An interpretation of the Mongolian death worm by Belgian painter Pieter Dirkx.A Tartar sand boa, a creature once mistaken for the Mongolian death worm
The Mongolian death worm (Mongolian: олгой-хорхой, olgoi-khorkhoi, "large intestine-worm") is a creature alleged to exist in the Gobi Desert. Investigations into the legendary creature have been pursued by amateur cryptozoologists and
credited academics alike, but there has been little evidence found to support its existence. It can be considered a Cryptid or a mythological animal.
Tales of the creature first came to Western attention as a result of Roy Chapman Andrews's 1926 book On the Trail of Ancient Man. The American paleontologist described second-hand 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."[1]
In 1983, a specimen of Tartar sand boa (Eryx tataricus) was shown to locals who claimed to have seen "olgoi-khorkhoi" and they confirmed that this was the same animal.[2][3]
InOn the Trail of Ancient Man, Andrews cites Mongolian prime minister Damdinbazar, who in 1922 described the worm:
"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, however, did not believe in the creature's existence.
The worm is said to inhabit the western[4] or southern[5] Gobi. In the 1987 book Altajn Tsaadakh Govd, Ivan Mackerle cites a Mongolian legend which described the creature as travelling underground, creating waves of sand on the surface which allow it to be detected.[6] It is said it can kill at a distance, either by spraying a venom at its prey or by means of electric discharge.[5][7] It primarily lives and burrows underground, only rarely coming to the surface.[5] Some reports suggest the creature emerges after rainfall and lives near sources of water.[8]
The animal was the basis of a short story, Olgoi-Khorkhoi [ru] (1944), by Russian paleontologist and science fiction writer Ivan Yefremov, written under the impression of Andrews's book. In 1946–49 Yefremov was studying fossils in the Gobi desert and wrote that he heard the legend of olgoi-khorkhoi many times, but nobody claimed to have seen it.[9]
In 1990 and 1992, Ivan Mackerle led small groups of companions into the Gobi Desert to search for the worm. Inspired by Frank Herbert's novel Dune, in which giant fictional sandworms could be brought to the surface by rhythmic thumping, Mackerle constructed a motor-driven "thumper" and even used small explosions to try to find it.[6]
In 2005, zoological journalist Richard Freeman of the Centre for Fortean Zoology mounted an expedition to hunt for the death worm but came up empty-handed. Freeman's conclusion was that the tales of the worm's powers had to be apocryphal, and that reported sightings likely involved an unknown species of worm lizard or amphisbaena.[10]
Reality-television series Destination Truth conducted an expedition from 2006 to 2007.
ANew Zealand television entertainment reporter, David FarrierofTV3 News, took part in an expedition in August 2009[10][11][12] but came up empty-handed as well.[13] He conducted interviews with locals claiming to have seen the worm and mentioned on his website that the sightings peaked in the 1950s.
The Mongolian Death Worm is generally less culturally prevalent than other cryptids, such as Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster, but it is often referenced in material that comments on, takes inspiration from, or celebrates cryptozoology as a whole.
The worm is commonly cited as the inspiration for the Graboids, the monstrous villains designed for the Tremors film franchise.
Official Dungeons and Dragons material features a creature called the Purple Worm, which similarly burrows underground and uses a potent poison to kill its prey.
Monster of the Week includes an example adventure in which three Mongolian Death Worms hatch from a crate of museum samples, and will begin multiplying rapidly if not caught by the hunters.
Dark Souls III features a miniboss inspired by the cryptid, the Carthus Sand Worm, located in Smouldering Lake.
^Kuzmin, S.L.; Dunaev, E.A.; Munkhbayar, H.; Munkhbaatar, M.; Oyunchimeg, J.; Terbish, H. (2017). Земноводные Монголии [Amphibians of Mongolia] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow: КМК. pp. 17–18.
^Efremov, Ivan Antonovich (1992). Собрание сочинений в шести томах : Дорога Ветров ; На краю Ойкумены [Collected Works in Six Volumes: Road of the Winds; On the edge of the ecumene.] (in Russian). p. 751.
