Origins of killer worms in Antartica stories?

[Oualawouzou]

Hello everybody,

When I was *much* younger, I used to read a lot of woo stuff. There I learned of Hoagland, Uri Geller, Bigfoot, Nessie and all the other friends having a the tea party in the Bermuda triangle.

All of these stories I've seen debunked to one degree or another over the years, except for one. I recall reading about killer worms in Antartica. Ok, don't laugh: think snow piranhas. They travel in swarms and navigate under the snow, like some small mammals do, and detect the vibrations of larger animals walking on the surface. Once they are under their prey, they get into a feeding frenzy that causes their bodies to emit such heat that the snow melts almost instantly, trapping the animal. It was mentionned that all that'd be left of a penguin were its feet and beak (so, I guess their bones are tender...). Of course, the mysterious dissapereance (sp?) of some human explorers was attributed to these worms, since the incredibly harsh climate isn't enough to account for people walking away and never coming back.

Ok, so it's bollocks. My BS meter has always been very high faced with this story. I am not looking for a debunking or whatnot, but I'd be curious to learn about the origins of this story. Has anybody else heard of it? Was it a distorted retelling of a natural phenomenon? Just a spooky story from the days Antartica was the Big Unknown Du Jour?

Btw, there are worms in Antartica. One of the few but fascinating things I've learned while doing my own investigation on the subject. :)

[RecoveringYuppy]

Sounds like a warping of the sandworms from Herbert's Dune.

[Bikewer]

Hehe....Way back in the mid-sixties, when I was stationed with the Infantry in Germany, all new recruits were warned of "The Snow Snake". This fearsome critter slithered under the snow, seeking warm prey. Naturally, the beastie would go for the warmest bits, so it was particularly hazardous to squat for a bit of personal relief...

[Aerik]

I used to read tons of woo when I was little too, and I don't ever remember reading anything about killer worms.

I did, however, watch an episode of the X-Files about it. They turned the worms into relics of extraterrestrial seeding of DNA into ancient Earth's biosphere. The worms went in your ear and took over your brain.

[Apathia]

Sounds like this is in the same department as Drop Bears.

[RandFan]

Never heard of them. I am familiar with the 6 degrees of graboids (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graboid) though.

[fuelair]

Hello everybody,

When I was *much* younger, I used to read a lot of woo stuff. There I learned of Hoagland, Uri Geller, Bigfoot, Nessie and all the other friends having a the tea party in the Bermuda triangle.

All of these stories I've seen debunked to one degree or another over the years, except for one. I recall reading about killer worms in Antartica. Ok, don't laugh: think snow piranhas. They travel in swarms and navigate under the snow, like some small mammals do, and detect the vibrations of larger animals walking on the surface. Once they are under their prey, they get into a feeding frenzy that causes their bodies to emit such heat that the snow melts almost instantly, trapping the animal. It was mentionned that all that'd be left of a penguin were its feet and beak (so, I guess their bones are tender...). Of course, the mysterious dissapereance (sp?) of some human explorers was attributed to these worms, since the incredibly harsh climate isn't enough to account for people walking away and never coming back.

Ok, so it's bollocks. My BS meter has always been very high faced with this story. I am not looking for a debunking or whatnot, but I'd be curious to learn about the origins of this story. Has anybody else heard of it? Was it a distorted retelling of a natural phenomenon? Just a spooky story from the days Antartica was the Big Unknown Du Jour?

Btw, there are worms in Antartica. One of the few but fascinating things I've learned while doing my own investigation on the subject. :)

Quick internet check shows mention of snowworms - 1" long, big colonies especially associated with snow areas with bacterial or algae component (their food) but not associated with Antarctica.

[Ysidro]

I remember reading about these, but it was usually the arctic not the antarctic. The books were typical folklore and/or cryptozoology aimed towards children or those with the IQ of children. Coffee table books or kids books in other words. ;)

[Gord_in_Toronto]

The Ballad of the Ice-Worm Cocktail
by Robert W. Service

http://ak.water.usgs.gov/glaciology/ballad_of_the_ice-worm_cocktail.htm

Said Deacon White: "It is not strange that you should fail to know,
Since ice-worms are peculiar to the Mountain of Blue Snow.
Within the Polar rim it rears, a solitary peak,
And in the smoke of early Spring (a spectacle unique)
Like flame it leaps upon the sight and thrills you through and through,
For though its cone is piercing white, its base is blazing blue.

[TriangleMan]

Kind of sounds Lovecraftian. I think in the Lovecraft mythos Elder Things and Shoggoths lived in Antarctica. Don't know if they ate penguins though. :D

[AZAtheist]

I was a teenager in Goose Bay Labrador in 1967-69 and I spent a lot of time in the snow. There were stories of "the snow snake". We liked to say whenever someone fell on the ice, "they were bitten by the snow snake"...

[Zep]

It's as true as the one about the maniac bouncing the head of his latest victim on the roof of the car while the kid is still inside.

Campfire ghoulies for the under-10's. Or Hoagland.

[Wolfman]

This started as an April Fool's hoax on the part of the editors at Discover magazine. I forget the year, but I used to be a subscriber, and one year I got an issue that had an article about these small mammals that had heated foreheads that could burrow through ice, and attack animals by melting the snow underneath them, then eating them.

The article included a picture of one of these animals, and speculated that they could be the cause of the mysterious disappearance of some arctic explorers.

Actually, it was all an April Fool's joke, but it was done so well that the story was picked up by many newspapers, TV reports, etc., leading to its continued presence as a story to this day.

Ah...after writing this, I thought to do a Google search, and found this (http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/tall-tales/antarctic-ice.html), which explains it much better than I could have done.

[Whiplash]

I have not heard of this myself, but it does remind me alot of something I had forgotten from my own childhood.

Several times (including from my own Mother), I was warned about walking around in the mud with no shoes on, as there were supposed some type of "worm" that would burrow into your foot, and then slowly work it's way up through your body (over years possibly), till it got to your brain and then you would die.

I haven't thought about this for years! This post made me remember it.

I don't mean to derail the thread, but has anyone heard of anything like that? Now that I think about it, I think it was just that my Mom didn't want me coming in with muddy feet.

[Sleepy]

I have not heard of this myself, but it does remind me alot of something I had forgotten from my own childhood.

Several times (including from my own Mother), I was warned about walking around in the mud with no shoes on, as there were supposed some type of "worm" that would burrow into your foot, and then slowly work it's way up through your body (over years possibly), till it got to your brain and then you would die.

I haven't thought about this for years! This post made me remember it.

I don't mean to derail the thread, but has anyone heard of anything like that? Now that I think about it, I think it was just that my Mom didn't want me coming in with muddy feet.


Sounds a bit like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracunculiasis except the Guinea worm is a parasite that burrows from the stomach down to the foot, emerging eventually...

[Beady]

Several times (including from my own Mother), I was warned about walking around in the mud with no shoes on, as there were supposed some type of "worm" that would burrow into your foot, and then slowly work it's way up through your body (over years possibly), till it got to your brain and then you would die.

Sounds like the stories I heard about walking barefoot through cow pastures. It was supposed to be a good way to get trichonosis(sp?)

[Mercutio]

This started as an April Fool's hoax on the part of the editors at Discover magazine. I forget the year, but I used to be a subscriber, and one year I got an issue that had an article about these small mammals that had heated foreheads that could burrow through ice, and attack animals by melting the snow underneath them, then eating them.
[snip]

I remember this well--I had a friend here who was involved in collecting ice core samples; his work was being written about in some national publication, and we thought to take him down a notch or two by calling as Weekly World News reporters and asking him about the Naked Ice Borers.

[Oualawouzou]

This started as an April Fool's hoax on the part of the editors at Discover magazine. I forget the year, but I used to be a subscriber, and one year I got an issue that had an article about these small mammals that had heated foreheads that could burrow through ice, and attack animals by melting the snow underneath them, then eating them.

The article included a picture of one of these animals, and speculated that they could be the cause of the mysterious disappearance of some arctic explorers.

Actually, it was all an April Fool's joke, but it was done so well that the story was picked up by many newspapers, TV reports, etc., leading to its continued presence as a story to this day.

Ah...after writing this, I thought to do a Google search, and found this, which explains it much better than I could have done.

Thank you! :D

This story is as close as it gets to what I had read. The date puzzle me though, as I read it in my first or second year of high school, which would put it a little before 1995. Still fascinating though, it could have been around for a while and expanded by Discover for their joke.

Thanks for your input everybody.

[Old man]

I have not heard of this myself, but it does remind me alot of something I had forgotten from my own childhood.

Several times (including from my own Mother), I was warned about walking around in the mud with no shoes on, as there were supposed some type of "worm" that would burrow into your foot, and then slowly work it's way up through your body (over years possibly), till it got to your brain and then you would die.

I haven't thought about this for years! This post made me remember it.

I don't mean to derail the thread, but has anyone heard of anything like that? Now that I think about it, I think it was just that my Mom didn't want me coming in with muddy feet.
From: http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_hookworms.html

HOOKWORMS

Contaminated soil is an important hookworm source when it come to a human disease called Cutaneous Larva Migrans. Running barefoot through the park or beach may seem pleasant but if the soil has been contaminated with canine fecal matter, the eager infective larvae may be waiting to penetrate your skin. Hookworm infection in the skin is intensely itchy but usually treatable. The local restrictions on bringing dogs to local beaches and the strict clean-up laws reflect concern for hookworm (and roundworm) infection in people.

[Whiplash]

Interesting stuff, thanks guys!