need him.

Amanda VanDerBroek is a Staff Writer for the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald. For comments and column suggestions email: amanda.vanderbroek@r-cnews.com or call (252) 332-7209.