"Centralia, Pennsylvania 2003 (7)" by Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States - Picture 254 The explorer who wrote that entry described smokeless flames, smelling strongly of sulfur, issuing forth from several holes in the ground at the bottom of a small, 50-foot-wide depression. Explorer George Kourounis braves the fiery 99 ft deep Darvaza Crater to collect soil. SOURCES: CBC | University of Guelph | National Geographic | The Guardian | American Journal of Arts and Science | Amusing Planet | Mother Nature Network | CentraliaPA.org | National Geographic | Smithsonian Magazine, © 2020 The Weather Network Pelmorex Weather Networks. Click here to upload yours.

The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Around 300 figures from a spider to a hummingbird are etched into the sands in the southern Peruvian desert, with some lines stretching more than five miles (3.2km). Remnants of apartment-like buildings suggest around 100,000 people lived here and worshipped at temples linked by the broad “Avenue of the Dead”. Turkmenistan is a country in Central Asia, and its largely arid countryside has a feature that looks for all the world like the gaping maw to the netherworld. Who doesn’t love a good mystery? The smoke is toxic, with the sulfur turning into sulfur dioxide, and the surrounding ponds are quite acidic. Geologists originally thought the red color was due to algae but the truth is actually much more interesting. Theories on what they are include UFOs, ghosts of Spanish conquistadors and car headlights. These milky turquoise waters may look inviting for a swim but you wouldn't want to take a dip here – this caldera, formed in the crater of the Kawah Ijen volcano, is the world’s largest acidic lake. Gryfino’s brilliantly bonkers Crooked Forest, or Krzywy Las, is filled with around 400 pine trees, each with a near-identical bend in the base of its trunk. If you're wondering why there seem to be so many lots filled with nothing but trees in the video above, that's because almost all of Centralia's 1,100 residents took advantage of a government buyout program and moved out. Discover more stunning images of the world's historic sites here. How To Visit Darvaza Gas Crater / The Gates of Hell.

The gates of hell/door to hell light up the place, and it can be seen miles around. It’s said that King Lalibela, who reigned in the 12th and 13th centuries, carved each with help from the angels alone. For other inquiries, Contact Us. The biggest of the three – the Great Pyramid of Giza or Khufu – is both the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one still standing. Four places on Earth that won't stop burning.

Sinkholes abound (a 12-year-old boy who was devoured by one in 1981 only saved himself by clinging to tree roots until help arrived, National Geographic recounts). "Smoking Hills AXW 0129" by Ansgar Walk - Own work. Entering the base is strictly forbidden (not to mention impossible). When some of the crew bought a sample back to McClure's desk, it reportedly burned a hole in his desk. Yet it’s still shrouded in mystery, with scholars continuously theorizing as to how such a huge, intricate structure could be created without modern tools. The looping structure, in the German town of Kromlau, forms a perfect circle with its watery reflection – a clever trick of engineering that some see as otherworldly. Neither, it seems, as scientists debunked the mysteries in 2013, discovering the boulders are moved by wind when the ground is icy. So you can stand as close to the real-life hellmouth as you want. You can reject cookies by changing your browser settings. Divers and underwater explorers including French writer and explorer Jacques Cousteau, have fallen under the spell of the world’s biggest sinkhole, which measures around 1,000 feet (304m) across and plunges to 400 feet (122m) deep. But Hoia-Baciu dials up the strangeness with crooked trees that twist and turn, as if frozen in dance. Join us on a virtual tour from your couch as we take a look at the science, stories, theories and tales surrounding some of the world’s strangest sites. One is in the United States. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. A gigantic white line spanning half the world was spotted , sending conspiracy theorists wild. Parents' concerns over '40-year-old' pupil joining school after move to UK, Stranger grabbed girl, 7, from terrified mum on London street and ran off, Hungover woman tailors her McDonald’s order & people find the result hilarious, Cops called to Amir Khan's house after bust-up ahead of new reality show, Peter Andre says he has to 'rein in' Princess after she danced to Cardi B's WAP, ©News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. It’s occasionally extinguished by splashes but visitors can bring it back to life with a lighter. They were searching for natural gas and found so much of it that harvesting it became unsafe. THIS flaming "Door to Hell" in the middle of the desert has left Google Earth users baffled - and somewhat alarmed. "Darvasa gas crater 1" by Tormod Sandtorv - Flickr: Darvasa gas crater #1. Engineers were drilling a natural gas field in the northern Turkmenistan desert when a portion collapsed into an underground cavern. "P3110004" by Original uploader was Chad.r.hill at en.wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Pline using CommonsHelper.. A popular theory is that, haunted by those killed by her late husband’s invention, she created a maze to keep malevolent spirits at bay. Comments are subject to our community guidelines, which can be viewed, This is the flaming Darvaza Gas Crater - one of the most bizarre places on Earth, Also known as the Door to Hell, the site is in the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan, Map showing exact location of the Darvaza Gas Crater, Tourists can be seen warming up around the massive fire, Little is known about the spot, but it's actually a popular tourist destination...for those who know about it, Vistors along the edge of the gas crater Darvaza 'Gates Of Hell' gas crater in Karakum Desert, Turkmenistan, Worried about the effects of the dangerous gas, the Russian geologists set the gas alight to make the area safe - it has been burning ever since, The Darvaza Crater has a 226 ft diameter and is 98 ft deep, Flames can be seen leaping from the giant abyss, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Pink sand we can just about handle. Explorer George Kourounis, host of Angry Planet, is believed to have been the first to set foot within the burning crater, an experience he described in detail to National Geographic in 2014. But there are places on Earth where the flames either always burn, or are always smouldering. They were rudely disabused of that notion when they arrived at the site on Cape Bathurst, and found not survivors but a smouldering hellscape. Uploaded by GrapedApe. The world’s coldest and perhaps most enigmatic continent is home to a blood-red waterfall that seeps into the ice. Check for weather alerts in your city, here, NASA captures enormity of North Carolina wildfires (Video), The one way lettuce is actually worse for you than bacon, Science of sinkholes: How do they form, and why, explained. Also known as the “Door to Hell”, the site in the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan is a popular tourist site, thanks to its one of a kind nature. According to Smithsonian Magazine, there's enough coal in the area to sustain the fire for another 250 years at least. The planet is dotted with places that are surreal, eerie and sometimes downright bizarre. It became an even bigger windfall when a major oilfield was discovered there in 1927, at the time the largest in the world. Turns out the spot is actually the Darvaza Gas Crater - one of the most bizarre places on Earth. It burns very cleanly, so there's nothing to obscure your view. According to a website dedicated to the town, the lawsuits lasted for years before officials relented, allowing the holdouts to stay in the town they called home. It has a 226 ft diameter and is 98 ft deep - and many are said to use it as a giant campfire. This conflagration has been smouldering for more than 50 years, though its underground location belies its true extent. Incredibly, Kourounis took some samples from the bottom, and found bacteria living there that weren't present in the soil outside the crater. Proving that monsters are no barrier to popularity, Loch Ness in Scotland is world-famous thanks to the huge beast that may (or may not) lurk in its depths. "Central Asia 101" by Stefan Krasowski - Flickr: Central Asia 101. Viewed from the International Space Station, the 30-mile (48.2km) wide swirl resembles a bull’s eye or snail’s shell. It’s the world’s most secretive airport and synonymous with conspiracy theories.

The sealed, airless lake’s high iron content and salinity caused the rust-red color that eventually oozed out of a fissure in the ice. We pay for videos too. The geological quirk was believed to be a crater caused by a meteorite but it’s now thought it was once a dome that has eroded over time. It started around two million years ago when a saltwater pool was trapped inside Taylor Glacier. It’s nothing to do with The Bangles’ hit song, but this is an (almost) eternal flame. It's an optical illusion because there’s no view of the horizon for perspective.

They wanted to stay so much, they actually sued the government for the right to remain.

Their plans went awry when a drill rig was swallowed up by the ground, falling into a cavern. Geologists intentionally set it on fire to prevent the spread of methane gas, and it is thought to have been burning continuously since 1971. In recent years, the Gates of Hell has become one of the country's few tourist attractions, drawing adventurers from around the world. Ancient Maori legend says these boulders are gourds or food containers, washed ashore from the wreckage of a canoe that brought their ancestors to New Zealand’s South Island. But by July of 2013 no action has been taken and the Darvaza gas crater fire still burns. It’s one of several hills around the globe where what looks like an uphill incline is, in fact, part of a larger downhill incline. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. But its name, which means Devil’s Bridge, comes from its supernatural associations. Staircases lead to ceilings and dead ends. "Outside of our solar system, there are planets that do resemble the conditions inside this pit, and [knowing that] can help us expand the number of places where we can confidently start looking for life outside of our solar system," Kourounis says. We're more than half a century on, and its still burning, eating its way through the surrounding countryside, largely immune to repeated attempts to stop it. But it isn’t actually defying the laws of gravity. The centre of the crater, the biggest flame on the gates of hell. "Darvasa gas crater panorama" by Tormod Sandtorv - Flickr: Darvasa gas crater panorama. The Door to Hell is a crater in a large natural gas field that has been burning for decades. Microsoft may earn an Affiliate Commission if you purchase something through recommended links in this article. There’s no evidence that he even visited the place but it remains a creepy spot for Gothic fans. It’s the stuff that nightmares are made of – a gaping, fiery chasm tearing a hole in the Earth. In 2019, Newcastle University students may have solved the riddle when they discovered that humans (not aliens) may have dragged the rocks in place using sledges lubricated with pig fat. Even James Dean, in Marfa filming the movie Giant, was spooked and captivated by the still-unexplained phenomenon. While it’s more likely he was aided by thousands of enslaved people, their existence is certainly miraculous. Its red surface is due to oxidation, while “fresh” rock beneath is gray.