If you see a hole in soil, you might think someone has drilled it or maybe you're on the territory of some mole. But it can be much worse... What if it turns out to be a sinkhole of unknown origin? There's a mysterious huge hole in the desert of Yemen that releases an awful odor. And no-one knows the reason.
The Well of Barhout is a huge hole located in the desert of Yemen. According to the authorities, the well’s depth may be up to 250 metres. However, no-one's ever reached the bottom. Officials have no idea what's hiding inside this hole. Let's explore the world's most terrible holes created by nature!
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Preview photo credit: An aerial view taken on June 6, 2021 shows the Well of Barhout: By AFP/East News, https://www.eastnews.ru/picture/90428635/1 Animation is created by Bright Side.
00:00Ancient as the world, a huge bottomless hole releases disgusting smells filling the area around.
00:07Strange sounds come from the depths of this mysterious pit.
00:10People are too afraid to walk nearby and discuss this hole out loud.
00:14If you look down there, you'll see nothing but ominous darkness.
00:19All this sounds like a plot from some horror movie, but this is reality.
00:24This creepy hole really exists, and now we're going there to find out what it is.
00:30You get on a plane and fly to Southwest Asia.
00:33Then you go to the south of the Arabian Peninsula.
00:35You get in the car and drive to the place called the Well of Barhut.
00:39Nobody agrees to go with you, because they believe this place is so dangerous.
00:44It's located in the desert of Yemen's Almara province.
00:48To get there, you drive through dunes and lifeless plains.
00:51The closer you get to the hole, the quieter it becomes around.
00:55There's almost no vegetation, and you don't see any animals.
00:58Only a few birds fly by.
01:01Your GPS says you're almost there.
01:04You stop the car, get out, and an unpleasant smell immediately sneaks into your nose.
01:09You can't figure out what it is.
01:11Some people think the hole smells like rotten eggs.
01:14You cover your nose with a bandage and head forward.
01:17You still feel the odor even through the fabric.
01:20You take a few steps forward and finally see it.
01:23A giant hole in the middle of the desert.
01:26It's 100 feet wide.
01:28This is almost the size of a basketball court.
01:31But it's not the size that scares you, but the darkness.
01:34It's so black that you can't see anything.
01:37It's like someone spilled a spot of black paint in the middle of Golden Saint.
01:40The sun's shining brightly, but the hole absorbs all the sun's rays.
01:46People flew over this place in a helicopter.
01:49Photographers use the most powerful lenses for their cameras to see at least something.
01:53But they caught nothing but darkness.
01:55Even a special drone was floating directly over the pit but couldn't notice anything.
02:00And the darkness is so deep that no one has been able to find out the exact depth yet.
02:04According to approximate calculations, the depth of the hole is somewhere between 320 and 820 feet.
02:12This is almost half as tall as the Empire State Building.
02:16You throw a stone into the hole.
02:18Hear it knocking against the walls.
02:20With each knock, the sound becomes quieter.
02:23You can't hear the moment when it touches the bottom.
02:26You decide to spend the night in the car next to the hole.
02:29For several hours, you toss and turn in the seat and can't sleep.
02:33Finally, you manage to do that.
02:36And you're having a real nightmare.
02:38Terrible monsters come out of the hole and surround you.
02:41Fortunately, the first sun rays wake you up.
02:45Locals also believe this place is a prison for some evil creatures.
02:49They scream and emit an unpleasant smell.
02:52You hear strange, scary sounds and can't explain their nature.
02:56The smell is so disgusting that you get an attack of nausea.
02:59So you move away from the hole a few feet to the side.
03:03At the moment, the giant hole in Yemen is one of the most poorly studied and mysterious wonders of nature.
03:10Scientists still don't know where it came from, what's hidden inside, and how old it is.
03:15Many people say the hole is millions of years old.
03:18Perhaps it'd been formed before the time when dinosaurs walked on Earth.
03:21The worst thing is, is that it's almost impossible to explore the hole.
03:26There's very poor ventilation inside and almost no oxygen.
03:30This makes any research dangerous and expensive.
03:34Locals are afraid to talk out loud about the hole because it can bring bad luck and troubles to life.
03:39Also, some legends say the well of Bar-Hoot threatens all life on the planet and can cause the end of the world.
03:46For centuries, there were legends that evil spirits that live down there sometimes get out.
03:51However, there are also more scientific hypotheses.
03:56Maybe construction works created the hole.
03:59It could be soil drilling or mining.
04:01All this could have caused vibrations inside the Earth's crust and create the deep well.
04:05Experts say that erosion of limestone or moving geological salts or brines could have created this pit.
04:11There's also a scientific theory similar to the legend about the end of the world.
04:15It says the big hole is the mouth of a dormant supervolcano.
04:19At any moment, it can wake up and spew a million tons of lava and volcanic ash.
04:24Maybe further research will be able to solve the mystery of the hole.
04:28Now we're going to another mysterious hole.
04:31This time, it's located not on the ground, but in the water.
04:34After the hot sands of Yemen, you plunge into the cool waters of the coast of Belize.
04:39Here, you're going to visit the Great Blue Hole.
04:42You're sailing on a boat.
04:44The water around is blue, but as soon as you get into the hole's territory, the water becomes darker.
04:49The huge black pit lies right in the middle of the Blue Sea.
04:53It's 1,000 feet wide and 400 feet deep.
04:56The Statue of Liberty could easily fit inside.
04:59The most interesting thing is that the hole has a perfectly round shape.
05:03It's like someone created it, artificially, and used it as a huge storage.
05:08For a long time, it was believed the hole was created with outer space technologies or by representatives of an ancient disappeared civilization.
05:16Unlike the pit in the middle of the desert, you can go down into this one.
05:20And some people did it.
05:23The theory about the artificial origin of this hole was rejected in 1971.
05:27That year, the famous researcher Jacques Cousteau went down there and proved the Great Blue Hole was created by nature.
05:34It happened hundreds of thousands or maybe millions of years ago.
05:37Thanks to the structure of the stalactites' formations discovered inside, he found out about a strong earthquake that occurred on the planet about 200 million years ago.
05:47There was a shift in the tectonic platform.
05:50After that, the ground collapsed more and formed a funnel.
05:53It happened at the end of the Ice Age when the ice began to melt.
05:56But this isn't just a deep pit.
05:59There are many underground caves inside.
06:01It's like a long maze where you can easily get lost.
06:04To dive into this underwater cave, you'll need a large supply of oxygen and a team of professional divers who know these mazes well.
06:13So, you put on a scuba suit and two oxygen tanks and go down into the water.
06:18In the beginning, you meet a lot of marine life, several species of turtles, sharks, octopi, and more than 60 species of corals.
06:29And the deeper you go down, the emptier the hole becomes.
06:32On the smooth walls, you notice entrances to intricate mazes.
06:37Flooded caves are interesting with stalactites and stalagmites.
06:41But you don't risk going far into the caves.
06:43Just like inside the Egyptian pyramids, some people couldn't find their way back here.
06:48So, you decide to go down to the very bottom of the hole.
06:52But you can't do this without a very special vessel.
06:55So, you need to pay a lot of money and rent a submarine.
06:58Or, you can sit at home and watch the dive into the hole online.
07:01At the end of 2018, a team of scientists went on an expedition to the bottom of the blue hole and made a live broadcast.
07:09They managed to take new photos inside and created the first 3D map of this place.
07:15Closer to the bottom, they discovered new types of stalactites in the form of icicles.
07:20These stalactites had been here even before the big blue hole filled with water.
07:24Also, a thick layer of hydrogen sulfide was found deep inside.
07:28This substance completely absorbs sunlight.
07:31That's why you find yourself in absolute darkness.
07:35And in this darkness, in the lower part of the pit, scientists found remains of mollusks, turtles, and snails.
07:42Sometimes marine creatures got here, but can't get out because of a lack of oxygen.
07:47But the most unexpected thing that scientists found there belongs to people.
07:52Somehow, a plastic bottle got to the deepest part of the hole.
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