In the desert regions of the Gobi, there lives a "hero" of Mongolian folk tales - a giant worm that resembles the insides of an animal. It is impossible to distinguish neither eyes nor heads in general on his ugly body. The Mongols call this creature "olgoy-khorhoy" and are most afraid of meeting him. Since none of the scientists had a chance to see (let alone take pictures) of the olgoi-khorhoy, this mysterious inhabitant of the Mongolian deserts for many years was considered a fictional monster, a purely folklore character …
Olgoy-khorhoy is far from an invention
At the beginning of the last century, researchers were interested in the fact that legends about the olgoi-khorhoi in Mongolia can be heard everywhere. Moreover, in the most different parts of the country they sound almost the same and are decorated with the same details. Scientists have concluded that the ancient legends are true and a strange creature unknown to science lives in the sands of the Gobi. Perhaps this is a surviving representative of the long-extinct terrestrial "population" …
The Mongolian word "olgoy" in Russian means "large intestine", and "khorhoy" means a worm. Legends say that these half-meter worms live in waterless and inaccessible areas of the desert and spend most of their time in hibernation - in holes that they make in the sands. These creatures get to the surface only in the hottest summer months - and then woe to the people who met them on the way. The olgoi-khorhoy easily kills his victim from a decent distance, shooting at her with a deadly poison, or striking him with an electric discharge on contact. In a word, it is impossible to leave him alive …
The policy of the Mongolian power structures, as well as the isolated position of this country, made its fauna inaccessible to all foreign zoologists. For this simple reason, the scientific community knows practically nothing about the terrible olgo-good. However, the book of the American paleontologist Roy Champen Andrews "In the Footsteps of the Most Ancient Man" (1926) tells about the author's conversation with the Mongolian prime minister. He asked Andrews to catch the olgoi-horhoi. The minister pursued personal goals: one of his family members was once killed by desert worms. However, the American researcher did not even manage to just see the mysterious worm …
Scientist and scientist Ivan Efremov and olgoy-khorhoy
In 1958. Soviet geologist, famous paleontologist and even better known in the USSR writer Ivan Efremov, in a book entitled "The Road of the Winds", published information about the Olgoi-Horkhoy, which he collected during expeditions to the Gobi Desert (1946-1949).
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Among other evidences, the author cites the story of the Mongolian old man Tseven, a resident of the village of Dalandzadgad, who claimed that the olgoi-khorkhoi lived 130 km southeast of the Aimak region. Zeven spoke in horror of these hideous and creepy creatures. Efremov used these stories when writing a fantastic story, which was originally called “Olgoi-khorkhoi”. The story told about how two Russian researchers died from the poison of giant worms. Despite the fact that the work was entirely fictional, it was based exclusively on Mongolian folklore.
Not a single researcher was lucky enough to see the creepy olgoy-khorhoy
The next one who began to "hunt down" the desert monster was a Czech journalist and writer, author of a number of works about the intriguing mysteries of the Earth, Ivan Makarle. In the 90s of the last century, he, accompanied by Dr. Jaroslav Prokopets, a specialist in tropical medicine, and operator Jiri Skupen, conducted two research expeditions to the most remote corners of the Gobi. It was also not possible to catch a living worm then, however, evidence of its real existence was obtained. There was so much evidence that Czech researchers made and launched a television program about the "Mysterious Monster of the Mongol Sands".
The next attempt to unravel the mystery of the olgoi-khorkhoy in 1996. undertaken by another group of Czech researchers led by Petr Gorky and Mirek Naplava. Scientists have followed in the footsteps of the sand monster a significant part of the desert, however, alas, also to no avail.
Olgoy-khorhoy remains an unsolved mystery
Today you rarely hear about the Mongolian giant worm; only local researchers are engaged in solving this cryptozoological puzzle. One of them - Dondogijin Tsevegmid - suggests that there are two types of worms. To this conclusion he was pushed again by folk legends, which also speak of the so-called shhar-khorhoy - already a yellow worm.
In his book, the scientist gives a story about a camel driver who met such shchar-khorkhoi in the mountains. The driver saw many yellow worms emerge from the ground and crawl towards him. The unfortunate man rushed away in horror and managed to escape …
So, today, researchers of this phenomenon are of the opinion that the legendary olgoi-khorhoi is a real living being, completely unknown to science. The version that we are talking about a ringed worm, which has adapted well in the harsh conditions of the Mongolian desert, having acquired a special, simply unique protective skin, seems quite convincing. By the way, some of these worms can sprinkle poison for self-defense …
However, olgoi-khorhoi is an absolute zoological enigma that has not yet received a single acceptable explanation. Although there is something fantastic in all this …