35. Centralia, Pennsylvania Fire

Right this very minute there is a fire that has been burning for over 50 years and has still not been extinguished. Here’s the craziest part: No one is doing anything about it. White smoke and toxins were seeping from the ground. Residents have been forced to up and leave their beloved homes where they grew up and some of them had homes that have been in their families for generations. Neighbors have turned on each other and a town is about to be completely erased from the map. Why has no one stopped the fire?

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Episode Pictures and Videos:

https://www.history.com/news/mine-fire-burning-more-50-years-ghost-town#:~:text=Before%20the%201962%20fire%2C%20Centralia,mining%20began%20in%20the%201850s

https://www.centraliapa.org/visiting-centralia-pennsylvania-dangerous/

https://curioushistorian.com/centralia-pennsylvania-a-town-condemned-by-the-fire-beneath-it

Other Episode Sources:

• http://164.156.71.80/Mining/Abandoned%20Mine%20Reclamation/AbandonedMinePortalFiles/Centralia/CentraliaFrequentlyAskedQuestions.pdf

• http://files.dep.state.pa.us/Mining/Abandoned%20Mine%20Reclamation/AbandonedMinePortalFiles/Centralia/Centralia(Gas)MercuryStudy.pdf

• https://www.britannica.com/video/187023/coal-mine-fire-Pennsylvania-Centralia

• https://www.citizensvoice.com/news/conflict-in-centralia-psu-lecture-focuses-on-mine-fire/article_5117b253-01ff-5dc3-9ffd-8e292a8262cb.html

• https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Bright-Green/2010/0205/Centralia-Pa.-How-an-underground-coal-fire-erased-a-town

• https://www.history.com/news/mine-fire-burning-more-50-years-ghost-town#:~:text=Before%20the%201962%20fire%2C%20Centralia,mining%20began%20in%20the%201850s

• https://mysteriouscentralia.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/the-centralia-conspiracy/

• https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-23/after-53-years-centralia-pennsylvania-continues-to-burn

• https://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/22/magazine/slow-burn-in-centralia-pa.html

• https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-pa-coal-town-above-mine-fire-claims-massive-fraud-2010mar09-story.html

• https://www.jakehalpern.com/centralia-dispatch-hot-town

• https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2013/11/centralia_holdouts_diehards_cling_to_conspiracy_theories.html

• http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/405_Report.htm

• https://roadtrippers.com/magazine/centralia-graffiti-highway-pennsylvania/