The River That Runs Through Centralia

In 1962, a coal fire ignited beneath Centralia, Pennsylvania — a small mining town of over a thousand residents. For decades, toxic smoke seeped through cracked sidewalks. Sinkholes swallowed backyards. The government condemned nearly every building and relocated families who had lived there for generations. By 2020, fewer than five residents remained. Centralia became a ghost town, a place people only visited to photograph its crumbling ruins.…