Map of Sha'ari Shaul: ten hidden openings in the world that "lead to hell"

How about a foray into hell in the coming holidays?

Mythology tells about ten "hell gates" - through which you can pass to the next world.

To date, no one has been able to cross them, but some have come close enough to get a particularly stressful glimpse

not to be missed

04/10/2022

Tuesday, 04 October 2022, 00:01

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"Door To Hell - Darvaza Gas Crater, Turkmenistan"

If you haven't booked a holiday for yourself yet - we have a particularly hot destination for you: Hell.

So it's true, we heard that it's a bit hot there and that the neighbors make noise between 14:00 and all day, but it turns out that some of the entrance doors to the underworld are just a short flight away from us, so no matter how you look at it, it will still be cheaper than a vacation in Eilat.

So how do you get to hell?

Any low cost flight will take you there, and given the conditions offered on these flights will also prepare you well for the real experience.

According to the various legends and mythologies around the world, there are several gates to hell spread across the earth - with the closest to us being in Greece.

The gates to hell, quite predictably, are areas where there is strange volcanic activity and the way there is always through lava, poisonous gases or a "menacing monster with three heads".

Those who believe in those mythologies believe that the difficulty in passing between the worlds is meant to prevent the dead from escaping and the living from entering.

Sounds reasonable on the whole.

According to Christianity it is the devil who is waiting for him down there, but according to Greek mythology, the underworld is generally ruled by Hades, the god of the underworld, wealth and the depths of the earth.

We don't know who we would be less happy to meet there.

In "Daily Star Online" we marked on the map the ten most popular gates of hell.

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The "Gates to Hell" map around the world (Photo: Walla! NEWS system, Walla system!)

1. The gate to hell - Turkmenistan

The Gate of Hell in Turkmenistan (Photo: Giphy, Tormod Sandtorv)

The most popular gate of hell is the one near the village of Darvaza in Turkmenistan.

It is a crater with a diameter of about 70 meters and a depth of 30 meters, inside of which a fire has been burning since 1971 until today.

The crater itself was created entirely by accident.

In 1971 Soviet geologists were drilling into an underground cavity and their drilling equipment collapsed in creating the wide hole.

They discovered that the area was full of poisonous gas and decided that in order to get rid of it, the gas must be consumed naturally by lighting it. They did not imagine that the amount of gas in the place would keep the fire burning to this day. The locals believe that this is the closest area to hell, and if they could pass through it alive - They would manage to get there. It's not too late to try.

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Last year it was reported that the President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, ordered to put out the great fire and close the gate to hell for good.

He announced that he plans to put out the fire in light of the environmental damage it causes.

He demanded that officials put out the flames in the gas crater in order to minimize the air pollution and to try to get the gas out of there and use it.

The announcement came a decade after Berdimuhamedov turned to experts to try to find a way to extinguish the flames even then, but his previous attempt failed.

The president announced: "We are losing valuable natural resources for which we can obtain significant profits and use them to improve the well-being of our people. The crater has a negative impact on both the environment and the health of the people living nearby."

Despite the announcement, so far no practical solution has been found to extinguish the fire, so it is possible that his second attempt will also be in vain.

2. Hades Gate - Turkey

The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that the mysterious stone cave under the Hierapolis temple was a gateway to hell, where Hades, the god of the underworld, riches and the depths of the earth, awaited them.

Studies conducted for Arachona revealed that the place was saturated with poisonous gases, what the Greeks called "the deadly soul of Hades", and animals were sent there - and even people - who died from inhaling the gases.

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A study conducted at the University of Duisburg-Essberg, Germany, found that the place is indeed saturated with toxic clothes.

The highest concentration of gases is found in the cave below the "Gate of Hell".

The researchers say this happens because the cave sits on the fault line of the Babdag Mountains, which allows gases to escape from the Earth's crust and fill it.

Large amounts of carbon dioxide were recorded on the spot.

"In a cave under the temple of Pluto (another nickname for the god of the underworld) carbon dioxide was found in a lethal concentration of over 91%," says a study published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.

"Amazingly, these gases are still emitted in Yemen in concentrations capable of killing insects, birds and mammals."

3. Cardamom from Siberia

The huge crater of Siberia is known as the "mouth of hell" and it is only getting bigger over the years.

It is a kilometer wide, 85 meters deep - and it grows every year in width (between 10-30 meters) and depth.

Many describe this entrance gate as the gaping paw of a giant monster.

The crater is the largest of a growing number of craters that have opened to the surface in Siberia, as ice underground turns to mud - and methane gas.

The crater began to form in the 60s of the last century.

Following the massive felling of trees, the surface of the ground was exposed to the sun in the summer, and the upper layer of the soil gradually warmed up.

In fact, this crater, located in Kefat Ad, provides researchers with a rare opportunity.

To see the effects of climate change in the area, next to the remains of animals that were buried tens of thousands of years ago, and forests that have turned into fossils..

4. The Seven Gates of Hell - Lamm, Pennsylvania

Urban legends claim that seven mysterious gates to hell exist in the Wild Forest of Balaam, in York County, Pennsylvania.

There are various myths about these gates.

Some claim that they are the remains of an insane asylum that caught fire during the 19th century, when the firefighters failed in their rescue attempts and the dozens of patients there were burned.

Others claim that they were built by a family man, who murdered all his family members and in the end committed suicide.

It is claimed that if you manage to pass through all seven gates, you will be sent directly to hell - but even in this case you will encounter problems.

First, it is a private area to which access to tourists is prohibited.

On the other hand, some claim that there is only one normal metal gate that can be easily passed through, but the other six are hidden and can only be seen by moonlight.

Short, we'll try another login.

5. Budaji - Japan

Budaji Temple - Japan (Photo: ShutterStock, KAZU_49M)

An ancient Buddhist temple hidden in a remote area on the slope of Mount Osor.

The temples were intended for the ancestors, but there is also a dark story behind them, especially the one that claims that it is a gateway to hell, and that the small river next to it, which continues into Lake Osor, is the place where the dead pass to the next world.

Totally creepy.

6. Mount Athena - Sicily

Mount Athena erupts at night (YouTube)

Mount Athena in Italy is the highest active volcano in Europe.

It reaches a height of 3,330 meters.

The mountain serves as the source of many myths in Greek and Roman mythology - and one of them is of course the gateway to the underworld of Hades.

According to Greek mythology, under the mountain is the body of the monster Typhon, one of the enemies of the Greek gods, who was defeated by Zeus, Hermes and Poseidon and was buried there.

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7. Cape Matapan - on the Mani Peninsula, Greece

Cape Matapan on the Mani Peninsula, Greece (Photo: ShutterStock, Greens and Blues)

Another popular gateway to hell is located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, a short flight away from us.

Cerberus, the three-headed hound of the Greek underworld Hades, is said to guard the entrance gate to the realm to prevent the dead from escaping and the living from entering.

According to mythology, Hercules entered through this gate into the enclosure of Hades after defeating the monster with his own hands.

8. "Devil's Den" - Italy

Volcano crater at Camp Pellegre (Photo: ShutterStock, Peter Schwarz)

Campi Pellegre is a volcanic complex located west of Naples, in the province of Campania, Italy.

There you will also find Lake Abernus, which emits toxic fumes.

Some claim that birds never fly over the lake because of this, and that in its depths you will find a cave that is a gateway to hell.

9. "Gate of Death" - India

Bones in the Karakoram Pass (Photo: screenshot, REDDIT)

Near the border between India and China there is a mountainous area called Morgo, which according to the locals is one of the gateways to hell - because of the arid landscape and the freezing temperatures.

During the winter, at an altitude of 4 and a half kilometers, the temperatures in the area can plunge to minus 50 degrees Celsius - therefore the area is completely isolated from animals or plants.

If no one approaches there - there is probably a good reason for that.

10. The screams of hell - Siberia

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In the 1980s, the rumor spread in Finland that Soviet drilling had unintentionally paved a "Well to Hell", and from there the urban legend spread to Europe claiming that scientists had drilled a huge hole in the earth's crust on the Kola Peninsula, in northern Russia.

When they reached a depth of 14 and a half kilometers, the drill broke and the scientists decided to lower sensors into the abyss.

Through the microphones they heard voices of people screaming, and the sensors recorded temperatures of 1,000 degrees Celsius.

When the scientists realized they had accidentally broken into Hell, they fled in terror and later told everyone about the stressful incident.

Unfortunately, the credibility of the story is completely in doubt: in fact, it is a Soviet drilling operation that lasted 24 years, in which they reached a depth of 12 kilometers and created the deepest pit in the world. The drilling was done for the purposes of geological research. Among the discoveries made by the drilling were fossils at a depth of about 7 kilometers, which were well preserved despite the high temperatures. Drilling was stopped due to the great heat that prevailed at a depth of 12.5 km below the earth's surface - which caused the drilling equipment to freeze.

Despite the impressive depth achievement, the drilling was only successful a quarter of the depth of the Earth's crust, which has an average thickness of 30 kilometers.

In 1994 the drilling stopped.

The age of their latest find was 2.7 billion years.

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