Creature Feature Friday: Mongolian Death Worm
Today’s Creature Feature Friday takes a look at a desert monster that has been sighted from 1927 to at least 2013 - the Mongolian Death Worm!
1) The Mongolian Death Worm is a 4-to-5-foot-long red cryptid that resembles a cow’s intestines and is allegedly found deep in the Gobi Desert. The legend of the creature was first heard in 1927, when American paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews claimed to have seen the tail of the MDW in the desert. While it spends most of its time living underground, desert locals say it surfaces often during the months of June and July when it rains.
2) According to stories of sightings, the Mongolian Death Worm can spray yellowish acid venom - which has the ability to corrode metal - from a distance, can give off electric shocks, causes unbearable pain and nearly instant death if it is touched, and is known to prey on camels and people... it’s really working for that “Death Worm” moniker!
3) The Mongolian Death Worm is not a thing of the past - there have been worm sightings and expeditions to locate the creature well into the 2000s, including an exploration in 2005 led by cryptologist Richard Freeman after a village reported a sighting of the Mongolian Death Worm. While the cryptid was not discovered during the expedition, Freeman did find that the whole village had oddly shifted positions from its original base. Could the shift have been caused by a giant worm tunneling beneath the town?
Image from MNN.com via Environmental Graffiti.
4) Much speculation has been made about what the Mongolian Death Worm, if it exists, really is. Despite being called a “worm,” some researchers maintain that the MDW is probably some kind of skink, legless lizard, or misidentified or new species of snake. They also think that (hopefully) the reports of its deathly acid venom and electric shocks have been greatly exaggerated or mythologized!
5) Does the Mongolian Death Worm look familiar? This creepy cryptid was the inspiration for the deadly Graboid sandworms in the 1990 monster film Tremors!
What is the likelihood that the Mongolian Death Worm really exists? Drop a comment below with your thoughts!
