America Paid $42 Million to Erase This Town | Centralia

In 1980, over a thousand people lived in Centralia, Pennsylvania. Today, five do — and the U.S. government paid $42 million to make the town disappear. Underneath it, a coal mine fire has been burning since 1962. Here's how it started, why it was never put out, and what's left of Centralia today. CHAPTERS 0:00 The town America paid to erase 0:27 Where is Centralia? 0:59 How the fire started (1962) 2:27 The fire breaks through (1979–1981) 3:31 $663 million vs. $42 million 4:55 Why this fire can't be put out 5:39 Not the only one: India & Australia 6:39 Centralia today 7:19 The Silent Hill connection 7:50 Can you visit Centralia? SOURCES PA Department of Environmental Protection — Centralia Mine Fire chronology: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dep/progr... UPI, Nov 16, 1983 (Office of Surface Mining estimate): https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/11/... WNEP, Oct 30, 2013 (settlement with remaining residents): https://wnep.com/2013/10/30/agreement... The Philadelphia Inquirer — Graffiti Highway buried (Apr 6, 2020): https://www.inquirer.com/news/central... The Philadelphia Inquirer — the 1966 time capsule: https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/... Mining.com (citing The Washington Post): https://www.mining.com/this-tiny-us-m... Damn Interesting — The Smoldering Ruins of Centralia: https://www.damninteresting.com/the-s... Fire Engineering: https://emberly.fireengineering.com/?... Offroaders.com — The Story: https://offroaders.com/album/centrali... Centralia PA history site: https://centraliapa.org Wikipedia — Centralia, Pennsylvania / Centralia mine fire (incl. David DeKok, "Fire Underground"; Joan Quigley, "The Day the Earth Caved In") PA DEP — Pennsylvania mine fires list (2025) Wikipedia — Jharia coalfield; Burning Mountain; Silent Hill (film) PHOTO CREDITS (Wikimedia Commons) Scott Drzyzga (CC BY 2.0) · James St. John (CC BY 2.0) · Marisa DeMeglio (CC BY 2.0) · Mredden (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Craven570 (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Mr. Matté (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Josh Byington (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Jrmski (CC BY-SA 2.5) · Lyndi & Jason (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Z22 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · SPP1996 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Reelcheeper (CC0) · International Accountability Project (CC BY 2.0, Jharia) · TripodStories-AB (CC BY-SA 4.0, Jharia) · Reinhard Kraasch (CC BY-SA 4.0, Burning Mountain) Public domain: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems & ASTER Science Team; U.S. Geological Survey; U.S. Bureau of Mines; Tom Vazquez; JohnDS; Conrad Martens, "Mount Wingen" (1878, State Library of New South Wales). Licenses: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 · /by-sa/2.0 · /by-sa/2.5 · /by-sa/3.0 · /by-sa/4.0 Photos may be cropped, color-graded and animated. Illustrations and the guide character are AI-assisted. Maps, charts and animations are original. #Centralia #Pennsylvania #GhostTown