Case file · Anomaly hotspot
Darvaza gas crater, the 'Door to Hell'
A collapsed natural-gas cavern in the Karakum desert that has burned continuously for decades and is known locally as the Door to Hell.
1971 CE · 40.25, 58.44 · status: explained
The account
The usual story says Soviet drillers set the gas alight in 1971 so that it would burn off in days; it is still burning. Turkmenistan has repeatedly announced plans to extinguish it.
The sceptical view
The ignition date and circumstances are poorly documented (some local geologists place the collapse in the 1960s); the fire itself is simply methane combustion.