Visiting Centralia, Pennsylvania

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Centralia, a little town in Pennsylvania’s coal region, used to be a bustling mining center, until 1962, when a fire broke out in the mines.

Supposedly the fire started from a waste disposal site, which was burned but not fully extinguished and the fire entered into the coal mine beneath. All attempts to extinguish it failed. The fire is estimated to have now spread over 400 acres and has enough coal to continue burning for another 250 years in its 8 mile mine.

Nobody knew how bad the damage was until the 70’s, and since then people have started abandoning the town. Now, Centralia is a ghost town, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t plenty of things to see there.

In addition to the rather creepy history of the town, or the fact that at the first glance it looks like nothing more than a field with some roads on it, Centralia is a very interesting destination to say the least. So here some tips about visiting Centralia, Pennsylvania.

Safety

No one really knows how the fire under Centralia started, but fact is that one day the St. Ignatius Cemetery started to smoke. Slowly, cracks spouting toxic fumes started to appear all over Centralia – and now there is not much left there except for grass and some trees. Most buildings slowly crumbled because of the fire, cracks and smoke, and there are few houses still standing on the streets of the town.

Curiously enough, a few residents are still living in Centralia, but other than that, only tourists come to the town. Because of obvious safety reasons, tourists are discouraged from visiting Centralia, but apparently more and more travelers are drawn by the town’s strangeness. Silent Hill, the horror film/videogame was inspired by Centralia, and horror fans get quite a kick out of seeing the real life version of the hellish little town. While Centralia is understandably an exciting destination, it is definitely not safe. The fumes coming up from the underground fire pit are toxic, and the ground can cave anytime.

What to see in Centralia

Only a few decades ago, Centralia was a town with over a thousand residents, and now only a handful of them remained. Shops, houses and offices used to line the streets of the town, but now only a few are left intact. Plots of grass and weeds can be seen in the place of buildings that crumbled down years ago, and smoke and steam can still be seen rising from openings in the ground. Route 61, which used to passed through the town, is now completely closed down because of the deep cracks that cut through it now.

Odd Fellows Cemetery is an interesting place, if you don’t mind another pinch of creepiness in the mix. Other than that, not much remains of the town’s landmarks, destruction and the uncanny are the top attractions now.

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Comments on Visiting Centralia, Pennsylvania

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taya wrote on February 25, 2012:

I stumbled upon this post.. I’ve been there roughly 30 times and know alot about it. They do in fact know how the fire started. In 1963, workers set a pile of trash ablaze in an abandoned mine pit which was used as the borough’s landfill. There was an exposed coal vein that was unexpectedly ignited by the trash fire. The flames on the surface were extinguished they didn’t know at the time that it was continuing to burn underground.

 

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