Earth’s most terrifying holes from 40,000ft Soviet ‘well to hell’ to Mexico’s mysterious 500ft-wide blue ‘sea sinkhole’
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EARTH is littered with terrifyingly deep, wide, and mysterious holes – and some are especially creepy. The Sun has rounded up some majorly scary holes from around the world that you would absolutely not want to fall into. If you're scared of deep holes and the ocean, this is not the sinkhole for you.
![[The Taam Ja' blue hole is located in the Chetumal Bay, off the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2024/04/taam-ja-blue-hole-mexicos-897859910.jpg?strip=all&w=650)
Taam Ja' Blue Hole can be found in Mexico's Chetumal Bay. It's an underwater sinkhole, known as a "blue hole" – and is believed to be the deepest of its kind. The giant hole is 498 feet wide and was only discovered by a diver in 2003. It's estimated to be more then 1,380 feet deep, which is frankly terrifying.
![[The Taam Ja' blue hole is deeper than some of the tallest man-made buildings]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2024/04/JF-US-DEEPEST-BLUE-HOLE-MAP-GRAPHIC.jpg?strip=all&w=586)
Okay, so the Gates of Hell isn't the official name for this hole, but it's appropriate given that it's been burning for decades. The Darvaza gas crater is located in Turkmenistan, and is effectively a huge fiery pit. It's a natural gas field that has collapsed into a crater, and the supply of gases keeps the fire raging.
![[The mysterious underwater hole descends deep into the seabed]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/fa2992b4-c3df-45a4-9a03-321a81f22e41.jpg?strip=all&w=931)
The origins of the pit are unclear, but it's believed that the pit was set on fire to prevent gas emissions. In 2022, then-President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan announced a plot to extinguish the crater. But the crater remains ablaze to this day, and has become a tourist attraction.
![[The Darvaza gas crater is a fiery pit kept ablaze by a supply of natural gas]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/NINTCHDBPICT000683064763.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The crater is around 230 feet wide and 98 feet deep, so it's not the biggest hole on this list – but it's still very terrifying. The official name for the so-called "well to hell" is the Kola Superdeep Borehole SG-3 – but that's not as catchy. It's currently the deepest man-made hole on Earth, reaching a dizzying 40,230 feet below ground.
![[The so-called 'Gates of Hell' can be found in the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/06/NINTCHDBPICT000704030138.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
