Are these 5 real places the gates of hell? Scientists offer evidence of portals to purgatory and beyond

“Hell on earth” may not be just an exaggeration.

Scattered across the globe are various places that scientists believe may be entrances to the underworld, ranging from a volcanic “ferro” in Iceland to an underwater cave filled with victims of human sacrifice.

For our purposes, the underworld will encompass a number of different theologies, although the lion’s share is important in Christianity.

Best of all, you can “go to hell” and visit the five so-called portals beyond purgatory yourself.

hell

Few places seem more synonymous with the underworld than Gehenna, which is the Greek word for “hell” in the New Testament.

The site — whose name derives from the Hebrew Ge Hinnom, meaning “Valley of Hinnom” — was an actual valley outside the walls of old Jerusalem where the ancient Israelites would burn children as sacrifices to the Ammonite god Moloch.

In fact, the image of burning bodies inspired the concept of “fire” in Jewish and Christian theology.

This way of disposing of corpses may have contributed to the site’s diabolical connotations.

“In the ancient world (whether Greek, Roman, or Jewish), the worst punishment a person could experience after death was to be denied a decent burial,” New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman previously wrote in Time . “Jesus developed this view into a disgusting scenario: the corpses of those excluded from the kingdom would be thrown unceremoniously into the most profane dumping ground on the planet.”

When the Bible was translated into other languages, Gehenna was replaced by the word “hell,” meaning that this real place is as close to hell on Earth as one can get.

Hell, Michigan – eat your heart out.

Hierapolis

Hierapolis is a portal to the afterlife both figuratively and literally—in that it can actually kill people who enter.

Located in present-day Turkey, the ancient Greek metropolis has a passage leading to a cave-like cave in an open arena, the Daily Mail reported.

According to ancient storytellers, priests would carry sacrificial animals through the door, known as Pluto’s Gate, where the animals would die.

“[The] the space is filled with a cloudy and dark vapor, so dense that the bottom can hardly be discerned… Animals that enter … die immediately,” said the ancient philosopher Strabo about 2,000 years ago. “Even the bulls, when they enter it, fall and are taken out dead. We threw ourselves into the sparrows, which immediately fell dead.”

Sometimes even priests would follow their destiny or experience extreme hallucinations, according to Fodor’s Travel.

This so-called toxic death trap seemed like a myth until 2013, when archaeologists discovered the opening of the carved arch in the Temple of Pluto, with fumes rising from the thermal springs below like an underground gas chamber.

“These carbon dioxide fumes can kill birds and other small animals that get too close to this ‘satanic temple,’ making it one of the scariest gates of hell on Earth,” the travel guide says.

Iron

Those who drive the gravel road to this Icelandic volcano venture on the highway to hell.

Medieval Christians claimed that the snow-capped mountain, which stands nearly 4,900 feet, is one of the gateways to the nether realm. The Icelandic word “Hekla” refers to a short cloak with a hood, which can reflect the wispy clouds that constantly cover its top.

Volcanoes are often seen as real-life hellholes because of the molten rock erupting beneath their surface.

People’s fears were seemingly confirmed in 1104 when Hekla erupted with a Volcanic Eruption Index (VEI) of 5 – the same rating as Mount St. The deadly eruption of Helens in 1980.

The 11th century eruption was so bombastic that more than half of Iceland was hit by rocks and ash.

In 1180, a Cistercian monk named Herbert de Clairvaux declared Hecla deadlier than Mount Etna in Italy.

“The famous fiery cauldron of Sicily, which men call the chimney of hell … that cauldron is asserted to be like a small furnace compared to this great hell,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, the 16th-century German scholar Caspar Peucer claimed that the gates of hell could be found in the “bottomless abyss of Hekla Fell”.

Actun Tunichil Muknal

The road to perdition is not limited to the Old World. Case in point: Belize’s Actun Tunichil Muknal—literally “Stone Tomb Cave”—which lies more than three miles underground.

While that might seem “underground” enough on its own, the subterranean labyrinth is filled with the remains of children as young as 4, some of whom have been calcified as props in an Indiana Jones movie.

Archaeologists believe the cenote — or pit — was revered as an entrance to Xibalba, the “heavy metal” version of hell in Mayan theology, according to Fodor’s.

The afterlife was described as a terrifying labyrinth filled with rivers of blood and scorpions, with demonic beings lurking around every corner.

The descendants, however, were thought to have been sacrificed during the 10th century, at a time when apocalyptic natural disasters such as droughts were hastening the decline of the Mayan Empire.

They believed they could placate the rulers of Xibalba so that the dry spells would stop.

“Among the Maya, we see almost no—almost none—human sacrifice until the Late Classic period. [the 8th and 9th Centuries CE]”, Holley Moyes, a professor and cave expert from the University of California, told the BBC. “And I think they start doing that because they’re in the middle of a drought and they’re trying to up the ante.”

St. Patrick’s Purgatory

Now called Station Island, the iconic pilgrimage site in northwest Ireland was once considered the edge of the known world.

According to a Latin text written around 1184, Christ showed St. Patrick this pit in purgatory so he could use it as a cautionary tale to persuade the stubborn Irish to convert, according to the Smithsonian.

Anyone who descended into this hell of fire and demons would witness the consequences of avoiding Christianity first hand.

Accounts of St. Patrick’s purgatory varies, but it is said to have been a modest-sized cave where smoke was traditionally inhaled to facilitate a spiritual awakening.

The story was instrumental in changing Western European perceptions of purgatory, transforming it from a mere idea to an actual physical location.