The year was 1969 and I was an excited 10 year old on my
way to Puerto Rico with my favorite aunt Marlene. It was
my first vacation and the thought of being in an airplane
was just overwhelming !! We were going to visit relatives
(tons and tons of them) and I just couldn't wait.
The plane ride was great, I had the window seat. We
landed, everyone clapped and we were met at the airport by
aunts, uncles, and cousins. Everyone was making such a
fuss over me since it was the first time they were meeting
me. I guess I felt special.
We would be staying at my aunt Lucia's house in the
country. I remember thinking how beautiful everything
seemed from that car window. It was warm, the sun was
radiant, everything was so colorful. So many palm trees, so
many flowers. The air was fresh, people were smiling in the
streets and I was happy.
After about an hour's drive, we finally arrived to my aunt
Lucia's house. The driver parked the car and I was a
little confused because I didn't see a house. We got out
of the car, my aunt Marlene was holding my hand and we were
all walking in the same direction. When we stopped and I
saw where the house was located, I was instantly filled
with dread and fear. Everyone part of my little body
started reacting and the voice inside my head just repeated
the words, oh no ! oh no ! I instantly sensed that
something evil and wicked lurked about.
You see, my aunt Lucia's house was not situated on level
ground. It literally sat in a hole !! You had to walk
down to get to it. How different than the other houses I
had heard about, like beautiful houses on top of beautiful
green hills, or houses near waterfalls and lakes. This old
house lived in a ditch where the back or back yard if you
will, consisted of bushes, old orange & banana trees. It
was the woods and it was so dark back there.
My aunt settled in and while she talked with the rest of
family, I made friends with my cousin Mitch. He didn’t
seem to mind being around a girl and so we mostly stayed
together. Everyone else eventually went to their own
homes. All the while, I couldn’t shake my uneasiness and
although the day was warm, it felt cold and damp in that
ditch.
The night started to descend upon Puerto Rico and with it
came all kinds of sounds. Crickets, frogs, owls, etc.
Being a city girl, all of these sounds just intensified my
dread and fear of this place. I felt like something was
closing in as the darkness slowly crept upon us. My cousin
Mitch told me about and old outhouse that was in the back
of the house, in the woods, where the darkness was, with
it’s bushes and old trees. He said it had been there since
the 1800’s. It seems the land had always belonged to our
family. He also said that aunt Lucia forbid him to go
anywhere near the area of the outhouse. He was always
curious he said, to see what the big deal was and why he
shouldn’t go there. He showed me a flashlight and begged
me to walk with him towards the bushes. I was terrified
but didn’t want to seem like a scared little girl and so I
agreed. We held each other’s hand and we started walking
towards the back of the house. It was so dark and I was so
scared that my knees were literally buckling. We walked
quite a distance when Mitch shined the flashlight towards
our right and said that the outhouse was just up ahead. I
could faintly see the outhouse – it was a huge block of
grey cement with an opening in the front. It looked like a
tomb. It was at that moment when we heard a throaty,
sinister laugh to our left. Mitch flashed his light to the
area and there, standing no more than 2 feet tall was the
most hideous, grotesque thing I would ever see in my life.
It was greenish brown in color with scaly skin. It had
huge red eyes, and an equally huge mouth crowded with very
long fang like teeth. It had exactly two tentacle like
strands protruding from its head. It stood there with a
left clawed hand resting on a tree while the right clawed
hand motioned for us to come closer. It snickered and
laughed. I was in shock and I couldn’t move, and suddenly
we heard another sinister laugh coming from another
direction. There, at the opening of the outhouse stood
another creature also motioning for us to come closer all
the while laughing that sick laugh. Mitch screamed first,
he tightened his grip on my hand and we started running
back the way we came, screaming at the tops of our lungs.
My aunt Lucia met us about mid-way holding a kerosene lamp
in her hands. She yelled at us to go straight into the
house and not move. We nearly broke the door down as we
made our way inside. I was crying hysterically and Mitch
was still screaming. Aunt Lucia came in shortly thereafter
and yelled at us for having gone out there. Meanwhile, my
aunt Marlene was frantically closing the windows. At that
time, windows were really shutters made out of aluminum and
you had to crank them open or closed with a lever.
While aunt Marlene closed windows and drew curtains, aunt
Lucia was splashing holy water all throughout the house.
She told us we would have to be still, not make a sound and
that everything would be alright. That night was the
longest and most terrifying night of my life. All through
the night we heard that throaty, sinister laugh right
outside the house in numbers. Scratching was heard along
the shutters and a non-stop pounding on the front door. My
aunts prayed and prayed all night long.
The next morning my aunt Marlene took me away to another
relative’s home and that is where I stayed for 2 weeks. I
never went back to Aunt Lucia’s. And no one ever explained
anything to me.
I’m a grown woman now and a few years ago, all over the
news was a story about a strange creature being seen in
tropical islands. This creature was linked to a mass
destruction of animals whose blood was sucked dry. They
named it the Chupacabras. My blood ran cold when I saw a
drawing of the creature. I know what I saw, and the
similarities were not coincidental.
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