At the beginning of the last century, researchers were interested in the fact that legends about the Olgoi-Khorkhoi in Mongolia can be heard everywhere. At the same time, in various 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 that strange things live in the sands of the Gobi. known to science creature. Perhaps this is a surviving representative of a long-extinct earthly "population" ...

Appearance

Why was the worm given this unusual name— olgoy-khorkhoy?

If these words are translated from Mongolian, then everything becomes extremely clear: “olgoy” is a large intestine, “khorkhoy” is a worm. This name is quite consistent with the appearance of the monster.

A few eyewitness accounts say that it looks like the insides of an animal, a stump of intestine or sausage.

The body of the worm has a dark red color, and its length is from 50 cm to 1.5 meters. Visible difference between the ends of the body is not noticeable: the head and tail parts look approximately the same, and have small processes or spikes.

The worm has no eyes or teeth. However, it is considered extremely dangerous even without these organs. The inhabitants of Mongolia are sure that the Olgoi-Khorkhoy is capable of killing at a distance. But how does he do it? There are 2 versions:

  1. I. The monster releases a stream of potent substance, hitting its victims.
  2. Electric current discharge.

It is possible that the killer worm is able to use both options, alternating them or using them simultaneously, enhancing the effect.

lives mysterious creature in the sand dunes, showing up only in the hottest months after the rain, when the ground becomes damp. Obviously, he spends the rest of the time in hibernation.

The olgoi-khorkhoy easily kills its prey from a decent distance, shooting it with a deadly poison, or strikes it with an electric discharge upon contact. In a word, it is impossible to leave him alive ...

The policy of the Mongolian authorities, 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 olgoi-khorkhoi.

The broad masses were able to learn about the Olgoi-Khorkhoi only in the second half of the 19th century after the famous traveler and scientist mentioned the worm in his works. N. M. Przhevalsky. Curious scientists and researchers different countries could not pass by an unusual creature. Therefore, several expeditions were undertaken, not all of which ended successfully.

Roy Andrews

In 1922, Andrews led an excellently equipped numerous expedition, which worked for 3 years in Mongolia, devoting much time to exploring the Gobi Desert.

Roy's memoir tells how the Prime Minister of Mongolia once approached him with an unusual request. He wanted Andrews to catch the killer worm, giving it to the government of the country. Later it turned out that the prime minister had his own motives: a monster from the desert once killed one of his family members. And despite the fact that prove the reality of this underground dweller is not possible, almost the entire country unquestioningly believes in its existence. Unfortunately, the expedition was not successful: Andrews did not manage to catch or see the worm.

Ivan Efremov and Tseven's story

The Soviet geologist and writer, I. Efremov, also published some information about the Olgoi-Khorkhoi in the book “The Road of the Winds”, collected during expeditions to the Gobi Desert in 1946-1949.

In addition to standard descriptions and attempts to prove the existence underground monster, Efremov cites the story of the Mongolian old man Tseven, who lived in the village of Dalandzadgad.

Tseven argued that such creatures are a reality, and they can be found. Talking about the Horkhoi, the old man described them as the most disgusting and creepy creatures. It was these stories that formed the basis of a fantastic story, originally called "Olgoi-Khorkhoi", about Russian explorers who died from the poison of giant worms. The work is a fiction from beginning to end, and it is based only on Mongolian folklore.

Ivan Makarle

The next researcher who wanted to find the monster of the Gobi Desert was Ivan Makarle, a Czech journalist, writer, author of works about the mysteries of the Earth.

In the early 90s of the 20th century, together with Dr. J. Prokopets, a specialist in tropical medicine, and cameraman I. Skupen, he made 2 research expeditions to remote corners of the desert.

Oddly enough, they failed to catch the worm, like previous scientists, but Makarla was lucky enough to get solid evidence of the monster's existence. There was so much data that Czech scientists launched a television program, calling it "The Mysterious Monster of the Mongolian Sands."

Describing appearance olgoy-khorkhoy, I. Makarle said that the worm looks like a sausage or an intestine. The body length is 0.5 m, and the thickness is about the size of a human hand. It is difficult to determine where the head is and where the tail is due to the lack of eyes and mouth. The monster moved in an unusual way: rolled around its axis or wriggled from side to side, while moving forward.

It is amazing how the legends and myths of the peoples of Mongolia coincided with the description of Czech researchers!

The disappearance of the American research team

A. Nisbet, an American scientist, like his colleague R. Andrews, set himself the goal of finding a killer worm at all costs. In 1954, he nevertheless received permission from the Mongolian government to conduct the expedition. Two jeeps with team members who went to the desert disappeared.

Illustration for Ivan Efremov's story "Olgoi-khorkhoi"

Later they were discovered in one of the remote and little explored regions of the country. All employees, including Nisbet, were dead. But the mystery of their death still worries the compatriots of the team. The fact is that 6 people were lying next to the cars. And no, the cars weren't broken, they were in perfect working order. All belongings of the group members were intact, there were also no injuries or any injuries on the body. But due to the fact that the bodies were in the sun for a long time, unfortunately, it was not possible to establish the true cause of death.

So what happened to scientists? Versions with poisoning, illness or lack of water are excluded, and no notes were found. Some experts believe that the entire team died almost instantly. Could the Nisbet expedition have been able to find the Olgoi-Khorkhoi who had killed them? This question will remain unanswered.

Versions of scientists

Of course science community all over the world have been studying this phenomenon. But scientists have not been able to come to a consensus on what kind of creature this is.

There are several versions of who the Olgoy-Khorkhoy is.

  • mythical animal
  • John L. Cloudsey-Thompson, a zoologist, believes that the killer worm is a type of snake that can infect its victims with poison.
  • Michel Raynal, a French cryptozoologist, and Jaroslav Mares, a Czech scientist, believe that a surviving two-legged reptile is hiding in the desert, which, in the course of evolution, has lost its legs.

Olgoi-Khorkhoy remains an unsolved mystery

Today you rarely hear about the Mongolian giant worm; only local researchers are involved in solving this cryptozoological puzzle. One of them - Dondogizhin Tsevegmid- suggests that there are two varieties of the worm. He was again prompted to a similar conclusion by folk legends, which also speak of the so-called shar-khorkhoi - already a yellow worm.

In his book, the scientist cites a story about a camel driver who met such Shar-Khorkhoys in the mountains. The driver saw a lot of yellow worms crawl out of the ground and crawl towards him. The unfortunate man rushed away in horror and managed to save himself ...

So, today, researchers of this phenomenon are of the opinion that the legendary Olgoi-Khorkhoy is a real Living being completely unknown to science. Quite convincing is the version that we are talking O annelids, which in the harsh conditions of the Mongolian desert adapted well, acquiring a special, simply unique protective skin. By the way, some of these worms can spray poison for self-defense ...

And by the way, olgoy-khorkhoy is an absolute zoological mystery that has not yet received a single acceptable explanation. Therefore, all these theories will remain theories until the researchers manage to get a photo or the sandworm itself from the Gobi Desert.

In the desert regions of the Gobi lives the "hero" of Mongolian folk tales - giant worm resembling the insides of an animal. Neither the eyes nor the head at all can be distinguished on his ugly body. The Mongols call this creature "Olgoi-Khorkhoi" and are most afraid of meeting him. Since none of the scientists had a chance to see (let alone photograph) the Olgoi-Khorkhoi, this mysterious inhabitant of the Mongolian deserts long years was considered a fictional monster, a purely folklore character ...

At the beginning of the last century, researchers were interested in the fact that legends about the Olgoi-Khorkhoi in Mongolia can be heard everywhere. At the same time, in various 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 a long-extinct earthly "population" ...

The Mongolian word "olgoy" means in Russian "colon", and "khorkhoy" - a worm. Tradition says that these half-meter worms live in waterless and inaccessible areas of the desert and spend most of their time hibernating - in burrows that they make in the sand. These creatures come to the surface only in the hottest summer months- and then woe to the people they met on the way. The olgoi-khorkhoy easily kills its prey from a decent distance, shooting it with a deadly poison, or strikes it with an electric discharge upon contact. In a word, it is impossible to leave him alive ...

The policy of the Mongolian authorities, 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 olgoi-khorkhoi. However, in the book of the American paleontologist Roy Champan Andrews "In the footsteps of the most ancient man" (1926), the author tells about the conversation of the author with the Mongolian Prime Minister. He asked Andrews to catch the olgoi-khorkhoi. At the same time, the minister pursued personal goals: one of his family members was once killed by desert worms. However, the American researcher failed to even see the mysterious worm...

Fantast and scientist Ivan Efremov and Olgoy-Khorkhoy

In 1958 Soviet geologist, well-known paleontologist and even more famous writer in the USSR Ivan Efremov, in a book called “The Road of the Winds”, published information on the Olgoi-Khorkhoy, which he collected during expeditions to the Gobi Desert (1946-1949).

Among other evidence, the author cites the story of the Mongolian old man Tseven, a resident of the village of Dalandzadgad, who claimed that the Olgoi-Khorkhoi live 130 km southeast of the Aimak region. Tseven spoke with horror about these disgusting and terrible creatures. Efremov used these stories when writing a fantastic story, which was originally called “Olgoi-Khorkhoi”. The story was about how from poison giant worms two Russian explorers died. Despite the fact that the work was entirely fictional, it was based solely on Mongolian folklore.

Not a single researcher was lucky enough to see the creepy Olgoi-Khorkhoi

The next person to “hunt down” the desert monster was the 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. Yaroslav Prokopets, a specialist in tropical medicine, and cameraman Jiri Skupen, conducted two research expeditions to the most remote corners of the Gobi. It was also not possible to catch a live worm then, however, evidence of its real existence was obtained. There was so much of this evidence that Czech researchers made and launched a television program about the “Mysterious Monster of the Mongolian 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, but, alas, also to no avail.

Olgoi-Khorkhoy remains an unsolved mystery

Today you rarely hear about the Mongolian giant worm; only local researchers are involved in solving this cryptozoological puzzle. One of them - Dondogizhin Tsevegmid - suggests that there are two varieties of the worm. He was again prompted to a similar conclusion by folk legends, which also speak of the so-called shar-khorkhoy - already a yellow worm.

In his book, the scientist cites a story about a camel driver who met such Shar-Khorkhoys in the mountains. The driver saw a lot of yellow worms crawl out of the ground and crawl towards him. The unfortunate man rushed away in horror and managed to save himself ...

So, today, researchers of this phenomenon are of the opinion that the legendary Olgoi-Khorkhoy is a real living creature, completely unknown to science. Quite convincing is the version that we are talking about an annelids, which adapted well to the harsh conditions of the Mongolian desert, acquiring a special, simply unique protective skin. By the way, some of these worms can spray poison for self-defense ...

And yet, Olgoi-Khorkhoy is an absolute zoological mystery that has not yet received a single acceptable explanation. Although there is something fantastic in all this ...

Not only forests and undersea world hide mysteries and hide unusual creatures. It turns out that hot deserts have also become a haven for unusual inhabitants.

The hero of Mongolian legends and legends - olgoy-khorkhoy - giant scary worm will be the topic of today's article.

For the first time, the public heard the name of this monster thanks to the story of I. Efremov with the same name. But, despite the fact that many years have passed, the Olgoi-Khorkhoy remains just a character in a fantastic story: it has not yet been possible to prove his existence.

Appearance

Why was the worm given such an unusual name - olgoy-khorhoy?

If these words are translated from Mongolian, then everything becomes extremely clear: “olgoy” is a large intestine, “khorkhoy” is a worm. This name is quite consistent with the appearance of the monster.

A few eyewitness accounts say that he is a stump of intestine or sausage.

The body has a dark red color, and its length is from 50 cm to 1.5 meters. There is no visible difference between the ends of the body: the head and tail parts look approximately the same, and have small processes or spikes.

The worm has no eyes or teeth. However, it is considered extremely dangerous even without these organs. The inhabitants of Mongolia are sure that the Olgoi-Khorkhoy is capable of killing at a distance. But how does he do it?

There are 2 versions:

  1. I. The monster releases a stream of potent substance, hitting its victims.
  2. Electric current discharge.

It is possible that the killer worm is able to use both options, alternating them or using them simultaneously, enhancing the effect.

The mysterious creature lives in the sand dunes, appearing on the surface only in the hottest months after the rain, when the ground becomes wet.

Obviously, he spends the rest of the time in hibernation.

Expeditions

The broad masses were able to learn about olgoi-khorkhoi only in the second half of the 19th century after the famous traveler and scientist N. M. Przhevalsky mentioned the worm in his works.

But inquisitive scientists and researchers from different countries could not pass by an unusual creature. Therefore, several expeditions were undertaken, not all of which ended successfully.

Roy Andrews

In 1922, Andrews led an excellently equipped numerous expedition, which worked for 3 years in Mongolia, devoting much time to exploring the Gobi Desert.

Roy's memoir tells how the Prime Minister of Mongolia once approached him with an unusual request. He wanted Andrews to catch the killer worm, giving it to the government of the country.

Later it turned out that the prime minister had his own motives: a monster from the desert once killed one of his family members.

And, despite the fact that it is not possible to prove the reality of this underground inhabitant, almost the entire country unquestioningly believes in its existence.

Unfortunately, the expedition was not successful: Andrews did not manage to catch or see the worm.

Ivan Efremov and Tseven's story

The Soviet geologist and writer, I. Efremov, also published some information about the Olgoi-Khorkhoi in the book “The Road of the Winds”, collected during expeditions to the Gobi Desert in 1946-1949.

In addition to standard descriptions and attempts to prove the existence of an underground monster, Efremov cites the story of the Mongolian old man Tseven, who lived in the village of Dalandzadgad.

Tseven argued that such creatures are real, and you can find them by heading 130 km southeast of the Aimak region.

Talking about the Horkhoi, the old man described them as the most disgusting and creepy creatures.

It was these stories that formed the basis of a fantastic story, originally called "Olgoi-Khorkhoi", about Russian explorers who died from the poison of giant worms.

The work is a fiction from beginning to end, and it is based only on Mongolian folklore.

Ivan Makarle

The next researcher who wanted to find the monster of the Gobi Desert was Ivan Makarle, a Czech journalist, writer, author of works about the mysteries of the Earth.

In the early 90s of the 20th century, together with Dr. J. Prokopets, a specialist in tropical medicine, and cameraman I. Skupen, he made 2 research expeditions to remote corners of the desert.

Oddly enough, they failed to catch the worm, like previous scientists, but Makarla was lucky enough to get solid evidence of the monster's existence.

There was so much data that Czech scientists launched a television program, calling it "The Mysterious Monster of the Mongolian Sands."

Describing the appearance of the olgoi-khorkhoi, I. Makarle said that the worm looked like a sausage or an intestine. The body length is 0.5 m, and the thickness is about the size of a human hand. It is difficult to determine where the head is and where the tail is due to the lack of eyes and mouth.

The monster moved in an unusual way: rolled around its axis or wriggled from side to side, while moving forward.

It is amazing how the legends and myths of the peoples of Mongolia coincided with the description of Czech researchers!

Expedition of Pyotr Gorky and Mirek Naplava

In 1996, another attempt was made to unravel the mystery of the Olgoi-Khorkhoi. Czech researchers led by Petr Gorky and Mirek Naplava followed the trail of the mysterious desert dweller, but, alas, to no avail.

The disappearance of the American research team

A. Nisbet, an American scientist, like his colleague R. Andrews, set himself the goal of finding the killer worm at all costs.

In 1954, he nevertheless received permission from the Mongolian government to conduct the expedition. Two jeeps with team members who went to the desert disappeared.

Illustration for Ivan Efremov's story "Olgoi-khorkhoi"

Later they were discovered in one of the remote and little explored regions of the country. All employees, including Nisbet, were dead.

But the mystery of their death still worries the compatriots of the team. The fact is that 6 people were lying next to the cars. And no, the cars weren't broken, they were in perfect working order.

All belongings of the group members were intact, there were also no injuries or any injuries on the body.

But due to the fact that the bodies were in the sun for a long time, unfortunately, it was not possible to establish the true cause of death.

So what happened to scientists? Versions with poisoning, illness or lack of water are excluded, and no notes were found.

Some experts believe that the entire team died almost instantly.

Could the Nisbet expedition have been able to find the Olgoi-Khorkhoi who had killed them? This question will remain unanswered.

Versions of scientists

Of course, the scientific community around the world has been studying this phenomenon. But scientists have not been able to come to a consensus on what kind of creature this is.

There are several versions of who the Olgoy-Khorkhoy is.

  • mythical animal
  • John L. Cloudsey-Thompson, a zoologist, believes that the killer worm is a type of snake that can infect its victims with poison.
  • Michel Raynal, a French cryptozoologist, and Jaroslav Mares, a Czech scientist, believe that a surviving two-legged reptile is hiding in the desert, which, in the course of evolution, has lost its legs.
  • Dondogizhin Tsevegmid, Mongolian explorer, there are 2 varieties of the sand monster. He came to such conclusions because of the stories of some eyewitnesses who claimed that they had seen a yellow worm - a shar-khorkhoy.

To date, the Olgoi-Khorkhoy remains a mystical creature, the existence of which has not been proven. Therefore, all these theories will remain theories until the researchers manage to get a photo or the sandworm itself from the Gobi Desert.

Desert Gobi. Scorching heat, waterless sands. Czech explorer Ivan Matskerle, before taking the next step, carefully looks at his feet. He is looking for signs that under the monotonous surface of dunes and hollows that barely noticeably change their shape, a hostile creature is lurking, ready at any moment to deliver a mortal blow, spewing a stream of poisonous acid. This creature is so secretive that there is not a single reliable photograph, not a single material evidence of its vital activity. But the locals are firmly convinced: “Olgoi-Khorkhoi”, the Mongolian killer worm exists, it hides in these sands in anticipation of another victim.


The general public first became aware of the deadly worm from the 1926 book “In the Footsteps of ancient man". It was written by American paleontologist Professor Roy Chapman Andrews, who apparently served as the prototype for the popular movie character Indiana Jones. However, Andrews himself was not convinced of the reality of the Olgoi-Khorkhoi. According to him, "none of the local storytellers saw the worm with my own eyes, although they were all firmly convinced of its existence and described it in great detail.


In 2005, a group of British cryptozoologists set off in search of a deadly creature in the Gobi Desert. During the whole month of their stay there, they heard many horrific stories about this monster, but no one was able to prove that he had encountered him himself. Nevertheless, the researchers came to the conclusion that the "Olgoi-Khorkhoy" is still not an invention, but real being. Team leader Richard Freeman said that all the narrators described him the same way: a red-brown snake-like worm about 60 long and 5 centimeters thick, and it was impossible to determine where his head was and where his tail was.

Now Ivan Matskerle, an amateur cryptozoologist, is looking for the Mongolian worm, who travels around the world, trying to find scientific evidence the existence of mysterious inhabitants of our planet like loch ness monster and other similar curiosities.


Ivan Matskerle is watching

According to Matskerle in an interview with Czech radio, as a child he read a story by Russian writer and paleontologist Ivan Efremov about a worm almost as long as a man living in Mongolia, who kills his victims at a distance using either poison or an electric discharge. “I thought it was just science fiction,” Mackerle says. - But a student from Mongolia studied in the same group with me at the university. I asked him: “Have you heard anything about “Olgoi-Khorkhoy”?” I assumed that he would laugh back and say that it was all nonsense. However, he moved closer to me, as if sharing big secret, and in an undertone said: “Of course, I heard. It's an amazing creation."

Here is what else Ivan Matskerle said in his interview: “There, in Mongolia, one thing happened to me strange thing. We thought about how to lure the worm out of the sand and record it on camera. The idea was born to scare him with an explosion. I remember how we illegally smuggled explosives through Russia, hoping that ground vibrations would make him show, but nothing came of it. Then I had a dream that I see "Olgoy-Khorkhoy", that he crawled out of the sand. I understand that I am in danger, I try to run away, but I run very slowly, you know how it happens in a dream. And the worm suddenly jumps up and jumps on my back. I felt a terrible pain in my back, screamed and woke up from it. I realized that I was in a tent. But the pain didn't go away. A friend pulled up my T-shirt and shone a flashlight on my back. You have something similar to “Olgoi-Khorkhoy” there, he says. On my back, along the spine, I had a bruise, there was subcutaneous bleeding, as I was told. The next day I had bruises all over my body, heart problems started. I had to leave quickly. Since then, my friends have scolded me for not carrying any talisman with me, protection from evil forces.

So does the Mongolian killer worm exist or not? Conviction local residents in its reality makes more and more new explorers and adventurers go in search of it. Maybe you will join them too? Then you should remember: when wandering through the Gobi desert, in no case do not wear yellow clothes. It is believed that this color excites the "olgoy-khorkhoy" and makes him send his deadly charge to an unsuspecting victim. So now you are forewarned, which means you are armed. Happy hunting!