History Main / WormSign

[[caption-width-right:350:[[NoSenseOfDirection "Well, here we are! Pismo Beach and all the clams we can eat!" he said as he emerged in the middle of a cave]].]]

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has tunneling worms who do precisely this. They're slightly more annoying than most enemies because while you can see them, you [[WallMaster can't damage them]] until they burst out of the ground.

* In ''Film/MetalstormTheDestructionOfJaredSyn'', the SandWorm pushes sand up and causes it to collapse in its wake, leaving a shallow trench.

* Mostly averted in ''VideoGame/JediKnightJediAcademy''; you barely see a puff of dust to denote the movement of the {{Sand Worm}}s. You ''can'' see exactly where they are with Force Sense, though, but you have to be close, because that power is at its lowest level that early in the game.
* The tunneling power in ''VideoGame/ChampionsOnline'' leaves a Bugs Bunny-esque burrow trail to show your position.
* The Thresher Maw in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' uses this to confuse you as to where it will pop up next.
** And the epic Thresher Maw in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' demonstrates this while chasing Wrex's convoy.
*** [[CoolVersusAwesome And against a freaking Reaper.]]
* The giant green wormoids from ''VideoGame/ZombiesAteMyNeighbors'' do this as an obvious tell for when they will attack, as a direct nod to ''Film/{{Tremors}}''.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has tunneling worms who do precisely this. They're slightly more annoying than most enemies because while you can see them, you [[WallMaster can't damage them]] until they burst out of the ground.
* Various enemies in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series do this.

** Leevers in ''Twilight Princess'', ''Ocarina of Time'', ''Majora's Mask'', and even both NES titles have a visible trail on the surface of the ground before springing up.

* In ''VideoGame/TheSuffering'', the embodiment of death by live burial does this when it chases after you. However, it leaves behind no permanent trail, and when it digs out of the ground to attack you the hole it creates will vanish.
** However, if you're quick, you can throw a bomb down the hole.
* In ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic and Knuckles]]'', Sandopolis Zone, there are disturbances on the surface of the quicksand, marking the location of the wormlike robots. The disturbances stop right before they leap out.
* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl'' does this with [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Rayquaza]], the second boss of its Subspace Emissary mode. When Rayquaza uses Dig, the ground gets cracked and pushed upward to show where it will attack from.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Dune}}'' computer games, including ''VideoGame/DuneII''. The first Dune game ups the ante by including static discharge from the sand, meaning the worms are followed by ''bolts of lightning''.
** Actually true to the movie, and I believe the book. The explanation being that the worms build up large amounts of static electricity moving through the sand, and when they start to surface, the electricity discharges into the sky.
* The moles in ''VideoGame/GameAndWatch'' game ''Vermin''.
* ''You'' can do this in ''VideoGame/GoldenSun: The Lost Age'' with the Sand Psynergy, which turns you into a big pulsating mound of sand, free to move around, but incapable of attacking. Played straight with the Scorpion King boss, who [[SandIsWater swims around underground]] leaving a wake, and one Venus Djinni, who will seemingly teleport around while under the sand.
* ''Armageddon 2'', a map-pack for Skulltag, has this done by its twin bosses in the "Sand Worm Trench" level. They pop up occasionally from under the sand to breathe fire at you, and spend the rest of the time under the ground, raising one hell of a dust cloud.
* Among others, Blos-type monsters in ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' do this. Usually, by the time you see the dust clouds being kicked up, it's a bit too late to react - the real purpose of the dust clouds is to let you figure out exactly what the monster's attack pattern is, so you can avoid it from then on.

* The [[SandWorm Mechworm]] boss in ''VideoGame/HeavyWeapon''. If you see sand being thrown up under you, get out of the way or face a OneHitKill from its DigAttack.
* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' features this with the boss Amorbis.
* Both the Driller and Mole enemies from ''VideoGame/MiniRobotWars'' have this when under the ground.
* Giant worms and other burrowing enemies in ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'' leave a trail of little bits of dirt flying around as they're digging. They also have a very characteristic sound which can be somewhat unnerving if you can't easily defeat them yet. It does give a good indication of what side they'll be coming from next, though.
* Sand whales in ''VideoGame/SeriousSam 3: BFE'' kick up a ton of dust when chasing players that [[BorderPatrol attempt to leave the borders of the more open levels]].
* Burrowed Zerg units in ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'' can be spotted by a savvy player by spotting the "wormsign". In a more direct vein, a Nydus worm will produce wormsign in the area where it's about to pop out of the ground.
* Threshers in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' create these both when they move and, in the case of Feeler and Turf Threshers, they send their tentacles through the ground to attack.
* You can do this in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack'' in certain types of ground. This protects you from the bees that often swarm about said levels while you pick them off.
* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' Batman is forced to walk along a floating wooden boardwalk in Killer Croc's lair while Croc moves around somewhere beneath the water. Occasionally some of the rafts that serve as the walkway will be kicked up or outright destroyed behind Batman, forcing the player to outrun Croc as he chases them down from beneath the surface.
* Hunters in ''VideoGame/DesertMoon'' will give off one when they're under the sand, invulnerable to attacks.
* In ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', the wild Pokémon of the Lumiose Badlands give one of these to mark their location in lieu of RandomEncounters.
** The move Dig shows one approaching the target during the attacking turn.

* Burrowed Chompers in ''Videogame/PlantsVsZombiesGardenWarfare'' leave a trail in the ground in this fashion if they move around.
* The Strykewyrms in ''VideoGame/RuneScape''.
* ''VideoGame/{{Wick}}'' features Caleb who digs after you. This shows up in his wake.
* Monty Moles leave these in their wake in ''VideoGame/MarioKart8''. They serve as jump ramps you can perform tricks off of.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', the mole-like Undergrunt enemies use these, especially the boss, Major Burrows.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Cataclysm}}: Dark Days Ahead'', seeing mounds of dirt can mean one of three things:

* The moles in UsefulNotes/GameAndWatch game ''Vermin''.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': In "Draculee, Draculaa", the Warner siblings leave a wormsign as they reach Transylvania during a failed attempt to go to Pennsylvania. Yakko explains that he and his siblings know they aren't bunnies but it's a Warner Bros tradition. In the end, they try to go to Pennsylvania by tunneling again [[HerWeGoAgain but end up in Tasmania]].

-->-- '''Stilgar''', ''Film/{{Dune}}''

* The ''Film/{{Dune}}'' film. (The TropeNamer being the book on which it is based.) A SandWorm makes the pretty distinct wormsign shape underground. For an added effect, we also see lightning-like effects. Presumably, the motion of the giant creature (and more importantly tons of sand) ionizes the air.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': In "Draculee, Draculaa", the Warner siblings leave a trail as they reach Transylvania during a failed attempt to go to Pennsylvania and Yakko explains and he and his siblings know they aren't bunnies but it's a Warner Bros tradition. In the end, they try to go to Pennsylvania that way again but end up in Tasmania.

The Monster is coming for you, but you can't see it. What you do see is the floorboards splitting as it pushes through the ground underneath them towards the camera, or just dust being kicked up if it's outside. It's not always played for scares though; sometimes it's just a convenient visual shorthand for indicating where something moving underground happens to be. It can be used as a legitimate tension-building device to hint a monster the audience hasn't seen yet (or hasn't seen much of) or as a way for lower-budget films to get the monster in without actually spending money on the generally more expensive effects shot.

* A good ''Series/{{Buffy|the Vampire Slayer}}'' example may be the giant worm which leaves tunnel patterns in "Beneath You".

* The moles in ''Disney/{{Bambi}}'' do this.

* In the [[WesternAnimation/PlutoThePup]] short ''WesternAnimation/PlutoAndTheArmadillo'', when Pluto and the armadillo dive underground, they leave wormsigns as they chase each other around. At one point, the armadillo pops out of her wormsign and rides Pluto's wormsign, then dives back underground and becomes a wormsign again.

* Worm Signs are made by COBRA in ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseofCobra''.

* In ''TheSuffering'', the embodiment of death by live burial does this when it chases after you. However, it leaves behind no permanent trail, and when it digs out of the ground to attack you the hole it creates will vanish.

* Done briefly in ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'', when Alex digs through the sand to get himself out from under Merman's crate on the island beach.

* In ''[[Literature/TheAdversaryCycle Nightworld]]'' some friends of RepairmanJack have evacuated to a nuclear bunker out in the boondocks to escape the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s erupting out of a portal in New York's Central Park. Then another portal opens nearby, but everyone thinks they'll still be safe in the bunker...until they see what appear to be giant mole tracks running out from the portal, then curving around to make a beeline for their bunker. Sure enough they end up having to defend against worm-like creatures who start gnawing away at the bunker from all sides until they break through.

* The moles in GameAndWatch game ''Vermin''.