Puerto Rican Lore, Part 1: El Chupacabra and La Llorona (The Goatsucker and The Weeping Woman)

Every culture has its urban legends. Some serve to explain the unexplainable. Some have a moral. And some are just plain fun, meant to creep us out. In this episode we explore the mystery of the Chupacabra, a reptilian creature believed to be mutilating animals throughout the island, and La Llorona, a heartbroken wife who drowned her own children as revenge towards her unfaithful husband.

Listen…if you dare!

Cada cultura tiene sus leyendas urbanas. Algunas sirven para explicar lo inexplicable. Algunos tienen una moraleja. Y algunos son simplemente divertidos, solo para asustarnos. En este episodio exploramos el misterio del Chupacabra, una criatura reptil que se cree que mutila animales en toda la isla, y La Llorona, una esposa desconsolada que ahogó a sus propios hijos como venganza hacia su marido infiel.

Escucha… ¡si te atreves!

SOURCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra#:~:text=Chupacabras%20can%20be%20literally%20translated,and%20the%20latter%20a%20regularization.
https://abc7news.com/chupacabra-animal-legendary-creature-mythical/5305873/
https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/the-mystery-and-truth-behind-the-chupacabra
https://www.princeton.edu/~accion/chupa21.html
https://www.today.com/popculture/movies/chupacabra-story-legend-creature-chupa-netflix-film-rcna76929
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387075/?ref_=tt_mv_close
https://www.americanghostwalks.com/articles/1-la-llorona-puerto-rico
https://localguest.com/puerto-rican-spooky-legends-popular-urban-legends/
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/La-Aparecida-una-leyenda-urbana-de-Puerto-Rico-9376784

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Transcript

The 90s were a great time. We had 90210, Nirvana and in Puerto Rico, the Chupacabra! Literally translated, the word means goatsucker (chupa = suck, cabra = goat). From the farms of Puerto Rico, to the fabled South Park, CO (yes, as in the cartoon), the Chupacabra has become quite the legend in real life and in Hollywood.
The legend of the Chupacabra actually begins in the town of Moca in 1975, where several farm animals were found dead and drained of blood. This was initially thought to be the work of El Vampiro de Moca but was later attributed to a satanic cult. Livestock killings continued to spread throughout the island, with animals being completely, or almost completely, drained of blood through 3 small circular incisions.
Fast forward to 1995, where 8 goats were reportedly found dead with 3 puncture wounds to the chest and drained of blood. A few months later, alleged eyewitness Madelyne Tolentino claimed she saw the Chupacabra in Canovanas, where about 150 animals were found dead. However, we should take her claims with a grain of salt, as she had recently seen the movie Species and her description of the CC is strikingly similar to the creature in that movie. (We’ll post pics.) This might be a good time to describe this dude. He apparently looks sort of reptilian in nature, with glowing red eyes and scales or spikes down his back, and with an alien head, and stands up like a kangaroo, about 3-4 feet tall. Someone was high AF when they “saw” this…
It’s also around this time that comedian Silverio Perez named our beloved cryptid, as it was heretofore nameless. 
Not long after the incidents in PR, other attacks and sightings were being reported in other Latin American countries like Mexico, Chile and the DR, but Chupa has been seen as far north as Maine. Now, necropsies were performed on some of the animals and it was not confirmed that they were bled dry, as everyone thought, so we didn’t have a vampire on our hands. The sad truth is that these were most likely any one of a species of canid (coyotes, foxes, wolves, Mexican hairless dogs, etc.) that had mange, and therefore were kinda hairless and sickly and smelled like ass. There was a photo someone in TX took that they swore was the CC but if you look at it, it looks like a hairless dog or something. We’ll post pics. This would also explain the manner of death of the animals. Since the canids were sick, they’d have no energy to stalk or attack their prey, so they’d go after livestock that was just kinda hangin out and drink up. And since they were so weak and desperate for sustenance, they would risk their safety and get closer to humans because they really needed to eat. It’s all rather depressing.
The CC in Hollywood:
South Park had an episode called Jewpacabra where Cartman claims to have seen a Jewish CC that kills Jewish children on Easter.
Netflix released a move in April called Chupa which honestly looks stupid, tho the creature they claim is the CC is cute as hell. But the creature is fuzzy and has wings so, no.
There are dozens move movies featuring the CC, all looking cheesy AF. I.E.: Rise of the Chupacabras from 2003: A group of local townsfolk are led by a treasure hunter into a nearby mine in search of gold but encounter a vampiric Chupacabras monster and the townsfolk that the beast has turned into murderous slaves.
So there you have it. There is no chupacabra, just a sick animal. Now i’m sad.

The story of La Llorona is known not just in Puerto Rico, but in most Spanish-speaking countries. They all have their own versions, but keeping in common the themes of tragedy, loss, and eternal sorrow.
I found two different Puerto Rican versions. Let’s set the scene for the first. We take you to the town of Coamo, which is on the south side of the island. Coamo is a Taíno word meaning "flat and wide place." There’s also a river, creatively called the Coamo River. 
Once upon a time, there was a girl named Maria who was the most beautiful in all the land. She had long black hair and big beautiful eyes. She was white - but don’t shoot the messenger. I didn’t make this shit up. She was proposed to ALL THE FUCKING TIME…WHAT A BURDEN. But she would always say “I don’t want no scrubs.”  Until one day Dexter came riding in on his white horse. Dexter was gorgeous too. I suppose having transportation in that day and age made him even more attractive. 
She fell in love. They hooked up, got married, and had two - or three - sons. Depends on the version. 
But one day, when Maria was at the elderly age of 25, Dexter met another woman he found more beautiful than his wife. He went home and told Maria Rosa in a most cruel manner that she was no longer beautiful, and that he was gonna stay with the home-wrecking ho.  
Maria was devastated. But instead of going all Angela Bassett in Waiting To Exhale, she takes their sons down to the river like a Bruce Springsteen song and fucking drowns them!
I wonder if she would’ve drowned daughters. Maybe she knew it would hurt her ex-husband to drown sons because they can’t pass on the family name.
When she realized what she had done, she screamed “MY CHILDREN!” Although since this happened in Latin America I guess it was “MIS HIJOS!!!”  Then, in anguish, drowned herself too.  
They say that Maria’s spirit hangs out around the Coamo River or on the nearby Puente de las Calabazas (Pumpkin Bridge), crying, begging Heaven for forgiveness, looking desperately for either HER children or OTHER children to claim as her own (depending on the version I guess). She’s wearing a simple, long white nightgown, carrying three white roses, and her eyes are filled with tears. Drivers have claimed to see La Llorona, first on the bridge in Coamo, then suddenly in their car! 

The second version takes place on the north side of Puerto Rico. Specifically, four major cities along Route 2: Hato Rey in the San Juan area, Manati west of that, Arecibo, west of Manati, and finally Hatillo, just a few minutes west of Arecibo. 
Here, La Llorona (aka La Aparecida) is 25-year-old Rosa on her wedding day. Incidentally, Rosa looks a lot like Maria.
Unfortunately, Rosa was hit by a car somewhere along Route 2, on her way to the church in Hatillo, where her family and fiancé were waiting for her. 
She spends her afterlife wandering amongst the four towns, looking for a ride back to the church in Hatillo, where she believes her fiancé and family are still waiting.
Her MO is to stop a driver, as if she needs help. When they let her in, she says her name is Rosa and asks to be taken to a church in Hatillo. Conveniently, she is multi-lingual, allowing her to communicate with drivers from any part of the globe! 
Moments before arriving at the church, Rosa’s tears turn to blood. She disappears from the car, and like a ninja she’s suddenly at the entrance to the church. Then she enters through the closed door!
Those who give her a ride claim that she leaves behind the scent of her perfume - and blood stains.