The Olgoi-Khorkhoi
In the sands of the Gobi, Mongolian herders tell of a thick red worm that lives underground and is best avoided.
What was reported
In the Gobi Desert of southern Mongolia, herders tell of the olgoi-khorkhoi, the 'large intestine worm': a fat, red, worm-like creature about a metre long that lives beneath the sand and comes out in the rainy months of June and July. Stories say it can spit poison or give an electric shock from a distance.
In 1926, the American explorer Roy Chapman Andrews heard about it from Mongolian officials, and later expeditions, including several led by the Czech explorer Ivan Mackerle in the 1990s, went looking for it.
Explanations offered
No expedition has found one. Suggested explanations include sand boas and other burrowing reptiles, or amphisbaenians, which are legless burrowing lizards, though these are not known from the Gobi. Many researchers see it as a figure of folklore.
- When
- Told for generations
- Where
- Gobi Desert, Mongolia
- Witnesses
- Mongolian herders
- 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.