Centralia, PA

*simba*

*simba*

Active member
Ever seen Silent Hill? You know, that scary ass movie with those god damn triangle heads?

Yeah well the town in the movie has a real life counterpart...kind of.

The town is called Centralia, Pennsylvania. Eastern Pennsylvania is known for it's large amounts of coal mine towns, and Centralia is one of them. In 1962 a group of workers had set a pile of trash on fire in an abandoned mine pit; not unusual practice, but the exposed coal vein might have been something to watch out for. The fire spread to the coal, and the surface fire was soon put out, but what everyone didn't know, was that the coal beneath them had also ignited and was slowly burning. Soon enough the fire had spread to other nearby coalmines, and beneath the town. Shit's been burning ever since.

Back in the day the town had 2,761 residence. Now, there are less than 10 people living there, even thought the whole town has been condemned. It's a real life ghost town.

It's a really creepy place. I was there years ago, and am hoping to go back today or tomorrow to get some pictures. Just dropping knowledge. Here's some picxs:

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The gate surrounding the cemetery has a HUGE bend in it, which IMO is creepy as fuck.

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1981-now

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The highway going into th town is filled with graffiti like this. It's called the highway to hell.
 
Come in winter.

We can go freebase some crack in Centralia and then go skiing at Big Boulder.
 
Drove there with my friend last summer. It's wild. You can just walk into there around the signs and shit and it's so crazy. Highly suggest making the trip.
 
Buddy can't go today, so it's pushed off until Monday. Anyone who wants to jpin me and take really artsy hipster pictures, they are welcome. Along with inhaling toxic gases the whole day, we'll also be getting taco bell, because I fucking love taco bell.
 
I own a plethora of gasmasks.

Also, you've been there? What are some things to make sure we see?
 
hmmm 3 hours from pittsburgh...i could definitely make a day out of that, it's really not too bad. this place sounds sweet.
 
I'd go if you pushed it off until like Thursday next week cause that's when my buddy who's a NSer gets home and we could go together. I live in Allentown. That place looks sick though.
 
Wow, that is so cool!

I love ghost towns I live fairly close to quite a few abandoned mining towns in the Kootenays and the history behind them absolutely fascinates me.

If I ever make it near Pennsylvania I will have to check that place out.
 
4hours is nothing, pussy.

Drive over with some friends, and we can get a group and camp somewhere.
 
Same

I'm just jerkin your chain man, I've never been there and don't know if there are open mine shafts. My manager at work went twice last month though and got some cool pics. He said the vibe from the locals was very unwelcoming.

Bear creek on the other hand does have some mine shafts to explore. They're not on fire though of course.

You stockpiling gasmasks for 2012 or something??
 
From what I hear/assume PA is full of places like this. Just driving around central/northern PA you go through a few semi-deserted towns. Wonder how many there are off the beaten path...
 
North central PA is blowing up due to the shale gas going on up there, lots of small towns blowing up left and right.

I'd bet sections of western PA are more deserted than over here in eastern.
 
Actually, it's hit and miss over here. Stuff is either getting huge or dying out. I do know that everyone is fucking pissed about Marcellus Shale though. My girlfriend's house is about 10 min away from some kind of well or something and just recently the water at her house has started to smell like straight sulfur.
 
That's for sure. Pennhurst over here is a huge hit with bored teenagers.

PA does kick ass for real though, I mean philly was the first capitol of the US. Also as the keystone, without us the entire east coast crumbles and falls into the ocean. We also have the highest number of licensed hunters of any state in the US. Same for conceal and carry permits I think.

Last but not least, fuckin scrapple and cheesesteaks. Oh my god, now I have an overcoming urge as a good PA dutchboy to attempt to make a scrapple cheesesteak.
 
seriously after going to college at villanova near philly, no where else makes good cheesesteaks. i don't care what you say, they are not as good as a real philly area cheesesteak
 
It's kinda lame that they decided to put actors in it and turn it into a "haunted house" type of thing. If they really wanted to scare the shit out of people they would set up random ghost-trap things throughout it and sell overnight tickets.
 
You talkin in this state or other parts of the country? Most folks in PA know how to make a legit cheesesteak.

I too heard the pennhurst haunted house was a huge bust. Eastern state penn is better. Lots of places around here run ghost tours though around october. New hope and jim thorpe just for starters, I think a lot of the battlefield areas like gettysburg do it too.
 
Speaking of Jim Thorpe, I hear there are tons of good places to cliff jump around there. Truth?

I've been there tons, but never really though of that.
 
other parts of the country. i'm from upstate ny and they try to sell them in restaurants here, just isn't the same
 
truth.

Lehigh gorge state park, glen onoko falls parking area has a big train bridge about 30 to 40 feet off the lehigh river. Also you can ride bikes on the rail trail from there to find a bunch of other spots on the lehigh.

Peter, I've heard some horror stories of cheesesteaks bought on the west coast.
 
See the bike race at manayunk if you haven't, I think the party draws more people than the actual bike race. All the good action is on the wall from what I hear. That town bumps at night too.
 
yeah i've been to mad river, that place is pretty sick. what time is the bike race, i'm going to be back in town the 21st of august
 
they are indeed glorious and im happy to call them my home, but yes the bike race is the shit and its pretty much a cant-miss event of summer
 
Forget centralia and hipster photography. We should organize a NS drinking and rafting get together on one of the big releases of the lehigh in september. You guys are all of age right??? Seriously, getting sauced and piloting a rubber tank down the river is fun as shit.
 
I love this type of shit. Grownig up in NJ, we had no shortage of creepy places to check out via Weird NJ. Anyways, I wonder what those few people are like who live there?! Probably "The Hills Have Eyes" type shit!
 
Define "of age"

Also, I'm down!

Also, if we can get a lot of people, next thursday would work for Centralia.
 
Also, I was just reading that there is a cemetery at the top of a hilltop in the town that has smoke coming from it. Imagine how fucked that would look in the moonlight!
 
Hahaha my friends and I explored those sunken in mine shafts the other day. I filmed the ordeal. They're quite sick. The ones off the trail, kinda behind tubing right?
 
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