AHC: Early Door to Hell

The Door to Hell is a burning field of natural gas in Turkmenistan that has been burning since 1971 after the Soviets set it on fire. Since it seems like a perfect area for superstitions to appear around, what would it take to create the Door, either on purpose or accident, before 1900, and would it have a major effect on culture if it did? The earlier it is the better.
 

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I've been there and that place is way way more impressive in person than in photos. A hundred yards downwind it was like sticking your head in an oven. Flames were easily 40 ft high in the bottom of the pit and would draw back before suddenly flaring up in big plumes of fire.

The cavern was remarkably close to the surface, to the point that a natural collapse is entirely possible. Or the formation of the Door much earlier is pretty easy if someone decides to dig in that exact spot and has a candle lit. From what I've read and seen, a pre-19th c. formation would be perfectly reasonable if someone decided to dig deeply there for some reason. If fact that would be a fascinating POD; someone, perhaps a holy man predicts a watersource there and someone digs a well, but when they dig the ground collapses and the Door forms. No way its formation doesn't take on religious connotations.

I think the reaction over the centuries would be interesting though. I can certainly see it becoming a pilgrimage site if it's formed early enough and the hole is small enough that you could build a wall around the whole thing. A chapel or mosque opening onto the flames with an exterior wall surrounding the pit would certainly be dramatic. The entire structure would be lit up from within by the flames (I may have seriously considered this before). I can't see it having a major effect on culture outside of the immediate area but it would certainly be a draw for pilgrims and travelers. It's impressive enough that I genuinely believe that any holy site that was established there pre-20th c would survive indefinitely. Any buildings built on the site are pretty much guaranteed to be in the world heritage site list. On the downside, it's literally in the middle of nowhere.

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Tiny people and jeeps included for scale.
 
Um, don't the Zoroastrians have temples built around natural fire-pits with 'perpetual flames' ??

IIRC, didn't the Ancient Greeks & Romans have something similar, but burning sulphuretted fumes, at the notorious Phlegrean Fields just West of Naples ??

( FWIW, is or isn't the rather arcuate 'Bay of Naples' the drowned caldera of a super-volcano ?? )
 
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