Top 10 Famous Mysterious Monsters

Mongolian Death Worm

By ISHAAN THAROOR

In August 2009, two New Zealanders carrying a video camera and a sack of explosives set off to a remote corner of Mongolia’s Gobi desert in search of a creature few believe exist. The Mongolian Death Worm is known locally as the Allghoi Khorkhoi, or the “intestine worm,” because it is supposed to resemble the internal tract of a cow. (The accompanying picture is a sculptor’s rendering of the beast.) According to legend, the worm lurks beneath the sand of the desert, pouncing on unsuspecting victims by shooting bolts of lightning and acid from what appears to be a teeth-lined rectum. The Kiwi duo intend to lure it to the surface with tremors set off by detonating their explosives. Once it emerges, they hope to capture the worm on film, though not in the flesh. “I have no intention of grabbing it, stuffing it or anything like that,” says the expedition’s head, David Farrier, wisely.

Yep, cameraman Christie Douglas and myself are back from 3 weeks in the Southern Gobi shooting our documentary about the Mongolian Death Worm! We both grew quite good beards during this time. Anyway, thanks so much for all your support in the form of kind words, donations, tips and ideas. They’ve all been invaluable in various ways.

Also, thanks to the lovely people of the southern Gobi who kindly invited us into their homes and shared their time and stories. We wouldn’t have a doco without you.

The tricky thing now is that I can’t really say too much about what we did and didn’t find, because that would be a bit of a spoiler for the documentary. All I’ll say is that I’m stoked with what we got over there and I can’t wait to edit this thing together. The tale of the Mongolian Death Worm needs to be told!

Keep an eye here for updates on how the edit is going.. photos.. bits of video.. and other fun stuff as this thing comes together in post.

Cheers,

David (and Christie)

This is a bit ackward. We’ve been updating this blog for the last few months and been really excited about the feedback it’s been getting. People are loving the Mongolian Death Worm, which is all two budding cryptozoologists could ask for. Well, that - and to find the creature we’re looking for: The Mongolian Death Worm.

Which brings us to our next point: Christie Douglas and I are off. We’re going to have a quick sleep, then catch a plane for Korea - before jumping on Mongolian Airlines for, well, Mongolia.

We’re going to be concentrating our efforts for the next 3 weeks finding out about the Death Worm from the locals (from laymen to scientists) and - who knows - maybe we’ll find worm itself. Which means we won’t be on the website, twitter, facebook, cellphones - anything, really. We’re not even taking iPods.

We will touch base again when we’re back, but we’re gonna be pretty tight lipped about what we’ve found - or haven’t found. We’re out to make a doco, and there’s no point in doing this if you already know what to expect because it’s all been outlined here on deathworm2009.com. Whether we find it or not, we’re keeping our lips sealed.

But we’ll give you a tease, don’t worry.

See you on the other side.

Christie Douglas & David Farrier.

P.S. From the phrasebook: “I’ve been bitten by a snake!” Bi mogoid (neg shaivjing) khatguulchikhlaa

Australia is behind us, and adding words like “seriously!” into their article, just to clarify.

“ARMED with explosives, two men are heading to Mongolia’s Gobi Desert to find the fabled acid-spitting and lightning-throwing Mongolian death worm.

The worm has never been documented but some Mongolians are convinced it exists. They call it Allghoi Khorkhoi, or “intestine worm” because it resembles a cow’s intestine and is about 1.5m long.

The worm apparently jumps out of the sand and kills people by spitting concentrated acid or shooting lightning from its rectum over long distances, NZPA reports. (Seriously.)

New Zealand journalist David Farrier, who is organising the expedition, and cameraman Christie Douglas, leave this week to spend two weeks in the Gobi, trying to verify the worm’s existence and making a documentary about it.

Farrier said he had always been fascinated by cryptozoology, or the search for hidden creatures.

The expedition and documentary would take a serious look at the worm and what it was, Farrier said.

He said he was interested in the death worm because it was one of the most outrageous creatures that were rumoured to exist.

However, it was also one of the mythical creatures that had a better chance of being real.

Rumours could inflate the reputation of things such as the Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot, but sparsely populated Mongolia was not a place where rumours were going to propagate, Farrier said.

“If a Mongolian says they have seen a big worm-like creature out in the desert they haven’t really got any reason to lie,” he said.

A number of experts have dismissed the worm’s existence, putting it down as a rumour, but Farrier was not put off.

“I think it won’t be a worm, obviously a worm can’t survive in a desert. I’d say it would be some sort of snake that’s not meant to be there. It’s very out of place and a bit new.”

Farrier said there been up to four unsuccessful expeditions searching for the death worm in the last 100 years, the last two in 2003 and 2005, which had used night vision goggles to look for the worm.

However, the New Zealand team planned to bring the worm to the surface with explosives, as it is said to be attracted to tremors.

Farrier put his chances of finding the worm at between 5 and 15 per cent.

“They are high for a ridiculous creature like the death worm but the area I am going to is a very specific place in the southern Gobi where all the sightings have been.”

He only plans to capture the worm on film.

“I have no intention of grabbing it, capturing it, stuffing it, or anything like that. I just want to prove its existence and if I can get it on film, that’s all I need to do.”

In my other life as a Nightline reporter, I’ve often covered the work and antics of Glyn and Yulia MacLean:

They’ve just emailed in a song they’ve written to support this mission to find the Mongolian Death Worm. I really thought it fitted the vibe of the whole expedition, really, so here it is.

Death Worm Themesong

(or if that link is playing up, try here at ReverbNation)

Enjoy.

Farrier.