Burning Inside

There is a cruel irony in the demise of a city by the very thing that gave birth to it. Few established locations can claim such a fate.

Perhaps no one who assisted in the settling of Centralia, Pennsylvania in 1884 could have foreseen it’s downfall. For much of it’s short history, the borough of Centralia had lived on the mining of Anthracite. This high-carbon but low-impurity form of coal was difficult to burn and hard to put out and became one of the life-bloods of Pennsylvania (up to 1% of the state’s income at a point.)

The official story on how Centralia went from a population of over 1,000 residents to under 10 living people less than fifty years later is nearly impossible to believe. But like so many other small towns of the time, Centralia had dealt with it’s refuse through the simple expedience of man’s oldest discovery: Fire.

Located just outside of the town proper, the landfill that held the garbage of Centralia was located in a pit that had previously housed a strip mine with access to a seam of Anthracite. While no one is exactly certain of the precise details, it is known that in May of 1962, the trash held in the pit was burned. The official account of Centralia’s demise is due to the town not providing a proper barrier to keep the flames of the trash-heap out of and away from the entrance to the mine. This oversight allowed for fires from the landfill to enter in to the seam and ignite the entire Anthracite vein.

Where this a Hollywood production, the entirety of Centralia would have instantly ignited into a massive volcano or geyser of white-hot flame. The reality of the issue, however, is far more insidious. It did not take long for the town’s residents to become aware of the problem that was quite literally growing beneath their feet. All early efforts to extinguish the flames had proven fruitless or stifled by local governmental beauracracy. Early after the incident, temperatures in the coal seam were recorded at over 170ºF. In 1974, a local adolescent boy was nearly killed when a sink hole, later measured at nearly 150 feet deep, opened beneath his feet while he was playing in his back yard.

By the beginning of the 1980’s, a slow Exodus from Centralia began. The United States government put aside over $40 million for the town’s residents to relocate. The final blow for Centralia came in 1992 when the government of Pennsylvania claimed eminent domain and began demolition.

All that remains of Centralia, Pennsylvania today are a handful of ruined buildings, a few residents squatting on what once was their home property, clouds of smoke from the earth, and carbon monoxide. The borough still draws a handful of visitors, however. Curious individuals, thrill-seekers (aside from the obvious environmental dangers, there are apocryphal rumors that the city is now haunted) and fans of the film Silent Hill, whose fictious location was conceived by screenwriter Roger Avery had researched the town’s history.

If you would like more information, please look in to TheTownThatWas.com, a documentary detailing this modern ghost town, it’s uncertain future and precarious present.