Fire in the hole -- Centralia, Pennsylvania

Photos from our trip to not-quite ghost town, Centralia, PA.

A coal seam was accidentally set on fire in the 1960s, and Centralia has been burning underground ever since. Almost everyone has moved away, and their houses have been torn down, but there are a few holdouts. Someone keeps this bench in the centre of town freshly painted, though the zip code was revoked in the 1990s. Someone set up a nice nativity scene across the street, too.

If you were just driving through Centralia (Route 61 still goes right through it), you might not notice anything wrong at first. If you walk around, though, you start to notice that the sidewalks are looking a little rough:

As you look around a little more, you realize that the few houses are scattered on a regular grid of streets. Some blocks are devoid of houses, some have only one or two and a few foundations, and some, like this one, have row houses that are missing their neighbours.

If you turn around and look up the hill where you came in, you see why the town's in this state -- roads end abruptly on a smoking hill, where the trees have all burned away from the roots up. The road here was warm to the touch, though it was about 45F/5C and rainy. The fire has been under most of the town at one time or another, but this is where it's most evident now.

We walked up to the top of the hill and got close (but not too close) to this pit, where the fire is close to the surface. We passed a few guys on ATVs (it's a popular local riding spot) and a couple other gawkers. A sign in the pit read "No Dumping". Good idea.

I expected Centralia to be spooky and scary, but it was more sad and fascinating. However, this closed portion of old highway 61 was pretty darn spooky on a dark, rainy day. The highway has been rerouted (you come in on it from Rte. 81), but this section had to be closed when huge, smoking cracks appeared in it. I didn't get far enough down to photograph the cracks, but you can see it here and here.

Desipite everything, the people who live here keep their houses neat and their yards trimmed. Most houses were even decorated for Christmas. Right on, Centralians.
More info about Centralia, if you're interested:
A brief history, with photos
An interesting article from Smithsonian