My friends Albert, Steve, and I went to Centralia, Pennsylvania on Saturday. For those who aren’t familiar with the history of the town, Centralia is a town in central Pennsylvania that has had underground mine fires burning for the last 46 years. Yes, you did read that correctly. Most of the residents abandoned ship while a whole 21 remain living in what remains of the town (which isn’t a whole lot). I couldn’t summarize it better than WikiPedia.
We explored the entire town…and like I said, there wasn’t much to see. There was a hill where you could see smoke coming out from various areas in the ground. And there’s an old section of Route 61 that has been closed where there are large devouring cracks in graffiti covered pavement. I imagine that it’s even more impressive in the fall when it’s colder. Nevertheless, it was still a sight to see. It’s been on my list of must-visits for many years now and I finally got to check it out.
We were also a bit freaked out by the insane number of tent caterpillars that appear to be taking over the trees.
That link was not to be shared with the public. I’m offended…
Did you check out the abandoned houses there at all? Or have they been torn down?
No pictures in what’s left of the town of Centralia itself? The street grid’s still there, but probably less than 1/2 dozen houses still stand. Creepy…