The Door to
Hell is a real place. It's not located in your ex-boyfriend's apartment
building; it's in Turkmenistan. The name isn't literal, of course, but one look
at this giant, burning desert crater of flames might have you second-guessing.
This Hellish
Crater Has Been on Fire for Almost 50 Years
Haunted houses
and creepy basements are one thing, but the scare factor is taken to a new
level near the village of Derweze in the middle of the Karakum Desert. The
Darvaza gas crater, aptly nicknamed by locals "The Door to Hell" or
"The Gates of Hell," is a burning crater that stretches 230 feet
across and reaches 65 feet deep. Satan's swimming pool has been engulfed in
flames since 1971.
Here's the
story: Back in the early '70s when Turkmenistan was part of the Soviet Union,
some Soviet geologists trekked out into the Karakum in search of oil. They
started drilling, and that's when things went south. Unbeknownst to them, the
team and their equipment were sitting atop a huge underground pocket of natural
gas. The weight crumbled the desert surface, opening up a few craters that
expelled all that flammable vapor. If you've ever had a gas leak scare in your
apartment, you know the risk of fiery disaster is just one flick of a Zippo
away.
To deal with
the gas spewing out of the Earth, the geologists implemented an idea that is
not uncommon for the job, but sounds a little wild: They lit that stuff on
fire. (Disclaimer: This is not the way to handle that apartment gas leak!) The
hope was that all the escaped natural gas would burn up in a few weeks. It
didn't. Fast forward more than 40 years, and you can still roast up a good
s'more over the pit. There are no plans on how, when, or if the burning will be
ended.
Going to
Hell doesn't seem like a dream vacay, yet the burning crater draws hundreds of
tourists every year. Given that Turkmenistan's tourism industry isn't exactly
booming, the government decided to let this bonfire keep a-blazin'. (No word if
they have a gift shop.)
It attracts
more than just courageous travelers; the Door to Hell lures in nearby desert
wildlife, dazzled by its embers. Reportedly, thousands of spiders can be seen
leaping to their deaths in the crater. Curiosity killed the ... arachnids?
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