Fire Beneath 'Real-Life Silent Hill' Town Has Been Burning Since 1962
Centralia, a borough in Columbia County, is now something of a ghost town - inspiring 2006 horror film Silent Hill
A town in Pennsylvania has had a fire burning underneath it since 1962, and now has just a handful of residents remaining after the majority packed up and left - a story so peculiar that it served as the eerie real-life inspiration for 2006 horror film Silent Hill.
Centralia, a borough in Columbia County, was once a small but thriving mining community, at the centre of which lay an abundant supply anthracite coal.
Now, however, it resembles something of a ghost town, with abandoned homes, demolished buildings and smoke wafting down the streets - all thanks to a hellish, huge fire that started burning underground almost 60 years ago.
While experts were never able to conclude why the fire started, over the years many have theorised that it had something to do with the town's litter.
David Dekok, author of Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire, explained how the city council proposed cleaning up the local landfill in time for Centralia's Memorial Day festivities in May 1962.
"This might seem like irrelevant, small-town history except for one thing," he wrote.
"Centralia Council's method for cleaning up a dump was to set it on fire."
Dekok continued: "Someone struck a match. As fire consumed the paper, black smoke rose. When most of the paper on the surface of the landfill was gone, the firemen poured water on it until they could no longer see flames. They left, believing the fire was out. Unfortunately, the fire had burned deeper into the many layers of garbage than anyone suspected."
While it was never confirmed by officials, it is believed that the Centralia dump fire sparked a much larger blaze beneath the town - the large network of mining tunnels supplying the fire with oxygen.
Speaking in Discovery documentary Massive Engineering Mistakes, civil engineer Corina Kwami explained: "Once the coal is lit, it's very hard to put out, especially as it's anthracite coal."
According to the documentary, by the late 1970s, residents were warned that Centralia was unsafe, but many decided to stay put - that is until a dramatic event convinced them to leave.
On 14 February 1981, a 12-year-old boy called Todd Dombowski fell into a huge sinkhole in his parents' back garden, having rushed over to explore a strange cloud of smoke emitting from the ground.
Miraculously, the 12-year-old survived after being pulled out by his cousin, but locals were still spooked.
With the underground fire too extensive to extinguish, the government offered residents a 'substantial' cash sum to leave - although a small handful of people were reluctant to abandon their homes, despite the cracking highways, noxious gases and sinkholes.
However, Centralia.org, a website dedicated to the town's history, reports that by 2017 there were less than five residents remaining.
The website also explains that the bizarre story of Centralia even inspired the film Silent Hill, which follows a mother and her daughter as they arrive in a strange town that was abandoned 30 years previously due to a massive coal seam fire. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
While the film itself was based on the video game series of the same name, first released by Konami in 1999, the fictional town of Silent Hill, West Virginia, is said to have been based in part on Centralia - which co-writer Roger Avary had heard about growing up from his father, a mine engineer.
Speaking about it on Twitter, he once said: "My interest in Centralia dates to an ancestor on the Marr side of my family, who was the defence attorney for the Molly Maguires, and the anthracite coal reserve rights which will eventually fall to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It all made for good thematic background."
Centralia.org states that the parallels are clear to see, saying: "In the town of Silent Hill, a thick blanket of fog and ash descend from the sky. While Centralia lacks falling ash, it certainly has plenty of fog, gasses, and steam venting from the underground mine fire. The town of Silent Hill also has huge cracks and fissures in the roads. These are found in Centralia too, especially along the abandoned section of Route 61.
"Finally, in the movie it is eventually discovered that Silent Hill was abandoned 30 years before due to a coal seam fire. This is exactly what caused Centralia, PA to be evacuated and razed during the 1980s.
"Though it lacks the demons, cults, and evil spirits, Centralia has many of the other disturbing elements found in the film. In that sense Centralia, Pennsylvania is the real-life Silent Hill."
As for whether or not people can visit Centralia today, the site adds: "If you are considering a trip to Centralia, it's important to remember that there are residents still living there. They won the right to stay there after a settlement with the state in 2013.
"While these residents technically do not own their properties, they have the legal right to live there. They should be treated with respect. Don't wander around their properties or attempt to enter their homes. That, most certainly, would be illegal trespassing.
"[...] Visiting Centralia, PA can be a really interesting experience. If you make a trip there, please be respectful of what is left of the town. Avoid littering, vandalizing, or stealing. Most of all, don't bother the remaining residents. Stick to exploring the road, paths, and abandoned areas."
Featured Image Credit: TriStar PicturesTopics: Entertainment, TV and Film, News, US News, Silent Hill, Centralia
Jess Hardiman