Raf
I hate when I learn about the existence of something because a movie was made about it. Makes me feel late to the party. And I’ve pretty much learned everything I know from movies, so you do the math. Anyway, two movies in particular used the idea of Centralia as a framework to hang their stories on: Nothing But Trouble (1991) and Silent Hill (2006).
The year was 1962 and, as so many of my own personal anecdotes start, some people were burning trash. It’s a perfectly acceptable practice. However, in this instance, they were burning the trash near what almost every article on the topic refers to as an “exposed coal seam.” I don’t know much about mining, but that definitely sounds like something that I don’t want to set on fire (and that’s a very small list for me). Which is, of course, what happened.
The underground fire caused sink holes to gape; roads to heave and crack; deadly gases and smoke to waft like ghost armies, and it endangered the lives of many pets, children, and the elderly. The federal government had to eventually permanently evacuate the town. Mostly, anyway. A few recalcitrants wouldn’t move, opting instead to brave the danger zone and invent the usual conspiracy theories. Much of the town was razed. The fire continued to burn, but now it burns triumphantly.
Text taken from oddthingsiveseen.com
