In the middle of the Turkmenistan desert is a 230 foot wide hole, and the hole, it's unfire. In 1971, a group of Soviet petroleum geologists set out across the desert of Turkmenistan, and they were on the hunt for petroleum. And when they found a place that they thought would be full of oil, they decided to set up a drilling rig. Unfortunately for them, they set this drilling rig up over what turned out to be an enormous cavern of natural gas. And when they punched in through the top of the desert, the entire thing collapsed, taking the drilling wig with it. And even more problematic than that is now leaking from this gigantic hole was methane gas, which is a potentially deadly and definitely super explosive gas. So the Soviet geologists did what was for them the sensible thing. They lit the hole on fire. The scientists thought when they lit this crater on fire that it would burn for a few weeks, maybe a few months, and then it would just extinguish itself. It has been burning for over 40 years. Locals call this the Gates of Hell, or the door to hell, or more scientifically the Derbasa gas crater. In 2009, the Turkmen president declared that he wanted the Gates of Hell closed, capped that it was an embarrassment to the country. But that hasn't happened. And in fact, the Gates of Hell have become a kind of tourist site. Even the minister of tourism now cites it as one of their major attractions. And for a country that only sees between 10 and 15,000 tourists a year, it's a big deal that people are excited to go to the Gates of Hell. It's also said that the crater attracts local spiders drawn to the light and the heat, which come to the edge of the crater and then throw themselves into it. Presumably, they are trying to reunite themselves with their dark lord. So the crater has been burning for 40 years, and there's no telling when it will stop. But with continued tourist interest, it's likely that it may be burning for some time to come. Subscribe here and watch more videos here.