Do you know the story of Centralia, Pennsylvania? It goes a little something like this: In 1981, there were over 1,000 residents in this town. In 2010, there were 10. A mine fire began burning beneath the city in 1962. The fire may have been started from none other than the town's firefighters who had volunteered to help clear a dump by burning it. It's speculated that the fire was never extinguished correctly. The flames spread to the coal mines and has been burning ever since--but how it started can't be officially verified.

Congress allocated more than $42 million in 1984 for relocation efforts. No longer a safe home for the residents who had long called it home, Centralia looks like a ghost-town these days, no matter the remaining residents. I know because I visited Centralia myself last summer. This shot is of former route PA Route 61. Fun fact: when I returned to my car after taking this photo, it wouldn't start. I had to get towed out of Centralia, Pennsylvania... which isn't exactly an easy feat to pull off (calling a tow truck to a town that hardly exists).

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Filed under: Learning, Photos, Stories, North America, United States