Centralia, Pennsylvania

The town’s decline is often linked to the death of its founder, civil mining engineer Alexander Rea. Rea had laid out and built a booming coal community with two rail lines, seven churches, five hotels, and two theaters. After he was murdered, everything started to unravel. Three men were hanged for the crime, but before he died Rea is said to have cursed not only his killers but the whole town, vowing that Centralia would someday burn in the fires of hell.

A century later the “curse” seemed to come true. A poorly extinguished landfill fire ignited refuse deep underground, and the blaze soon spread through the abandoned coal tunnels beneath Centralia. Every attempt to put it out failed. For more than fifty years the town has literally been sitting on a fire. Thick smoke seeps up through cracks in the ground, and sudden cave-ins of super-heated asphalt have claimed several lives, driving nearly everyone away.

Today no one even tries to fight the blaze; the remaining coal is expected to keep it burning for at least another 250 years.

From 100 Cursed Places · Fern Flower Press