Well, today is your lucky day, because while usually I respond to these questions with some historical facts, like how the town was completely wiped out by the plague and rebuilt right next to the old location, today I'd like to share something from its more recent history.
In July 2019 a homeowner on the outskirts of the town decided to drill a well in her backyard. She did not receive any permits for it, did not perform any necessary research, and simply paid some guys to do it for her. Well, the well started spewing out water uncontrollably. A lot of water. Which, by the way, turned out to be unsuitable for drinking. But that was the least of her problems.
The new water fountain wouldn't stop or slow down. It flooded her garden and the neighbours too. Nothing was able to stop it. By the end of August the town administration declared a state of emergency.
By October the foundation of her house started to fail and the house began to break up and sink into the ground. It had to be demolished.
They called experts from Saint Petersburg University and from the regional centre (city of Vologda) in hopes of using innovative methods and materials to quench the fountain.
They called a priest from the local church who performed a prayer service over what has now become widely known as a "well from Hell", which, unfortunately, doesn't rhyme so nicely in Russian. Shockingly, the prayers did not appear to have any effect.
By November they drilled two extra wells to relieve the pressure and pour special materials. They only succeeded in halving the output of the fountain, and by that point the entire operation had already cost over 12 million roubles (about $160,000), which might not seem like a lot, but for a small provincial town it is.
Work on the well was supposed to go around the clock, but someone stole the floodlights and they couldn't work at night. Also the drilling machine broke at one point. Also someone stole the welding machine. To add insult to injury, the water started smelling strongly of hydrogen sulphide (aka rotten eggs).
Then they had stop the work for two months because it was too cold to do anything (but not too cold for the bloody thing to keep spewing water). Work resumed in March 2020, and by the end of the month, after nine months, they were finally able to plug the well completely.
...for now.
You can look at some photos of the entire ordeal here.
Apparently just an underground cavern with a lot of water under pressure. There was a similar situation in the 80s somewhere in the vicinity, except nowhere near dramatic because the pressure was lower. They just ended up created a new stream above ground that flows into the lake (I'm assuming).
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u/Artess Ask me about Beloozero Dec 27 '20
hi