43 Spooky Cities Around the World People Would Not Go Back To

Once a thriving hub of Pennsylvania’s coal mining industry, Centralia’s fate dramatically turned in 1962 when a mysterious fire ignited in its mines, setting off a chain of events. This subterranean inferno, spreading through an unseen labyrinth of tunnels, remained an unsettling backdrop to everyday life until two harrowing events—a gas station’s fuel heating inexplicably in 1979 and a near-tragic sinkhole in 1981—unveiled the true menace lurking below.

Today, Centralia stands as an almost spectral town, with a mere four residents amid ruins and the haunting Route 61, its pavement cracked and adorned with graffiti. The ghostly smoke rising from the ground is a stark reminder of the fire’s relentless burn, predicted to smoke for another 250 years, leaving behind a town lost to flames and time.