Fernando and the Chupacabras

by Anna Morrow

A woman lived with her husband and children in the middle of the Central American countryside. They had been married one year for each child and she regretted the arrival of her eleventh son. The lush green surroundings of her family’s small home beckoned her to free her sprit from the hardships of her life. But she remained angry and exhausted from worry unable to give love and affection to anyone in her family.

Early in their life together, her husband had fallen from a cliff and been left with the use of only one leg. She wept for him and for their bleak future for she could not imagine how he might provide for his ever-growing family. As the years washed over she recoiled further and further into herself, her personality and determination wearing away like the edges of a stone in the river. She became without hope. There was barely enough sprit in her to move her thin body. There was far less than enough for her to cultivate the dreams of living.

On the birth day of her eleventh son she thought perhaps the fates would take pity on her and sacrifice her life and the life of her child, but she awoke to find her self alive and her child crying fiercely. He’s too strong for his own good she thought to herself. Despite her reluctance to know this child she gave him a name, Fernando. And she let him suck at her breast though she knew there was nothing for him.

The woman grew more desperate with each passing day and soon became resolved to enact a plan: her eleventh child must go. He should be left to die for his own good and for the sake of her family. There was not enough food to go around and she could not bear this burden any longer.

On the night when the moon was beyond full and completely dark the woman left her bed with the small boy in her arms. She crept to entrance of her home and stood silent and frozen making sure that sure no one had heard her. Certain that she was the only one awake she set out into the warm night air. As she walked with her babe tucked safe and innocent against the curve of her body, she announced her intentions to the Gods. She asked that they look mercifully upon her and embrace her son’s spirit upon his return.

Finally she came upon her destination: a small entrance to a cave carved into the hillside. She walked into the dark hollow mouth, placed Fernando on the cold rocky floor and left. She walked away not saddened but relieved running down the hillside anxious to return home before her husband woke and found her missing.

In the cave, life was leaving the tiny infant. Bats hovered over him and clung to the cave ceiling watching down as hunger and cold overtook his small body. Slowly the invisible threads of his spirit began spiraling up and up away for his dying flesh. Inside these threads the spirit of the child Fernando came more to life than he had ever been in his body. He looked down at the small vessel that had carried him for short lifetime.Sadness and empathy so touched the core of his being upon looking down at this poor child that all the hunger of his existence would not let this spirit pass over. As the threads of light reached the top of the cave, the decision had been made. There at the top where the bats rested the spirit of Fernando flew into their souls.
Inside the bats of Latin America, aspects of Fernando live on, eternally hungry and seeking revenge on the mother who would not feed him. When the bats are hungry, the angry sprit of Fernando explodes inside of them and they grow to 100 times their normal size. Feet and legs of an older Fernando extend from their bodies and they run across the fields spreading their giant bat wings, crying and screeching in search of food.Not just any food;they hunger for the food that should have been Fernando’s and the food that might feed his family’s.They hunt for goats. They hunt for goats that can give milk. They hunt the females, the mothers. The campesino of Latin America all know the legend of Fernando.They call him Chupacabras, goat –sucker.

Once Chupacandra has found a goat to satisfy his unfathomable need to feed, he envelops it with his huge bat wings immobilizing and smothering it. He pierces the neck right at the jugular and sinks his bat fangs in deep. With a giant sucking that causes the winds to howl and run away through the trees, Chupacandras sucks the life giving blood from it’s victim. With one long draw of vengeance he tries satisfy the hunger of his soul, taking the food of those that live on without him and claiming what is rightfully his.

Every month when the moon is dark the campesinos pay their repects to Fernando’s soul. They offer food to the Chupacondras at the entrances of caves hoping to protect their livestock and trying to satisfy his great hunger.