Centralia - an ever-burning ghost town in gloomy Pennsylvania, which became the prototype of Silent Hill.
Smoke is coming out of the ground, streets are empty, houses are destroyed - the city really looks creepy. And when fog spreads over the district, which is not uncommon here, the town turns into a real Silent Hill. This is the atmosphere that reigns in Centralia (Pennsylvania, USA).
It all started fifty years ago. Then the town authorities hired several laborers to clean up the local landfill. Without thinking twice, the hired "specialists" decided to burn all this garbage. But the comrades did not take into account that the heaps of garbage were not lying somewhere, but on an abandoned pit of a coal mine. For several hours the garbage was allowed to burn out, then the whole thing was extinguished and went home. But during the burning of the garbage, the fire managed to seep into the ground and ignite the coal deposits. And then the underground fire began to spread. Here and there smoke began to come out of the ground. Over time, due to the acrid smoke, complaints began to appear about the deterioration of health.
For twenty years, people continued to live here. The turning point was the accident with a 12-year-old teenager. The boy walked along the street until the asphalt began to part under his feet. He fell into the resulting crack with a width of more than a meter and miraculously survived due to the fact that his brother was nearby, who pulled him out. After this incident, the US Congress sounded the alarm and allocated 40 million to relocate all residents to neighboring cities. Most of the people accepted the offer and left, but several families resisted and decided to stay in their small homeland. Only in 2007 the last inhabitants left this place, and Centralia turned into a real ghost town.
The underground fire, which was caused by the garbage cleaners, according to experts, will continue to burn for about 250 more years.
The best preserved cemeteries are in Centralia. Surprisingly, one of them is Orthodox. The fact is that a large Russian-speaking community once lived here.
One of the main attractions of Centralia is the abandoned highway 61. It was rebuilt in 1963, but an underground fire severely crumbled the road surface - the asphalt cracked and became unusable. The highway was closed and a detour was built. And here smoke still comes out from under the asphalt. The road itself is motley painted with graffiti.
The city has preserved the Church of St. Mary. She continues to work - however, only one day a week, on Sunday.
