Centralia Mine Fire Ghost Town
A nearly abandoned borough where an underground coal seam has burned continuously since 1962, venting smoke through cracked pavement.
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Share a photoHistory & haunting lore
A 1962 landfill fire ignited the labyrinth of abandoned mine tunnels beneath Centralia, and despite decades of pumping and trenching the blaze still smolders. Most residents accepted state buyouts by the 1990s, leaving empty streets, buckled Route 61, and a handful of holdouts in one of America's strangest slow-motion evacuations.
Steam and sulfurous haze rise from fissures on cold mornings, and the Graffiti Highway — now closed and reclaimed — became an unofficial pilgrimage site. The borough itself is largely posted no-trespassing, but the visible smoke and ruin make it a sobering lesson in how an entire community can vanish underground.
Current site status
Most of Centralia is private property with no public welcome center; visitors should view the area from legal roadside pull-offs and obey posted trespassing warnings.