From Dr. Virgilio Sanchez-Ocejo

Miami UFO Center

ufomiami@dventures.com

2-24-2

The Chupacabras phenomenon is not limited to events involving ape-like or humanoid sightings. Among countless numbers of sightings and reports of strange-looking creatures in Chile, we have received many anecdotal testimonies of encounters with strange birds. Some of these alleged birds appear simultaneously in areas where UFO and chupacabras activity often takes place. During the course of our investigation and research in Chile, we must understand that we need to consider every bit of information, whether we want to hear it or not. The possibility of bird-like creatures being involved in this phenomenon is not at all remote.

Chilean investigator Jaime Ferrer has documented cases that include several types and sizes of these beings. Many of these cases have been reported in the local newspapers. During his field investigations, Ferrer himself has seen some of them. On June 28 of 2000, he decided to go to the mining area of Maria Elena, near Calama, Chile. He was going to interview five eyewitnesses from one of his previous cases. At the end of the interview, he and the people him and the eyewitnesses saw what appeared to be a very large bird. "After the interview that took place in a restaurant, the eyewitnesses and I decided to go out through the backdoor. As we were leaving, we all saw a strange-looking bird in the sky. It was flying at an altitude of about 40 meters directly above us. It was gray in color. Unfortunately, it passed us by so rapidly that I did not have time to go get my camera and take a photograph. Its body shape was like a duck, but it was at least five times bigger. I was not able to distinguish if it had a tail because it happened during the night and it was too dark; however, I did see that it had a long neck. But perhaps the strangest thing about it was that if we were to compare it with an ordinary bird, this one had a much larger body in relation with its wings, considering the wingspan seen on most birds. Nevertheless, it seemed to fly like an ordinary bird; it glided smoothly and it flapped its wings every so often to gain momentum. It flew almost the same way pelicans do, he said.

Previously, Jaime had received a similar report on May 30th of 2000. It was from the coastal town of Tocopilla, about 150 kilometers from his hometown of Calama. According to eyewitnesses that live next to the Tocopillan hills, residents saw a bird-like creature with many peculiar physical characteristics. It all started when the residents were awaken at two in the morning by strange loud noises. At first, they thought it was a person climbing the hill, but after observing it in greater detail, they realized that, what ever they were seeing, not only was not human; it was something they have never seen before. It was a creature that was climbing the hill very rapidly despite the seventy to eighty-degree steep. Eyewitnesses described the being as very agile and fast, making reptilian-like movements like a small lizard. The creature appeared to be much bigger than a condor, brown in color, with bright red eyes and what appeared to be feathers throughout its body. The loud quack-like noises emitted by that creature were heard every night for a couple of weeks, causing dogs to bark and howl all night.

A year later, on October 2nd of 2001, in the same town of Tocopilla, two young men saw a strange bird on top of one of the houses in the area of town called Esmeralda. They were walking home at 5 in the morning after attending one of the local festivities, when suddenly, they encountered the creature in the dark. "At first, we thought it was a vulture because of its size and shape; however, we saw its bright red eyes when it heard us and turned its head to see us. Suddenly, it jumped and flew away without making any sound. We got so scared that we ran out of there immediately, said one of them.

Further to the south, in the outskirts of a town called Lautaro, at about 665 kilometers from Santiago de Chile, there is an agricultural field called Los Cipreses, where local residents reported another sighting of a bird-like creature. For about three days, 12 villagers claimed to have seen it in the area. One time, they saw it trying to kill a goose. They decided to hunt the creature down kill it, so they set up a trap using the same goose as bait. They armed themselves with hunting rifles and waited at night for the so-called bird. "My neighbors and I decided to wait and hunt down the animal. It was about 11:PM when it finally showed up. It flew from the nearby trees directly towards the goose. One of my neighbors fired his gun unsuccessfully a couple of times. The creature did not get hit and flew right back into the trees, where we lost it. The animal looked like a giant bat, with a wingspan of about two meters and a long beak. This only lasted a few seconds, said Juan Alarcon.

According to Alarcon, the residents of his ranch have found nearly 40 tracks of the predator. The tracks show long claws. Carlos Torres, one of the ranch workers, believes that the bird-like creature uses its claws to kill the geese in the farm. To Alarcon, it is not important how they die; he just wants to put a stop to the mutilation of his animals. "It is not fair that every night, my animals die in that manner, mutilated and bloodless, said Alarcon.

On April 8th of 2001, Freddy Villalobos, and his cousin Christopher Huanca Valenzuela contacted Jaime Ferrer. Both of them were residents of Villa Covadonga in Calama. They claimed to have seen yet another bizarre looking bird at a soccer match. "It was about 10 at night, when we and a group of friends, who had finished a soccer match in a nearby field, saw a strange bird. It was about 70 centimeters in length. It landed on top of a public lighting pole. But the light fixture got dimmed as the creature landed on it; it was to a point where it was almost completely out. Despite how the place suddenly became dark, we were able to see its bright and round reddish yellow eyes. The creature emitted short squeaking sounds. A friend of mine turned on the headlights on his truck so we would be able to get a better look at it. The bird reacted immediately, covering its head with its wings, as the light apparently bothered it. It seemed as it was floating on top of the light fixture rather than having its feet on top of it. Suddenly, it opened up its wings for a brief moment and we saw its head; it was horrible. It looked like the head of an old man with a long nose and a triangular shaped mouth. We all got scared at the gruesome way that it looked at us. The kids began throwing rocks at it. It shortly flew away and disappeared, said Huanca. He also claimed that many people in the area have seen the same creature, and that it often glides down and attacks pedestrians passing by. He also believes that the alleged creature is a creation of witchcraft.

A school principal reported another peculiar case in Calama. On April 10th of 2001, he revealed a fascinating story about another flying creature that was seen at a school. "It was about 7:PM, about 15 minutes after the sunset. I stood up to look outside the window of my office. I,m used to seeing the kids playing outside as they always do; they always run around, they are usually loud as most children are. However, that time, they were all quiet. I saw them quietly staring at something in the sky, almost as if they were hypnotized. Of course, I had to go outside the see what that was all about. When I got there, I saw the weirdest thing; it was a flying creature of about 1.8 meters in length. It was flying very slowly around a tree, at an altitude of only about 4 meters, and a distance from me of about twenty, said the principal.

"This bird was completely black. I call it a bird because it had wings; however, it looked more like a large dog with wings. It looked like a Great Dane. It was completely bizarre. It flew in slow motion. Occasionally, it would hide in the tree limbs, and then, it would come out of the tree again. It flew around for a while; in fact, I even had time to walk to my office and get my flashlight. When I used my flashlight to get a better look at it, I was able to see its bright white eyes. The creature seemed annoyed or bothered by the light. During the entire time I was there, the children were literally speechless; they were absolutely silent. It was probably because they were shocked; I know I was. Finally, about ten minutes later, we lost it in the darkness. What was it? I have no Idea, but I have never seen anything like it in my entire life, he said. Despite how fantastic that story may sound, we found the school principal to be a highly credible eyewitness.

Jaime Ferrer has interviewed many eyewitnesses with several different descriptions of these creatures. Considering that most people believe that the so-called chupacabras is humanoid-like, we find all of these testimonies to be very credible; after all, why would they make these stories up if they are just about "birds? If they wanted to get attention, or perhaps their name in the newspaper, they undoubtedly would have said they saw a humanoid.

Field investigation by Jaime Ferrer

Translation by Mario Andrade