Man-eating Trees and Mongolian Death Worms

The twin fields of cryptozoology and cryptobotany are bursting with tales of strange and unusual plants and animals. While the public at large is generally aware of such cryptid superstars as the Loch Ness Monster and the Sasquatch, few have ever heard of the Man-Eating Trees of Madagascar, or the Mongolian Death worms.

In 1881 a magazine called the South Australian Register ran a story by a traveler called Carle Liche. He tells us that while travelling through Madagascar, he was horrified to watch the native Mdoko tribe sacrifice a woman to a man-eating tree. He stated that the places the woman near the tree, and after laying there for a few seconds, the tree's tendrils took the woman by the neck and strangled her, before apparently engulfing the body. In his 1924 book "Madagascar, land of the man-eating tree" former Michigan Governor Chase Osborn recounted Liche's tale, and mentioned that missionaries and locals in Madagascar all knew of the deadly tree. Unfortunately, Liche's accounts may have been an exaggeration, as both the Mdoko tribe nor the man-eating tree have ever been found, and the governor may simply have been embellishing a little bit more to make for good reading.

From the steppes of Mongolia comes another type of creature that is particularly memorable by its rather disgusting appearance. The Mongolian Death Worm is a supposedly poisonous worm that has the appearance of a bright red bloody cow intestine. That's right, a deadly cow intestine. Said to be about four feet long, the animal is said to spit a yellow substance when threatened that is deadly on contact with human skin, and is even claimed to be able to kill with electricity in a manner similar to the electric eel. Shocking, but does it really exist? Expeditions to Mongolia to find the creature haven't been particularly fruitful, however the story is so wide-spread that there may well be truth to it. With new species of animal, even large ones, seemingly being found all the time in such places as the jungles of Vietnam, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to suspect that the same may be found under the earth in the extremely desolate Gobi desert.

READ MORE HERE

Do you think that these creatures could exist out there. Man Eating trees? I don't think so, but if you look at the 'Venus fly trap' for example that likes to eat insects/flesh, then could there be a much larger variety of plant out there that is carnivorous? If you look back at 'the dinosaur' era, everything was huge in size! Could there be genetic plants that have survived that long - like crocodiles for example, in remote parts of the World, un-touched by human intervention?

As also mentioned:

They are simply worms, and stories of 75 foot long docile giants and blood red disgusting-but-deadly creatures are not something that cultures would normally invent out of thin air. They probably have a grain of truth somewhere, hidden along with the animals themselves in the least explored places on planet earth.

We have so many regions on Earth that are unexplored, and yet we are constantly wanting to explore space. Obviously space travel is exciting, but what lurks at the bottom of the oceans where the pressure is too great for man to go to? What lurks in ancient cave/tunnel systems in remote parts of the World? Their ecosystem would have been untouched by man for hundreds of years. Could these 'creatures' be out there?

Insane!!! I would love to see the tree, not in action though.Amazing life we share with the EArth.Any pics of the tree wood be sweet!!!

[edit on 11-10-2007 by dntwastetime]

The Mongolian Death Worm, I have heard about........ the Man-Eating Tree, well....

Not that I don't think it couldn't exist in some unihabited area of the world, I just think there would be more stories about it.

It seems too great of a discovery for it just to fall to the wayside.

And could only one exist, there must have been more than just one. There should be many more stories from different parts of the world or regions in which this one originated.

As cool as it sounds, IMO it's myth rather than anything factual.

Then again, this could explain what happened to Bigfoot.

No way there are man-eating trees. Carnivore plants live in low nutrient soil that need to eat insects because they can't absorb nitrogen through the ground. These plants tend to very small because of the lack of available nutrients. So no way is a tree growing. They are also very rare, I have only seen Sundews and Utricularia. I did buy a venus fly-trap.

Madagascar falls in a coastal zone with should have very furtile soil, so there is no need for plants to absorb nitrogen from anything else but the soil.

I too have heard of the mongolian death worm the man eating tree on the other hand is something not even my imagination could come up with, not to say it's not true but other than that very nice post

I suppose a man-eating tree could have been around at the turn of the last century, but with the introduction of steel to the natives around it, they may have been able to kill them off. Especially if there were only a few and isolated.

Originally posted by cw0203
I suppose a man-eating tree could have been around at the turn of the last century, but with the introduction of steel to the natives around it, they may have been able to kill them off. Especially if there were only a few and isolated.

I think looking at the supposed tree as 'man-eating' sounds Hollywood. If you think of a possibility of larger, carnivorous trees out there feasting on rodents or other mammals, then it surely makes it more possible.

When carnivores are concerned, there's always something bigger out there contesting for the food chain/resources.

Originally posted by testrat
No way there are man-eating trees. Carnivore plants live in low nutrient soil that need to eat insects because they can't absorb nitrogen through the ground. These plants tend to very small because of the lack of available nutrients. So no way is a tree growing. They are also very rare, I have only seen Sundews and Utricularia. I did buy a venus fly-trap.

On the other hand, there are loads of large prey in the jungle. A carniverous plant usually devours its prey over a long period of time (In which the prey gets 'melted'), and a prey the size of a human could possibly last for several months? The tree could also have developed millions of years earlier, when Madagascar wasnt located that near equator, and the plant life, and therefore nutrients in the soil, would be more sparse.

Far fetched I know, im just blabbering...

'Rooted' in folklore
Well..... A carnivorous tree....eh!?
Botanically speaking I would wager my home and possessions that this fabled tree is the result of myth and tribal superstition in a similar way that certain celtic cultures believe in leprechauns.
I will not comment on the crypto death worm because I suspect this is yet another cultural myth.
Enough said!

I agree with testrat.

In order to digest something of that size, the tree couldn't even be a tree. It would have to have organs to digest the body because trees are made for photosynthesis. The entire cell structures of the tree would be different, so would it really be a tree? If it was attached to the ground, wouldn't it absorb nutrients from the soil?

Here is an excerpt from Carle Liche's South Australian Register:

The slender delicate palpi, with the fury of starved serpents, quivered a moment over her head, then as if instinct with demoniac intelligence fastened upon her in sudden coils round and round her neck and arms; then while her awful screams and yet more awful laughter rose wildly to be instantly strangled down again into a gurgling moan, the tendrils one after another, like great green serpents, with brutal energy and infernal rapidity, rose, retracted themselves, and wrapped her about in fold after fold, ever tightening with cruel swiftness and savage tenacity of anacondas fastening upon their prey.

So according to Liche, the branches were like snakes that moved fast ("infernal rapidity"). That's extremely unlikely.

As for the worm.. I really can't get any worthwhile information on it. Sounds likely though. I've been sprayed with blood by worms before and skunks spray something equivalent to pepper spray, so I don't see why being sprayed with poison is difficult to believe. The only bit of skepticism I have for the worm is that what logical reason would an animal have for constant bleeding? And electrical discharge for a land animal doesn't really sound likely to me, especially being able to use it from a distance.

This was definitely an interesting read.



Hahah man-eating tree. :3

Originally posted by cw0203
I suppose a man-eating tree could have been around at the turn of the last century, but with the introduction of steel to the natives around it, they may have been able to kill them off. Especially if there were only a few and isolated.

WOW , thats a fine example of hand waving excuses to explain absence of evidence

first , read the text again , they alledgedly sacrificed the person to the " tree " - why would the introduction of steel suddenly prompt them to turn on an entity they allegedly furnished with ` sacrifical victims ` ??

second - why would steel be suddenly a solution ????

opinion may vary - but if i had to deal with a carnivourus tree in the absence of explosives i would use fire , not a steel weapon

as i assume your logic was that a steel sword or axe would somehow be better than a stone one

i train of thought i disagree with - if the tree could defend itself agains an attack with stone weapons - it would do the same to the carriers of steel impliments

stone weapons are not blund - well made stone / flink blades are very sharp , and obsidian worked correctly is razor sharp

heck some scalpal blades are now made from obsidian slivers - for certain operations

Originally posted by Grailkeeper
Not that I don't think it couldn't exist in some unihabited area of the world, I just think there would be more stories about it.

This made me laugh.
How would one manage to hear more stories about it? If it lived in a uninhabited part of the world, who'd be around to tell the story? Most uninhabited places on this earth have gone unexplored, so the plausibility of a man-eating tree is enhanced. Who can say for sure, though? Until scientists get their head out of the clouds, literally, and focus on learning more about the planet that we live on, we'll never know.

Thinking rationally, it could have just been a tree inhabited by lots of large snakes. I'm not sure what is native to Madgascar, other than the singing pygmy's.

I'm not in any way saying that is what I think. I'm just throwing some ideas out there. As they say, " if you throw enough human excrement against the wall, something gonna stick".

Carnivorous tree sounds a little far-stretch but the existence of Venus Flytrap might prove that the tree has a small possibility of existence.

He stated that the places the woman near the tree, and after laying there for a few seconds, the tree's tendrils took the woman by the neck and strangled her, before apparently engulfing the body.

This guy must be too tired from his excursion or he has a bad eyesight. I would like to know how far between was him and the man-eating tree. If the tree really engulf her, from where did the woman goes into? The sacrifical ritual might have happened, but the tree is too unreal to be taken as truth.

Originally posted by DarkMonk
This guy must be too tired from his excursion or he has a bad eyesight.

LoL not to forget that tribes around the world regularly participate in the consumption of natural hallucinogens. They live in the wild so know what gives you 'drug' effects.

The guy could have simply been tripping

Hi all,

Interesting topic.

I just found this story concerning man/cow eating trees in India.

Link

Hmmmm, day of the triffids anyone?

Originally posted by cw0203
I'm not in any way saying that is what I think. I'm just throwing some ideas out there. As they say, " if you throw enough human excrement against the wall, something gonna stick".

That may be true, but ultimately you were still throwing human excrement. So anything that stuck is still #.

As for the topic: Rubbish. I don't like to just rubbish stories like this, but, let's face it, animate plants with a lust for human blood just aren't very scary or very likely.

Animals would learn to avoid it. As the tree can't chase them down, it wouldn't get fed.

Humans would throw fire at it. As it can't run away, it would get burnt.

Not very practical for any method of survival really.

i found this picture on google images when searching the Mongolian Death Worm check it out

z.about.com...

Originally posted by testrat
Madagascar falls in a coastal zone with should have very furtile soil, so there is no need for plants to absorb nitrogen from anything else but the soil.

Madagascar has over 20 species of known carnivorous plants.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Originally posted by G_man
Hi all,

Interesting topic.

I just found this story concerning man/cow eating trees in India.

Link

Hmmmm, day of the triffids anyone?

Well, here's your Man-Eating tree possibly? Who knows?

I can tell you however that there are so many strange things out there, that it would be foolish to dismiss these stories out of hand... I've seen a few things myself over the years - things most people don't think exist - including the scientific community. But they do exist - so who knows??

Jimbo