Texas was just a joke in Chupacabra sighting

It all started after the biologist sent in pictures he took of the animal to his local newspaper and joked that this animal was a Chupacabra. 

The paper thought Crabtree was serious and as a result, reporters began calling Crabtree.

Photos he snapped behind his house in Lake Jackson, Texas ended up on the front page of his local newspaper with this headline: "Chupacabra reportedly spotted in Lake Jackson", and soon the news spread further.

The photos show a grey, hairless dog slinking away through tall, green grass.

However, Crabtree, a retired wildlife biologist, says he was only joking when he sent the photos to The Facts, his local newspaper and did not intend to create such a buzz. He insisted he thinks what he saw was a coyote with a bad case of mange.

Describing the awkward encounter Crabtree told ABC News, "It was immediately clear to me it was a coyote with a severe case of mange. It was obviously sick."

"It was a spoof or practical joke," Crabtree also told the paper in a follow-up article on Tuesday. "I really didn't believe it."

Crabtree's photos set off a wave of Chupacabra-related news all over the web, as curious wanted to obtain more information on the possible sighting.

Just like Big Foot and the Abominable Snowman, a Chupacabra is an urban legend and mythical creature. Chupar means "to suck" and cabra means "goat."

The creature is rumoured to attack livestock and suck the animal victim's blood like a vampire.

According to ABC News a book, "Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore," started the legend only fifteen years ago in Puerto Rico.

Over the years, there have been many alleged sightings, mostly in both North and South America with some in Russia and elsewhere.

However, Benjamin Radford, the managing editor of Skeptical Inquirer Magazine, doesn't think Chupacabras exist, and told ABC News, "It doesn't matter what I write...People are still going to see a weird hairless thing, and someone is going to call it a Chupacabra. I think the biggest answer is that people like mysteries."