A desert well in Muthanna that folklore turned into a legend

MUTHANNA — A well in the desert near al-Salman draws researchers, tourists and explorers with stories of a fallen meteorite, underground channels running more than 100 kilometers and a man who survived days at its bottom. Geologists describe it as a natural groundwater drainage channel.

Known as al-Wajaja Well, or the Flame of Fire, it lies about five kilometers from al-Salman and is roughly 15 meters deep. “Popular accounts say it was formed by a meteorite that fell at the site, and residents linked its name to the glow of fire, but this story remains among inherited legends,” historical researcher Abdul Amir Shannan told 964media. Openings in the soil channel water into underground passages fed by groundwater, he said, and nearby waterways suggest water has collected there for a long time.

Studies from the 1940s recorded tribal beliefs that the well connected to other water sources. One account held that a vessel dropped into it was later recovered at Ain Sayd, more than 100 kilometers away.

The well runs through local memory. Shannan cited the story of Mankhi Jakhiri of the al-Ziyad tribe, who climbed down in 1953 out of severe thirst, was injured and could not get out; residents found him after his dead horse led them to the spot. The writer Mohammed Khudayyir set a passage of his book “Basrayatha” at the well, describing a prisoner who escaped from al-Salman prison, hid there and crossed the desert to al-Zubair with a tribe’s help. Khudayyir later said the account was fiction.

Groundwater levels have fallen in recent years and the sides of the well are at risk of collapse, Shannan said. Attempts to use its water for farming failed because it was too saline.