[Abandoned]/Visiting the Real "Silent Hill" - Centralia

Last week myself and +Carrie H.C. were out of town for a bit. Why? Well simply put this past Sunday was my birthday and to go along with that we had decided to hit up a couple of theme parks that we both hadn't been to in a very long time, Knoebels and Hershey Park. However, there's something interesting lying in wait between the two and if you take a little time and go out of your way a little, you'll find it.

Centralia.


It's long been known and talked about, this town of just a handful of residents, and there's been no shortage of rumors and misconceptions from the beginning.The thing that put this town on the map was a fire, not just your regular run of the mill town burns down or major factory fire. No, everything underneath the town was a blaze in a slow, unrelenting death march. The cause of this? A fire at the local trash dump, which had unbeknownst to them had an exposed vein of coal at the bottom of it and that was the nail in the coffin.
 

A nice before and after shot...even if 12 years old now.

The resulting fire made it's way at a pace like a horde of zombies, without any way to be stopped. Most thought it would just burn out and that the clay barrier would be placed in time, but they were very wrong. What ensued was nothing short of catastrophe. The once thriving town started to see a mass exodus over the years, even was claimed by the state of Pennsylvania via eminent domain.

Much of this was spurred on by reports by a local gas station owner (and mayor), John Coddington, of an in-ground gas tank having a temp of over 170 degrees Fahrenheit in 1979. The larger story was when Todd Domboski fell into the ground as a whole opened up below him while in his backyard in 1981. 


However, despite all of this, the few residents that remained fought back and there's still a small handful left in the downtown area to this day. I'm not sure they'll ever leave to be honest.

The fire? It's moved out of the city limits and is now everywhere but the downtown area, the residents aren't leaving either. However, the damage definitely has been done and the fire, like the remaining citizens of Centralia has no intentions of leaving either. It's said that it could burn for at least another 250 years.

Look familiar? Still active after 100 years...

Now, you can see how this whole thing is just waiting to be used as inspiration for movies, games and even books. The most well known? The Silent Hill movie. It's been widely known that the creators of not only the game but also the movie saw the events and ruins of Centralia as a perfect source of inspiration. Myself and +Carrie H.C. have been to the town a couple of times now and I'm sad to say that not much if anything is left and it's become extremely overgrown. We almost didn't even recognize the place since our last visit.

Tons of pictures after the break!

 
So, with that out of the way, let's get on with the pictures. The first set is from our very first trip, about 10 years ago now.

And now that you've made it this far...here's the shots that were taken just last week. We actually found it kind of hard to figure out where things were from our original visit...even where we were in the now overgrown town was hard to figure as well. All of the signs of the fire from before? They're not nearly as visible either, but it's definitely still around. The ground is hot with steam and gasses still escaping some areas not far from the town...

So far the fire has been burning for over 50 years and has a lot left to go through, possibly threatening the town of Ashland nearby. What will the future hold for Centralia and the fire itself? Only time will tell...maybe the next town that falls victim will become the inspiration for another game or movie, but in the end, it'll always be Centralia that started it all.