Y Helo Thar

Being a big dork, I’m very interested in cryptozoology, the science of animals that may or may not exist.  One of these maybe-maybe not creatures is the legendary Mongolian Death Worm, a hella ugly red worm that is two feet long and has a mouth like the sandworms in David Lynch’s Dune.

Recently some crazy cryptozoologist guys ventured into Mongolia to prove or disprove the existence of the Worm once and for all. Of course, these sorts of expeditions never absolutely prove or disprove anything- the great frustration of cryptozoology- but they reached a conclusion that seems pretty plausible, if disappointing:

We came to the conclusion that they are apocryphal. I think that the Death Worm is either a worm lizard – not actually a worm but a group of primitive burrowing reptiles that look like huge, bright pink earthworms and are related to snakes and lizards. It’s either one of these or a sand boa, which is a red-brown coloured burrowing snake. I don’t think it’s poisonous; I think that’s apocryphal.”

Oh well. Snakes are pretty cool, I guess.

Read About the Expedition