I never thought in researching ghost that this would lead to hunting for other strange reported New Orleans cryptid creatures that haunt the city by night. The el Chupacabra ("goat sucker") is an animal said to be unknown to science and systemically killing animals in places like Puerto Rico, Louisiana, Miami, Texas, Nicaragua, Chile, and Mexico. The name chupacabra originated with the discovery of some dead goats in Puerto Rico with puncture wounds in their necks and their blood allegedly drained. According to UFO Magazine (March/April 1996) there have been more than 2,000 reported cases of animal mutilations in Puerto Rico attributed to the chupacabra.

The word Chupacabra is common one these days. Many authorities maintain that the deaths are due to attacks from groups of stray dogs or other exotic animals, such as the panther, lions, Or other small wild or jungle cat illegally introduced in any given territory.

In New Orleans and the surrounding areas the Chupacabra goes by several names. But mostly we call him the Grunch. If you know someone who once lived in or near the city they might have a real Grunch tale or two to tell you.

Common Grunch Names

The Demon Of Downman Road
The Vampire Goat of Norco Or the Apple Street Creature
The Gause Road Monster
The Ponchartrain Seawall Creature
The Beast Of Bourbon Street
The Canal Street Creature
The Bayou St. John Bogey Man
The Gentilly Grunch
The Bywater Bloodsucker
The Marigny Sucker
The Mid City Sewer Monster
The City Park Black Grunch
The Grey Grunch Of Terrytown
The Uptown Vampire
The St. Charles Creature
The 9th Ward Blood Beast
The Slidell Slitherer
The Chalmette Chupacabra
The Boutte Bogeyman
The Luling Loupe Garou
The Paradis Vampire Monster
The Des Allmends Sucker
The Houma Marsh Monster

Other names range from The Gande Isle Goose Killer Or Jefferson Parish Nutria Sucker. Every area has a name for the creature and mpstly nop two are alike.

Chupacabra in the News

At the height of the chupacabra craze, there were many "Goatsucker Home Pages" on the Internet. The web site of radio host Art Bell, Coast To Coast AM posted an alleged photograph of a living chupacabra, depicting a creature later exposed as a statue from a museum exhibit.

The chupacabra's phenomenon continues up to this day, with the most recent reports of attacks continuing to come out of Mexico, Chile, Puerto Rico, El Paso, Nassau Bay and Marshal, Texas, Miami and Boca Raton, Florida, Pass Christian, Mississippi and New Orleans and Slidell, Louisiana.
ALSO SEE: New Chupacabra Stories In The News HERE.

This elusive cryptid is rumored to inhabit many different parts of the Americas. It is associated more recently with sightings of an allegedly unknown animal in Puerto Rico (where these sightings were first reported), Mexico, and the United States, especially in the latter's Latin American communities. The name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats. Physical descriptions of the creature vary. Eyewitness sightings have been claimed as early as 1990 in Puerto Rico, and have since been reported as far north as Maine, and as far south as Chile. It is supposedly a heavy creature, the size of a small bear, with a row of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail. Most biologists and wildlife management officials view the chupacabra as an urban legend.

In August 2007, Phylis Canion found three animals in Cuero, Texas. She and her neighbors purported to have discovered three strange animal carcasses outside Canion's property. She took photographs of the carcasses and preserved the head of one in her freezer before turning it over for DNA analysis. Canion reported that nearly 30 chickens on her farm had been exsanguinated over a period of years, a factor which led her to connect the carcasses with the chupacabra legend. State Mammologist John Young estimated that the animal in Canion's pictures was a Gray Fox suffering from an extreme case of mange. In November 2007, biology researchers at Texas State University–San Marcos determined from DNA samples that the suspicious animal was merely a coyote.

 

In January 11, 2008, a new sighting appeared at the province of Capiz in the Philippines. Some of the residents from the barangay believed that it was the chupacabra that killed eight chickens. The owner of the chickens saw a dog like animal attacking his chickens.

Grunch

New Orleans residents have so named the creature the Grunch. But sightings and tales unlike it's cousins seems to go back farther in Louisiana history then in other areas of the world. The Grunch story supposedly goes back to the Crescent Cities early roots.

La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans) was founded August 25, 1718 by the French Mississippi Company, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. It was named for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who was Regent of France at the time; his title came from the French city of Orléans. The French colony was ceded to the Spanish Empire in the Treaty of Paris (1763) and remained under Spanish control until 1801, when it reverted to French control. Most of the surviving architecture of the Vieux Carré (French Quarter) dates from this Spanish period. Napoleon sold the territory to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The city grew rapidly with influxes of Americans, French, and Creole French. Major commodity crops of sugar and cotton were cultivated with slave labor on large plantations outside the city. The earliest reports of the creature are said by locals to date to this period.

 

As a principal port, New Orleans had the major role of any city during the antebellum era in the slave trade. Its port handled huge quantities of goods for export from the interior and import from other countries to be traded up the Mississippi River. The river was filled with steamboats, flatboats and sailing ships. At the same time, it had the most prosperous community of free persons of color in the South. Many old stories from people who's family were around at the time have passed many oral traditions down to us concerning the Grunch. Legend has it that the Grunch dates back to the days of New Orlean's early settlement and that its name ''Grunch'' comes from the name of a road.

This Southern cryptid has been called The Vampire of Farbourgh Marigny, and Bywater area dating back to the early 1800's. The Legend of Marie Laveau tells of how some believe this form of chupacabra came into existence.

An old Voodoo Hoodoo story says Marie Laveau Castrated the Devil Baby when he was born. Because she wanted him to produce no more of his evil kind. The two bloody testicles fell to the floor as she used a very sharp hoodoo voodoo blade. Immediately they turned into a male and female grunch, who it is said actually attacked the great Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau. The grunch are said to have almost killed her with their fierce bites and punching. The dark evil terror the old Voodoo Queen must have been unbearable as she struggled under their great strength before she fainted. When she awoke the Grunch and the Devil Baby were gone. Laveau was near death after this and many have said this is when Marie Laveau gave up her Voodoo Hoodoo ways and went back to being a good Catholic woman. Also see: The Devil Baby at Haunted America Tours.

New Orleans Grunch have many strange reported powers. I believe the stories about them come from the fact that the New Orleans Chupacabra is more visible then in other areas and has adapted itself more to it's surroundings unlike it's Texas, Mississippi and Floridian relatives.

The most common description of The New Orleans Grunch or el Chupacabra is a goat-like being, appearing to have leathery or scaly black-gray skin and sharp spines, Long horns or quills running down its back. This creature stands approximately 3 to 4 feet (1 to 1.2 m) high. They are also said to seem more intelligent and have human like skills, able to open doors, use tools similar to how a monkey or primate would.

It is said to howl like wolf, scream like a banshee or bellow and screech like a ape when alarmed, as well as leave a strong stench. Many reports note that the chupacabra's eyes glow an unusual red- orange or blue green. Some witnesses have reported seeing bat-like wings and a tail. Or long fur and goat like markings in grey on a black silky coat.

Unlike conventional Louisiana swamp predators, this breed of chupacabra is said to drain all of the animal's blood (and sometimes organs) through a single hole not two holes.

The Legend of Grunch Road Revealed Some people claim it was in Chalmette, Louisiana, some other people claim it was in Gentilly, or Metairie but the "REAL Grunch Road" was located in a remote part of Eastern New Orleans near the community of Little Woods. Most people only encountered Grunch Road by accident. A dead end of scant shells and sand, sheltered by overgrown woods and great tall water Oaks, it led off into the ferny darkness off the major two-lane highway of Hayne Boulevard. From ghastly goat people, and several ghost of who knows what. Stories of floating lights and strange cries in the night continue to this day. Many recent photos of a creature have surfaced over the years, And this the legend of Grunch Road continues to this very day. >Visit here for more!<

Although evidence for the Grunch road being haunted by these beast is anecdotal, it is interesting to find an old tale that has its reflections in a more recent sighting. A Harvey, Louisiana lady said she saw one eating one of her neighbors dogs. Also Sanitation workers tell of seeing them raid the garbage cans or chase the garbage trucks along the New Orleans East Haynes blvd and Grunch Road area.

The Grunch/el Chupacabra is said to haunt many areas in New Orleans and surrounding Parishes. lakeview, Metarie, Chalmette, Harvey, Terrytown, Slidell, Covington and Paradis. All these cities residence have a Grunch story or two to tell.

They are said to live in the darkest parts of New Orleans City Park golf course. and have been seen running ion the tall gras and along the levee's of Chalmette National Battlefield. In the Paradis, Luling and Boutte, La area, many say late at night you can see them running across highway 90 looking for something or someone to eat.

Lakeview residents now a days tell of how they no longer leave their pets in the yard since Hurricane Katrina, because so many Grunch were displaced into the neighborhood. In my neck of the woods Harvey, Louisiana, many of my neighbors tell of seeing them knocking over trash cans and chasing cats to devour their blood. At first people thought they were mangy or rabid hairless raccoons.

Real or not the stories of the American Chupacabra in New Orleans is often a topic of conversation over Morning Call Beignets and Cafe Au Lait in Metarie. The Metarie Grunch seems to be more supernatural. The creature is said to be able to walk through walls, or even speak in a growling voice. Many believe them to be rougarou or shape shifting evil. Everyone in New Orleans knows of the Devil Baby. The story told in Metarie is that a child bitten by the Devil baby or cursed by him to shape shift into Chupacabra or Grunch at the full moon.

Some New Orleanians call Him the Denon Of Downman Road

Personally I have never had an encounter with the creature, nor do I really attest that it is real. But many here in the city and along the bayou's say it is very real!

ALSO SEE: The Very Best Ghost Photos Ever Taken ... Are in the eye of the beholder.