The gaping flame-filled crater has been this way since 1971, when Soviet geologists tapped into a cavern of natural gas and decided to burn it off so it wouldn’t poison anyone. They thought it would take a few days. Four decades later, locals refer to this pit as the Door to Hell. In Turkmenistan, many people leave their gas ranges burning all day and all night: why bother turning them on and off, when gas is inexhaustible?   Source: The Newyorker, photograph by Carolyn Drake
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The gaping flame-filled crater has been this way since 1971, when Soviet geologists tapped into a cavern of natural gas and decided to burn it off so it wouldn’t poison anyone. They thought it would take a few days. Four decades later, locals refer to this pit as the Door to Hell. In Turkmenistan, many people leave their gas ranges burning all day and all night: why bother turning them on and off, when gas is inexhaustible?

 

Source: The Newyorker, photograph by Carolyn Drake

Love this music video by Anouk, principal dancer Igone de Jongh (of the Dutch National Ballet) plays the lead. 

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