Mongolian Death Worm
Encyclopedia
Large intestine
The large intestine is the third-to-last part of the digestive system — — in vertebrate animals. Its function is to absorb water from the remaining indigestible food matter, and then to pass useless waste material from the body...
worm") is a creature
reported to exist in the Gobi Desert
Gobi Desert
The Gobi is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the...
. It is generally considered a cryptid
Cryptid
In cryptozoology and sometimes in cryptobotany, a cryptid is a creature or plant whose existence has been suggested but is unrecognized by scientific consensus and often regarded as highly unlikely. Famous examples include the Yeti in the Himalayas and the Loch Ness Monster in...
: an animal whose sightings and reports are disputed or unconfirmed.
It is described as a bright red worm
Worm
The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
with a wide body that is 2 to 5 ft (0.6096 to 1.5 ) long.
The worm is the subject of a number of extraordinary claims by Mongolian
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
locals - such as the ability of the worm to spew forth acid
Acid
An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...
that, on contact, will turn anything it touches yellow and corroded (and which would kill a human), as well as its reported ability to kill at a distance by means of electric discharge.
Though natives of the Gobi have long told tales of the olgoi-khorkhoi, the creature first came to Western
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
attention as a result of Professor Roy Chapman Andrews
Roy Chapman Andrews
Roy Chapman Andrews was an American explorer, adventurer and naturalist who became the director of the American Museum of Natural History. He is primarily known for leading a series of expeditions through the fragmented China of the early 20th century into the Gobi Desert and Mongolia...
's 1926 book On the Trail of Ancient Man. The US paleontologist
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
was not convinced by the tales of the monster that he heard at a gathering of Mongolian officials: "None of those present ever had seen the creature, but they all firmly believed in its existence and described it minutely."
Etymology
The MongolianMongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
name is олгой-хорхой (olgoi-khorkhoi) where olgoi means large intestine
Large intestine
The large intestine is the third-to-last part of the digestive system — — in vertebrate animals. Its function is to absorb water from the remaining indigestible food matter, and then to pass useless waste material from the body...
and khorkhoi means insect or worm, so the full name means "intestine worm". The anglicized spelling of the name sometimes appears as allghoi khorkhoi, allerghoi horhai, or olgoj chorchoj. The name refers to the worm's alleged appearance.
Appearance
The olgoi-khorkhoi is said to resemble a cow's intestineIntestine
In human anatomy, the intestine is the segment of the alimentary canal extending from the pyloric sphincter of the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine...
. It is reported to be red in color, and is sometimes described as having darker spots or blotches. Sometimes it is said to have spiked projections at both ends. The worms are purportedly between 2 and 5 feet long, and thick-bodied. They are believed to somewhat resemble polychaete
Polychaete
The Polychaeta or polychaetes are a class of annelid worms, generally marine. Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made of chitin. Indeed, polychaetes are sometimes referred to as bristle worms. More than 10,000...
s, in many respects, looking much like a land-dwelling Bobbit worm
Bobbit worm
Eunice aphroditois, the Bobbit worm, is an aquatic predatory polychaete worm dwelling at the ocean floor at depths of approximately to ....
.
In his book "On the Trail of Ancient Man" (1926), Roy Chapman Andrews
Roy Chapman Andrews
Roy Chapman Andrews was an American explorer, adventurer and naturalist who became the director of the American Museum of Natural History. He is primarily known for leading a series of expeditions through the fragmented China of the early 20th century into the Gobi Desert and Mongolia...
(an American explorer, adventurer and naturalist who became the director of the American Museum of Natural History) cites Mongolian Prime Minister Damdinbazar
Jalkhanz Khutagt Sodnomyn Damdinbazar
The Jalkhanz Khutagt Sodnomyn Damdinbazar was a high lamaist incarnation in northwestern Mongolia, and played a high-profile role in the country's independence movement...
who in 1922 described the worm allergorhai-horhai:
"It is shaped like a sausage about two feet long, has no head nor leg and it is so poisonous that merely to touch it means instant death. It lives in the most desolate parts of the Gobi Desert…"
In 1932 Andrews published this information again in the book "The New Conquest of Central Asia", adding: "It is reported to live in the most arid, sandy regions of the western Gobi". Andrews didn't believe that the animal was real.
Czech explorer Ivan Mackerle described the animal from second-hand reports as a "sausage-like worm over half a meter (20 inches) long, and thick as a man's arm, resembling the intestine of cattle. Its tail is short, as [if] it were cut off, but not tapered. It is difficult to tell its head from its tail because it has no visible eyes, nostrils or mouth but may have them on some occasions. Its colour is dark red, like blood or salami..."
Habitat and behavior
The worm is said to inhabit the southern Gobi DesertGobi Desert
The Gobi is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the...
. The Mongolians say that the olgoi-khorkhoi can kill at a distance, either by spraying a venom at its predators or by means of electric discharge. They say that the worm lives underground, hibernating most of the year except for when it becomes active in June and July. It is reported that this animal is mostly seen on the surface when it rains and the ground is wet.
The Mongolians also believe that touching any part of the worm will cause instant death. Its venom supposedly corrodes metal and local folklore tells of a predilection for the color yellow. The worm is also said to have a preference for local parasitic plants such as the goyo.
Mentions, investigations
- British zoologist Karl ShukerKarl ShukerKarl P. N. Shuker is a British zoologist, cryptozoologist, and author living in the West Midlands, England. He works as a full-time freelance zoological consultant, media consultant, and noted author specializing in cryptozoology.- Career :...
brought the animal back to the general attention of the English-speaking public in his 1996 book The Unexplained, followed a year later by his Fortean Studies paper on this subject, which was reprinted in The Beasts That Hide from Man in which it was hypothesized that the death worm was an Amphisbaenid. - Loren Coleman included this animal in Cryptozoology A to Z.
- A joint expedition in 2005 by the Centre for Fortean ZoologyCentre for Fortean ZoologyCentre for Fortean Zoology is an organisation dedicated to cryptozoology, and allied disciplines. It is a non-profit organisation registered with the British Government, and its Hon. Life President is the British explorer John Blashford-Snell....
and E-Mongol investigated new reports and sighting of the creature. They found no evidence of its existence, but could not rule out that it might live deep in the Gobi Desert along the prohibited areas of the Mongolian–Chinese border. - In 2005, zoological journalist Richard Freeman mounted an expedition to hunt for the death worm but came up empty-handed. Freeman's conclusion was that the tales of the worm had to be apocryphal, and that reported sightings likely involved non-poisonous burrowing reptiles.
- Reality-television series, Destination TruthDestination TruthDestination Truth is a weekly American paranormal reality television series that premiered on June 6, 2007 on Syfy. Produced by Mandt Bros. Productions and Ping Pong Productions, the program follows paranormal researcher Josh Gates around the world to investigate claims of the supernatural, mainly...
conducted an expedition in 2006–2007. - A New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
television entertainment reporter, David Farrier of TV3 NewsTV3 NewsTV3 News is the television and internet news service from TV3 in Ireland. Its flagship bulletin is at 17:30, hosted by Alan Cantwell, Colette Fitzpatrick and Elaine Crowley. TV3 News produces bulletins broadcast live on TV3 each day and online at tv3.ie/news...
took part in an expedition in August 2009 but came up empty-handed as well, although managing to make a 90-minute documentary about his trip. He conducted interviews with locals claiming to have seen the worm and mentioned on his website that the sightings peaked in the 1950s. - The series "Beast Hunter," hosted by Pat Spain on the National Geographic Channel, featured an episode on the disputed existence of the creature as well.
Cultural references
- The worm's first literary appearance was in the short story "Olgoi-Khorkhoi" by Ivan Yefremov (1942–1943) based on Prof. Andrews' descriptions. The short story's first edition was called Allergorhai-Horhai, but later, after Yefremov's visit to Mongolia, he changed the name to the original Mongolian spelling "Olgoi-Khorkhoi".
- The worm is the subject of a Vector 13Vector 13Vector 13 is a 2000 AD comic strip which featured the eponymous agency setup to investigate anomalous phenomena and conspiracy theories. It was influenced by The X-Files and other events like the 1995 release of the alien autopsy film...
story in the British anthology comic 2000 AD. - In 2009, the short-fiction podcastPodcastA podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
The Drabblecast presented a humorous, multi-part audio story called "In Search of the Mongolian Death Worm". - The anime series Guin SagaGuin Sagais the title of a best-selling heroic fantasy novel series by the Japanese author Kaoru Kurimoto, in continuous publication since 1979. A record 100 volumes were originally planned, but the final total stands at 130 volumes, the last four published posthumously, with 21 side-story novels...
has several incidents where an expeditionary force from "Monghol" is attacked by a giant red worm with a corrosive touch. - In the TV show The Secret Saturdays, the main villain, V.V. Argost uses Mongolian death worm venom in many episodes.
- In the NickelodeonNickelodeon (TV channel)Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
TV Show, The TroopThe TroopThe Troop is an American-Canadian live-action, single camera comedy-adventure television series about a trio of teenagers who fight and capture monsters and other supernatural phenomena that invade the fictional town of Lakewood...
, the pilot episode, "Do the Worm," is about Mongolian death worms attacking the senior dance. - A film, Mongolian Death WormMongolian Death Worm (film)-Home media:Mongolian Death Worm was released on DVD on April 26, 2011 by Lionsgate....
, was released by the SyFySyfySyfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
network on May 8, 2010. It stars Sean Patrick FlanerySean Patrick FlanerySean Patrick Flanery is an American actor known for such roles as Connor MacManus in The Boondock Saints, Greg Stillson in The Dead Zone and for portraying Indiana Jones in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, as well as Bobby Dagen in Saw 3D.He is currently known for his role as Sam Gibson on The...
as a treasure hunter who gets caught up in adventures and encounters numerous examples of the deadly creatures. - Animal Planet has produced a docudrama show titled "Lost Tapes." Under Season 1., Episode 13 (first aired February 17, 2009), Titled "Death Worm," The show has purported actual footage (which is fictional) of two men who were attacked and killed, one of which was bitten, burned with a Corrosive Acid [Greenish Yellow in color, and corrosive enough to corrode the metal of his bike], and both were electrocuted. Their claim of the docudrama is that the bodies were never found, yet their equipment was recovered.
- A March 2011 episode of Beast HunterBeast HunterBeast Hunter is a television series that began airing on March 9, 2011 on National Geographic Channel. It is hosted and narrated by wildlife scientist Pat Spain. In each episode, he travels to a different part of the world to investigate an individual cryptid's alleged existence...
on the National Geographic Channel featured a search for the worm in the Mongolian desert.
- In Christopher FarnsworthChristopher FarnsworthChristopher Farnsworth is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of the President's Vampire series of novels from G.P. Putnam's Sons and a former journalist.-References:...
's book The President's Vampire, the vampire Nathaniel Cade keeps a live specimen of the Olgoi-Khorkhoi in his reliquary under the Smithsonian Castle in Washington D.C. - Rapper MC Frontalot mentions the creature in the song Scare Goat, with the lines "Got a Mongolian Death Worm at my house, right next to SquonkSquonkThe Squonk is a legendary creature reputed to live in the Hemlock forests of northern Pennsylvania. Legends of squonks probably originated in the late nineteenth century, at the height of Pennsylvania's importance in the timber industry.-In folklore:...
and the Aqueous Mouse..." - In the 9th Episode of TNTTNTTNT is the chemical explosive trinitrotoluene.TNT or T.N.T. may also refer to:-Television:* TNT , American cable television channel and its international offshoots* TNT , a television station in Launceston, Australia...
Franklin & BashFranklin & BashFranklin & Bash is an American drama-comedy television series created by Kevin Falls and Bill Chais. The series stars Breckin Meyer and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as unconventional lawyers and longtime friends. A Turner Broadcasting executive has referred to the series as a "funny legal procedural".The...
TV Series Stanton Infeld told a reported that he saw the Mongolian Death Worm or at least he think he did - Lost Girl (TV series)Lost Girl (TV series)Lost Girl is a Canadian supernatural crime drama television series that premiered on the Showcase Television network in September 2010. The series is developed and produced by Prodigy Pictures. The series follows the life of a succubus named Bo, played by Anna Silk, as she learns to control her...
Season 2, episode 5 in 2011, evolves around a WMD named "Mongolian Death Worm", which reportedly can liquify anything by electricity.
Fictional giant worms
- ChthonianChthonian (Cthulhu Mythos)Chthonians are fictional creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos. The species is the creation of Brian Lumley and was first featured in his short story "Cement Surroundings" —though the creature never made a direct appearance...
(Cthulhu MythosCthulhu MythosThe Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...
) - GraboidGraboidThe graboid is a fictional species that acts as the primary antagonist of the Tremors film series. As Suzanne Ferriss and Mallory Young explain, the "destruction of 'graboids', as they are quickly dubbed, becomes the central tension of the film." The creature made its debut in the 1990 film...
(TremorsTremors (film)Tremors is a 1990 American science fiction horror comedy film directed by Ron Underwood, based on a screenplay by Brent Maddock and S. S. Wilson, and starring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross and Reba McEntire...
and its sequels) - SandwormSandworm (Dune)The sandworm is a fictional form of desert-dwelling creature from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. They first appear in the 1965 novel Dune, considered to be among the classics in the science fiction genre, and are iconic of the Dune series.In the series, the sandworms called Shai-Hulud...
("Dune" seriesDune (franchise)Dune is a science fiction franchise which originated with the 1965 novel Dune by Frank Herbert. Considered by many to be the greatest science fiction novel of all time, Dune is frequently cited as the best-selling science fiction novel in history...
) - Thresher Maw (Mass EffectMass EffectMass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows by Demiurge Studios. The Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in November 2007 published by Microsoft Game Studios...
) - Saturn sandworms (Tim Burton'sTim BurtonTimothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
BeetlejuiceBeetlejuiceBeetlejuice is a 1988 American comedy horror film directed by Tim Burton, produced by The Geffen Film Company and distributed by Warner Bros...
) - Grave Digger (Resident Evil 3: NemesisResident Evil 3: NemesisResident Evil 3: Nemesis, released in Japan as is a survival horror video game and the sequel to Resident Evil 2, developed and published by Capcom. The game was released for the PlayStation, and was subsequently ported to the Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows and Nintendo GameCube...
) - Molgera (Legend of Zelda)
- Dungeon Worm (Yugioh)
External links
- Progress of a 2005 Expedition Expedition Report at Cryptoworld
- The Mongolian Death Worm: Original Theories
- 2005 general update
- 2005 Expedition Report on Mongolian web site
- The Cryptid Zoo: Mongolian Death Worm
- Death Worm 2009 - David Farrier expedition
- "Journalist hunts for acid-spitting Mongolian death worm" from Courier-Mail Aug. 3, 2009
- Super Mega Worm by Deceased Pixel for iPhone and iPad
- Death Worm - a freeware game by Game Maker Community Member JTR