Case file · High strangeness
Eternal fire of Baba Gurgur
Near Kirkuk, natural gas burning from the ground has been seen for millennia; Plutarch says Alexander was shown a 'continuous flame' and pools of naphtha in this region in 331 BC.
331 BCE · 35.53, 44.36 · status: explained
The account
Local tradition links it to the fiery furnace of Daniel 3. Women reportedly visited the flames to pray for children. In 1927 the Baba Gurgur well struck oil with a gusher that ran for days, founding Iraq's oil industry.
The sceptical view
The flames are natural gas seeping through rock fractures; they are a ghost light with a fully known cause.