York 1

John York

Professor Erin Rogers

Writing 1010

November 28, 2017

Myths, Death Worms, and a Desert

The Mongolian Death Worm legends are a unique aspect of the people of the Gobi

Desert. The desert itself is a true monster, around a half million miles square, with temperatures

ranging from below freezing to well above what it would take to kill most life. The nomadic

tribes that inhabit this dangerous land have an unique culture, and as a very hospitable people

they are not scared to share their beliefs. One perplexing belief is the dangerous worm that is

able to kill with ease, while it isn’t uncommon for a region to have mythology the widespread

nature of it among so many nomadic people is very uncommon. While the Mongolian Death

Worm has had a steady depiction throughout history people have begun to question how

mythical this creature exactly is, shifting its image from a myth to a terrifying possibility.

The Mongolian Death Worm is a unique creature to say the least. It has been described in

many different areas of writing, from cryptozoology papers to papers that trace the influence of

the worm through video games. It has been described as a variety of sizes from 18

inches(Shuker) to 8 feet long(Rohrer), and from as thick as a man’s arm to 9 inches in diameter.

While the sizing of the worm is very dependent on whom you ask, it has been consistently

described as red with smooth skin like any other worm. Some people describe it as having darker

red splotches(Budd) and other say it is solid red throughout it’s entire body (Salvador). The

descriptions vary from tribe to tribe and cryptozoologists have not found a pattern as of yet.

Another almost unanimous feature of the worm is that there is no clear head or tail but instead
 York 2

the creature has spiked projectiles on both ends, with a hole in the middle of the cluster of these

spikes. One description defies this point by saying “one elderly woman who claimed to have

seen a death worm when she was a girl stated that ‘it was sort of bound into points at both

ends”(Shuker, 27). The worm’s posture is also disputed in the Mongolian Death Worm’s

description, some reports claim that the worms wiggles oddly on the ground(Shuker), while other

depictions say it moves like a snake and that it arches its back like a snake as well, and even

more just describe it as lying flat on the ground at all times. While there are these small

differences in reports, the Mongolian Death Worm is consistently described as red, with no

noticeable difference between a head or tail, and ranging from 2-5 feet for the most part.

The Mongolian Death Worm is a veritable death machine, not only because of its

reclusiveness, but also because of its multitude of killing mechanisms. To start off there is the

obvious size factor that comes into assessing the deadliness of a creature and 2-5 feet is very

formidable. The Mongolian Death Worm also has a variety of unique weapons available to it, the

most prominent is its poisonous touch. The danger of the poison varies depending on the time of

the year but if you catch the worm at in June or July, “The poison corrodes everything it touches,

even metal”(Budd, 17). The worm spends the majority of the year hibernating and it is only fully

awake in June and July, causing this increased danger(Budd). From a distance the worm can also

spit highly toxic saliva. This saliva is yellow and can dissolve flesh, depictions of the saliva

indicate that worm spits enough to melt a full grown man(Budd). If a person were to somehow

avoid the chemical weapons that the worm has, he would still have to contend with the

dangerous electrical element of the worm’s arsenal(Salvador). The exact mechanics of the

worm’s electrical effect are unclear. Some stories say that it discharges electricity like an

eel(Animal Planet), while some drawings and depictions of the worm show it throwing lightning
 York 3

bolts indicating that the electricity may be a ranged weapon of sorts. No matter how the

electricity reaches you every report agrees that it is more than enough to instantly kill.

The Mongolian Death Worm was first brought to the attention of the West in the early

1900s(Shuker). It was a myth that came from the East and it was regarded as such. The myth was

very interesting but provided no reason to be believed. It talked of a fearsome creature that lives

deep under the sands of the Gobi and only came to the surface in the summer. The creature was

incredibly dangerous and had a whole host of killing techniques. The reception was normal, with

very few believing in such a creature. One of the first documented searches was led in the 1990s

by a man named Ivan Mackerle. Not so shockingly, the expedition did not find a Mongolian

Death Worm. However, they found that several different nomads in the Gobi Desert feared the

creature and they heard different stories about deaths caused by the creature all over. They heard

stories of camels being wiped out from a single worm, stories of geologists being killed, and

more. Shockingly all of the stories had a consistent depiction of the worm.

After a couple decades of sporadic expeditions revealing the widespread nature of this

mythological creature the skepticism has started to fade. While this creature had always been

treated as a myth, more and more people have begun to look into the probability of the rumor

being as consistent as it is and wondering if it is more than just an old wives’ tale. Some more

popular networks that have considered its existence include Animal Planet and National

Geographic, while they do approach this creature as a myth they do acknowledge the possibility

of truth in it. Animal Planet did a series called Lost Tapes where they found footage of

mysterious creatures, this footage is highly suspicious in its validity but if real it shows an event

that would line up almost perfectly with a Mongolian Death Worm’s attack. The supposed

footage shows two people in the Gobi Desert for an extreme sports event who are attack by an
 York 4

unseen creature that poisons them, excretes dissolving substances on them, and electrocutes

them. National Geographic approached the subject by looking for the creature themselves, in a

small episode they show an explorer setting up cameras around the gobi and checking them to no

avail, however one of the camera’s near a food source had its circuits destroyed. The explorer

suspected this damage was caused by an electric discharge, which he suspected came from a

worm, but nothing conclusive came from the expedition.

I feel like this creature will never develop past the myths of the nomadic tribes and the

speculation of the West. However, this creature could easily be replaced due to its extremely

mysterious nature. A creature that could replace the Mongolian Death Worm would most likely

be a enlarged scorpion. A scorpion would probably replace the worm because the sheer amount

of abilities the worm has is very odd. Worms have a fairly simple form and the myths rely on the

creature having many complex biological structures. Scorpions would make more sense because

of their more developed form and because scorpions live in very similar conditions as this worm

does. The solid red coloring of the Mongolian Death Worm would easily transfer over and the

sizing would be a simple matter. Scorpions also live in arid regions such as the Gobi Desert, and

their tendency to burrow would make them subject to many of the same rumors as the Mongolian

Death Worm. This Mongolian Death Scorpion would be able to squirt a toxic liquid out of its tail

that could dissolve the flesh of its prey, which would have to be a mix of camels, people, and

horses based off a normal scorpions dietary habits and the larger size this creature would be. The

pincers of the scorpion would be a prime place for its electricity producing organs. Similar to an

eel, the scorpion would have organs that allow for it to produce electricity given its enlarged size,

there would be a higher probability of it having internal space for such organs. In contrast to the

Mongolian Death Worm however this Mongolian Death Scorpion would not be soft, but would
 York 5

be heavily armored making it even more difficult to kill. This armor plating would probably be

substituting for the poison coating the worm and would even out the creatures’ abilities. Since

these two monstrosities are so similar replacing one with the other would be a simple matter of

redrawing the illustrations and replacing a word here and there in the myths. Therefore, I believe

that the myth will develop to have this creature due to its ability to replace the Mongolian Death

Worm and because it fits more into the West’s idea of real.

The Mongolian Death Worm is a very treacherous creature that has very little

development over the years since it was first recognized by the west. However, due to its

widespread and consistent image many westerners have begun to reconsider its status as a myth

and have begun to consider it as a real entity. Due to its vague nature and basic living habits an

easy substitute for it would be a scorpion creature that mimicked many of its traits.
 York 6

Works Cited

Adme. “People.” Gobi Desert, gobidesert.org/content/people.

Budd, Deena West. The Weiser field guide to cryptozoology: werewolves, dragons, skyfish,

lizard men, and other fascinating creatures real and mysterious. Weiser Books, 2010.

Rohrer, Matthew. "Mongolian Death Worm." The Iowa Review 32.1 (2002): 40-40. Web.

Salvador, Rodrigo B. The biology of giant war centipedes. Journal of Geek Studies, 2016.

“Lost Tapes Season 1 Episode 13.” Animal Planet, 2013.

Shuker, Karl. The Beasts That Hide from Man: Seeking the World's Last Undiscovered Animals.

Cosimo, Inc., 2014.