00:00In July 1990, four Czech guys decided to go on an adventure to find the Mongolian death
00:06worm, a creature that might've inspired the monster you've seen in the movie Doom.
00:11They say it lives somewhere deep in the Gobi Desert.
00:14So they flew to Mongolia, hopped into an ATV, and hired some local guides to help them.
00:20All that to meet a creature that is up to 6 feet long, can spit acid that could melt
00:25anything, and is capable of shooting electricity at those it doesn't like.
00:31Legend says that these friendly guys spend most of their days hiding underneath the sandy
00:36dunes.
00:37But they like to come out during the wetter months of June and July.
00:41So the timing for a spotting was simply perfect.
00:44But the crew needed to figure out how to lure the creature.
00:47Sadly for them, no one knew what the giant worm liked to eat.
00:52So they built a thumper, which is a machine that made rhythmic pounding noises.
00:56They were hoping it would call the worm out of the ground.
00:59For two months, they searched the vast desert, crossing dunes and rocky plains, looking for
01:04any sign of the creature.
01:07But alas, it didn't really work out.
01:09Ivan McCurley, who was the leader of the 1990 expedition, came back to Gobi Desert again.
01:16He once tried to attract the mega-worm with blasts, and the second time he used a small
01:20airplane to scout the dunes.
01:22Over the years, groups from America, Britain, and New Zealand organized big expeditions
01:27to the Gobi Desert to try and find the creature.
01:31Many others came from all around the world on their own and found nothing.
01:36The people in the West first found out about the mega-worm of the Gobi Desert thanks to
01:40an American paleontologist, Roy Chapman Andrews.
01:45This brave man was probably the inspiration for Indiana Jones.
01:49In 1926, he wrote about the creature in his book.
01:53At a meeting with Mongolian leaders, Andrews heard detailed descriptions of the creature,
01:58even though none of them had ever seen it themselves.
02:01One of them described it as looking like a sausage, about two feet long, with no head
02:06or legs.
02:07According to him, the worm was so venomous that just touching it could instantly take
02:12your life.
02:13And it lived in the loneliest parts of the Gobi Desert.
02:16Andrews didn't think the creature was real, but he shared these stories again in another
02:20book.
02:23In May 2005, four friends from Great Britain who search for monsters professionally decided
02:29to try their luck.
02:31They made drawings of the worm and hired local people to hand out flyers all over the Gobi
02:36Desert.
02:37These flyers offered a reward to anyone who could give information about the worm or even
02:42bring them a specimen.
02:44They thought loud sounds that other explorers tried would scare the beast away.
02:49Some told them it likes damp conditions, so they came up with a plan to block streams
02:54of water to create wet areas that would lure the worm out.
02:58Their plan didn't work because it was too hard to build dams in the desert.
03:03They ended up using small traps but didn't find any actual proof that the worm existed.
03:08But they did meet locals who shared interesting stories about strange creatures they had seen
03:13over 70 years.
03:15Over the years, stories of the monster spread around the world.
03:19In some of them, it's only 1 foot long.
03:22In others, it's as large as a human.
03:24It's white-gray or scaly and brown.
03:27Or maybe fleshy and bright red.
03:30Someone said it resembled a snake.
03:32Or maybe a caterpillar.
03:33Or maybe it has wings and can fly.
03:36And some believe it could be a supernatural evil being without a body.
03:42Maybe the stories are so different, and the search operations are so fruitless, because
03:47the creature doesn't even exist.
03:49Or it could be one of many cryptids.
03:53Those creatures like Bigfoot, Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster – their existence has yet to
03:57be proven.
03:59In 1983, one scientist who was visiting the region heard that an old man had managed to
04:04catch the mysterious worm.
04:07He also learned there was a nest nearby.
04:09The scientist bravely approached the hole in the sand and put his hand inside.
04:14A giant creature dragged him in, and he was never seen again.
04:19Just kidding.
04:20He actually found a tartar sand boa inside.
04:23It's a chunky, burrowing, non-venomous snake that has small eyes and gray-brown scales.
04:28He showed it to the locals to verify if it was the monster, and supposedly, all of them
04:33said yes.
04:35Most Mongolians who know about the worm still believe it's real.
04:39Now even though people call our supposed monster a worm, it's just what it sounds
04:44like in the English translation.
04:46Many Mongol cultures have used this word for centuries to refer to any animals they thought
04:51to be really dangerous, especially snakes, even non-venomous ones.
04:56So it doesn't have to be a literal worm after all.
05:00Worms are soft and squishy, but a creature living in the harsh Gobi Desert would need
05:04to be tougher, more like a snake or a type of lizard without legs.
05:09Neither of these creatures can shoot electricity or spit acid like they say the death worm
05:13does.
05:15But some snakes, like cobras, can spit venom that's dangerous for people.
05:20If it were real, the creature would have a backbone, and explorers searching for it would
05:24likely find some bones or evidence left behind.
05:28And there are actually fossil remains all over the Gobi Desert.
05:33Scientists found representatives of over 80 dino groups here over the last almost 100
05:38years.
05:39It all started with the world's first dinosaur egg nests.
05:42This discovery changed all the scientists knew about dinos.
05:46It was the first proof they laid eggs.
05:48In the following two years, the same expedition team unearthed over 100 dinosaurs and took
05:54them to the American Museum of Natural History, where you can still see them today.
05:59Some of them were swimming around in the Cretaceous Sea that used to be here about 71 million
06:04years ago.
06:05They resembled modern birds.
06:09The mystery of the megaworm is still unsolved.
06:11But there used to be another mystery scientists finally managed to explain.
06:16Back in the 13th century, a famous traveler, Marco Polo, not the guy from the swimming
06:21pool game, crossed the Gobi Desert.
06:23He thought he could hear mysterious noises, like the sounds of musical instruments such
06:28as drums.
06:29He wrote about it in his book, and believed he might be hearing the voices of restless
06:34spirits.
06:35Scientists call these noises singing sands or booming sands.
06:39Unlike the squeaky sound you might hear when walking on a sandy beach, these desert sounds
06:44are much louder, like a musical instrument playing deep, haunting notes.
06:49Over the years, people came up with all kinds of ideas about what caused the sounds, like
06:54underground water or winds making the sand vibrate.
06:58Not all dunes can do this, and scientists wanted to figure out why.
07:02Sometimes the winds might cause a small avalanche on the side of a dune, and then you can hear
07:07the magical sounds start.
07:09But this is rare.
07:10So to study it, scientists had to help the dunes sing.
07:14They climbed to the top of a dune and slid down on their backs, using their hands and
07:19feet to push sand down.
07:21As the sand tumbled, the sounds started softly and got louder.
07:25They could even feel the vibrations with their hands.
07:28So they found out that for a dune to sing, a few special things need to happen.
07:33The grains of sand must be the right shape, the dune has to be big, and the sand must
07:39be very dry.
07:41So no singing after it rains.
07:43Inside the dune, there's a hard layer of packed sand that acts like a giant speaker.
07:48This layer bounces the sound waves back and forth, makes the noise louder and louder,
07:53and creates a haunting melody that can fill the desert air.
07:57In other words, the dunes can play tunes!
08:00Yeah, sorry, I couldn't help myself with that one.
08:03That's it for today!
08:04So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your
08:08friends!
08:09Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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