In 1996, a USGS researcher photographed something that looks like it came from another world: an opening in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park where you can see, in real time, lava flowing underground.
The place is called West Kamokuna Skylight and forms when the roof of a lava tube collapses, revealing the fire flowing below. The volcanologist Laszlo Kestay, of the USGS Astrogeology Science Center, explains that some people simply call it “the Gates of Hell” 🔥😳. The twisted shapes surrounding the opening are pahoehoe lava that cooled after cascading over the edge — and your brain, trained to see faces and bodies in everything, may mistake them for human silhouettes.
That’s why no one can approach freely: the air coming out of there is scorching, and the roof could collapse again at any moment. Fascinating to see in a photo, deadly to explore in person.