The river had been only a legend in Peru until in 2011 when geoscientist Andrés Ruzo saw the river with his own eyes.
The mysterious 4-mile-long river located in Mayantuyacu can actually burn its victims alive.
Ruzo first heard about the river when his grandfather told him a story about how Spanish conquistadors killed the last Inca emperor.
The story goes that after the murder, the Spanish conquistador headed into the Amazon rainforest in search of gold.
When they returned, the men spoke of a terrifying experience that involved poisoned water, man-eating snakes and a river that boils from below.
As a PhD student in geophysics at Southern Methodist University, Ruzo wanted to find the river for himself.
During a TED Talk, he said “I began asking that question. Could the boiling river exist?, Ruzo said during a Ted Talk.
“I asked colleagues from universities, the government, oil, gas and mining companies, and the answer was a unanimous no.
“And this makes sense. You see, boiling rivers do exist in the world, but they’re generally associated with volcanoes. You need a powerful heat source to produce such a large geothermal manifestation.
“Dipping my hand into the river would give me third-degree burns in less than half a second.
“As we have hot blood running through our veins and arteries, so, too, the Earth has hot water running through its cracks and faults.”