Encounter Atlas
The minhocão (Portuguese for 'big earthworm') is a giant burrowing creature of Brazilian folklore. Nineteenth-century accounts describe a worm-like animal up to 50 yards long, with a hard, scaly or armoured skin, sometimes with horns or a pig-like snout, that ploughs deep trenches, uproots trees and pulls animals into water.
French naturalist Auguste de Saint-Hilaire recorded stories of it dragging horses and cattle under the water in lakes. In 1878 German naturalist Fritz Müller published accounts gathered in the southern highlands, including from a resident of Curitibanos, and the journal Nature summarised them.
Suggested explanations include large lungfish, a giant caecilian, or a folk memory of the giant armadillos that once lived in the region. The trenches it was blamed for may simply have been erosion after heavy rain.
What witnesses report
- Long, deep trenches appearing after rain
- Uprooted trees and diverted streams
- Rumbling like thunder underground
- Livestock dragged into water
Famous cases
- 1878Fritz Müller publishes highland accounts of the minhocão
Curitibanos, Santa Catarina, Brazil
Seen the Minhocão?
Tell us what happened. Every report is read by a person before it goes on the map, and you can stay anonymous.
