It is a small limestone tunnel, located in the northwest corner of Niagra Fall, Ontario, Canada. Whilst cited as a railway tunnel it was built for drainage, it was for water to be removed from the farmlands. Farmers also used it to transport goods and animals safely underneath a busy road. The tunnel was also used in the Stephen King film, The Dead Zone (1983).
Local legends say it is haunted by a young girl; she escaped a burning farmhouse with her clothes ablaze, saying she died within its walls. Another variation also says an enraged father set her ablaze after loosing custody in a nasty divorce. More sinister ones say that a girl was raped and burnt to hide the evidence and all of them say that lighting a match in the tunnel will produce the sounds of dying screams.
Most likely this is an urban legend, what I could confirm is that there is a terrible smell from the flooding and natural decay. Near it is a natural sulphur spring that bubbles accounting for some more of the smells and probably the sounds. Most of the details don’t really lead me to think this is anything more than urban legend.
Is it a cryptid? Well let’s have a look at this creature and what is it meant to be.
The Mongolian Death Worm (MDW) is allegedly a creature that exists in the Gobi Desert. If you’re like me and geographically impaired it is a large cold desert, with grassland areas. It is the sixth largest desert in the world and spans northern China and southern Mongolia.
The tales of the creature came to western attention via a book by Roy Chapman Andrew’s 1926 publication, On The Trail Of Ancient Man. He had collected second hand accounts, they had not seen the creature but believed in it most sincerely. In 1983 a specimen of a Tartar sand boa was shown to locals, who identified it as the creature known as the MDW.
“It is shaped like a sausage about two feet long, has no head nor leg and it is so poisonous that merely to touch it means instant death. It lives in the most desolate parts of the Gobi Desert.” 1922, Mongolian Primeminster, Damdinbazar.
Some sources list it as living in the western or southern Gobi, in a 1987 book Altajn Tsaadakh Govd, it cites a Mongolian legend of the creature that travels underground, it creates waves on the surface that give away its presence. It goes on to say the thing is capable of killing from a distance spraying venom or using an electrical discharge.
The creature has had some investigations, for instance in 1944 a Russian palaeontologist, Ivan Yefremov, was studying fossils. He found no creature of that ilk but also noted that the locals were adamant in their belief and spoke of the olgoi-khorkoi (MDW). In 1990 & 1992 a Czech Cryptoologist set off in search, Ivan Mackerle, they even used small explosions to try and bring it to the surface.
2005, Richard Freeman, a zoologist journalise for the Centre of Fortean Zoology headed out on the search. He came back empty handed and thought it might be some form of unidentified worm-lizard. The ‘reality’ show Destination Truth looked into it between 2006/2007 and I am sure there have been others and could likely be more.
In popular culture the creature isn’t as widespread as say Big Foot, but it has been a source for inspiration. My mind goes to Dungeons and Dragons and its purple worm. If you liked the film Dune you’re likely to have immediately thought of that! And I’d be remiss not to mention the film Mongolian Death Worm, 2010.
Sources: Planet Earth; Wikipedia; Russian Academy of Sciences; Roy Chapman Andrew’s 1926, On The Trail of Ancient Man; livescience.com; Skeptoid#344; Beast Hunter. Mongolian Death Worm.
Investigations into the unknown and weird 