Spring 1995.  The modern myth of Chupacabra was foreshadowed by a strange epidemic of animal deaths across the island of Puerto Rico.  Grim stories mounted of goats, cattle, horses, dogs, and other livestock, found dead and drained of blood, by unexplained means.  The unseen attacks, lacking typical attributes of natural predation, were characterized by a circular puncture wound in the victim's neck, from which the animal's blood had apparently been drained.

In spite of the usual rational explanations provided by authorities, that stray dogs or rampaging laboratory monkeys were responsible, the first rumors of a  vampiric marauder lurking in the night began to circulate, followed closely by eyewitness sightings of the blood-sucking fiend itself, soon to be known as El Chupacabra (Spanish for "the goatsucker").  Descriptions vary somewhat, but shaken witnesses generally describe a strange 4' bipedal creature, with claws, fangs, and hypnotic, glowing red eyes.  It has a pelt of short black or gray fur (alternately described as green or brown skin or scales), a spiny row of multi-colored appendages running from the front of it's oval head (which was often portrayed as resembling that of the legendary gray alien most frequently described in UFO visitations) down it's back, and a smallish pair of "wings", usually extending from it's spindly arms.  The legs are usually like a raptor or dinosaur.  The ghoulish beast was sometimes described as emitting a frightening howl, or a vomit-inducing hissing sound.  El Chupacabra makes it's escape by jumping or flying from the scene.

Late in 1995, according to some stories, two Chupacabras were caught in the El Yunque rain forest, and delivered to the United States to be studied by government scientists.  The Chupacabra sensation grew progressively weirder with stories of Satanic cultists perpetrating the exsanguinations for their rituals,  speculations of a UFO connection, and reports of debriefings of Chupacabra witnesses, allegedly by the the infamous "Men In Black".

On November 9th, 1995, Resolution 5012 is introduced on the floor of the Puerto Rican House of Representatives proposing a serious scientific study of the Chupacabra menace, but a few months later, the blood-drained livestock so characteristic of Chupacabra infestation began to turn up on the mainland in Mexico as well, accompanied by sightings of brujas, or ghostly floating nocturnal lights.

Soon sightings would spread to the United States with sporadic reports in Texas and Florida, primarily from the Hispanic communities.

Though sighting of El Chupacabra peaked in 1996, and have seemingly dried up altogether in the last several years, the legend has acquired cult-status online, and stories appear occasionally on in paranormal magazines and TV documentaries.