The Minhocão
In 19th-century Brazil, farmers blamed a giant burrowing worm for trenches that appeared overnight, swallowing fences and trees.
What was reported
In the 1800s, people in southern Brazil described the minhocão, a huge worm-like creature that burrowed underground and left deep trenches across fields and roads. Trees were said to be uprooted and rivers diverted where it passed.
In 1877, the German naturalist Fritz Müller, who lived in Brazil, collected the reports and published them, suggesting a real but unknown animal might lie behind them.
Explanations offered
No such animal has been found. Suggestions include large caecilians, legless amphibians that do burrow, a giant extinct armadillo remembered in folklore, or trenches caused by erosion and floods. Reports faded in the 20th century.
- When
- Reported in the 1800s
- Where
- Southern Brazil
- Witnesses
- Farmers and settlers
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.