Mongolian Death Worm

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.

Skrunda 1

Located in Latvia the place is a ghost town, a former radar station from the soviet era that is located 3 miles north of Skrunda. The site had two Dnepr radars and at the time of the soviet collapse it had plans for a Daryal radar being constructed.

Latvia and the Russian Federation signed an agreement in 1994 to use the radar station for four years and then dismantle it. The deadline to dismantle it was 29^th February, 2000. Russia asked Latvia fr an extension as they wanted to finish the new Volga station under construction near Baranovichi in Belarus, Riga then rejected the requests. It was verified closed on 4^th September, 1998 by European inspection team.

5^th May 1995 and American demolition experts blew up at 19^th Storey Tower at Skrunda-1. It had housed a former Daryl radar system, it was one of the most advanced bistatic early-earning system in the world. Bistatic radar is the name given to a radar system that compromises of a transmitter and receiver that are separated by a comparable distance to the expected target distance. The radar system was part of the USSR’s continued attempt to monitor the skies for anything from the west, incoming bombs or nuclear missiles were the threat they perceived to be highest before the USSR collapsed. The demolition brought Latvian’s to the roads to watch it and the event was released, Latvian leaders, diplomats and other officials all took to champagne toasting. The event was sponsored by the USA who were the Soviet Union’s main nuclear rival. It cost 7 million USA dollars for the destruction and US firm Controlled Demolition Inc were hired.

1998 New Year also saw a statement from the presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania urging Boris Yeltsin (Russian President) to complete the withdrawal of their troops as promised in 1994. Skrunda-1 was stripped of its assets and the last Russian troops left in 1998. 60 buildings were vacated, including apartment blocks, a school, barracks and officers club. The buildings were all empty and some have been demolished since.

The Latvian government decided to sell the area as a complete lot, 5^th February 2010 the 40-hectare town was sold at Auction in Riga. It was won by Russian firm Alekseevskaye-Serviss, it lasted only two hours and a bidder from Azerbaijan who pulled out, the winning bidder and runner up then both pulled out. It was then brought by Skrunda municipality in for 12,000 euros and half of the area has been given to the Latvian National Forces as a training ground.

February 2016 the municipality began to admit tourists for 4 Euro per individual but as of 21^st October, 2018 this was cancelled.

Https://iis-db.stanford.eu

Dnepr henhouse – wavelength 1.5-2 metre range.

Www.mfa.gov.lv – Latvia takes over the territory of the Skrunda Radar System, 24.03.2004

lsm.lv – ghost town used as a military training ground. 22^nd July 2015.

There is another ghost town called Irbene, Latvia, that had a secret radar centre, “Звезда» that was abandoned in 1993 after the soviet collapse.

By ScAvenger (Jānis Vilniņš) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54312072

Nightclub Tragedies – Tragedies.

When I was younger I was a frequent attendee of Rock City in Nottingham, England and other clubs however I had to admit had I known about these… I probably would have thought twice!

1. Lame Horse (Khromaya Loshad, Perm, Russia) fire club, this occurred 5th December 2009 and claimed over 150 lives with more than 160 injured. People inside were caught in a death trap because of a performance artist using cold-flame pyrotechnics when a spark ignited the plastic covering on the ceiling. Initially they asked the guests to leave and it seemed to be calmly working until the wooden decorations went up in smoke, a set of double doors had been locked and people inevitably succumbed to the smoke and burns.

   Inevitably a lengthy trial took place, if you are interested you could read up more online. If you are strong of stomach you can find snippets about it online. People from the club tried to go in and assist others, there were some left outside in the cold Russian weather for over an hour and medical services turned up 5 minutes after it began. They were overwhelmed when they did turn up due to the sheer volume of living and dead. The outcome? The club was dangerous and the safety requirements were not met, yes there were guilty verdicts but that doesn’t bring back the people that died or remove the scars from the injured.

2. Kiss Nightclub Fire, this happened 27^th January 2013 in Santa Maria, Rio Grande Sul, in Brazil and there was a fire that killed 242 people. Two bands were to play that night and early that morning a fire broke out, the panic caused a stampeded, with a lack of exit signs and emergency exits said to be a contributing factor to the number of deaths. The illegal use of outdoor fireworks as pyrotechnics are said to have been the cause.

   The owner of the club tried to blame others who he had commissioned to ensure regulations were met but it was overcrowded and they were not, and then to make matters worse by this time the death toll had crept up to 235 and by April 2^nd two ban members were charged with manslaughter.

3. República Cromañón nightclub fire, this occurred in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 30^th December 2004 and killed 194 people. It was said that the club had still been issued a permit despite lacking basic fire safety measures, down to the simplest things like fire extinguishers. Again the fire was said to have started over a pyrotechnic flare that ignited foam in the ceiling. There were 3000 or so people in the club and despite the owner and band’s singer saying not to use them someone in the crow seemed to have done so anyway.

   Four of the six doors (some fire exits) were chained shut to stop people trying to get in without tickets. Many died from inhaling poisonous gasses and carbon monoxide. The police are still said to be looking for the person that started the fire, with the flare, though I suspect this will not occur, for all we know they are a victim themselves. The Mayor was was suspended at the time and Mayor Ibarra was removed from office. Again that doesn’t bring these people back, and simple precautions might well have saved many.

4. Santika Club Fire – 1^st January 2009, in Watthana, Bangkok, Thailand new Years celebrations were in high swing. 66 people were killed and another 222 were injured but no official cause has been found. Those there suggested that outdoor fireworks hit the roof, or sparklers indoors ignited inside… some also suggest an electrical explosion and others stated that they saw no pyrotechnics inside.

   There was only one main exit, an additional one was there for private use for the staff and a third had been locked to prevent robberies.

   Again the clubs safety standards were sub-parr and the aftermath was that 19 hospitals took in the injured, 29 of the 61 were immediately identified and the bodies of the dead were wrapped in white cloth and laid out in the car park. It took up to a week to identify some of the bodies and again the owner was brought up for charges. He was also charged with under-age admittance as one of the dead was a 17 year old student.

5. Gothenburg discotheque – the fire was started by arson, it was a deliberate act of terrorism against youths in the club at Gothenburg, Sweden with 375 youths inside, 63 perished and a further 200 or so were injured. The fire was started in the stairway that fed to the emergency exit and many leapt from the height to escape the flames and take their chances.

   The fire was stated by four teenagers aged 17-19 who were denied entry to the building. They were convicted, the youngest of the four was argued to have been less involved but the prosecution provided sufficient evidence that the four of them had plotted it together. There is a memorial for the victims. It was a terrible tragedy for all involved, caused by four people intent on damaging others.

6. Top Storey Club – Bolton, Manchester May 1961, causing the deaths of 19 people. It was on the top floors of an old mill warehouse building, The club was opened in 1960 by Stanley Wilcock who rented it, the maximum occupancy was about 200 and when the owners found an advertisement about it being a nightclub they were concerned it was unsuitable for that purpose. They went to the see the renting parties – Wilson and Sorrensen, they were told that the club had to stop and they would have to vacate by 24^th June.

   The night of the fire it was quiet with 20-25 people inside, less than half an hour after the visit the manager, Bill Bohannan, could smell smoke and could see smoke coming from under the stairs of the workshop to the club. The door was the only means of escape and some of the customers took to making a jump for it.

   Three minutes after the start the brigade was there but could not enter due to the intense fire. The blaze took 2.5 hours to bring under control and a fireman on scene described it as horrific, 14 people lay dead in the club, 5 died from jump injuries and around 2 or 3 were thought to have survived. The blaze was more intense due to the highly flammable solvents and paints used in the below furniture workshop. An open verdict was recorded by the coroner. The result was a change in the Licensing Act 1961 which meant Fire Brigades had to be inspected and regulations passed before the license would be issued.

So what did I take from this? Indoor pyrotechnics are probably best not existing, then again as a victim of being caught in a fire I take this as possibly a stern approach. I don’t even like the fact fireworks are sold without license. I would also suggest that if you look around a club and you think “man this place looks old and out of touch” you might consider leaving or keeping an eye on the exits…

 

Fortunately for me the last time I was at a nightclub the only thing on fire was the music! I mean sorry about the poor quality of the photo but it was an excuse to post this. I love The Hu and they are amazing live! 

Soyuz 11

The crew that went on the Russian Soyuz 11 (Союз 11) program consisted of Commander Dobrovolsky, Flight Engineer Vladislac Volkov and Test Engineer Viktor Patsayev and it launched 7th June 1971.

Soyuz 11 docked with Salyut 1 on the 7th and the cosmonauts were there for 22 days. The crew encountered a smoky and burnt atmosphere, they replaced part of the ventilation system and waited a day on Soyuz 11 for the air to clear. The Salyut 1 stay seemed to suffer from a few problems, with a fire on day 11 and then reports that using the treadmill caused the whole station to vibrate.

On 30th June 1971 the capsule seemingly came back to Earth without any incident, a normal entry meant that the recovery crew was sent out expecting to celebrate a successful landing. The recovery team opened the capsule and despite no signs of damage they found the three cosmonauts were in fact dead.

There were the three men sat in their places, they had dark-blue patches on their faces and blood came from their noses and ears. The three men had asphyxiated, the cause was a fault in the ventilation system, a valve opened at an altitude of 168km, the gradual loss of pressure in the cabin was fatal to its occupants within seconds. Patseyev’s body was over a valve and may have been trying to cover it or close it in desperate futility.

At the time of their finding the team tried CPR on the cosmonauts which was later shown in a declassified film. The American’s sent their condolences and the cosmonauts were given a state funeral.

Kazakhstan Memorial – Atlas Obsucura Link 

50 years ago – NASA link

By USSR Post – The Soviet Union 1971 CPA 4060 stamp (Cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev).jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42952324

I can’t blog right now

I usually love looking into the strange, the unknown, the creepy and the odd… and right now all of that seems to summarize the climate.

Ukraine, it’s no secret if you have read my blog before that I have been to Ukraine. I went to Kyiv and Chernobyl. I’ve blogged about a lot of bits and pieces out there…

Today, I just want to say this.

I stand with Ukraine.

I stand with the Russian people supporting their Slavic brethren, with anyone that stands with Ukraine. I pray this will end, that more lives can be spared by this war stopping.

I wish you all the best. I will be blogging when this feels right again.

I pray for you all.