The Chupacabra
“There was were a animal called a chupacabra that had a black ring but didn’t go all the way around. It had red eyes and sharp teeth. There was 2 soldiers, 4….. I think 5 maybe more and one little kid that was only 10 years old. Then they went to this place and the cops followed them and then the soldiers… well not like soldiers but they were en like strong, with guns and then they locked em up and then dey heard something.”
“De chupacabra had a powers that could like freeze em and make them into stone. But the the man who had a knife right here *points to hip* in the case. He was gonna get it to stab him, but he missed so the chupacabra got really mad because he hates knifes and so he froze him into stone. Then he touched him and then he broke apart. Then the boy and the other guys; the boys brother was there and he locked him up. But like he didn’t lock him up he like” *Kid interrupts with question* “Was the boy mean or nice” he answers, “he was both mean and nice, at the same time. And so he locked the door and let them out and then they heard something and the two brothers went this way.”
“The two guys went this way and then the other guys went here. So then they crashed into each other and then they went to a tunnel and that was a tunnel that the two boys were goin’ to. So then… then… what happens was stuff from the ceiling was covered in like dust… then the ceiling fell on them but nothing happened to them. Just the brother, he was like drunk…. But he wasn’t and then… and then the boys friend was a ghost. It was a girl. She was sassy. So then she got them too and they found skulls. And then what happened was they went together and then nothing happened but then something happened and the chupacabra found the family and killed them.” -Carlos Martinez
Carlos told me that he heard this story from his parents and it’s told to warn kids against going out at night. He didn’t really know what it meant except that he said that he doesn’t go out at night alone any more after he was told the story.
This story was told during one of the sessions for JEP. He knew the story from before and so when we began to tell it he would chime in and try to help us. I got his full version later. Carlos is a second grader at Norwood elementary.
His storytelling abilities are sometimes distracted, but the overall story is very interesting and I think he gets the point. Although he parts of the story are confusing and not completely accurate to the actual story, the gist and goal still gets him to the same place.