An eerie ‘door to hell’ was created more than 50 years ago – and it has been ablaze ever since. Officially named the Shining of Karakum, the origins of the fire, which is located near Darvaza, Turkmenistan, are somewhat unclear. The most widely accepted theory is that the fire was caused when, in 1971, Soviet geologists drilled at the site and punctured a natural-gas cavern. However, some files are classified, and a number of local geologists claim the fire only started burning in the 1980s.

However, it is generally believed that the fire started in 1971. Turkmenistan has no official record of how the fire started, so multiple theories remain. Despite the fire burning for half a century, the country’s government announced measures to eventually extinguish it. Earlier this year, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow said that the size of the fire had been spread significantly, and that measures would be taken because it was having adverse effects on the health of locals. 

Despite concerns about the fire, it is one of Turkmenistan’s go-to tourist attractions. There is fascination with the fire, and it has been given nicknames like the ‘Door to Hell’ or the ‘Gates of Hell’. 

The crater is located atop the Amu-Darya Basin, which is a highly productive oil and natural gas province that stretches across Turkmenistan and neighbouring Uzbekistan.

The fire certainly has an allure for visitors to Turkmenistan. People have described a strange smell emanating from the fire, while locals claim that spiders are attracted to the light and fling themselves into the flames. 

Irina Luryeva, director of Turkmenistan’s state-owned energy company Turkmengaz, said at a conference earlier this year: “The reduction [in fires] is nearly threefold.”

The site is accessible via a road, allowing visitors to view it in person. There are also yurts nearby where people can stay. 

Canadian explorer George Kourounis became the first person to set foot inside the crater in 2013, while he was gathering soil samples for the Extreme Microbiome Project. 

Describing what he saw, he said in an interview with National Geographic: “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.”