Transcription
This town has been burning for six decades. There is a fire underground that will not be extinguished for more than three centuries. And look at this, look at the smoke coming out of the ground. It feels pretty hot and as a consequence, today this is already a ghost town, completely abandoned, a place as intriguing as it is disturbing.
We are in the United States and today we have traveled a long distance to try to visit the ghost town of Centralia, Pennsylvania. A most unusual place, which some might even describe as gloomy and disturbing, it is a now abandoned village, which has been burning for over 60 years. That's right, since 1962, the streets have been consumed by a fire that does not stop and that specialists estimate could last for another 250 years. A phenomenon, product of human negligence mixed with the chemistry of nature.
Now I will tell you in detail and from the images I have seen on the internet, this could be something very shocking or a complete disappointment. You see, we are launching ourselves. So we are just here, Kamari and I, without a guide or anything. We got a car, we were in New York, we said, "Wow, if we drive about four hours, we're there." Last night, we arrived quite late, we more or less toured the area, but it's really creepy, everything is completely dark. We got to a part where there were some dolls hanging, some signs like that, I don't know, the truth is, it looked like a horror movie. We were the classic scary movie characters that die at the beginning, like that. The ones you see on your television and you say: you have to get out of there, they are going to kill you.
I did read in several sources on the internet that most of the ghost town has already been demolished. Everything is closed as a precaution, because there may be toxic gases there. Just this sign here says that we are already 2 miles, about three kilometers from Centralia. So, come on. The burning ghost town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, awaits us. Let's hit it.
Well, there is no doubt, we have already arrived, we have already been driving through the few streets there are, it is really a small town. And indeed, there are no houses to be seen. In fact, everything has been demolished. We can appreciate how nature has recovered what used to be theirs. Many streets are cracked, there is an eggy smell, clearly like sulfur, the result of the fire that is going on underground. And I explain to them what happened here, why is it that this community ended up being a ghost town in the current state. Why is it that the villagers had to leave? Because their lives were at risk. You see, for this we have to go back to the 1950s. This whole region of Pennsylvania is full of coal mines. And like all the neighboring towns, Centralia encountered a massive economic boom. It is said that more than 2,000 people came to live here. Houses everywhere, little parks, children going to school, everything was fine, everyone was happy, until the 1960's, specifically 1962, when neglect happened.
Basically, every year here it was customary to burn the garbage, as well as to gather all the garbage that was left. And well, nobody is going to want this anymore. This soccer ball doesn't belong to anyone. For the record, Jorgito, you're always losing it, aren't you? And Jorgito there: No, no, no, no, it's not mine, it's not mine. So, well, nobody wants anything anymore. Let's burn the garbage. So, every year they burned the garbage like that, massively, nothing happened, everything was fine. But in May 1962 they did this and it is speculated, one of the strongest theories to date, is that the fire from this garbage wood seeped through some of the vents of the coal mines, through holes, the oxygen mixed with all the gases that were in there and boom, a fire broke out underground. This fire is estimated to reach up to 100 m underground. So, from where we are standing right now, very calm, very relaxed, 100 m below, fuam, this tremendous fire could be spreading, and it took people a long, long time to realize that it was really a risk.
Let's see, some neighbors suddenly started to report, like this: "Hey, it smells kind of weird: Hey, it smells kind of weird in here, like the neighbors are throwing a lot of flatulence, it smells a lot like rotten eggs." And then, all of a sudden, someone said: "Hey, it looks like a crack opened up in front of my house," and someone said: "Hey, it looks like smoke is coming out of this hole, strangely enough." And it was not until 1981, well, 20 years later, that And then, something happened that was already undeniable, it already spoke of a latent, penetrating risk, and that is that a child fell down a hole, which was weak on the ground, then the child was going like this. He fell down the hole, toxic gases, fire, the child could be rescued, but thanks to that they said: "You know what? This, the fire underground, it really doesn't seem to be dying down, it doesn't seem that the rains are doing anything for our good, we have to start evacuating."
And even in 2002 the town was officially declared abandoned, 40 years later, to the mother. That is, four decades people were living here with a lot of risk. Their zip code was 17927 and they said: "No, if nobody lives there anymore, let's cancel it, there is no reason for the mail man to come here anymore." And according to what I researched on the internet, in the most recent census, which was in 2020, the official population was five, that is, five people said: "No, no way, you can't take me out, this is my house, this is my land, I'm not leaving here." And they will live, I don't know where, maybe right now we will see a house over there or I don't know, a trailer, a car, I don't know, because here there is not even electricity. There is electricity wiring, but obviously it is not going to be in operation or it will be used for other communities. There is no water, there is no drainage, the only thing there are many graffitied streets and much, much loneliness.
You see I was telling you that to date there are supposed to be about five people living in the town? We found the home of two of them. They are super cool people, the truth is, super cool. And yes, they live here, in their trailer, they have their electricity with a gasoline generator, they have another trailer there, another one over there, like they are equipping the area so that people can come. And all this here, all these decorations that we are seeing, this is what we saw last night, in fact, what I was telling you. Well, it turns out that it is not disturbing at all, it is simply a man whose job, he told me, is to demolish houses. So, he finds a lot of things, he brings them here, he equips his place and basically, he is sitting here, the authorities have suddenly come to ask him, like: "Hey, what's going on, what are you doing here? Are you okay?" And he says: "I'm fine." And they haven't told him anything, that he can live here. It's very cool how he has everything decorated and he tells us that he is really dedicated to cleaning many of the areas, because we have seen him. There is a lot of garbage everywhere, it is quite abandoned, it is what it is, an abandoned town. So, it's cool that he is cleaning up, he lives here, he is safe here and the truth is, he is very nice, very cool, very talkative. Yesterday we thought he was something very scary, on the contrary, he is very friendly. Let me introduce you to good old Dawn, Dawn Tipazo, very cool. What a funny guy. We were talking there with the owner of the house, the good don, his name is, good guy, good guy. And he said to us: "Hey, this guy talks very fast, he says to me." So, he asked us if we could please go to his friend, who is in a town over there, and we told him: "Look, man, are you letting us film here in your house? Let's do it. Why not? Of course we will." So, yes, that's what we are going to do, it's our mission, to go for the good don's friend.
Okay, well, this guy sent us to a library here in a small town nearby and she is going to be standing out there. Let's go and see what's going on, her name is Page. We asked him what she looks like and he said: "She's hard to miss, I mean, you will see her later." See, here is the bookstore. But then what about Page? No, I don't see her. No, we didn't ask for her number or her number. Here it is. No, you. That was very funny. Very nice of the Don. He welcomed us at his house. He asked us if we wanted to stay for a drink and so on. Obviously, we told him no, but we even went to get his friend there so she could have visitors. The gentleman was very sane, to tell you the truth. The Don, very sane, very cool. The girl, to tell you the truth, not so much. She did look like she was... Yes, she got stuck on some trip. Poor thing, we told her the best. But look what a curious adventure. And yes, look, we solved the question. Who lives in Centralia, in the ghost town? Well, he does. He lives there.
Walking through the streets you find a lot of garbage, cans, bottles, old furniture. There is a lot of talk on the internet that people come here to perform dark rituals, so strange things happen. My bet is rather because young people come here to get drunk, to have little parties here, who is going to tell them anything. They light their little bonfires, they bring their furniture, they lie around here, drinking underage, possibly. And I would also dare to say that many people come to dump their garbage here, because no one is really checking. How about this graffiti here, "Welcome to Silent Hill." And indeed, the video game, the very famous Silent Hill, is said to have been inspired by this town. These streets and such inspired the whole setting of the video game. And this street is but massive and yes it is very disturbing to see it all empty like that. I think everything in this town warrants it. It's a multiple, constant, what a disturbing fact. And eventually one finds that the streets are running out, that the streets have already been covered by dirt, then by grass. Yes, that's all. It's only a matter of time before nature recovers 100%. I can perfectly imagine what this community was like more than 60 years ago. Over here a house, over here a little park, a child walking the dog, the newspaper man on his bicycle riding by: "Good morning, Mrs. Johnson." And now completely graffitied and abandoned.
The only building that has been preserved, and in fact in perfect condition, is the church. Super nice, super well painted, kept on this street, all lonely and broken, and they're clearly squatting it. Wow, it's full of private property signs. "Don't go over this line. If you trespass, we will come after you to the fullest extent of the law." The lawn is super manicured, the bushes round. Yes, it's very interesting and it gets me thinking, do people still come to pray at this church? I don't know, maybe on Sundays it's open, right? And people are like that: "Well, yeah, let's go pray. We have to go through the zombie town, right? Hit a few undead along the way. Take your shotgun just in case. All so we can see Pastor John and pray and sing Christian songs." That is simply a symbol of resistance, so when the fire goes out, we will be able to return to pray to this church and so on and so forth.
In several of the roads we can see that the ground is raised and the passage is blocked. This could be for two reasons. One, because of the heat of the fire that is going on below us, the pavement is bouncing upwards. And two, because it has been the same people who have blocked the access so that people, like us, are not curious enough to go there to venture out and put themselves at risk. I must say that if the aroma sulfur, it is hard, it smells like rotten eggs, severe. Then, I would dare to say that maybe over there, the toxic gases are more potent, the risk is greater. So they block the passage so that fewer people can access.
Doing my research, I saw on several internet sites that mention a very famous street known as Graffity Highway, the graffiti highway. Supposedly, what has happened is that to prevent the passage of motorized vehicles, the same municipality has put blocks of gravel pavement, blocking the road and people have gotten in over the decades to be able to graffiti, to be able to hang out there. But the latest information I found on a Reddit forum actually said that that street was already completely covered up back in the pandemic era. So, yes, apparently nowadays it doesn't exist anymore. Here are some old images that were found on the internet, or at least we are not finding it. We already went around several times and nothing. Only like this, they are streets like this one we are seeing, but not like this street, which gives us a very gloomy vibe, like a post-apocalyptic scenario. And if what I'm telling you about the pavement rising up and so on, no, it's evident and all the vegetation already reaches here. No, eventually what is going to happen is that these roads are going to disappear, that is what Achequen is. Here you can really see, look, all the raised pavement. Wow! What could be the heat, the continuous fire. I imagine that you can see it with the camera at this moment. Smoke is coming out of this point, steam is coming out of the fire underground. Wow! It's super impressive and it's hot here. Wow! But it's really hot. Likewise, it smells... Yeah, it smells pretty strong here. And yes, it's in this whole area. Wow! It's very surreal, this thing. It's very curious that this spot, in fact, is marked on Google Maps. Other visitors, tourists who have come, have marked it and indeed they put it that way from Centralia fire ventilation. Another curious little thing that is marked nearby. This is supposed to be the location of Centralia's hidden Skinwalker. Do you know what a Skinwalker is? A mythological species that supposedly appears in the woods and such. Legends of terror, there is supposed to be one here and the point is marked on the map.
And just as we got here, we happened to see a group of tourists leaving. We are not the only ones doing this tour. And the gentleman has been here for a while now touring the area. He has already passed us other points that we could try to visit to see if we can see other things. But yes, what's up? Smoke coming out of the subsoil right now. Smoke that's been concentrating here for over 60 years and could be here for three more centuries. And here's another one. Yeah, that one's juicier. Let's see if I can get up there without getting a frog. Look, that's all. Just look at this. No, it's impressive. Here there is much more smoke than in the one over there and it feels much hotter. Likewise, the stone looks very humid, obviously a product of the boiling steam coming out of here. And yes, it's very shocking to think that a false step, very far down there, could weaken the floor and you'd get a call. I'm seeing that there are a few ribbons on the colored trees, possibly indicating that there are these kinds of points so that visitors know more or less where to go. No, this is a very clear sign that the town is on fire. It is indeed very surreal what a peculiar place. And how curious that out of nowhere, here in the middle of the mountain, a little chair, you see this, so that you can sit here and relax, lightly, even with a little cushion. And so that you can sit here, to see the smoke, to appreciate the smoke here in the town of Centralia. This is the point where the Skin Walker of Centralia is supposed to appear. Look, it's creepy out here, I'm not going to deny it. I hope the Skin Walker doesn't show up here, because Olo Borgo would be horrible. And I'll say that it's more like a place where young people come to drink, to have a drink. There's the tire here, there's cans everywhere, bottles everywhere. Either that or the Skin Walker is a drunk, so this is all Skinwalker. Every night he comes here to get drunk, it's serious, and then he scares people away. It's really creepy, this. Let's go, let's go.
Walking through the forest, you find many signs that, I tell you, people come here to drink, many bottles, many places like improvised campfires. And look here, right through this little forest here, we arrive at a cemetery, which in fact is a cemetery that looks quite well cared for. A lot of these graves are super old. This one says it's from the '60s, another one from around the '70s, another one from around the '90s, which means we're walking among the original settlers of Centralia. And I know how long the last people were buried here. Well, it looks pretty well kept. The grass is relatively pruned, the flags are in very good condition. You can feel the peace, the serenity here in the middle of nowhere.
We conclude with this video in the neighboring town of Centralia, called Ashtland, which although it is not an abandoned town, many people live here, it does feel very old. Many of the houses of the buildings are lonely, the businesses are closed. This has been a very peculiar adventure. I think it was totally worth the drive, to be enduring the intermittent rain to be able to film. We even made some new friends. Well, I liked it. We got to know a very, very peculiar and unique place on our planet. As you have seen it, you would like to add some information. Maybe this town reminded you of something that is close to where you live. I'll read you down here in the comments. Thank you very much for joining me in this adventure full of abandonment and new friendships. See you, as always, as you know, in a few days with a new video. Bye.