I first heard about Centralia Pennsylvania on a bad TV show called "Real People" they did a segment on the town and about the underground coal fire that has been burning since the 1960's.



When I found out that Centralia was just fifteen miles from Knoebels I had to go check it out and have an adventure.  This is what we saw when we pulled up, a cemetery with charred smoking ground all around it.



The fire began when a fire in the town's dump ignited the coal vein that runs under Centralia and over forty years later it's still burning.



There's not much left to Centralia besides a few houses and a lot of empty lots and streets with no one living on them.  Of course who would want to live in a town with toxic fumes and a fire constantly burning below you.



Centralia, the scorched earth town!  There are a few chimneys ran down to the fire I guess to keep gasses from building up under pressure and exploding.



Next


Copyright 1999 - 2024

Paul B. Drabek