Centralia, PA: The Burning Ghost Town, Its History and Legends

Centralia sits in a narrow valley in Columbia County, in the anthracite coal country of east-central Pennsylvania, about two and a half hours northwest of Philadelphia. In 1890 it had 2,761 people, with churches, hotels, saloons and theaters. Today its streets run past empty lots and tree-lined gaps where houses once stood, and the 2020 census counted five residents.

The reason is underground. In May 1962 a fire spread from the town’s landfill into the old coal mines beneath it, and it has never been put out. This guide covers what really happened, the curse and ghost stories that have grown around the town, and how to see it safely and legally.

History of Centralia

The area was first known as Bull’s Head, after a tavern. In 1842 the Locust Mountain Coal and Iron Company bought the land, and mining engineer Alexander Rae laid out a village called Centreville. He renamed it Centralia in 1865 to avoid confusion with another Centreville, and the borough was incorporated in 1866. Rae was murdered in his buggy on October 17, 1868, by members of the Molly Maguires, the secret society linked to violence in the coalfields; three men were hanged for the killing in 1878.

Coal made the town. Railroads carried anthracite to market from the 1850s and 1860s, and Centralia peaked at 2,761 people in 1890. It still had 1,986 in 1950 and 1,017 in 1980.

On May 27, 1962, volunteer firefighters burned the borough’s landfill, which sat in an abandoned strip-mine pit, and the fire was not fully put out. The most accepted account is that it found an unsealed opening into the abandoned mine tunnels and spread into the coal seam beneath the town. Other accounts blame hot ash dumped in the pit, or an older mine fire that never went out. Attempts to dig out or seal the fire failed, partly because illegal mining had weakened the old tunnels.

For years the fire was a slow worry. Then in 1979 Mayor John Coddington found the gasoline in his gas station’s underground tank at 172 degrees Fahrenheit. On February 14, 1981, 12-year-old Todd Domboski fell into a sinkhole that opened in his grandmother’s backyard, about four feet wide and 150 feet deep. He clung to a tree root until his cousin Eric Wolfgang pulled him out, and tests on the steam pouring from the hole found a lethal level of carbon monoxide.

In 1983 Congress set aside more than $42 million to relocate residents. Most accepted buyouts, more than 1,000 people left and around 500 buildings were demolished. In 1992 Governor Bob Casey used eminent domain to take every property in the borough, and in 2002 the Postal Service withdrew Centralia’s ZIP code. The last holdouts fought eviction for years until an October 2013 agreement let the remaining residents live out their lives in their homes. The fire also spread beneath nearby Byrnesville, which was abandoned and leveled.

The legends and ghost stories of Centralia

Father McDermott's curse

Centralia’s oldest legend begins in 1869, the year after Alexander Rae’s murder. Local legend says Father Daniel Ignatius McDermott, the town’s first Catholic priest, was assaulted by three Molly Maguires and cursed the town in return, predicting that one day his church, St. Ignatius, would be the only building left standing.

It is a story with no record behind it, and the details do not quite fit: St. Ignatius is gone, and the church that still stands on the hill is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church, built in 1911. A geological survey found solid rock beneath it rather than coal, which is why it is considered safe. It still holds Sunday services.

Miners in the smoke

The best-known ghost story is a visitor’s account posted online in the late 1990s. A woman described seeing two figures in mining helmets step out of the smoke near a subsidence hole behind the cemeteries and then vanish. It is one anecdote, retold many times, and it fits the town’s coal-mining past almost too neatly.

Other visitors’ accounts on the same site describe a voice from below that seemed to say “leave this place” near where the fire is thought to have started, and footsteps on the stairs of an empty house. The site that collected them is open about how hard they are to judge: people who come expecting something eerie often find it.

Silent Hill and the gateway to hell

Screenwriter Roger Avary researched Centralia while writing the Silent Hill film, and the movie’s ash-covered, burning town made Centralia famous with a new generation. The video games were not based on any real town, but the link stuck.

Online, Centralia is often called a gateway to hell. That is a nickname born of steam rising from cracks in the ground, not a reported haunting. The real hazards here are physical: heat, unstable ground and gas.

The cemeteries

Centralia’s four cemeteries are still maintained, and smoke has been seen rising around the hilltop graves. Visitors to Centralia often say they feel watched. The fence and some gravestones at the Odd Fellows Cemetery show damage from the fire.

These are maintained cemeteries with family graves, not ruins. Vandalism of graves was one of the reasons the landowner closed Graffiti Highway, so be quiet and respectful.

Where to look

• The Ukrainian Catholic church on the hill: the town’s last church, built in 1911, and the building the curse legend is often wrongly said to describe. It is an active church, so do not disturb services.
• The cemeteries on the southern edge: St. Ignatius, Saints Peter and Paul, and Odd Fellows. Smoke has been seen around the hilltop graves; stay on the paths.
• The empty street grid: curbs, sidewalks and front steps still mark where houses stood. You can see them from the public roads.
• The steam vents south of the old town: low metal vents and cracks where heat escapes. Look from a distance only; do not stand over them or breathe the steam.
• Pioneer Tunnel, Ashland: a few miles away, a safe, legal way to go inside a real anthracite mine on a guided tour.

Visiting Centralia safely and legally

There is no official visitor site, so set expectations: much of Centralia now looks like quiet, overgrown countryside with a few homes and a church. Steam is easiest to see on cold, damp days, especially in winter, and on many days you may see little or none.

What you can do: drive through on the public roads, park considerately where it is safe, and look at the street grid, the church from outside and the cemeteries. Come in daylight. The remaining residents have the legal right to live out their lives here, so keep away from their homes and do not photograph them or their property.

What you cannot do: enter posted, fenced or private land, climb dirt mounds, or go near vents and cracks. The ground over the fire can subside suddenly, and the state warns that the area is extremely dangerous. Carbon monoxide can build up in low spots and holes, so stay upwind of any steam or smoke.

Graffiti Highway is gone. The abandoned three-quarter-mile stretch of old Route 61, closed when a detour became permanent in 1993, was covered in spray paint for years and drew huge crowds. PennDOT returned it to the adjacent landowners in 2018. In April 2020, during large gatherings early in the pandemic, the owner, Pagnotti Enterprises, had about 400 truckloads of dirt dumped on it, with plans to level the land and plant trees and grass. State police have patrolled for trespassers, so do not try to reach it.

There are no ghost tours or paranormal investigations in Centralia, and amateur ghost hunts at night are a bad idea for the reasons above. Haunted Rooms does not run events here. If you want to investigate a haunted building with our team, our nearest ghost hunts are in Gettysburg, at Gettysburg Academy and the Cashtown Inn.

• Visiting Public roads only; most land is private or state owned, and the remaining homes are private
• Hours and season No set hours; visit in daylight
• Tickets Free
• Ghost hunting No organised investigations; do not enter fenced or posted land

Tips for your visit

• Visit in daylight and leave before dark. There is no street lighting in the empty parts of town.
• Wear sturdy shoes, but stay on pavement and maintained paths.
• Bring what you need: there are no shops, restrooms or services in town.
• Pair the trip with a tour of Pioneer Tunnel in nearby Ashland to understand the mines under your feet.
• Take nothing and leave nothing. Littering and vandalism are why parts of Centralia were closed off.

More haunted places nearby

• Inn at Jim Thorpe: a haunted historic hotel in coal country to the east
• Haunted places in Gettysburg: the battlefield, its ghost stories and our nearest ghost hunts
• Haunted hotels in Pennsylvania: for a haunted place to stay on your trip
• Haunted places in Pennsylvania

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.

• Wikipedia: Centralia, Pennsylvania
• Wikipedia: Centralia mine fire
• NEPA Scene: Centralia's Graffiti Highway closed and covered with dirt (2020)
• WNEP: Shutting down Centralia to visitors trespassing on property
• Uncovering PA: Visiting Centralia
• PhillyVoice: Visiting the Centralia ghost town
• USA Today via AOL: Tales of perpetual fire, demons and ghosts haunt these US towns
• Offroaders.com: Centralia haunted stories