| People love the weird thrill that clutches their hearts at | | | | increase of Hispanic people in the United States. As |
| the mere suggestions of a monster. I'm not talking | | | | Big Foot declined in popularity, El Chupacabra's star |
| about real monsters like rampaging grizzly bears or | | | | rose, this time in the American southwest. El |
| psychotic killers but the strange creatures that haunt | | | | Chupacabra was spotted rushing through the |
| the periphery of reality. The ones that lurk in the | | | | shrubbery along the edge of a twilit path. This monster |
| dimmest reaches of the forest, or slither hugely in the | | | | was so terrifying that it's relatively small size made no |
| purple depths of dark lakes. | | | | difference. El Chupacabra, from what I've seen, is a |
| When I was young, Sasquatch or Big Foot, was the | | | | sort of cross between a small dragon and a dog - |
| popular subject of tabloid newspapers. TV | | | | slimy, ugly, and snarling. His very ugliness and the |
| documentaries regaled us with stories from the | | | | furiousness of this little monster is enough to keep the |
| American northwest in which Big Foot prowled around | | | | teenagers out of the woods. |
| darkened cabins, terrifying the inhabitants. Footage | | | | But you have to wonder. What did either Sasquatch or |
| showed an actual Sasquatch shambling among the | | | | Chupacabra actually do to elicit such horror? |
| trees. The hairy man-beast leaned forward slightly, and | | | | Unpleasant to look at, yes. Weird, different, something |
| glanced at the cameraman. And in that moment, you | | | | you would not find in your Encyclopedia of American |
| had to catch your breath. Would Big Foot turn | | | | Wildlife. These elusive monsters haunted the dark |
| suddenly and rush at the photographer? Would the film | | | | places of our imagination, moving at an awkward gait, |
| churn as the camera fell into the forest duff, as the | | | | making unpleasant sounds, and being distinctively |
| poor photographer was torn limb from limb? | | | | unattractive. |
| Rumors of Big Foot popped up in the Eastern US and | | | | Fear produces hate. We despise what we fear. One |
| in other spots as well. People claimed to have found | | | | can almost feel sorry for these freaks of nature, |
| huge, man-like footprints along the banks of nearby | | | | hunted by curiosity seekers. Think of poor Nessie, that |
| streams. We were both repelled and drawn to the | | | | remnant of yesteryear, that dinosaur-like monster |
| possibility of a monster roaming a few miles from | | | | chased back and forth endlessly through the cold |
| suburban neighborhoods. | | | | depths of Loch Ness. Monster hunters, like paparazzi |
| Of course, Big Foot never really did anything. | | | | have raced around that Scottish lake for generations. |
| Sasquatch never attacked anyone. No reports sprang | | | | I don't know about you, but if I'd been pursued, feared, |
| up with Big Foot grabbing the family dog and munching | | | | and despised for generations, it would not put me in a |
| away at poor Fido. It was the mere possibility of his | | | | good moon. I think that I would stalk the dark places, |
| existence that caused nightmares and gave teenagers | | | | scuttling along the edges of things at twilight. And if |
| the willies in the woods, causing them to run off and | | | | one of those nosey humans came upon me in a field |
| abandon their illicit beer. | | | | at night, I'd grunt and snarl too. Maybe, just maybe, |
| Other monsters, too, have captured the public | | | | those monsters hide in the shadows because they are |
| imagination. El Chupacabra became popular with the | | | | afraid of us. |