The Mongolian Death Worm

The weird Mongolian Death Worm is one of the nastier cryptids. In many ways it reminds me of the sandworms from Frank Herbert's Dune series.

What Is The Mongolian Death Worm?

The Mongolian Death Worm is said to be a large, snakelike creature that lives in the Gobi Desert. In the local tongue it is called Allghoi khorkhoi - "intestine worm". Yeuch.

The Death Worm is said to have a thick body and to be bright red in colour. It is reported to grow up to five feet in length, although it is possible that larger specimens exist underground: The Death Worm spends most of its life beneath the sand, coming up only to hunt.

The name Death Worm comes from its alleged ability to kill its prey at a distance. There are different explanations as to the method it uses to do this. Some say that it spits poison or acid, others that it can fire a burst of electricity. In this it is reminiscent of tales of wyrms or wingless dragons with their breath weapons.

Is The Mongolian Death Worm Real?

As always, the answer is "we don't know". Certainly the tribespeople of the region believe it to be real. There is no solid evidence that it exists but there have been many sightings reported over the years - although to be fair these are usuallly of the "friend of a friend" variety rather than direct witness reports.

If there is a real creature at the root of these legends, what is it? Possibilities include some unusual form of spitting snake or a land based version of the electric eel.

External Links:
Operation Deathworm 2005

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