Baxter County Judge Mickey Pendergrass said officials are still investigating the mysterious midway hole that flared into an enormous 12-foot flame a few weeks ago. The flame dissipated then burned at about 8 feet high for more than 40 minutes.
Theories of Satan, methane and meteorites spread quickly but were all shot down after further investigation. “As far as the spiritual Satan goes, we’ve ruled that out,” Pendergrass said. “He didn’t come up and stick his pitchfork in the ground and blow that hole out.”
Pendergrass said he suspected methane but investigators have found no source of it.
Investigations by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality have ruled out methane, underground fuel storage tanks, natural gas and leaking above-ground gasoline tanks.
The volleyball-sized hole has reportedly been open for more than 10 years and residents say it’s been known to be a groundhog burrow. Based on results from Geological Survey, the hole was determined to be an animal hole but there are no fuel or utility lines in that area to cause a potential fire.
Donald Tucker, Chief of Midway Fire Protection District said the flame was about 8 feet high when he arrived shortly after the fire started around 4:30 am. “It was burning red-orange color, about 2 feet in diameter. It came up about crotch high and spread out to that width.”
He describes right before the fire retreated into the hole, it shrunk to a flame about waist high for a few minutes. “Then it just went down the hole and went out. For a little bit, there was just a little bit of glow of fire down in the hole.” He also stated, “The hole acted as a chimney. It was drawing air from a lower elevation. … Whatever it was, it burned up its fuel and went out.”
Soil samples have been taken from the hole in hopes to uncover some clue as to why the bizarre event happened. The sample results have yet to be analyzed by a laboratory to determine what actually happened.
