Allghoi Khorkhoi

The Allghoi Khorkhoi, as it is called, must be the most elusive living creature in the whole of the Gobi desert.  And despite this, it is still a brightly lit and aggressive creature for those who have the unfortunate fate of encountering it first hand.  Those who recognize the disturbing description may know it better as the “Mongolian Death Worm.”

Roy Chapman Andrews, who is credited as being the inspiration for the character Indiana Jones in the film series of the same name, was the first to record the creature in a book entitled “On the Trail of Ancient Man.”  In the book Chapman described the creature as the Gobi people had described it, though he was a skeptic at heart and didn’t believe there was anything more to the legend than mere stories.  Still, those who described it to him, he says, did so down to the most minute of details.  

Descriptions of the Mongolian Death Worm generally say that it also has spiked appendages at both ends, which it can use to deliver tremendous bites to its prey, though this is rarely required as legend has it since merely touching the worm results in death.  Of course the creature is also said to be able to kill from a distance, spraying acid in the eyes of its enemies, which it can detect somehow despite a serious lack of any noticeable sensory organs.  It is also said to be able to deliver a shock to its prey or any potential attackers similar to that of an electric eel.

Its incredible ability to subdue prey with the use of electricity has led some cryptozoologists to believe the creature may somehow be related to the electric eel, and yet made its way onto land and eventually into the Gobi desert where it prefers to remain dormant except during the rainy season when the ground is wet and it is forced to the surface once again.  Others suggest the creature could be merely a spitting snake or a legless lizard that has taken on a monstrous identity thanks to the legends of the local people.

It’s impossible that such a creature could remain undocumented for so long, say many skeptics of the creature.  Those who have relegated the creature to the realm of superstition, however, should take note that the giant panda was similarly dismissed and as a result was not discovered until many years after it would have had it been taken seriously by zoologists rather than considered merely a legend.  And throughout history many creatures have similarly seemed entirely too fantastic to possibly exist, and then subsequently been verified.  And the most fantastic of them, it seems, has yet to be discovered.

Fortunately, if a creature this dangerous is so rare it isn’t even verified, it shouldn’t be something to worry about, even if traveling the Gobi area.  Of course many people traveling the area are sure to buy Death Worm repellent from local merchants just to be sure.