In my hometown in Arizona there was a lot of talk about the el chupacabras. I didn't hear about it till the initial stories broke on the news in the early 90's though so I'm skeptical of it.

However, there were two places out where O grew up everyone knew about for different reasons. One was an old Adobe church out in the middle of nowhere 10 or 15miles outside of town that was only accessible by off roading through the desert. One Friday I ended up going out to a desert party with some friends, cuz that's what teens did in my tiny shithole town, and we found the church. I had an uneasy feeling well before we drove up on it but I just thought it was nerves because a girl O had a crush on was supposed to be at the party that night. We drove passed for another mile or two and found the party and everyone was talking about the church. After everyone was good and drunk, or high, or both. People got the bright idea to go down there and check it out. Half of the party left for the church the girl I liked included. So being guided by my 15 year old hormones I went too.

We after a long walk through the desert while the sun is starting to go down we reach the church just before dark. It's quiet and still and all the courage that our group initially had was replaced with silent muttering and whispers between the various cliques that had formed on the walk. The mood there was very different from the energetic binging of the party and the excited laughter of the walk. After a few quiet minutes this kid I didn't know speaks up and says, "Ok, who wants to go in first?" Everyone is silent and still, looking around to see who has the balls to walk up and cross the threshold into the small Adobe hut. Here's where things are kind of weird. There were two kids in my neighborhood who were nothing but trouble. Jed, and Harlyn. They were thieves, bullies, and assholes. They also were the only kids who had weed though so they usually got to be a part of the bigger parties. Jed screams out, "I'm not scared, dick cheese!" At Harlyn and storms toward the church like he was gonna kick the door in. When he reaches the door he stops dead in his tracks and turns back towards us and says, "someone's singing in there". We all look at him like he's a being an asshole when the door to the church flys open behind him and we all hear this high pitched guttural screaming. We all book ass back to the party and don't stop running until we get back there. After we get back there nobody can find Jed and Harlyn his buddy doesn't want to go back for him. After some arguing amongst everyone my friend and I decide to drive back down to the church to look for him. Well, Harlyn said he'd give us a dub and the rest of a case of beer if we went. So on we went.

It's pitch black out now since we're far out in the desert and my buddy who was driving is shitting a brick, not wanting to go back. I tell him to calm down, I'll get out and find Jed. He just needs to stay in the jeep and keep it running. We pull up to the church and the door is closed now but there's light coming from the inside through holes in its round Windows that are covered with old dry rotted wood. I step out of my buds keep and yell for Jed, "Hey, Jed! You in there?!". There's no answer. I feel that uneasiness from earlier creeping back up. I ask my friend if he has any weapons because I feel real weird being here after dark with a drunk pothead missing and light coming from that church. He hands me an L shaped tire iron and says, " sorry bro that's all I got". "Hand me a beer"' is say then chug it down for some liquid courage. Then I walk up to the church. As I get close and walk up to the door I hear this humming. It sounds feminine, I think this was the singing Jed talked about earlier before we all lost it and ran in pants shitting terror. I remember I took a few deep breaths then pushed the door open. Inside in the middle of the floor is Jed out cold almost completely naked and he has what looks like his clothes on top of him and he has scratches all over his face. He's bleeding from his nose, and he looks like he isn't breathing. I don't know what o was thinking but I rushed inside and shook him trying to wake him. He isn't responding. I put my hand over his chest and he's breathing so I do the only thing I could think of. I pick him up and leave as fast as possible. I get him to the jeep and my friend is flipping out. "What the fuck! Why's he fucking naked!?", "I don't know, but someone kicked the shit out of him, let's get the fuck out of here!" I yell back. We spin out and start heading back to the party and we can see the bonfires still burning. We start to feel a little better seeing the fires and the adrenaline is starting to subside now. We get to the party and Harlyn comes running up to us and I show him Jed, still out cold and naked in the back with scratches and blood all over his face. Harlyn gets pissed at us thinking we did that to Jed and starts trying to swing at me. We end up wrestling around on the ground trying to keep him off of me when Jed sits up and starts screaming his ass off. "Help me! Help me! Stop! It hurts! Help me! Please God help me!" This makes everyone flip out and everyone's leaving now running to cars and dousing the fires. Harlyn sucker punches me and climbs into the jeep with Jed. Whose balling like a baby in the back seat. I get up and spit out blood from the sucker punch and don't think twice I just get in the jeep and we take the fuck off. We drove to my friends house and his parents call the police. A cop shows up and then an ambulance a few minutes after. We fill out our reports and Jed is taken to the hospital. We all got in trouble for underage drinking, and a week later someone burned and demolished that church with a tractor or something. Jed never said what happened to him to anybody, but Harlyn had spread a rumor that there was a man living there that raped Jed. Jed was never the same. He became very quiet, and started going to church, quit drinking and smoking pot and pretty much turned his life around.

The other place is called the domes. I've never gone there but supposedly there's a lot of satan worship and reports of shadow people following you around out there, car batteries die and you have a lot of electrical interference. People get stranded out there often. I don't need to experience that, I'm good.