Could it be?  Has the legendary chupacabra finally been caught on film?

Jack Crabtree, a retired biologist, doesn’t believe in it, even though he’s seemingly snapped a photo of the mysterious beast.

On July 4th (and again two nights later), Crabtree and his wife, Linda, claim to have seen a slow-moving, nearly hairless creature near the creek behind the Lake Jackson home.

“It was immediately clear to me it was a coyote with a severe case of mange,” said Crabtree, a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “It was obviously sick.”

Linda Crabtree, a retired schoolteacher, snapped a few photos of the beast and Jack then sent them to his local newspaper, just for the fun of it.

He was in for a surprise, though, when the paper took him very seriously. His picture was plastered on the front page with a headline about a chupacabra sighting.

In no time flat, his phone was ringing off the hook with calls from reporters eager to hear the details on his encounter.

“I’ve been amazed with the fascination people have with chupacabras and other mythical animals,” he said. “I’m really not a believer in chupacabras or Bigfoot or the Abominable Snowman.”

We’ve seen and heard plenty of chupacabra stories before.  One was supposedly found dead in Texas in 2009, and last year we had a double chupacabra sighting in the Lone Star State.

What do you think about Jack and his photo (below)?

Is this the real deal?