The Well to Hell hoax

The “Well to Hell” hoax is a popular urban legend that has been circulating on the internet for over ten years, Its provenance is older than that, however, with the tale first appearing in English through a 1989 dispatch created by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. This source had picked up the story from Finnish newspaper reports that claimed scientists drilling at the Kola Peninsula, Siberia, had broken through to hell.

The anatomy of a tall tale
The legend held that, after having drilled a hole nine miles deep, the Soviets hit a pocket of air. 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 a balmy 2000 Degrees Fahrenheit - searing heat from a veritable chamber of fire from which screams of the damned could be heard.

American tabloids soon ran the story, and sound files - recordings of those alleged supplications of the damned - began appearing on various sites around the web. As the legend spread, individuals took liberties with it. In particular, a Norwegian teacher, disgusted with what he perceived to be mass gullibility, decided to augment the tale.

Age Rendalen claimed not only that the cursed well was real, but that a bat-like apparition had risen out of it before blazing a trail across the Russian sky. Rendalen set out to leave ample clues he was perpetrating a hoax, deliberately mistranslating an article from his own country and including both the original - an insignificant piece about a building inspector - and his own creative take on it with the letter he sent to a religious circular.

Renalen ended the letter with 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. The enhanced story circulated through small Christian publications, apparently without anyone checking its veracity, before landing back in the lap of the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Was any of it true?
As it turns out, part of the legend is true: Russians scientists had, in fact, drilled a hole about eight miles deep in Kola, and found some interesting geological anomalies. Neither the Devil nor his minions made an appearance, however.