Re: Centralia, PENNSYLVANIA
hey. this is my first post? perhaps.
anyhow
centralia has been mentioned on this messageboard more than i expected. i have been there two or three times myself, so i figured i may as well add to the discussion. here goes:
a) worth note is the abandoned stretch of highway which has split in some places. the largest of these cracks is perhaps one foot deep and one foot wide, and does emit some manner of smoke or steam or whichever- though hardly enough to merit the description / ode? 'HIGHWAY TO HELL' that you will find painted (more than once) along the way from the main road. the first time i visited, many of the trees in this area were dead and of a rather bleached-bones sort of appearance. on the most recent visit (october of last year), it seemed as though it was much greener in general. since it does not seem to have really stopped burning underground, i was a bit suprised at the recovery.
b) i have not walked much around the actual town- there does not seem to be much left, and i am pretty sure that most of the houses standing (all ten or so) are occupied. i would be interested to get together with someone that was a bit more familiar with the surrounding area- i know there are other structures (including an orthodox church) nearby that may or may not still be in use.
c) there are many small buildings boarded up or obviously not in use by the roadside (just outside the center of town) if you keep your eyes open. i know some have mentioned using a metal detector in the area - these spots might be worth checking.
d) there are also miles-long trails (i think from mining?) of gravel that might be worth searching. i have checked out two in that area, but only for about one mile each
e) the number one thing you will find on these trails (and possibly elsewhere) is rubbish. from my (admittedly limited) experience in the old strip-mining areas of PA, it seems to be a pretty common thing to dump trash in small piles here and there outside town (especially along the mining roads). if i am not mistaken, the ignition of one of these trash piles was what started the fires beneath centralia in the first place. i am pretty sure that people may still do this? as some trash looks pretty recent, but i do not know how far back it goes. if someone is willing to sift through these areas, i think there would probably be some really interesting stuff to find. it is worth checking out, at the least, for a rather spooky walk. i have visited a similar but much larger ex-mining-area in nanticoke, pa which is also supposed to have a (difficult to find? according to one local) concrete city built for miners quite a while back. now in use as a military / police / fire training ground, but i would love to check it out (ideally when there are no military or police training there, of course).
i would be happy to explore centralia or anywhere else thereabouts again sometime- if anyone has further information or would like to generally kick around for a day, let me know. i recently moved to syracuse, ny, but intend to move back to pa as soon as i can manage. also and finally i do have some (not very good) pictures from centralia that i will try to scan and post? if anyone is interested. i am sure,though, that the sites linked above probably have more than enough information for any curious someones.
that is all for now.
yers, spellcheckxoxo
