Well of Hell

Cave explorers from Oman have become the first individuals to descend to the bottom of the 367-foot (112 meters) deep “Well of Hell” sinkhole in Yemen, which many local people believe is a genie-infested gateway to the underworld, according to news reports.

The natural sinkhole, officially known as the Well of Barhout, has an eerily circular entrance that spans 98 feet (30 m) in diameter and is located in the middle of the desert in al-Mahra province in eastern Yemen, close to the border with Oman.
Amateur cave explorers have entered the sinkhole before, but until now nobody was known to have made it all the way to the bottom.

Last week, a team of 10 explorers from the Omani Caves Exploration Team (OCET) explored the Well of Barhout using a pulley system that lowered eight of the members to the bottom while the remaining two stayed at the top. A small crowd of intrepid spectators gathered to watch the event, despite local fears surrounding the sinkhole. A video of the explorers descending into the cave was shared by the BBC.

“Passion drove us to do this,” Mohammed al-Kindi, a geology professor at the German University of Technology in Oman who was part of the OCET team, told French news agency AFP. “And we felt that this is something that will reveal a new wonder and part of Yemeni history.”

The explorers reported finding waterfalls, snakes, dead animals, stalagmites and cave pearls, but unsurprisingly they did not find any genies or a doorway into hell. 

The exact age of the Well of Barhout is currently unknown, but it is likely millions of years old, according to AFP. 

Many local myths have sprung up to explain the sinkhole, most of which describe it as a prison for jinn, or genies, which causes bad luck as a result. Some people also believe that if they get too close, the sinkhole can pull people inside; others claim that the gaping hole is a supervolcano capable of destroying the Earth, according to AFP, although there is no scientific evidence to back this up. 

In the past, people have also reported a foul smell rising from the large hole, something that spurred stories about it being a gateway to hell, leading to its nickname.

However, in reality, the Well of Barhout is a fairly typical sinkhole.

As the OCET team descended into the sinkhole, they arrived on an uneven and jagged floor covered in stalagmites, some of which reached 30 feet (9 m) tall, according to Omani newspaper Muscat Daily. Some parts of the floor were also covered in cave pearls, which are also a type of speleothems — structures in caves, such as stalagmites and stalactites, that form from the gradual build-up of minerals, such as calcium carbonate, from dripping water.

Live Science