On Saturday, we dined in HELL!!

[giza]

Over the weekend, film2edit and lockemaison came up to visit. On Saturday, we did a day trip to Centralia, PA. For those not familiar with the name, it is the town that has been on fire for many years. Or rather, its coal mines have been on fire.

See, in this part of Pennsylvania, the veins of coal run vertical, and some reach the surface. Sometimes they are at the bottom of sinkholes. Some of these sinkholes were used as convenient ways to dispose of trash. One of these sinkholes caught on fire in the 1960s and subsequently ignited the vein of coal underneath. The resulting fire has proven to be impossible to put out -- the mine is too well drained to use water, and the fire burned too fast for engineers to cut it off by removing part of the coal vein.

So, the town was evacuated, and most of its structures were knocked down and removed. The only remaining structures are a few houses of people who refuse to leave. The town's population is currently about 20. Also, the Postal Service revoked the town's Zip Code, so there's no longer mail delivery anymore.

Just outside of town:


Real estate is really cheap:


This is the extent of the tourist facilities available:


The center of town:


About the dining in hell part? We brought some food and ate it when we were in town. :-)

We also walked on the abandoned section of Route 61. It was closed and built around as the roadway kept buckling and cracking. The steam pouring out didn't help either. :-)

I'm having trouble making out the words on this sign. I think it says "Please Explore":


A wee bit of steam was coming up from the road. What's even more amazing is that PennDOT had nothing to do with it!


Others appear to have preceded us:



We also visited the Pioneer Tunnel, a mine that is open for tourism purposes. That, and the rest of my pictures can be found in my collection on Flickr. Enjoy!

Comments

[simbab.livejournal.com]

I heard about this in a discussion at swift_fox's place back in January. I immediately went and looked it up in Wikipedia.

It's, um, freaky. Even from reading the Wikipedia article. And those pictures only make it more so. I can only imagine what walking through a ghost town must be like... O_O

[jessypie.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a REALLY interesting trip to take. I read a big article about Centralia and its remaining residents awhile back - probably in National Geographic, but possibly in Smithsonian (the two have a habit of covering the same topics in concurrent issues). How long of a drive was it from the Philadelphia area?

[giza.livejournal.com]

About 2 hours.

Just head up I-476 to Allentown, then take US-22 West for about 20 miles, then PA-61 North, which runs right into the center of town.

I didn't talk to the residents while there. My understanding is that most of them want to be left alone. :-P

[gen-talon.livejournal.com]

That place is SO awesome! I want to check it out. =)

On another note. That place was what inspired the folks at Konami to make the Silent Hill games. (The more you know...)

[felix-carni.livejournal.com]

But that isn't Sparta Caketown!

[theottsel.livejournal.com]

This town was the inspiration for that town in Silent Hill.

[karmadragon.livejournal.com]

My boyfriend lives in Aristes, which is right up the road. I drive by Centralia all the time, it's nothing special to the folks around here. Glad to see people still find it interesting. :)

[wildw0lf.livejournal.com]

Wow, I wonder how long those underground fires last...do you think it could ever go out. I'd figure underground, there wouldn't be enough oxygen to feed the fire.

[giza.livejournal.com]

Until the coal runs out. We're talking 100 years or more.