CENTRALIA, Pa.—Where cars and trucks once rolled by, graffiti now sprawls across desolate, cracked pavement, and weeds push through the abandoned sidewalks leading nowhere.
Centralia Borough, Pennsylvania, endures as a modern ghost town, its empty streets and old foundations stubbornly resisting the slow advance of nature.
Only four known residents and a church still call this place home.
The rest, once a thriving community of 1,200, vanished years ago, driven away by relentless coal mine fires that still burn and deadly carbon monoxide.
Since 1962, these secret infernos have crept beneath Centralia, threading through coal seams and winding their way through the tangled labyrinth of collapsed tunnels below.
Earl Pyles, who manages the Sunshine Grill in nearby Mount Carmel, says people now refer to Centralia on social media as “hell on earth.”
“That’s what they call it, because the fires are still burning over there,” he told The Epoch Times.
Centralia’s haunting stillness and the ceaseless glow of its underground fires inspired the creation of the legendary 2006 horror film “Silent Hill.”
Now the last traces of this coal mining town lure wanderers, history buffs, and nostalgia seekers, turning Centralia into a magnet for the curious.
“Where are all the fires and smoke?” one out-of-state traveler asked a stranger after parking his car on an abandoned side street.
Burning Underground
More than 60 years ago, on May 27, 1962, the Centralia Mine Fire ignited some 300 feet below ground, its constant threat of disaster gradually strangling the town’s once-thriving economy.Roughly one-third of Pennsylvania’s underground mine fires are fueled by anthracite coal, which has the highest carbon content and releases significant heat when burned.
The DEP stated that anthracite coal mine fires, which blaze hotter than 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit at their worst, are costly to extinguish and leave scars that last for generations.
They can start in surface and underground mines, as well as in old, unused coal seams, for many reasons.
Rocky Mountain Air Solutions, which helps fight coal mine fires in Colorado, Idaho, Nebraska, Utah, and Wyoming, explained that these fires can wreak havoc on communities and the environment.
Because coal can self-heat with oxygen, it can lead to spontaneous combustion and burn at hotter temperatures, the company noted.
“When this happens, you have a lump of chemically activated carbon. Hot spots can develop even with tiny amounts of oxidation. Self-heating and oxidation risks are only decreased when a coal pile sealant is applied,” it stated.
The company noted that when coal heats to 150–300 degrees Fahrenheit, it begins to emit hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and toxic aerosols.
At about 750–800 degrees Fahrenheit, coal will ignite on its own, releasing sulfur into the air.
The Pennsylvania DEP stated that because the Centralia mine fire spread so quickly and unexpectedly, several theories exist about its origin.
The most common explanation is that the fire ignited at a town trash dump and spread to the underground coal mines.
Other theories about the fire’s origin include a 1930s mine explosion, vandalism, and arson.
The Centralia mine fire was first discovered smoldering in a surface mine pit southeast of the tiny borough, near the eastern edge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery.
Fire crews first battled the blaze with streams of water, then tried to suffocate it beneath a heavy clay blanket.
When these efforts fell short, officials brainstormed new tactics, from digging out the flames to sealing them off or filling the mine with sand, crushed rock, or fly ash.
But the state deemed these solutions too costly; flooding was impractical and potentially dangerous. The fire was left to smolder, and slowly the town emptied.
“People left Centralia Borough due to the risk of infiltration of toxic gases into basements,” the DEP stated.
“Some residents also feared that their property was severely devalued due to the proximal location of the mine fire and therefore welcomed the relocation effort.”
Scientists estimate the fire could continue for another 250 years, according to Rocky Mountain Air Solutions.
Fighting Coal Mine Fires
Rocky Mountain Air Solutions stated that one way to put out a coal mine fire is to cut off its oxygen supply.However, this fix may not last, as the surrounding earth may cave in, allowing fresh oxygen to rush in and reignite the flames.
Some mines have been filled with water and mud as a natural solution, but this often damages the mine and usually stops any future production.
The company described an alternative approach to battling coal seam fires: flooding the earth with torrents of liquid nitrogen, delivered deep underground through boreholes.
This method was first used in 1949 to extinguish a fire burning in the Czech Republic.
“It takes weeks, often months, to extinguish fires, and liquid nitrogen is most effective when used immediately.”
However, this method requires a steady flow of cryogenic gas.
Rocky Mountain Air Solutions has stated that the investment is a small price to pay to prevent another tragedy such as the one in Centralia.
New Mexico recently extinguished two underground coal mine fires that had been burning since 2011 by using special drilling equipment to remove coal seams and fill them with local materials.
The department emphasized that most coal seam fires begin in working or abandoned coal mines.
“It is important to note that the mine itself is not on fire, but the remaining coal pillars, remaining coal seam, poor quality coal, or burnable debris left behind is what burns,” the agency stated.
Most coal seam fires are caused by people being careless, including by burning trash in old surface mines. Mine fires can also start naturally from sources such as forest fires, lightning, and lava flows.
Elsewhere in the United States, places such as Glenwood Springs, Colorado, have had problems with suspected mine fires that led to forest fires and property destruction.
Centralia Borough, founded in 1862 as a coal mining community, thrived until the underground coal seam fire turned prosperity into tragedy a century later.
The state estimates that roughly 30 percent to 50 percent of the 25 million tons of original coal deposits remain in Centralia.
From the first evacuations in 1984 through 2012, the state spent more than $41 million helping Centralia’s residents find new homes.
The average cost of relocation was about $52,000 per resident, the DEP reported.
The bureau oversees the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program in Pennsylvania. That $12 billion federal program aims to address lingering hazards in abandoned mines, such as that posed by the Centralia fire.
“If you walk around the back [of Centralia], you'll find sinkholes that opened up randomly over time,” said Christopher Payne, a server at the Sunshine Grill.
“So, I guess folks here basically kind of stay away from that area just for safety.
“For the most part, we'll go over there just to see what’s up every now and then. We grew up around here, so we know what’s over there. It doesn’t really change too much.”
The state DEP determined that a 100-foot sinkhole that opened up near Route 61 in Centralia on Feb. 15, 2019, was not caused by the coal mine fire.
Safe on Higher Ground
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church, built in 1911, stands as Centralia’s last major landmark in a sea of mountain forest.The church overlooks the remnants of the town’s past, and it has survived because its solid bedrock foundation has protected it from underground fires.
Some former residents and locals, including Teresa Flowers from Montgomery, Pennsylvania, still come to Sunday worship, driven by their love for the community that once thrived there.
“This is my favorite place,” Flowers told The Epoch Times. “It’s just a nice old-fashioned church.”
Standing as living pillars of a vanished era, churchgoers embody the same quiet strength and endurance as the church they cherish.
“They love the church. They want to be here and worship,” Flowers said. “This is the only surviving church in Centralia, which is amazing to me.”
Many of the roads in Centralia are now covered in graffiti and blocked off with piles of sand to keep people away from what outsiders consider a historic oddity.
“It used to be a tourist attraction until a couple of years ago, right when COVID-19 first started,” Payne said.
“Yeah, it’s just something we drive through now. We just drive around it.”
His boss, Earl Pyles, still hears stories about Centralia—stories of the families who once lived there, the memories they made, and how an era ended in this part of Pennsylvania’s coal country.
The state currently has no plans to address the fire or the land above it in Centralia Borough.
While the forest and undergrowth slowly reclaim the land, the graffiti-splashed roads of Centralia are likely to linger as haunting reminders of what once was.
The chances of rebuilding the town are slim, as toxic gases and hidden dangers make it a perilous place to settle.
The businesses along Locust Street in Centralia’s downtown are gone and won’t be coming back, Pyle said, partly because of what he speculates would be “astronomical” insurance costs.
Like Centralia’s former residents, Pyles said, “everything went with them.”
