The Door to Hell: a man tried to get into it

A phenomenon between the real and the supernatural. Where is the door to hell? And what happened to those who tried to cross it?

credist: woworlds

Dante imagined the entrance of hell as a chasm under the city of Jerusalem. He obviously didn’t know about the weird phenomenon named “the Door to Hell”. So leave behind all hopes you who enter, because we are going to find more about this infernal place.

The Door to Hell: a man tried to get into it

# The Door to Hell that burns continuously

credits: mila_pro_photo IG

In the desert of Karakum, in Turkmenistan, there is a crater about 70 meters long and 20 meters deep that has a unique feature: it burns without interruptions. This cavity is called “the Door to Hell” for this peculiarity. And for a bizarre coincidence, it is located not far from the town of Derweze, that means “door”.

# An incredible phenomenon with an accidental origin

credits: alsafarviagens IG

What makes this place a unique attraction is that it is not a natural phenomenon and not even that old. Everything started in 1971 when some Soviet geologists, who were looking for oil, installed a drilling rig in the area. The drill reached a sack of natural gas and it caused a cave in of the ground that swallowed all the equipment. Fortunately, it caused no victims.

For fear that the gas released could be harmful, geologists decided to set fire to the crater hoping that the fire would have consumed all the gas reserve within a few days. But it didn’t. After 50 years, the flames are still burning.

# The man who entered in the burning crater

In 2013 the explorer George Kourounis tried a particularly demanding challenge: he went down into the burning crater. In this way he could measure the cavity and take some soil samples to understand if there was life in such extreme conditions.

Thanks to his venture, the team of scientists could find out that some bacteria were able to survive despite the high temperature and the environment saturated with methane gas.

# A phenomenon between the real and the supernatural

credits: tsigerliotis_tours IG

The phenomenon is so bizarre that among the locals is widespread the belief that this is a supernatural phenomenon, for this reason it has been renamed “the Door to Hell”.

Nobody knows for sure how much gas has burned so far, nor how long it will continue to burn. What is certain is that the crater is today among the most visited tourist destinations in Turkmenistan. The light emitted by the cavity is visible at night from kilometers away and creates a truly impressive spectacle, so much that it attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year, despite the strong and unpleasant sulfurous odor.

CHIARA BARONE