The Door to Hell

THe Door to Hell is a giant natural gas crater in the former USSR that was lit on fire in 1971 and has been burning ever since.

Derweze or Darvaza supposably means Gate or Door in Turkmen.

I haven't been able to verify if the town was named Derweze or Darvaza prior to 1971.

Can anyone help with this?

Derweze (Turkmen language: The Gate, also known as Darvaza)

en.wikipedia.org...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f73a35e4cd7a.jpg[/atsimg]

Interesting that Darvaza is located between Afghanistan and Iran.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/791448dbde79.jpg[/atsimg]

In 1971, a drilling rig was looking for natural gas near the town of Darvaz. The rig struck a massive underground cavern, which collapsed, pulling the rig into the ground and releasing the natural gas. As a safety measure, it was decided to ‘burn’ off the gas to keep the poisonous fumes from spreading. The crater continues to burn today.

An unconfirmed rumor is that the local government there claims the crater was caused by a meteor strike. Also, the name of the town Darvaz or Derweze actually means “gate”, which is odd since the town dates back to before the 1971 drilling accident.

www.whalesinspace.com...

[edit on 27-5-2010 by Freedom or Death]

Amazing! I have never heard of this. 40 years burning - I hope to hear more about this.

It must be on a 40 year "slow simmer" setting because those people
in the photo look very comfortable standing close to the edge like that.
-cwm

Nice find! This is very interesting indeed. I'm not sure what is more bizarre the hole or it's location.


[edit on 27-5-2010 by HrdCorHillbilly]

Мед, температура право получить большой горшок бобы!

Translation: Honey, The temperature is right, Get the Big Pot of Beans !

I am going to try to find this on Google earth. I wonder why it was lit on fire? I mean.. why didn't they try to contain and use all that natural gas.. seems such a waste.

[edit on 27-5-2010 by JohnPhoenix]

Very cool picture and I would love to go hiking out in that are to check it out!

We have places in the US that were coal mining cities and are still burning underground to this day from like the 50's.

Found it in Google Earth, but it's not much to look at:

40°10'5.91"N 58°24'38.89"E

Edited: My first set of coords were off. This is the right one.

[edit on 28-5-2010 by JohnPhoenix]

Originally posted by JohnPhoenix
Мед, температура право получить большой горшок бобы!

Translation: Honey, The temperature is right, Get the Big Pot of Beans !

I am going to try to find this on Google earth. I wonder why it was lit on fire? I mean.. why didn't they try to contain and use all that natural gas.. seems such a waste.

[edit on 27-5-2010 by JohnPhoenix]

Forgive the strange wording on this website, but it does a superb job of
explaining this burning cavern's history and has some good photos of
it as well.

retardzone.com...

-cwm

THat is crazy. I wonder how big the rig was? Would have to be uge to create that crater. I wonder why no one wishes to try and contain it after all this time?

This is very strange. I wonder how anyone could put the fire out, and why not try?
Then, again, why hasn't anyone put the fire out in Pennsylvania?

www.offroaders.com...

I say the door to hell is in Pennsylvania. After all I was born in this coal mining area, and it WAS hell for the miners and the families.

And as I always suspected there was something wrong with my mom, one of my sisters has confirmed that our mom was the Devil On Earth

Originally posted by carewemust

Originally posted by JohnPhoenix
Мед, температура право получить большой горшок бобы!

Translation: Honey, The temperature is right, Get the Big Pot of Beans !

I am going to try to find this on Google earth. I wonder why it was lit on fire? I mean.. why didn't they try to contain and use all that natural gas.. seems such a waste.

[edit on 27-5-2010 by JohnPhoenix]

Forgive the strange wording on this website, but it does a superb job of
explaining this burning cavern's history and has some good photos of
it as well.

retardzone.com...

-cwm

Thanks, great site.. I want to know, the 2 bottom pics.. it dont look like its burning?

They bring up good points.. why not use it for energy, and what about the impact on the enviornment all those years?

Originally posted by JohnPhoenix

Originally posted by carewemust

Forgive the strange wording on this website, but it does a superb job of
explaining this burning cavern's history and has some good photos of
it as well.

retardzone.com...

-cwm

Thanks, great site.. I want to know, the 2 bottom pics.. it dont look like its burning?

I saw those as well.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d7f3334124fa.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d40879079b65.jpg[/atsimg]

One of the posters on that site made a comment that it would go out if it was filled with water and another says those pictures look photoshopped.

I too wonder if it is still burning. Clearly from the video you can see that it is.

[edit on 28-5-2010 by Freedom or Death]

You know.. now that I think about it.. on Google Earth it doesn't look like its burning either.. that, or my coords are wrong..

reply to post by kyred


I was just about to bring up Centralia, PA! Some people actually put some great pics on the Wikipedia article also: en.wikipedia.org... Me and a few of my friends really want to go investigate some evacuated cities like that, though it may be a tad dangerous. Some estimate the fire under Centralia could burn for a couple hundred years still!

Despite the grandiose and striking the imagination form of the crater, the history of its origin completely devoid of any romance. In 1971, exploration wells were drilled and came to the underground caverns. Drilling rig with all equipment and transportation failed down. Fortunately, people at the same time were not injured.

Natural gas came from the crater. So no one would be poisoned, it was set on fire. And ever since, unquenchable burning torches are to scare tourists and nomads. How many billions of cubic meters of valuable natural raw materials burned for all time the existence of "gas well", no one knows.

Curiously, not far away, there are two more "door to hell" of a similar origin; they are inferior to the famous crater: first, they do not burn, and secondly, the gas pressure is much weaker. At the bottom of one of these craters - bladders slab in light gray color, the other is filled with steep "brine" amazing color of turquoise.

By the way, not far from Darwaza, there are several wells preserved with the remains of wellhead, and to make them work once again will be easy. But in an area with "turquoise" lake, where the reservoir water-gas contact is allowed, mining, apparently is impossible.

Terrifying "gas" vista is in Russia - on the Kamchatka Peninsula. This kind of Death Valley, located on the western slope of the volcano Kikhpinych which hit the hot springs. Their small thermal fields are cut by gullies, on slopes and bottom that jolt the weak acidic streams of hot water, steam and gases.

In 1930, local hunters were missing several dogs, and when they were found, animals were dead. Not far from dead animals, there were also dead birds. The hunters hurried to leave a sinister place, but the remaining dogs which were not mysteriosly killed while visiting the Valley, soon were also dead on the way home. Other people simply waited for the unenviable fate - they began to lose weight, complaining of various ailments.

Shortly after, all Soviet Union has learned of the valley and string of expeditions began to go there. People wanted to know what caused the death of animals and disease of the hunters, and many have tried to learn this secret with their own lives.

The mystery was revealed in the 70's. Analysis of gases emerging from the ground in the area extending 300 meters and a length of 2 km, has established a presence in them of carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide. The experts in their gas masks with great caution came on the deadly area, taking samples and using experimental animals. Small animals - mice and ground squirrels - have died in seconds.

Is it any wonder that the Kamchatka Valley of Death is deserted and uninhabited. Animals, sensing deadly gas, don't even pass near its side. Those, who do decided to look here at least briefly, die and remain here forever.

Originally posted by JohnPhoenix
You know.. now that I think about it.. on Google Earth it doesn't look like its burning either.. that, or my coords are wrong..

I can't find any other pictures or sites that show or describe the fire as being out.

Here is another rendition of the story.

In the hot, expansive Karakum desert in Turkmenistan, near the 350 person village of Derweze, is a hole 328 feet wide that has been on fire, continuously, for 38 years. Known as the Darvaza Gas Crater or the "Gates of Hells" by locals, the crater can be seen glowing for miles around.

The hole is the outcome not of nature but of an industrial accident. In 1971 a Soviet drilling rig accidentally punched into a massive underground natural gas cavern, causing the ground to collapse and the entire drilling rig to fall in. Having punctured a pocket of gas, poisonous fumes began leaking from the hole at an alarming rate. To head off a potential environmental catastrophe, the Soviets set the hole alight. The crater hasn't stopped burning since.

static.atlasobscura.com...

The person in this picture is a little crazy IMO.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/93d9f2c80116.jpg[/atsimg]

Yes, my coords were off.. Here is the real coords:

40°15'7.36"N 58°26'22.84"E

And it does look like its burning.. but if thats the real one.. then what is at my coords I found?

40°10'5.91"N 58°24'38.89"E

It's a round object too about the same size it appears.

Edit: I just read in2delite's post. The one i found must be one of the other ones,

"Curiously, not far away, there are two more "door to hell" of a similar origin; they are inferior to the famous crater: first, they do not burn, and secondly, the gas pressure is much weaker. At the bottom of one of these craters"



[edit on 28-5-2010 by JohnPhoenix]

Originally posted by JohnPhoenix
Yes, my coords were off.. Here is the real coords:

40°15'7.36"N 58°26'22.84"E

And it does look like its burning.. but if thats the real one.. then what is at my coords I found?

40°10'5.91"N 58°24'38.89"E

It's a round object too about the same size it appears.

Edit: I just read in2delite's post. The one i found must be one of the other ones,

"Curiously, not far away, there are two more "door to hell" of a similar origin; they are inferior to the famous crater: first, they do not burn, and secondly, the gas pressure is much weaker. At the bottom of one of these craters"

I just took a look at them both as well on google maps.

I agree the hole is still burning.

40°15'7.36"N 58°26'22.84"E

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


try 40° 15' 5.62" N 58° 26' 15.86" E