Scotland has the Loch Ness Monster, the U.S. has Big Foot, and Mongolia, apparently, has Allerghoi Khorkhoi, a.k.a, The Death Worm.  Yet the Death Worm has one up on those two frightening-yet-largely-harmless counterparts due to the death toll that accompanies its legend.

For some reason, this little guy has been garnering a good share of attention lately, generally as a no-show for investigations to prove or disprove his very existence (don’t you just love cryptozoology!).  My first introduction to the beast was as a result of an episode of the Sci-Fi Channel’s Destination Truth, wherein Josh Gates and his crew tried to fish out the elusive worm with no luck during an investigation in 2007.  Since then, I have come across some accounts of an investigation by the Center for Fortean Research in 2005, and three others by explorer Ivan Mackerle of the Czech Republic dating through 2004.  None of these attempts has born any fruit, but the CFR team came out convinced that the worm is real, but elusive and technically undiscovered.  They seem to base this belief on the fact that there have been so many accounts regarding the worm’s existence, as well as the fact that they did find two other kinds of animals that academia had yet to uncover, so why not killer worms?

Okay, so a little background on this booger may be in order…

Generally speaking, the accounts I have read all describe the “worm” as being fat, between 3 and 5 feet long, reddish in color, and dwelling in the ultra-harsh conditions of the southern Gobi Desert.  Accounts of the worm say that it is attracted to the color yellow, and that it can kill its victims by either spitting a yellowish acid at it, or zapping it with an electric shock that is said to be strong enough to kill a camel. 

Artist’s Rendering of the Death Worm in Action

Nomadic persons who traverse the Gobi fully believe in its existence and have been telling stories of it for hundreds of years.  The first English record of the worm goes back to the 1920s and comes from American Paleontologist and purported inspiration for the character Indiana Jones, Roy Chapman Andrews, who reported that none of those telling the tales had personally seen the creature, and yet they all firmly believed in it and they all gave detailed descriptions of it.  One website I came across firmly claimed that the People’s Republic of China has specimens, living and deceased, of the Death Worm in its possession and that they are currently studying these, but said person also managed to provide zero sources for that information while managing to give detailed instructions on how to catch one.  I guess I’m a little skeptical about that particular person’s data.

Alleged Carcass of the Mongolian Death Worm

Guesstimations about the Death Worm are that it is likely a snake or lizard of some kind, since both are known to have variations that can spit acid-like secretions, but neither have any known variations that can shock.  Eels are known to shock, but the water is required for the shock to travel to its target, and that, too, is not the case here.

Hmmm…

…I guess only time will tell.  In the meantime, here is a clip of the Destination Truth crew taking their shot at tracking down the elusive Mongolian Death Worm.

Yours in this life and the next!

GhOsTwRiTeR KiM