



Grunch Road Monster

Artist's Rendering of the Grunch

The Grunch Road Monster Background Type Chupacabra First Sighting Unknown Last Sighting 2007 Country United States Habitat Remote bogs and swamps of New Orleans Possible Population Unknown

The Grunch Road Monster is an alleged chupacabra sighting in New Orleans. The Grunch is described to be an elaborate cross between the canid and reptilian chupacabras. New Orleans residents have so named the creature the Grunch. But sightings and tales unlike its cousins seems to go back farther in Louisiana history than in other areas of the world. The Grunch story supposedly goes back to the Crescent City's 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.

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Voodoo and Early History

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 to stop him producing more of his evil kind. The bloody testicles allegedly turned in to a male and a female Grunch upon falling to the floor, whereupon they attacked the great Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau.

The Grunch are said to have almost killed her with their fierce bites and punching; the terror the old Voodoo Queen felt 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 its surroundings unlike its 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-grey skin and sharp spines with 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 a wolf, scream like a banshee or bellow and screech like an 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 silky black 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.

The Legend of Grunch Road

Further Sightings

The Legend of Grunch Road Revealed: Some people claim it was in Chalmette, Louisiana, while others 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 ever encountered Grunch Road by accident. A dead end of scant shells and sand, sheltered by overgrown woods and great tall water oaks, it led into the ferny darkness off the major two-lane highway of Hayne Boulevard. From ghastly goat people, and several ghost of who only knows what. Stories of floating lights and strange cries in the night continue to this day. Photos of a creature alleged to be the Grunch have surfaced over recent years, keeping the legend of Grunch Road alive to this day.

Although evidence for the Grunch road being haunted by this 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 citys residents 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 in the tall grass, and along the levees 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 nowadays tell of how they no longer leave their pets in the yard since Hurricane Katrina, as so many Grunch were displaced into the neighborhood. In my Harvey, Louisiana home, many people tell of seeing them knocking over trash cans and chasing cats to drink their blood. People at first thought they were rabid or mangy, hairless raccoons.

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