You might not have thought of hell as having a door, but rest assured that this just a name. In reality, The Door to Hell is an eternally burning crater located in the desert of remotest Turkmenistan. That’s more like it.

The 70m-wide Door to Hell first opened in 1971 when Soviet scientists were drilling the site for natural gas. You can imagine their dismay when, having set up camp next to their drilling rig, the ground suddenly collapsed beneath them and they found themselves in a massive, 20m-deep crater!

Fortunately none of the scientists were killed, but the methane gas that was released did cause harm to the environment and the health of people in the nearby village of Derweze, tragically resulting in some deaths. In effort to prevent more gas escaping, the scientists decided to burn it off — a standard method under such circumstances. But they were in for another surprise: the flames didn’t go out. Now the site has been burning for over 41 years!

Pics via Wikimedia

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