The natural gas field in in Derweze, Turkmenistan, has been on fire for over 40 years.
This crater is over 200 feet wide and the mud smoulders all day and all night. Locals call the opening the “Door to Hell” and this fiery desert pit has become something of a tourist attraction in Turkmenistan.
So what happened here? Did the ground just collapse one day and leave a gateway to the underworld in its wake?
In fact, unlike other long-burning underground fires, like the one that’s been burning since 1962 in Centralia, Pennsylvania, the Door to Hell was ignited intentionally. Scientists from the Soviet Union were scouting out potentially fruitful sites to drill for oil, and this desert location fit the bill. When they discovered its potential as a source for natural gas, they started collecting the gas. However, months after they started drilling, the drill site collapsed (no one was hurt), creating the enormous crater present at the site today.
The newly broken earth unfortunately left the source of the natural gas exposed to the surface. Coming from an enormous crater, this gas was impossible to trap, and therefore poisonous gas was just escaping and endangering nearby villages.
So the Soviets decided to set it on fire.
But isn’t that killing the environment?! Well, it’s not ideal, obviously, but when escaping gas cannot be captured for use, burning it is better than letting it go. The Soviet scientists believed that the fire would burn itself out in a matter of days or weeks, but it just kept going.
And going.
It may not be a literal gate to hell, but the hole burns brightly, day and night, a blazing pit in the darkness. The tourists who visit are drawn in by the wonders of nature. It’s easy to imagine burning on for all eternity, an earthly connection to the underworld.
