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Visiting The Gates Of Hell All Over The World (PHOTOS)

First Posted: 12/21/11 01:54 PM ET Updated: 12/21/11 01:54 PM ET

Grandma may be breathless over her trip to the Holy Land and your cousin may want to go snowboarding at Heavenly, but most people receive more personal recommendations to go to one place more than any other. That place is, of course, Hell.

Unfortunately, the people who issue the common directive to "Go to Hell," are normally woefully unspecific about how to get there. It turns out that Hell, like Carnegie Hall, is accessible to people willing to follow two very different sets of directions. The easiest way to get there is to lie, cheat, steal, fornicate, blaspheme and wait for the inevitable. The problem with this approach is that you might not get a round-trip ticket. The second way is a bit more complicated: Find the gates to Hell and walk right through.

Legend has long held that there are passageways that lead to the underworld. In the spirit of Halloween, we've found 10 possible entrances to the ultimate pit of despair ranging from the innocuous (a lovely town in Norway) to the decidedly warmer (a perpetual fire in Turkmenistan).

In case Virgil isn't available, we would also suggest a little preparatory reading. Hell, rather unsurprisingly, has an excellent website where you can make reservations for some excellent acts and there are also online and print guides to the only neighborhood that never gentrifies.

For maximum effect, play some Led Zeppelin while clicking through our guide to the ultimate bonfire.

Xibalba, Belize
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According the Popul Vuh, a sacred Mayan text, the dead entered Xibalba, the underworld, through a cave system only to confront rivers of scorpions and blood and a house filled with jaguars.
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Photo: Flickr: rapidtravelchai

 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
dmande6304
10:22 AM on 12/27/2011
They forgot Colchester CT
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
joran111
God and science DO coexist!
09:05 AM on 12/27/2011
"The easiest way to get there is to lie, cheat, steal, fornicate, blaspheme and wait for the inevitable." Actually, it's easier just to reject God's offer of a "free ticket" to Heaven. Without that ticket, it doesn't matter what you do, you'll still fall short of the requirements for entry.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
joran111
God and science DO coexist!
09:02 AM on 12/27/2011
Did someone just watch the "same" so-called documentary on History Channel? Old news.
09:05 AM on 12/27/2011
To whom are you speaking?
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
joran111
God and science DO coexist!
10:31 AM on 12/27/2011
The author of the article.
09:01 AM on 12/27/2011
I would have listed Rotorua, New Zealand ... truly the gates of hell.
08:30 AM on 12/27/2011
........they forgot the one on Pennsylvania Ave..........
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Tracee Collins
APATHY = COMPLICITY
09:56 PM on 12/21/2011
HELL---OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO??? You missed Stull, Kansas. The church in this little dent in the road spot is reputed to be one of the 7 portals of Hell. Sorry you missed it, HP.

http://www.washburn.edu/cas/art/cyoho/archive/KStravel/stull/
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
SoquiliAsgaya
12:31 PM on 12/23/2011
I used to attend a church where the pastor used to slobber out of both sides of the mouth yelling your going to haties, your going to haties. Turned out later at a service there I sat beside his son who was sticking and poking me with a pencil and I was squirming around and sounding off like a worm on a hot July noon and this pastor stopped the service and yelled at us and the pastors son quit and I moved way over. However, my ultra conservative mother told me she was imbarassed and I was going to gett'a whopp'in. Yep, It took 3 weeks of sweat'in bullets and she lit in on my with 3 sassafras switches together after I had to go and get them so naturally I got the smallest and thats why she put them all together at the same time. She caught me when I was wearing cut off blue jeans wearing flip flops.
Believe it or not but, those were the good ole days and our Mother shall not be replaced.