Editing Well to Hell

{{use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Short description|Urban legend involving a borehole in Siberia that purportedly led to hell}}
{{for|the sinkhole in Yemen|Well of Barhout}}
{{refimprove|date=September 2012}}
The "'''Well to Hell'''", also known as the "'''Siberian hell sounds'''",  is an [[urban legend]] regarding a putative [[borehole]] in the [[Siberia|Siberian region]] of [[Russia]], which was purportedly drilled so deep that it broke through into [[Hell]]. It was first attested in English as a 1989 broadcast by an American domestic TV broadcaster, the [[Trinity Broadcasting Network]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mikkelson |first=Barbara Mikkelson, David |date=1998-12-31 |title=The Well to Hell |url=https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/the-well-to-hell/ |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=Snopes |language=en}}</ref>

==Legend and basis==
The legend holds that a team of Soviet engineers purportedly led by an individual named "Mr. Azakov" in an unnamed place in [[Siberia]] had drilled a hole that was {{convert|14.4|km|mi|0|abbr=in}} deep before breaking through to a cavity. Intrigued by this unexpected discovery, they lowered an extremely heat-tolerant [[microphone]], along with other sensory equipment, into the well. The temperature deep within was {{convert|1000|C|F|sigfig=2}}, heat from a chamber of fire from which screaming could be heard.

The [[Soviet Union]] had, in fact, drilled a hole more than {{convert|12|km|mi|abbr=in}} deep, the [[Kola Superdeep Borehole]], located not in Siberia but on the [[Kola Peninsula]], which shares borders with [[Norway]] and [[Finland]]. Upon reaching the depth of {{convert|12,262|m|abbr=in}} in 1989, geological anomalies were found, although they reported no supernatural encounters.<ref name=snopes>{{cite web |url=http://www.snopes.com/religion/wellhell.asp |title=The Well to Hell |last1=Mikkelson |first1=Barbara |date=9 January 2016 |website=[[Snopes]] }}</ref>  The recording of "tormented screams" was later found to be looped together from various sound effects, sometimes identified as the soundtrack of the 1972 movie ''[[Baron Blood (film)|Baron Blood]]''.<ref name=Skeptoid>{{Skeptoid|id=4307|number=307|title=The Siberian Hell Sounds|date=April 24, 2012|access-date=14 September 2012}}</ref>

==Propagation==
The story was reported to first have been published by the Finnish newspaper ''Ammennusastia'', a journal published by a group of [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] [[Christianity|Christians]] from {{ill|Leväsjoki|qid=50338840|s=1|v=sup}}, a village in the municipality of [[Siikainen]] in [[Western Finland Province|Western Finland]]. [[Rich Buhler]], who interviewed the editors, found that the story had been based on recollections of a letter printed in the feature section of a newspaper called ''Etelä Suomen'' (possibly the ''[[Etelä-Suomen Sanomat]]''). When contacting the letter's author, Buhler found that he had drawn from a story appearing in a Finnish Christian newsletter named ''Vaeltajat'', which had printed the story in July 1989. The newsletter's editor claimed that its origin had been a newsletter called ''Jewels of Jericho'', published by a group of [[Messianic Jews]] in [[California]]. Here, Buhler stopped tracing the origins any further.<ref name=buhler>{{cite web|first=Rich|last=Buhler|url=http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/d/drilltohellfacts.htm|title=Background on the Drilling to Hell story|date=March 16, 2015|access-date=2013-11-22|work=Truth or Fiction?}}</ref>

[[United States|American]] [[Tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloids]] soon ran the story, and sound files began appearing on various sites across the [[Internet]]. Sensational retellings of the legend can be found on YouTube, usually featuring the aforementioned ''Baron Blood'' sound effects.

===TBN involvement===
The story eventually made its way to the American Christian [[Trinity Broadcasting Network]] (TBN), which broadcast it on the network, claiming it to be proof of the [[Biblical literalism|literal]] existence of Hell.

Åge Rendalen, a [[Norway|Norwegian]] teacher, heard the story on TBN while visiting the United States. Disgusted with what he perceived to be mass gullibility, Rendalen decided to augment the tale at TBN's expense.<ref name=buhler/>

Rendalen wrote to the network, originally claiming that he disbelieved the tale but, upon his return to Norway, supposedly read a factual account of the story.<ref name=snopes/> According to Rendalen, the story claimed not only that the cursed well was real, but that a [[bat]]-like apparition (a common pictorial representation of [[demon]]s, such as in [[Michelangelo]]'s ''[[The Torment of Saint Anthony]]'' or the more recent [[Bat Boy (character)|Bat Boy]] by ''[[Weekly World News]]'') had risen out of it before blazing a trail across the Russian sky.<ref name=buhler/> To perpetuate his hoax, Rendalen deliberately mistranslated a trivial Norwegian article about a local building inspector into the story, and submitted both the original Norwegian article and the English "translation" to TBN. Rendalen also included his real name, phone number, and address, as well as those of a pastor friend who knew about the hoax and had agreed to expose it to anyone who called seeking verification.<ref name=buhler/>

However, TBN did nothing to verify Rendalen's claims, and aired the story as proof of the validity of the original story.<ref name=snopes/>

==Alternative versions==
Since its publicity, many alternative versions of the Well to Hell story have been published.<ref name=Skeptoid /> In 1992, the U.S. tabloid ''[[Weekly World News]]'' published an alternative version of the story, which was set in Alaska where thirteen miners were killed after [[Satan]] came roaring out of Hell.<ref name=snopes />

==See also==
* [[Darvaza gas crater]]
* [[Mel's Hole]]
* ''[[Nine Miles Down]]'', a film inspired by the urban legend
* ''[[The Devil Below]]'', a 2021 horror movie about a group of people looking for a burning coal seam. They discuss the Well to Hell.
* [[Stull, Kansas]]
* ''[[The Superdeep]]'', a 2020 Russian horror film directed by Arseny Syuhin, based on the real-life Kola Superdeep Borehole.
* "[[Evermore Darkly|Transmission from Hell]]", a song on the album ''Evermore Darkly...'' inspired by the legend.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Urban Legends|last=Brunvand|first=Jan Harold|author-link=Jan Harold Brunvand|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|year=2012|isbn=978-1-59884-720-8|page=703|url={{GBurl|id=9xOb-19lXx8C}}}}
* {{cite book|title=The Mythology of ''Supernatural''|last=Brown|first=Nathan Robert|publisher=[[Penguin Publishing]]|year=2011|isbn=978-1-101-51752-9|chapter=Where the Hell is Hell, Anyway?|chapter-url={{GBurl|id=1lR_UXIkBfgC|pg=PT93}}}}
* {{cite book|title=Satanism Today|last=Lewis|first=James R.|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|year=2001|isbn=1-57607-292-4|page=110|url={{GBurl|id=LxCwyChmJrAC|p=110}}}}
* {{cite news|url=https://psmag.com/environment/crater-russia-underworld-netherworld-siberia-hell-isnt-real-86791|title=Hell Isn't for Real|last=Heaney|first=Katie|work=[[Pacific Standard]]|date=2014-07-28|access-date=2016-03-07}}
* {{cite news|url=https://www.deseret.com/1991/5/15/18920868/story-of-the-well-to-hell-digs-up-chuckles-not-screams-of-the-damned/|title=Story of the Well to Hell Digs up Chuckles – Not Screams of the Damned|last=Brunvand|first=Jan Harold|date=1991-05-15|work=[[Deseret News]]|access-date=2016-03-07}}

{{Urban legends}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Well To Hell Hoax, The}}
[[Category:Hell in popular culture]]
[[Category:Hoaxes in science]]
[[Category:Paranormal hoaxes]]
[[Category:Russia in fiction]]
[[Category:American urban legends]]