The Minhocão of Brazilian rivers and caves

Record summary

Minhocão is a Brazilian name for a huge earthworm-like or serpent-like creature associated with rivers, burrows, caves, and disturbed ground. Nineteenth-century reports continued to be repeated in early twentieth-century Brazilian natural-history and folklore discussions. It offers a useful comparison between an alleged animal and a geomythological explanation for trenches, collapses, or unusual waterways. The tradition’s geographic range and morphology vary substantially, and many accounts were collected secondhand, making it uncertain whether they describe one creature, several local beings, or metaphorical narratives.