The ghost town of Centralia is the prototype of Silent Hill! Centralia (Pennsylvania).

Pripyat, Hiroshima, Epekuen - thanks to tourists, many dead cities suddenly got a second life. But the fate of the prototype of the famous Silent Hill, the town of Centralia in Pennsylvania, is even more incredible. Today we will tell you how he survives the second death.

Photo: frame from the movie "Silent Hill"

The history of the former mining town, which became famous thanks to the cult series of games and films Silent Hill, can hardly be called unambiguous. There is its upper layer, which is made up of quite typical everyday collisions, and there is another, deeper and far from modern realities, which served as the reason for creating the whole game world first, and then several films.

Photo: peepinglizzy.wordpress.com

Let's start from the top. It has ordinary American workers, an old coal mine (and part-time - a landfill into which all unnecessary rubbish was dumped) and an ordinary initiative of local authorities who gathered a fire brigade from volunteers in order to quietly and peacefully burn the garbage accumulated over the years. But, as is usually the case in Hollywood films, something went wrong, although earlier the procedure was repeated more than once or even twice and did not cause any difficulties.

The conflagration was habitually flooded with water, but, apparently, not completely, since a couple of days later the fire engulfed the abandoned adits - this happened in the spring of 1962. All subsequent attempts to extinguish the flames were unsuccessful. The fire, undermining the earth's surface from within, imperturbably continued its merciless destructive activity. Cracks in the roads have become quite commonplace for Centralia, as well as smoke creeping along the surface in places of soil failure.

Photo: sometimes-interesting.com

For the time being, the authorities managed to keep the situation under control, avoiding unnecessary publicity. But when, in 1981, a 12-year-old schoolboy who was returning home almost fell into a huge crevice (by a lucky chance, his brother who was nearby saved him), it became clear that something urgently needed to be done with the urgent problem. The authorities went through all the options for solving the problem with the all-devouring flame, from flooding the burning adits to laying protective ditches around the perimeter, but the bizarre design of the mine did not allow any of them to be implemented. A decision was made to evacuate, and over the next three years, the government moved almost all the inhabitants of the 3,000-strong town to neighboring settlements. Despite the fact that several families live in Centralia who are fighting for their right to be in their native land, the city has not officially existed since 2002 - it was then that its postal code was closed.

But this is only one aspect of the story of how a city that in its best years had a well-established infrastructure and visible prospects for successful development turned into one of the many American ghost towns, casts of a lifeless, frightening and at the same time attractive reality, frozen in time. and space. If you delve into the past of an abandoned town, you can find curious facts that lead into the sinister mystical jungle. So, according to one version, the cause of the fire that destroyed the city was the curse of Father McDermot, a minister of the church of St. Ignatius. The fact is that immediately after its founding in 1866, Centralia became the main platform for the activities of an Irish secret society called Molly Maguires. According to some reports, they were real bandits, unprincipled cruel non-humans who organized a series of dangerous arsons and murders in those early years. According to others, they helped the miners and ardently defended the rights of the simple working class.

Photo: all-that-is-interesting.com

Be that as it may, among the victims of Molly Maguires are the immediate founder of the city, engineer Alexander Ria, and the same father McDermot, who, although he survived after meeting with them, put a curse on Centralia right during the Sunday service. In his fiery and bilious speech, a great fire was mentioned, which was supposed to destroy the city drowning in sins. One way or another, but after about a hundred years, the curse "Burn you all in hell" came true. And, as you can see, the mystical background of the disaster interested creative people much more than the ordinary story about poorly extinguished garbage. In the world of Silent Hill, there was a place for a secret order, a curse, and other details of the dark past of a mining village that has sunk into oblivion.

There is only one correct answer to the question of how to get to Centralia: through the neighboring town of Ashland, which has become a new home for many of its former residents. This place also has a glorious mining past, as evidenced by the interactive museum created on the basis of an old coal mine, where you can gawk at a train for the export of trolleys that has not changed since the middle of the last century, hold in your hands pieces of coal that were once mined here by hard workers -workers, or go on a special train deep into the mine. There is also a direct mention of Centralia in this museum - a nicely decorated stand dedicated to the lost city. However, the photographs located on it will not add anything new to your idea of ​​Centralia - most of them have been walking around the network space for a long time. Therefore, it is better not to waste time and go straight to the ghost town shrouded in haze.

Photo: kimberliekohler.com

The highway that passed through the city is striking in its gloominess: hastily patched asphalt, lonely wooden poles that conduct electricity to nowhere and who knows for whom. And in the nearby forest you can find a lot of interesting things, ranging from half-rotted cars, literally falling apart from decrepitude, and ending with creepy dolls hung on bare trees and shrubs. All this significantly heats up the situation and brings not very good thoughts about what else extreme tourists from all over the world have yet to see in this Mecca.

And there is practically nothing to see there today - only smoke lazily flowing from the ground, personifying the words “death” and “hopelessness”, just begs to be published in some hopelessly dull public of one of the social networks. From the city, in the literal sense, only one name remained: almost all the buildings were demolished, and today only the Greek Catholic Church of St. Mary and a couple of houses signal some kind of life activity, in which people devoted to their native city live out their lives. True, they flatly refuse any communication. On the houses there are signs “We do not give interviews”.

Photo: iridetheharlemline.com

Also, on the outskirts of Centralia, for some reason, a garage has been preserved, where firefighters and ambulances are parked, as if ready to take off and leave at the first call. The same siren from Silent Hill that made the heart shrink and goosebumps is located right here. It's hard to believe, but it works properly, even despite a thick layer of rust and dirt. But who should send her alarm signals to her? The question hangs in the air, just like the haze spreading here throughout the territory.

Tourists who visited Centralia claim to have seen numerous ghosts here, but, of course, there is no direct evidence of their words. They say that in one of the four city cemeteries, which, perhaps, looks more alive than all the other locations of the abandoned city, ghosts are the most, but for some reason they stubbornly refuse to appear in the photographs. But what you can really see in local cemeteries is an unexpectedly large number of tombstones with inscriptions in Russian. Many Russian emigrants once lived in Centralia.

In general, ashes strewn on the head and thick fog - the signature attributes of Silent Hill - cannot be seen in Centralia. And thanks to the efforts of the authorities to demolish houses, the real apocalyptic picture of an underground fire is no longer so impressive - smoking cracks looked much more colorful surrounded by abandoned dwellings than in an open field. Plus, the years that have passed since the tragedy, plus the decline in the popularity of the Silent Hill series - the second life of Centralia, presented to it by streams of tourists, is slowly but surely fading away.

Photo: three-places-centralia-abandoned

However, what remains of the city is quite enough to feel the colossal negative energy that has saturated these places, and once again think about how unstable our world is after all, if from life to death in it there is literally one step. Definitely, the developers of the new part of the Silent Hill game series would do well to visit Centralia again. Who knows, maybe this is the only thing that can help restore their inspiration, and give a new life to a stagnant franchise and a dying ghost town.

Centralia

Recognized as the most sparsely populated city in Pennsylvania, the small town of Centralia has become popular around the world over the past few years. And the matter is not only in the special status of a ghost town, it is also in the unique history of the emergence and desolation of this terrible and at the same time attractive place for tourists from all over the world.

The history of the settlement on the site of the future city began in 1841, at that time for the United States it was a period of active development of coal mining and mining in general. The state of Pennsylvania was recognized as one of the most fertile territories for mining. Mining engineer Alexander Ria is considered the founder of the city, but before he moved there was already a settlement here, it was called Thundering Creek, and consisted of several yards of lumberjacks and the Bull's Head tavern.

Centralia

The engineer Ria, who came here to explore the area in 1856, immediately decided to turn the small village into a full-fledged mining settlement - the intelligence about the anthracite deposits was so impressive. It was possible to achieve the status of the city of Ria only 10 years later, in 1866, the same year migrants from Ireland began to actively flock here, who became the first coal miners in the developing anthracite deposits.

The "dark" pages of the history of Centralia began already then. Immigrants from Ireland founded in the city and throughout the state a secret society, Molly Maguires, which became a sabotage organization fighting against the arbitrariness of mine managers. Alexander Ria was declared the culprit of all troubles, and in 1868 he was killed by three residents of Centralia. The consequences of this murder were terrible on the scale of a small town - the terror of the Irish continued for 10 years, dozens of people were annually executed on the streets by hanging.

Centralia

The revival of the city began in 1878, from the same period it is customary to talk about the heyday of Centralia as an American province. Coal mining was carried out here on a huge scale, the city was built up and expanded. By the middle of the 20th century, several thousand residents, seven churches of various denominations, five hotels and even two full-fledged theaters were officially registered in Centralia.

The beginning of problems in the city was recorded in 1962. On the eve of Memorial Day, as part of the cleaning of the city area, a group of local firefighters were ordered to eliminate one of the dumps that had formed in the pit of an abandoned 19th-century mine. Following the instructions, firefighters set fire to the garbage, then to put out the flames and clear the remaining rubble. Not knowing the exact depth of the pit, the firemen removed the visible blockage and dispersed. But the ignited debris fell deep into the earth, giving a reaction to the whole coal seam.

Centralia

The problem was not noticed for some time, but after a couple of years, residents of outlying houses began to complain about smoke and the pungent smell of burning coal. Attempts to extinguish the underground territory were unsuccessful - the smoldering of the rocks spread to other layers, the scale of which they decided not to talk about, so as not to escalate the situation. The panic in the city began in 1979, when a local gas station owner, while checking underground tanks, discovered that the fuel was heated to a temperature close to ignition.

Centralia

The state authorities paid attention to Centralia only in 1981, when the first incident occurred, which almost ended in death. A local teenager walking down the street fell into a hole that formed under his feet - this was the first case of a collapse of the ground and literally melted asphalt in the city. The teenager was pulled out of the pit by his older brother, and representatives of the state congress became witnesses of the rescue.

The resonance caused by this accident was wide. Centralia became known all over the country, and attempts were immediately made to save the inhabitants of the city as soon as possible, but the process of transporting the citizens of Centralia only began in 1984. The US government allocated $46 million to the city's resettlement program, but not everyone agreed to leave - a group of residents remained in their homes in the hope that the city would be saved.

Centralia

The hope of the inhabitants was in vain. The authorities refused to finance a deliberately failed project to extinguish underground fires. Only according to official intelligence, the amount of anthracite in the bowels of Centralia is equivalent to 250 years of continuous burning, and this is only in the most optimistic forecast. The territory of the city and part of its environs were declared unsuitable for life, and the last inhabitants began to slowly disperse.

As of the beginning of 2014, 10 people live in Centralia, including the mayor and several of his assistants. The main highway leading to the city is closed to traffic of any kind - cracked asphalt and smoke remind that underground fires continue and do not subside. Gradually, fewer and fewer buildings remain in the city - some fall into the ground, and some are taken apart by enthusiasts.

Centralia

The American government officially refused to support the dying city in any way. The last sign of the destruction of Centralia from the memory of the Americans was the events of 2002. This year, the US Postal Service announced the removal of all Centralia indexes from the register. Documentally, the city ceased to exist.

Urban tourism in Centralia is flourishing despite numerous warning signs at the entrances. The remaining residents of the city willingly make contact with journalists and travelers, guiding them along the safest roads of the city and showing them local attractions. In the last few years alone, dozens of documentaries and films have been filmed in Centralia. Several streets of the city became the site for the filming of the first part of the film "Silent Hill".

Centralia

When visiting Centralia, you need to remember the elementary safety rules. You can’t be here without respiratory masks in warm and cloudless weather - you can earn carbon monoxide poisoning. At any time of the year, tourists should have special heat-resistant shoes on their feet - the ground and asphalt in some areas of the city heat up to +80 ° C.

IOL

underground fire

In May 1962, the City Council of Centralia hired five volunteer firefighters to clean up the city's rubbish dump, located in an abandoned open mine pit near Odd Fellows Cemetery. This was done a few days before Memorial Day. Firefighters, as they have done in the past, set fire to the rubbish heaps, let them burn for a while, and then put them out. But because of the incompletely extinguished fire, deeper deposits of debris began to smolder, and eventually the fire spread through a hole in the mine to other abandoned coal mines under Centralia. Attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful. Over time, people began to complain about the deterioration of health, provoked by the release of carbon monoxide.

In 1979, locals learned the true extent of the problem when a gas station owner inserted a dipstick into one of the underground tanks to check the fuel level. When he took out the dipstick, it was very hot - the temperature of the gasoline in the tank was about 78 °C.

Statewide attention to the fire began to rise and culminated in 1981 when 12-year-old Todd Domboski fell into an earthen well 1.2 meters wide and 45 meters deep, which suddenly opened up under his feet. The boy was saved thanks to his older brother, who pulled him out of the mouth of the hole. The incident quickly brought Centralia national attention as the investigation team (which included a state representative, a senator, and a mine safety officer) witnessed the incident.

One of the few remaining buildings was notable in that it was supported by five chimney-like supports along each of two opposite walls, where the house used to be supported by a series of adjoining buildings before they were demolished. This house was also destroyed in September 2007.

As of late 2005, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had not renewed the townspeople's relocation contract, so the fate of the residents who remained there remains uncertain.

Most of the former residents are expected to return in 2016 to open the time capsule buried in 1966 next to the memorial.

The right to develop subsoil

Some residents who have resided in Centralia believe that the state's eminent domain was staged to gain mining rights to downtown anthracite.

Residents speculate that its price is over $1 billion, although the exact amount of coal is unknown. Commonwealth officials stated that the state of Pennsylvania had no anthracite mining rights and no point in acquiring it, and no mining industry was organized in the area.

The city has been mentioned in many films, music albums, etc. Including in games - Resident Evil and Silent Hill (also influenced the film based on the game).

Background:Jonathan Faust opened the Bull's Head tavern in Centralia in 1841, and Centralia was granted township status in 1866. In 1854, Alexander V. Rea, a civil mining engineer, came to this area and, having divided the land into plots, began designing streets. This settlement was originally known as Centerville. This continued until 1865, when a post office was opened there and the name changed to Centralia. The anthracite coal industry was the main production here. It continued to operate in Centralia until the 1960s, when most companies went out of business, while the mining industry, based on blasthole mines, continued to operate until 1982. Open pit mining in this area is still ongoing, and approximately 40 workers are employed in underground mines. three miles to the west.
The founder of the town, Alexander Rea, was the victim of a contract killing. He was killed October 17, 1868 outside the city. Three people were charged with this crime and subsequently sentenced to be hanged in downtown Bloomsburg County, Pennsylvania. The sentence was executed on March 25, 1878. Also during this period, several more murders and arson were committed.
The town was served by two railroads - "Philadelphia and Reading" and "The Lehigh Valley", and it was "The Lehigh Valley" that was the main source of rail traffic. Rail service ceased in 1966. The township had its own school district with several elementary schools and one high school within the neighborhood. There were also two parochial Catholic schools in the township. The infrastructure of the city was quite developed and included seven churches, five hotels, twenty-seven salons, two theaters, a bank, a post office and fourteen supermarkets. During most of the history of this town, while the coal industry was functioning, the population was more than 2,000 inhabitants. About 500 - 600 more people lived in areas outside the city limits, in adjacent territories.


Underground fire.
In May 1962, the Centralia City Council hired five volunteer firefighters to clean up the city's rubbish dump, located in an abandoned open mine pit near the Odd Fellows cemetery. This was done before Memorial Day (the day of remembrance for the fallen in the American Civil War of 1861-65, in the Spanish-American and other wars, is celebrated on May 30 - approx. 91-60-91), as in previous years, but earlier urban garbage dumps were located in other places. The firefighters, as they have done in the past, wanted to set fire to the rubbish heaps, let them burn for a while, and then put out the fire. At least that's what they thought..
Deeper deposits of rubbish began to smolder due to the incompletely extinguished fire by firefighters, and eventually the fire spread through a hole in the mine to other abandoned coal mines near Centralia. Attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful, and it continued to rage throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Several people complained about the deterioration of health, provoked by the release of carbon monoxide.
In 1979, the locals finally learned the true extent of the problem when a gas station owner inserted a stick into one of the underground tanks to check the fuel level. When he took out the stick, it seemed very hot. Imagine his shock when he discovered that the temperature of the gasoline in the tank was about 172 degrees Fahrenheit (77.8°C)! Statewide attention to the fire began to mount, culminating in 1981 when 12-year-old Todd Domboski fell into an earthen well four feet wide and 150 feet (45 meters) deep, which suddenly opened up under his feet. The boy was only saved because his older cousin pulled him out of the mouth of the hole before he met certain death. The incident quickly drew national attention to Centralia, as the investigation team (which included a state representative, a senator, and a mine safety officer) happened to be walking around Domboski's neighborhood just at the time of this near-fatal incident.
In 1984, Congress allocated more than $42 million to prepare and organize the resettlement of citizens. Most of the residents accepted this offer and moved to the neighboring communities of "Mount Carmel" and "Ashland".
Several families decided to stay, despite warnings from government officials. In 1992, the State of Pennsylvania requested a permit for the eminent domain of all private property in the city, citing the unusability of the buildings. A subsequent attempt by the residents through the courts to seek any solution to the problem failed. In 2002, the United States Postal Service retired the township's zip code, 17927.







Today
Only a handful of inhabited houses remain in Centralia. Most of the buildings have been demolished, and at first glance this area now looks like a meadow with several streets running through it. Some parts of Centralia are filled with freshly grown forest. Most of the roads and sidewalks in Centralia are also overgrown. The only church left in the town holds a weekly Saturday night service, and the town's four cemeteries are still well maintained. In general, the cemeteries of Centralia now have a much larger population than the city itself..
The only signs of the fire, which covers an area of ​​approximately 400 acres and spreads along four fronts, are low rounded metal steam valves in the south of the town, and a few signs warning of underground fire, unstable ground and carbon monoxide.
You can also see smoke and steam coming from an abandoned section of Pennsylvania Route 61 (it was closed in the 1990s after several large cracks appeared on the road), in places near the cemetery located on a hill, and from other cracks in the ground scattered throughout the city.
The route of Route 61 has been changed and now the bypass road runs away from the abandoned city. However, the underground fire is still burning and will continue to do so until an indeterminate point in the future. No attempt is made to extinguish the fire. There is enough coal there to fuel this fire for 250 years.
One of the few remaining buildings was notable in that it was supported by five chimney-like supports along each of two opposite walls, where the house used to be supported by a series of adjoining buildings before they were demolished. This house was also destroyed in September 2007.
As of late 2005, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had not renewed the townspeople's relocation contract, so the fate of the residents who remained there remains uncertain.
Most of the former residents are expected to return in 2016 to open the time capsule buried in 1966 next to the memorial.











































































































































Demography
According to the 2000 census, 21 people, 10 houses and 7 families lived in Centralia. At the end of March 2004, 18 people remained in the city, living in nine houses.

In 1841, Jonathan Faust opened the Bull's Head Inn in what was then the Roaring Creek Township. In 1854, Alexander V. Rea, a mining engineer from the Locust Mountain Coal and Iron Company, arrived in the area and began planning the streets. This settlement was originally known as Centerville. However, the town of Centerville already existed in Schuylkill County, and the postal service could not permit the existence of two settlements with the same name, so Ria renamed the settlement Centralia in 1865. In 1866, Centralia received city status.

During the 1860s and 1870s, the Centralia area was the site of a secret society of Irish emigrants, the Molly Maguires. The founder of the town, Alexander Ria, was the victim of a contract killing. He was killed on October 17, 1868 outside the city. Three people were charged with this crime and subsequently sentenced to hang in downtown Bloomsburg County, Pennsylvania. The sentence was carried out on March 25, 1878. Also during this period, several more murders and arson were committed.

The city was the administration of educational institutions of the region, which managed several primary and one secondary school. There were also two parochial Catholic schools in the city.

The infrastructure of the city was quite developed and included seven churches, five hotels, twenty-seven salons, two theaters, a bank, a post office and fourteen department stores and grocery stores. During most of the history of this town, while the coal industry was functioning, the population was more than 2,000 inhabitants. About 500-600 more people lived in the suburbs, in the immediate vicinity of Centralia.

Industry

The coal-anthracite industry was the main production. It continued to function in Centralia until the 1960s, when most of the companies went out of business. The mining industry based on blasthole mines continued to function until 1982. Open pit mining in this area is still ongoing, and the mine, five kilometers west of the city, employs about 40 people.

Two railroads passed through the city - "Philadelphia and Reading" and "The Lehigh Valley", with "The Lehigh Valley" being the main rail carrier. Rail service ceased in 1966.

underground fire

In May 1962, the Centralia City Council hired five volunteer firefighters to clean up the city's rubbish dump, located in an abandoned open mine pit near the Odd Fellows cemetery. This was done a few days before Memorial Day. The firefighters, as they did in the past, set fire to the rubbish heaps, let them burn for a while, and put them out. But because of the incompletely extinguished fire, deeper deposits of debris began to smolder, and eventually the fire spread through a hole in the mine to other abandoned coal mines near Centralia. Attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful. Over time, people began to complain about the deterioration of health, provoked by the release of carbon monoxide.

In 1979, locals learned the true extent of the problem when a gas station owner inserted a stick into one of the underground tanks to check the fuel level. When he took out the stick, it was very hot - the temperature of the gasoline in the tank was about 172 degrees Fahrenheit (77.8 °C).

Statewide attention to the fire began to mount, culminating in 1981 when 12-year-old Todd Domboski fell into an earthen well four feet wide and 150 feet (45 meters) deep, which suddenly opened up under his feet. The boy was saved thanks to his older brother, who pulled him out of the mouth of the hole. The incident quickly drew national attention to Centralia as the investigation team (which included a state representative, a senator, and a mine safety officer) witnessed the incident.

In 1984, Congress appropriated more than $42 million to prepare and organize the relocation of citizens. Most of the residents accepted this offer and moved to the neighboring settlements of Mount Carmel and Ashland. Several families decided to stay, despite warnings from government officials.

In 1992, the State of Pennsylvania requested a permit for the eminent domain of all private property in the city, arguing that the buildings were unusable. A subsequent attempt by the residents through the courts to seek any solution to the problem failed. In 2002, the US Postal Service retired the township's zip code, 17927.

Today

There are practically no inhabited houses left in Centralia. Most of the buildings have been demolished and the area now looks like a meadow with several streets cut through it. Most of the city is covered with thickets. The only Church of the Holy Virgin Mary of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Diocese left in the city holds a weekly service on Saturday night. There are four cemeteries in the city.

The only signs of the fire, which covers an area of ​​approximately 400 acres and spreads along four fronts, are low rounded metal steam valves in the south of the town and several signs warning of underground fire, unstable ground and carbon monoxide. You can also see smoke and steam coming from an abandoned section of Route 61 in Pennsylvania (it was closed in the 1990s after several large cracks appeared in the road), in places near the cemetery located on a hill, and from other cracks in the ground. located throughout the city. The route of Route 61 was changed and a bypass road was built that runs away from the abandoned city. However, the underground fire is still burning and will continue to do so until an undetermined point in the future. No attempt is made to extinguish the fire. There is enough coal there to keep this fire burning for another 250 years.

One of the few remaining buildings was notable in that it was supported by five chimney-like supports along each of two opposite walls, where the house used to be supported by a series of adjoining buildings before they were demolished. This house was also destroyed in September 2007.

As of late 2005, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had not renewed the townspeople's relocation contract, so the fate of the residents who remained there remains uncertain.

Most of the former residents are expected to return in 2016 to open the time capsule buried in 1966 next to the memorial.

The right to develop subsoil

Some residents who have lived in Centralia believe that the state's right to eminent domain was staged to gain mining rights in the lower part of the city.