Enter the Spooky Abandoned PA Ghost Town That’s Always Burning
- Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:17pm by
Buck Sexton
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As you drive around America to see friends and family this Memorial Day weekend, you might pass within sight of a house that the locals claim is haunted, or perhaps a long abandoned sanitarium restricted to the public.
But if your travels take you through Pennsylvania, you be closer than you realize to the eerie ghost town of Centralia.
Dina Spector of Business Insider has drilled down into this once thriving coal-mining town to bring you a slideshow that shows what decades of neglect– and a constantly burning underground fire– can do to a quiet American town.
The fire remains something of a mystery. It was fifty years ago the underground blaze started. Some contemporary accounts claim that burning trash in a landfill near an abandoned strip mine ignited an exposed coal vein. The fire “then spread throughout a labyrinth of coal mines beneath the town, creating a widespread and constant smoldering just below the surface.”
As Dina Spector of Business Insider writes of this old mining ghost town:
The once bustling coal-mining town — then home to over 2,000 people — is now a smoldering expanse of overgrown streets, cracked pavement and charred trees. Everywhere, streams of toxic gas spew into the air from hundreds of fissures in the ground. In 1981, amid growing health concerns over dangerous levels of carbon monoxide, Centralia’s plight was launched onto the national radar when a 12-year-old boy fell into a sinkhole. Decades of intense underground heat was causing the pavement to crumble.
Following all that, Congress allocated over $42 million to get residents to move. Many houses were razed, but some residents remained adamant and wouldn’t budge from their hometown. There were only nine townspeople left as of 2010. And the underground blaze could feed off coal deposits for an estimated 250 years.
Warning signs like this are not uncommon in Centralia.
Here is another foreboding sign, warning of possible ground collapses that makes the area unsafe for driving.
If you think the signs are exaggerating, check out this cracked, broken, unstable stretch of road with smoke seeping out.
Oddly enough, this abandoned drive in movie theater looks like something out of a post-apocolyptic film.
One of the few remaining Centralia residences. Note the building sags to one side.
A lonely church, overlooking the town from a hillside.
A bird’s eye view of the town shows many more abandoned buildings and spooky areas of neglect.
And that’s just the areas that are aboveground. The maze of coal mines and tunnels below the surface would probably scare off even the most intrepid photographers.
Want to see more of the abandoned mining town of Centralia, as well as a few others spooky ghost sites across America? click here, or here for an abandoned Six Flags.
(h/t Business Insider)
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Comments (117)
moparcar
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 11:03pmLooks pretty much like Detroit to me and yes some areas of my old city of residense Rockford, Il.
Report Post »antiprogressive
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 2:59amIt‘s all Bush’s fault…
Report Post »Unix
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 9:40amWhy not flood the mines? Disperse halon into it? Just not worth it or what?
Report Post »Sarah Louise Palin - Part Time Politician, Full Time Parasite
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 9:56amIf the GOP has their way, today’s Republicans would turn most of the USA into areas like this town. Only the top 2% would live comfortably in a post-GOP ( aka apocalyptic) future. The rest of the people in this country will be dumpster-diving. The effing GOP has got to go!
Obama / Biden 2012
I’m Sarah Palin and I approve of this message!
Sarah Louise Palin - Part Time Politician, Full Time Parasite
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 10:02amIf the GOP had their way, most of the country would look like this. Only the top 2% would live comfortably. The remaining population will be dumpster diving for food scraps until the revolution comes to enforce social justice and balance out the earnings of common middle-class workers and the top 2%.
To the social justice revolution! Long may you run!
Obama / Biden 2012
I’m Sarah Palin and I approve this message!
sWampy
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 10:15amFunny, under every democrat this nation has known, the standard of living has gone down, while the rich have gotten richer. Under the GOP, the middle class grows, while those in poverty goes down, the complete opposite to your prediction. Just since the democrats took over in 2007, the number living in poverty has tripped, the number in the middle class is down 50% while the upper 5% on average have doubled their net worth, in just 5 years.
Report Post »Conservative for Political Dignity
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 10:48amTo Sarah Palin Impersonator:
Haha. You are so delusional it is funny. You are the same people that continually exclaimed, “Sarah Palin is not nearly experienced enough for the White House…” meanwhile, your god, Obama, had less experience. While she isn’t my choice, at least she doesn’t absolutely loathe everything America.
Report Post »On top of that you are completely delusional to the point you should be psychologically evaluated… “Oil and coal are terrible… We hate everything oil and coal.” – Newsflash: Oil is used to produce EVERYTHING you hold sacred in your comfortable life (produced by the imagination, freedom, and sweat of the free market principles that you wish to destroy).
I hate your kind. Not because you have different values and beliefs, but because you people preach tolerance while practicing intolerance and silencing your opposition at any cost – all while completely ignoring inconvenient things called facts. Open your eyes. The extreme liberal agenda’s scary methods and practices will most likely be used against you in the future if you get your way, become poverty stricken and in a third world America after a surprisingly short time with their policies, and then actually open your eyes… or will you use your go to line, “It is Bush’s fault“ OR ”we haven’t had the chance to implement enough of our vision.”
Read History Dummy.
NancyBee
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 11:26amConservative………Way to Tell the impersonator……way to go…I love you!
Report Post »Jaycen
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 12:59pmI wonder if this town was the inspiration for the horror/thriller “Silent Hill”.
Report Post »little big man
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 3:05pm“”"”Sarah Louise Palin – Part Time Politician, Full Time Parasite
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 9:56am”"”"”"”
Funny this jack a$$ is ******* and moaning about republicans, but the mine fire started in 1962 dumb a$$ under a democrat president watch JFK.
now run along back to MSNBC OBAMA THE NEXT JIMMY CARTER A ONE AND DONE PRESIDENT.
Report Post »1977
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 3:13pm@SARAH LOUISE PALIN – PART TIME POLITICIAN, FULL TIME PARASITE……..
Report Post »You are a dumbass! & yes,I approve this message
edmundburk
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 7:14pmI lived in Rockford IL for a time, it’s not quite so bad.
Report Post »Momey
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 7:42pmSounds like a real-life “Silent Hill”!
Report Post »Cat
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 10:38pmWell folks
Here’s another reason to raise taxes, never let a crises go to waste, you know …
Gotta get to the bottom of this, and always at the taxpayer’s expense
****
Hey Sarah? >
Alligators become highly agitated after they’ve tasted … dark meat
Report Post »Phuque you, and the jackass you suck off
armyofnibiru
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 11:11pmhey SLP wannabe ive noticed that the dnc always acuses thier opponets of that which they do.butt your head is so far up your ass your eyes are brown.or obambys a$$.when your done licking it clean we’ll clean your mess,, even a lime desease tick would be better 2012
Report Post »Gman42
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 11:48pmI remember looking up this town when the Silent Hill movie came out. They shot a lot of it here dressing up some of the storefronts with recognizable signs from the video games. The whole idea of the game was to represent a haunted house like feel on a town sized scale. Demonic manifestations of people’s fears and stuff like that. Freaky how the fires are still burning underground today.
Report Post »wdittgasn
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 1:40amPARASITE….. If you get your way you won’t know of any towns because if they let you live it will be behind the razorwire of a FEMA camp….. And the fire if it was not an accident It was most likely caused by a Little libby commie like your self.
Report Post »teresa2010
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 9:23amA Democrat town… Democrats have lowered everyone standard of living to zilch……I hope all these losers on here voting socialism/liberalism like being in the gutter
Report Post »Marsh626
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 10:52pmLooks like a typical Demcorat`neighborhood.
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 12:40amLooks like Al Gore‘s and JZS’s Global Warming headquarters….
Report Post »rickc34
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 1:08pmThis is where all the democrates , liberal, and other God haters go the fire under ground.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 10:46pmHell is enlarging itself as we speak. It is getting ready for the motherload.
Report Post »Welcome Black Carter
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 11:29pmThere is a billion muslims.
Report Post »MaidenAmerica
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:57pmWe took a group to Centralia when I TA’d for an intro geology lab back in college, and walked around all the cracks and everything; the smoking cracks are cool but the road graffiti is HILARIOUS [-ly inappropriate]. The church and houses are definitely a bit creepy though. We nerds get a kick out of it :) Pioneer Mine nearby is cool too. Just don’t light a match!
Report Post »MaidenAmerica
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:48pmWe took a group to Centralia when I TA’d for an intro geology lab back in college, and walked around all the cracks and everything; the smoking cracks are cool but the road graffiti is HILARIOUS [-ly inappropriate]. The church and houses are definitely a bit creepy though. We nerds get a kick out of it :) Pioneer Mine nearby is cool too.
Report Post »BlackCrow
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:44pmNot at all uncommon in coal country.
Report Post »WAITING_FOR_THE-RAPTURE
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 11:41amLaurel Run Borough, near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was another town that the residents had to relocate and their houses demolished due to a mine fire. If you drive through that area, on the section of road known as Giant’s Despair, you can still see smoke coming from the ground.
Report Post »applehill
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:42pmI‘m from PA and it’s a cool place to visit. A friend of mine works for a blasting company in PA. He said they could put it out, much like a fire on a oil rig. The government is afraid that if it failed, the blast could send fire into a even bigger vain of coal that runs several miles through Pennsylvania. It’s crazy to drive down the road and see a road redirect around an old road that is cut off and see smoke coming up from cracks in the old road.
Report Post »copatriots
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 11:40pmI’m originally from western PA. I‘ve often wondered if you’re from Delmont. I went by the Apple Hill Playhouse throughout my childhood.
Report Post »Charlemange
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:42pmWhy doesn’t the epa ban it?
Report Post »4xeverything
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 9:16amReally, they could fine it $37,500 per day. After, of course, they deem it a wetlands.
Report Post »Rollo2
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:40pm“Lonely Church” photo, snow on the ground all around the church? How hot is that property?
Report Post »Rollo2
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:36pmIf the Drive-In has been abandoned for decades, why does the landscape look so clean?
The leaning house is leaning toward the chimney, (typically the heaviest part of the building) The step-like structure is an apparent attempt to “buttress” the chimney. The underground fire may have less to do with this structural problem than a poorly installed foundation.
Report Post »Jgilman
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 11:28pmThe house is not leaning its built on a slope. The pic was taken that way on purpose. Look at the blocks the porch is built in no cracks, these would be the first to fail. Also look at the wood panel and moulding under the porch it was made to fit the slope. Also the house is the same angle as the telephone pole and trees. Oh yeah and the curtains are straight in the windows too.
Report Post »Melika
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 11:56pmBeen there, took a picture of it: the “leaning” house isn’t leaning, it’s an optical illusion. There aren’t many flat areas in this part of PA, so if you’re looking at the houses, the foundations are built up on one side to compensate for that. Visit nearby Mt. Carmel and you’ll see this same thing. This single standing house wasn’t designed to be single standing; originally it was a row house. After the government bought out most of the residents, the houses were torn down. Anyone who remained needed to have their walls buttressed, hence the brick buttresses along the side. This particular house is a corner house, so the right side of the house didn’t need a buttress. Any middle house has buttresses on both sides.
Report Post »Last count when I was there was 6 residents, but that may be less now. Those who stayed did so because of a number of reasons, but one that I was told was because the people owned the resources under their houses (the valuable coal) & didn’t want to give it up. Most of the fire is on one side of the town on the road that used to go to Mt. Carmel. The church pictured is not the church of Centralia, that has been torn down a long time ago and the cemetery moved. I‘m not sure what town is the bird’s eye satellite view, but there are a crap load more structures in that photo than what is in Centralia and the town was a typical block structure with row homes. Best time to go is in winter after a snow, as you can find the active hot spots easier.
Tom K
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 3:36pm@ ROLLO2 : The Drive-In is so clean because there are NO people to trash it. It is a liberal’s dream town, except for the noxious smoke.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:20pmOld news here Blaze.
Report Post »deano24
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:17pmApparently the government spent 7 Million dollars trying to put the fire out in the early 80′s & they estimate that it will continue to burn for another 250 years. I just can’t believe that a foot under the surface, the temperature is 836 degrees F.
http://www.squidoo.com/real-life-horror-story
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/centraliapa/minefirecentraliapahistory.htm
Report Post »burnbabylon
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:52pmFrom your second link.
“The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources had begun monitoring the fire. They drilled holes into the earth in an attempt to determine the extent of the fire. In doing so, they later realized the holes had provided the fire with a natural draft that was feeding the coals combustion making the fires even worse.”
We‘re from the government and we’re here to help.
Report Post »Casca1
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:13pmBeen there quite a few times on motorcycle trips. Very spooky, especially at night. I always got onto the closed-down mile portion of Route 61 on my bike. Once people leave, the township tears down the house. There’s a picture comparison of it from 1983 and a more recent one of its main street. Amazing.
Report Post »moussiagilda
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:58pmLil Kim’s birthday is 7/11/75. Biggie’s girl. “Ya’ll just betray men–”
Report Post »hatchetjob
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 11:31amIs there a moron in the house?
Report Post »338lapua
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:58pmI would love to live in a CHARMING town like Centralia. I do not know why anyone would fear a perfectly normal occurrance like fire……..I bet most of the snow melts in the winter. Not much different than lets say…..a democrat administration,matter of fact. I think all democrats should look in the mirror, and admit to themselves that THIS, Centralia Penn.is THE utopia they have been searching for! In order for the liberal portion of America to truly be happy…………this is what America MUST look like. Sad really, I feel sorry for democrats.
Report Post »fightinggranny
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 10:09pmSee how much coal we have here in PA, it can burn on its own for the next 250 yrs, but the EPA and our lovely senator Casey, just want to throw more people out of work and deny us affordable energy. After this election, green energy be damned, go with what we know works until some company can offer another source of energy, and I don’t mean the government. How much of our money have they WASTED on green!
Report Post »338lapua
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 8:21amIf we spent 1/10th the money on clean coal technology that we spend on asinine “green” initiatives…….we would be energy RICH! You are so right about coal.
Report Post »moussiagilda
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:57pmI meant, sighhh, I was born on 7/10/75, at 12:36 right after noon.
My Ma’s birthday is the same as JFK and Bob Hope, 5/29.
Report Post »NancyBee
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 11:31amHappy Birthday to your Ma! My birthday is May 30
Report Post »hatchetjob
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 11:33amI thought you had to be an adult to comment here.
Report Post »moussiagilda
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:34pmNobody is going to succeed in burning my 7,200-page diary, begun on my 12th birthday, 7/10/75.
Report Post »Libra rising. My birth chart is one hundred percent accurate.
RamonPreston
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 4:30amI checked your astrology chart. Do you know what your 7,200 page journal is good for? Toilet paper.
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:29pmSpooky..If you are a dam sissy. The men at the BLAZE have no balls if they rhink this story is spooky…How about it BUCK grow some cahones and quit being a wuss…
Report Post »Fubared
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:48pmWest Tex, you should know that is cajones.
Report Post »Toltepeceno
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 10:43pmEr, Cajones is boxes.
Report Post »moussiagilda
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:27pmThe news these days is all “Hell on earth is happening! Blood! Terror! Puke! Excrement! And no injuries.”
Report Post »frodis
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:26pmThis is old news. Plus it’s cool for photographers to enter but no one else? I think a few people still live there. Yes it’s a crazy story. History did a show on it years ago. If you ever catch it, watch it.
Report Post »Weiners Wiener
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:25pmThat would be a cool place to film a heavy metal video or any post apocalyptic zombie movie.
Report Post »Dr Vel
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:11pmI imagine the Steven Seagal movie “Fire Down Below” made in 1997 was loosely based upon this town and area.
Report Post »UnreconstructedLibertarian
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 10:28pm“Fire Down Below” was based on the town of Whitley City, Ky, but filmed in Jackson, Ky.
Report Post »Toltepeceno
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 10:40pmSupposedly the screenwriter for Silent hill researched this place.
Report Post »Toltepeceno
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 10:46pmSilent hill was based on this place.
Report Post »ZomBrad
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:25pmCentralia is a neighboring (abandoned) town from where I live! ….this is the closest I’ll ever be to being featured in The Blaze……Woohoo!!!
….btw, either that’s an older pic, or they edited out all the graffiti surrounding that giant crack in that road.
….it’s nothing but “so and so is a slut” or pictures of shrooms, marijuana leaves, and phalli lol….
Report Post »JACKTHETOAD
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:25pmCentralia’s old news here, Blaze. Fortunately, you can still smoke in town. =(:)
Report Post »Mr.Fitnah
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:23pmFraking Fraking OMG Fraking!
Report Post »Fraking Fraking OMG Fraking!
Fraking Fraking OMG Fraking!
Fraking Fraking OMG Fraking!
Fraking Fraking OMG Fraking!
jeanr
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:36pmI’ve never seen anybody misspell the same word 15 times so quickly. Impressive!
Report Post »Rollo2
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:45pmThis fire started long before “fracking” was ever imagined to be possible.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 10:57pmI never saw anyone mistake 5 for 15. Wow. I am a brain on here. I can count to 15 and even spell fracking. Oh well, we can’t all be smart as owls. Come to think of it I have never see why people think owls are so wise. Maybe it is that ‘tader chip bag. I do like them ‘tader chips, though. I guess that’s all I got to say on this, except that fire is a bit spooky. Who set it on fire?
Report Post »hcartexas
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 12:55amBLACKYB… pride comes before a downfall…. Hydraulic Fracturing is abbreviated in the Oil industry “FRAC-ING”… notice there is no “K”. No go back to your village, they miss you… idiot.
Report Post »Todd P
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 7:38amPerhaps you’re a fraking fan of Battlestar Galactica?
Report Post »Mr.Fitnah
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 2:07pmThanks for reading my post.
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:23pmthey had an opportunity to put it out, but the GOVERNMENT refused to allow them, thus letting it spread uncontrollably
Report Post »jharper
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 8:45pmWhy would they refuse to let them put it out? Would it screw up Al Gore’s Global Warming business?
Report Post »burnbabylon
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 9:31pmJust guessing. They had to do a study and fill out an environmental impact statement, (in triplicate), before they could put it out.
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