Country file · Central America & the Caribbean
Cryptids of the Dominican Republic
What cryptids are in the Dominican Republic? The best-known are Ciguapa and Chupacabra.
The Dominican Republic’s best-known creature is the Ciguapa, a long-haired forest woman with backward-pointing feet said to haunt the mountains of the Cibao. First written about in 1866, she is argued by some to be Taíno in origin and by scholars to be a post-contact legend, and she has become a national symbol.
- 2 cryptids
- 4 recorded sightings
Cryptids reported in the Dominican Republic
Ciguapa
A long-haired, backward-footed forest woman of Dominican folklore, first written down in 1866 and long debated as ancient Taíno lore or fakelore. Folklore
Chupacabra
The “goat-sucker” of 1990s Puerto Rico: a spiny, bloodsucking beast blamed for livestock deaths that spread across Latin America and Texas. Widely reportedThe legends of the Dominican Republic
The island also knows the Chupacabra, brought by modern media. Dominican writers, painters and feminists have reclaimed the Ciguapa as a figure of identity.
Hotspots
- The Cibao mountains
Traditional home of the Ciguapa in Dominican folklore.
Sightings timeline
- 1866Angulo Guridi’s La Ciguapa Ciguapa
Francisco Javier Angulo Guridi published the story generally regarded as the first written account of the Ciguapa.
- 1935Juan Bosch’s Indios Ciguapa
Writer Juan Bosch reinforced the creature’s traits in an essay and suggested a Taíno origin, an idea later disputed by scholars.
- 1949Jaime Colson’s painting Ciguapa
Jaime Colson’s 1949 painting is regarded as the first recognised artwork of the Ciguapa.
- 2012A gecko named for the legend Ciguapa
Scientists named the gecko Sphaerodactylus ciguapa after the creature in 2012.
