Koi UFO Video 115 : Disgusting alien lifeform in North Carolina sewer (Tubifex worm colony)
[DEBUNKED] Koi UFO Video 115 (which is not for the squeamish...) appears to show a horrible pulsating lifeform in a sewer in North Carolina.
Numerous copies of this video exist on Youtube, one of which (entitled "Unknown Lifeform in North Carolina Sewer!") had over 9.8 million views as at May 2016. The video of this nightmarish blob featured on numerous news websites in 2009. The media coverage in 2009 was universal in acknowledging the nightmarish nature of the video. A typical report, on the website of The Metro (a British newspaper), referred to the "sinister, pulsating, fleshy mounds of ichorous slime, which seem to be breathing in and out, and occasionally clench like a traumatised sphincter".
Apart from an alien lifeform and "alien egg sac", initial speculation included bryozoans, cnidarians and slime molds. In fact, this video was filmed by Malphrus Construction (a large construction firm in North Carolina) after it was contracted by York Properties, the owner of the sewer lines in the city of Raleigh in North Carolina, to inspect some sewer lines. Malphrus confirmed to the media in 2009 that the video is genuine. After quite a few different ideas were discussed in 2009 (e.g. bryzoans), expert views were sought and a very strong consensus emerged fairly rapidly that the video showed tubifex worms - a consensus that can be readily understood when watching some (pretty disgusting) videos of tubifex worms. (Many more recent online comments about this video appear to made without any awareness of the discussions in 2009, the relevant consensus that emerged or the reasons for it...).
Sections below:
2. Stories and claims relating to this video
3. The real background to this video
4. Relevant online discussions
1. The relevant video
Koi UFO Video 115 appears to show a horrible pulsating lifeform in a sewer in North Carolina. The video has a caption stating "Malphrus - Cameron Village" and a date of 27 April 2009 ("04.27.09").
Screen shots from the video are included below for ease of identification (although still images don't really capture the grossness of the pulsating mass with its writhing and contractions...):
2. Stories and claims relating to this video
This video was uploaded by in 2009. During the same year, the video was featured on the websites of numerous newspapers.
Numerous copies of this video exist on Youtube, one of which (entitled "Unknown Lifeform in North Carolina Sewer!") had over 9.8 million views as at May 2016.
Some UFO websites included comments suggesting that the video shows an alien lifeform or an "alien egg sac". Other initial speculation included bryozoans, cnidarians and slime molds.
The coverage in 2009 was universal in acknowledging the nightmarish nature of the video. A typical report, on the website of The Metro (a British newspaper), referred to the "sinister, pulsating, fleshy mounds of ichorous slime, which seem to be breathing in and out, and occasionally clench like a traumatised sphincter".
3. The real background to this video
This video was filmed by Malphrus Construction (a large construction firm in North Carolina) after it was contracted by York Properties, the owner of the sewer lines in the city of Raleigh in North Carolina, to inspect some sewer lines. Malphrus confirmed to the media in 2009 that the video is genuine.
After quite a few different ideas were discussed in 2009 (e.g. bryzoans), expert views were sought and a very strong consensus emerged fairly rapidly that the video showed tubifex worms. (Many more recent online comments about this video appear to made without any awareness of the discussions in 2009, the relevant consensus that emerged or the reasons for it...).
Craig McClain sought comments in 2009 from from Dr. Timothy S. Wood (an expert on freshwater bryozoa and an officer with the International Bryozoology Association). Dr Wood responded as follows:
"Thanks for the video – I had not see it before. No, these are not bryozoans! They are clumps of annelid worms, almost certainly tubificids (Naididae, probably genus Tubifex). Normally these occur in soil and sediment, especially at the bottom and edges of polluted streams. In the photo they have apparently entered a pipeline somehow, and in the absence of soil they are coiling around each other. The contractions you see are the result of a single worm contracting and then stimulating all the others to do the same almost simultaneously, so it looks like a single big muscle contracting. Interesting video".
An article by the Daily Mail newspaper in 2009 reported that Ed Buchan, environmental coordinator at the Raleigh Public Utilities Department, had stated that staff biologists had confirmed that the 'creature' was actually a colony of worms. The colonies attach themselves to roots that gradually work themselves into weak points in the pipes. "They seem to respond to the light from the camera," Mr Buchan said. "That light is pretty hot."
Tubifex worms are also known as sludge worms or sewage worms, and often live near polluted water, feeding on bacteria and organic impurities.
The strong consensus that emerged that the videos do indeed show tubifex worms can be understood by watching the videos below of tubifex worms. WARNING : None of these videos, particularly the one entitled "Tubifex on a plate", should be watched while eating breakfast (as I can testify from personal experience...).
As an article on The Metro website concluded, "The good people of North Carolina are safe from brain-sucking alien parasites for the time being, and we can all now watch the horrible video with a slightly reduced chance of bringing our lunch back up".
At least one UFO website dismissed the tubifex worm colony explanation, preferring the view that the video shows an "alien egg sac". (I sometimes find it hard to tell whether certain UFO researchers are just having a bit of fun...).
Sewers containing aliens or other strange creatures crop up repeatedly in the UFO literature (not to mention in urban legends). Another relevant video is Koi UFO Video 114 ("What not to flush"), but such stories date back further - e.g. an item from 1978 entitled "Mummified Water Breathing Aliens Discovered in Chicago Sewers" in the "Official UFO Special" publication entitled "Ancient Astronauts" (kindly mentioned to me by Robert Sheaffer).
4. Relevant online discussions
Relevant discussions on the AboveTopSecret.com discussion forum include the following:
****2009 (June) discussion entitled "New life form in sewers?"
2009 (July) discussion entitled "Unknown lifeform in North Carolina Sewer"
2009 (July) discussion entitled "Truth about 'sewer monster' uncovered"
2009 (July) discussion entitled "north carolina sewer monster thing"
2009 (November) discussion entitled "]What on God's Green Earth IS THIS THING??"
