Case of Mysterious Spewing Fiery Hole in Arkansas Solved

This is a follow-up to a story I did a couple of years ago about a mysterious hole that was seen spewing fire in the small community of Midway, Arkansas.

Mysterious Fiery Hole

According to the local fire department there, they received a call on the morning of September 20, 2018, about a fire shooting out of a hole about two feet wide. Fire officials on the scene reported that the fire with 12-foot flames lasted around 45 minutes and when the fire finally went out crews began investigating the scorched hole what they discovered was that the hole was around three and a half feet deep with a 45-degree turn near the bottom.

The first thing that came to my mind is this sounds like Turkmenistan in the Karakum desert tabbed as the "Gates of Hell," because of the fire it spews from its enormous crater.

Upon further investigation, authorities thought the fire in the hole may have been caused by a natural gas line that may have burst but there were no gas lines in the area the fire was reported. It was also believed to be a meteorite or space debris that fell from the sky and lightning was reported the night before it happened but all of that was ruled out as a possibility.

A formidable gas company in Arkansas was called in to investigate the incident and they never found anything that could have caused the eerie hole and fire. They did conclude that it smelled like burned plastic wiring around the area.

So what was it?

According to a story published in 2018 by TV station KY3 in Missouri, the mystery of the fiery hole was solved. The Arkansas Army National Guard 61st Civil Support tested soil samples that showed the contents contained sulfur dioxide, ethylene oxide, toluene, and xylene similar to what Sterno warming fuel contains.

Baxter County officials believed that the chemicals were not natural and were most likely started by an individual as maybe a prank. A camera was lowered into the belly of the hole to see where it might go and the results determined it went all the way to a nearby creek. Meanwhile, geologists scoped the hole with a camera and determined it was likely created by an animal.

So, the mystery has been solved but I'm sure these residents living in Midway would probably beg to differ.

Below are a couple of videos of when the fiery hole was discovered.