Today marks the departure of a new expedition in search of the fabled Mongolian death worm, a creature believed to be so deadly that anyone who comes into contact with the creature doesn’t live to tell about it.
Two researchers from New Zealand, journalist David Farrier and cameraman Christie Douglas, embark today on a two-week-long journey into the Gobi Desert on a quest to prove the reality of a creature which many doubt even exists. After all, the descriptions of these worms and the harm they are rumored to be capable of tends to defy any logical explanation: seven-foot long burrowing monsters, blood red in color, with the ability to leap out of the sand and kill an unsuspecting passerby in the blink of an eye. It is said to kill by spitting concentrated acid from its mouth and shooting lighting from its rectum (kind of like the time I ate several habanero chili peppers and chased them with a few shots of tequila).
Joining the duo on their expedition will be some local Mongolian assistance: a cook, a translator, and a guide. Farrier and Douglas will be filming the hunt for a planned documentary they’re producing about the elusive creature.
Farrier, the leader of the team, is unfazed by skeptics who dismiss the beast as nothing but pure mythology, or the fact that four previous expeditions for the worm came up empty handed, the last two being in 2003 and 2005.
The difference between those failed attempts and this one? Explosives.
That’s right, the team plans to rouse the subterranean creatures to the surface by using explosives, since the organisms are said to be attracted to vibrations in the ground (why is this sounding more and more like the plot to the next “Tremors” movie?).
Farrier believes he has between a 5% and 15% chance of actually finding the death worm. “They are high for a ridiculous creature like the death worm,” he points out when asked about the odds, “but the area I am going to is a very specific place in the southern Gobi where all the sightings have been.”
“I have no intention of grabbing it, capturing it, stuffing it, or anything like that. I just want to prove its existence and if I can get it on film, that’s all I need to do.”
Famous last words.
