Reportedly, no one was injured in the collapse, but the scientists soon had another problem on their hands: the natural gas escaping from the crater. The largest of these craters measures about 230-feet across and 65-feet deep. The site collapsed, taking their equipment along with it-and the event triggered the crumbly sedimentary rock of the desert to collapse in other places too, creating a domino-effect that resulted in several open craters by the time all was said and done. Unfortunately for the scientists, they were drilling on top of a cavernous pocket of natural gas which couldn't support the weight of their equipment. They found what they thought to be a substantial oil field and began drilling. So how did this fiery inferno end up in the middle of a desert in Turkmenistan? In 1971, when the republic was still part of the Soviet Union, a group of Soviet geologists went to the Karakum in search of oil fields. It also attracts nearby desert wildlife-reportedly, from time to time local spiders are seen plunging into the pit by the thousands, lured to their deaths by the glowing flames. Located in the Karakum Desert of central Turkmenistan (a little over 150 miles from the country's capital) the pit attracts hundreds of tourists each year. The Darvaza gas crater, nicknamed by locals " The Door to Hell," or " The Gates of Hell," definitely falls into the latter category-and its sinister burning flames are just the half of it. There are places on Earth that are a little creepy, places that feel a little haunted and places that are downright hellish.
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