The prevailing theory goes like this. In 1962, in an attempt to clean up the town's landfill, firefighters set it on fire and let it burn. Because this site was next to an abandoned coal mine pit, the fire quickly spread to the coal and ignited it. The fire still burns today.
It wasn't until 1972 that officials realized the scope of the fire and began to take action. In 1981 a teenage boy fell to his death when the fire pit caused the ground beneath his feet to collapse.
In 1984 congress allocated relocation funds and most of the residents took the money and ran but some stayed. Then in 1992 the state claimed eminent domain and tried to demolish what was left of the town. Here's where the scandal comes in.
Some residents believe that the fire is extinguishable, and that the eminent domain claim was a ploy to secure and not have to share the mineral rights. From wikipedia because I'm lazy:
Several current and former Centralia residents believe the state's eminent domain claim was a ploy to gain the mineral rights to the anthracite coal beneath the borough. Residents estimate its value to be in the billions of dollars, although the exact amount of coal is not known. In a nearby municipality, the government was successful in extinguishing a similar mine fire using methods like those proposed for and used in Centralia.
Inneresting. Here are some pics of the place:
This first one shows a rowhouse that hasn't been demolished using buttresses to keep it standing because the building that used to hold it up is no longer there:
Just a note, when I post things like this I don't get too deep into the topic here because a) I'm lazy. and b) I hope that if something I write about here sparks your interest you'll go on a leeeeearning adventuuuuure.
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