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Gates of Hell

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

–Dante Alighieri, Vestibule of Hell, Inferno

Dante’s 14th-century The Divine Comedy famously tours three sectors of the afterlife. Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso trace the author’s visit to Hell, Limbo, and Heaven.

One of literature’s great lines adorns the gate Dante encounters before entering Hell: “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate.” The literal translation from Italian means “Leave every hope, ye that enter,” but the popular English translation features superior musicality.

Dante’s poem and inscription lean on allegory and metaphor to impart a moral warning. As a work of fiction, the descent into Hell requires an obvious use of imagination.

The Ancient Greeks and Romans developed several sites that they purported to be the entrance to Hades, their version of the underworld. A cave near Cape Matapan, the Necromanteion of Acheron, and the Ploutonion at Hierapolis all served as gateways to the bygone version of Hell. Some archaeologists believe these locations became associated with the underworld, in part, thanks to their emissions of toxic gases.

These spots might lead to a hellish spelunking experience, but they don’t tunnel into a literal Hell. As time elapsed, the belief in a gateway to the underworld ebbed.

But, as modern humanity’s ability to probe the gaseous reaches of the crust and our ability for large-scale technological mistakes increased, one area emerged as a worthy holder of the term “Gates of Hell.”

Located in Turkmenistan’s Karakum Desert, the Darvaza gas crater, pictured above, is a conflagration so striking that one might wonder if it does indeed lead to Hell.

Ranging from 200 to 230 feet wide (60-70 meters) and 100 feet deep (30 meters), the crater is the result of a collapsed natural-gas cavern.

A slew of fantastic names adorns this spot, including Door to Hell, Gates of Hell, and the Shining of Karakum. The latter, the official Turkmenistani designation, adds some nice Stephen King overtones to the Dantean location.

The crater has likely burned since the 1970s.

Turkmenistan was then part of the Soviet Union, which means documentation and reliable information about the formation of the fire is lacking. Some sources put the beginning of the inferno in the 1960s, while others point to the 80s. The crater probably formed thanks to a Soviet attempt to drill for oil, which instead hit a shallow cavern.

This collapse did not ignite the crater, however. Officials detected noxious gases and opted to flare the site, hoping to exhaust the pocket of natural gas. Unfortunately, the supply was much higher than expected, so the cavern became a perpetual Door to Hell.

As the Soviet Union dissolved, the crater became a tourist attraction. If you wanted to glamp at the maw of the underworld, Turkmenistan had you covered.

For some, gazing into the inferno was not enough.

In 2013, a human named George Kourounis donned an aluminized suit with a special breathing device, intent on visiting the crater’s floor. Attached to a Kevlar harness and ropes made of material that NASA utilizes in rover parachutes, Kourounis descended into the crater for an episode of National Geographic’s program Die Trying.

He gathered samples of the crater’s soil and took measurements of the environment.

In an interview, Kourounis opined, “I describe it as a coliseum of fire—just everywhere you look it’s thousands of these small fires. The sound was like that of a jet engine, this roaring, high-pressure, gas-burning sound. And there was no smoke. It burns very cleanly, so there’s nothing to obscure your view. You can just see every little lick of flame.”

This guy sure had some gumption. He didn’t even have Virgil to guide him into Hell like Dante did.

If you wonder about the health implications of a massive fire pit fueled by poisonous fumes, you’re not alone.

Since the 2010s, Turkmenistan’s government has searched for ways to extinguish the Darvaza gas crater. Various attempts to snuff the fire seemed to fail, but, finally, by 2025, a successful method presented itself. Instead of attempting to douse the flames, officials seemingly employed the There Will Be Blood milkshake method. Drilling for gas in the regions surrounding the pit has sapped a large amount of the fuel.

Today, apparently, just a few pockets of fire remain.

Contemporary tourists might find themselves disappointed when visiting these gates, but it’s a small price to pay for cleaner air. According to the International Energy Agency, Turkmenistan has been the world’s biggest emitter of methane due to gas leaks.

Smothering the Gates of Hell is one small step to making sure we don’t have to abandon all hope in this Edenic world!