A little piece of God's Country that turned to Hell on Earth...

Today, I went to see the movie Silent Hill. I won't go into the details of the movie or a review of it... I'll save that for a later post. The town in the movie was abandoned due to fires burning in the coal mines underneath. Is this plausible? I wasn't certain so I did a bit of research/googling.

Apparently the town in the movie (and the game that the movie is based upon) was inspired by Centralia, PA. Centralia, like many small towns in Pennsylvania, was a coal mining town. In 1962, a landfill fire in an abandoned mine pit ignited a coal vein and has been burning ever since. This is a problem for two reasons:

1. The burning coal is creating carbon monoxide.
2. As the coal burns and forms ashes the ground above it collapses, forming sinkholes.

Most residents of the town have been bought out with federal grants and an imminent domain declarations by the state, but some residents still remain. They believe that it is a ploy to "jump their claim." The post office even revoked Centrallia's zip code in 2002!

• An aerial image of the area.

If you are interested in taking your next vacation to Centralia to poke around, look here.