Centralia is a nearly abandoned town in Pennsylvania where an underground coal mine fire has been burning continuously since 1962 and is expected to burn for another two hundred and fifty years.

A closer look

Centralia is a nearly abandoned town in Pennsylvania where an underground coal mine fire has been burning continuously since 1962 and is expected to burn for another two hundred and fifty years. Some genius decided to burn trash in an abandoned landfill connected to a labyrinth of coal tunnels, accidentally igniting the earth beneath their feet. Now, the ground routinely splits open to release toxic sulfurous gases, making it the perfect tourist trap for edgy urban explorers who think breathing literal hellfire is a fun weekend activity. The government eventually paid everyone to leave, but a handful of stubborn residents decided they would rather live on top of a subterranean inferno than deal with the housing market somewhere else. It is basically a real-life horror game, minus the terrifying monsters and plus a whole lot of carbon monoxide