Stories from Darvaza, Deserto de Karakum, Turcomenistão

Darvaza Crater: the burning gate and the history satellites rewrote

In the Karakum Desert, a gas-fed crater became the “Door to Hell.” Satellite imagery shows it existed by 1972, yet persistent fire probably began only in 1987-1988. This dossier follows its uncertain origin, a scientific descent in 2013, and the methane that can still escape as the flames fade.

2,392 km · Kholat Syakhl

Dyatlov Pass: nine lives, a tent and the limits of evidence

Nine ski hikers died in the Urals in February 1959 after leaving their tent in the snow. The Soviet file, a Russian review in 2020, and avalanche studies in 2021-2022 provide concrete clues, but no record of the final night itself. A dossier about the people, the traces, and the uncertainty.

2,498 km · Pripyat

Chernobyl: the night of Reactor Four and the decades that followed

In the early hours of 26 April 1986, a test at Chernobyl’s Reactor Four ended in explosions and a release of radioactive material. This dossier follows the technical sequence, delayed public warning, emergency work, measured health effects and uncertain projections, through to the continuing challenges of confinement.

3,209 km · Espoo

Lake Bodom: the night, the evidence and the acquittal

Four teenagers camped beside Finland’s Lake Bodom in June 1960. Three were killed and one survived injured. Decades later, shoes, a preserved tent and DNA brought the case back to court; the 2005 trial ended in acquittal. No killer has been identified.