At different times in history, different places have been referred to as the Gate To Hell. These places have at different periods acquired legendary reputation for being the gateway to hell or the underworld.

They were oftentimes found in regions of unusual geological activity, particularly volcanic areas, or sometimes at lakes, caves, or mountains.

These places include but not limited to the cave at the edge of Lake Avernus on the Bay of Naples through which Hercules was believed to have entered the Underworld.

There was also the Lacus Curtius, where according to legend, a Roman soldier, named Curtius, bravely rode his horse into the entrance in a successful effort to close it, although both he and his horse perished in the courageous deed.

Lerna Lake also got a reputation as one of the entrances to the Underworld.Odysseus in Homer’s popular poem also visited the Underworld, entering through river Acheron in northwest Greece.

Orpheus was believed to have traveled to the Greek underworld in search of Eurydice by entering a cave at Taenarumor Cape Tenaron on the southern tip of the Peloponnese.

Pluto’s Gate know as Ploutonion in Greek and Plutonium in Latin located in modern day Turkey was unearthed by Italian archaeologists and is believed to be the entry gate to the Underworld.

The famous Mount Etna in Sicily had the reputation not being the doorway to hell in Medieval times probably due to its volcanic nature.

Urban legend believes Hellam township in Pennsylvania contains the Seven Gates to Hell, while Fengdu in China and Mount Osore in Japan are other places that have enjoyed the unenviable reputation of being the Gate to Hell.

However in modern times, the most popular place to have gained reputation as the gate to hell is the Darvaza Crater, located in the Karakum Desert in the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan.
It has been variously called Door to Hell, Gates of Hell or Gateway to Hell. It is a natural gas field that collapsed into an underground cavern in 1971 and has been burning since then.

The crater is a 5,350 m 2 natural gas field with a diameter of 69 m and a depth of 30 m. After it collapsed into an underground crater, scientists set it on fire to prevent the spread of methane gas and has been burning continuously since then- 48 years and counting.

History

Though technically called the Darvaza gas crater, locals know the crater as “The Gates of Hell.” Its fiery and blazing glow can be seen for miles around.
The Gates of Hell crater was created in 1971 when 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 at an alarming rate.
To head off a potential environmental catastrophe, the Soviets set the hole alight, figuring it would stop burning within a few weeks. Decades later, and the fiery pit is still going strong. The Soviet drilling rig is believed to still be down there somewhere, on the other side of the “Gates of Hell.”

Efforts To Put Out The Fire ‌‏

Given that the blaze started in the 1970s when awareness was still low about Methane’s role in climate change and its potency as a greenhouse gas, the Soviet scientists who were there prospecting for oil thought that the burning field posed a huge danger to the environment and the surrounding villages to have poisonous gas leaking from the ground in huge quantities.

They decided that their best option would be to burn off the gas by lighting the crater. Their expectation being that the gas would burn off within a week. They tossed a grenade into the hole and for almost five decades, the crater still continues to burn.

Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov issued orders for local officials to find a way to put out the fire after he visited the crater in 2010.

The president expressed fears that the fire would draw gas from other nearby drilling sites, damaging Turkmenistan’s vital energy exports as the country exports natural gas to Europe, Russia, China, India, and Pakistan.

In 2004 while flying over Darvaza, former president Saparmurat Niyazov was struck by the magnitude of the fiery fire below. “I don’t want to see this next time I fly over,” he reportedly said. Bulldozers would soon move in, giving the about 3,000 villagers an hour or so to evacuate. Forcibly displaced by soldiers, they knew better than to argue at the time, but a handful of villagers later built another encampment away from the president’s flight path—the new Darvaza village.

Tourist Center

Despite turning out to be a slow-burning ecological disaster, the crater has also become one of Turkmenistan’s few tourist attractions. The crater is slowly but steadily drawing adventurous souls out into the Karakum (meaning dark) Desert, where summer temperatures can reach 50ºC (122ºF) even without any contribution from the Darvaza fire.

The Turkmen government hopes it’ll soon become a huge tourist site as the nearby Karakum Desert itself has already become a popular place to wild camp.

President Took A Spin Close To It To Dispel Death Rumours

Turkmenistan eccentric and stunt loving president Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, earlier this month took a car for a spin close to the gas crater to dispel death rumours which had been flying around for weeks.

aolawale025:
There must be a way to put it off