Want To Visit Centralia

[MatildaLoo]

Originally Posted by bolillo_loco

Fair enough, but I was referencing what it looked like back in 1984 when I first went through. The town was full of homes and there was still a main street lined with stores. I largely looked like this:




After not going through Centralia from roughly 1990 until 2005, I was shocked to see this:



The fact that Rt 61 was changed further added to my confusion.

I know. I was agreeing with you.

Now you would barely even know there was ever a town there. When I first visited in 2004 or so, you could tell there were remnants of the town. Now the town bench is even gone. Other than the muni building and a couple of houses here and there, it's just like any other rural area in NEPA.

[Gerania]

The guy who maintained the bench and a few other things in town was forced out of his house. Sad really, as it had belonged to his grandparents. I'm pretty sure that he lived on the corner of Locust Ave./61 and Park St.

[MatildaLoo]

Centralia Fire: Final Holdouts Refuse To Flee From Pennsylvania Coal Fire That Has Burned Since 1962

[MatildaLoo]

Just got this from my Google alerts. I am COMPLETELY DISGUSTED by the misinformation represented in this article.

Stranger Than Fiction: The Last Days of Centralia | Sevier County News

First of all, as far as I know Centralia didn't have any factories, and if they did they don't sit idle--they are gone. The schoolyard may still be there but one would be hardpressed to figure out where it was, since the school isn't there any more. Living conditions there aren't perilous and the fire isn't consuming the town. It never did. People were bought out by the government. The only road that is unsafe to travel and has been closed was Rte. 61. The local town hall DOES NOT sit silent: AFAIK they have meetings every month to pay their bills. And the air around the town certainly isn't toxic; in fact they have found that it is at the same level of areas outside Centralia.

As a journalist I'm sickened that this person did not do the leg work and, if he didn't at least visit the town, do his research. There's so much information out there about Centralia that for him to be this off base shows that he either saw Silent Hill and got completely confused, or he is just that bad a writer.

[HappyRider]

[julian17033]

Originally Posted by MatildaLoo

Just got this from my Google alerts. I am COMPLETELY DISGUSTED by the misinformation represented in this article.

Stranger Than Fiction: The Last Days of Centralia | Sevier County News

First of all, as far as I know Centralia didn't have any factories, and if they did they don't sit idle--they are gone. The schoolyard may still be there but one would be hardpressed to figure out where it was, since the school isn't there any more. Living conditions there aren't perilous and the fire isn't consuming the town. It never did. People were bought out by the government. The only road that is unsafe to travel and has been closed was Rte. 61. The local town hall DOES NOT sit silent: AFAIK they have meetings every month to pay their bills. And the air around the town certainly isn't toxic; in fact they have found that it is at the same level of areas outside Centralia.

As a journalist I'm sickened that this person did not do the leg work and, if he didn't at least visit the town, do his research. There's so much information out there about Centralia that for him to be this off base shows that he either saw Silent Hill and got completely confused, or he is just that bad a writer.

Sensationalism built around a few facts but mostly highly inaccurate information.
After reading this I'm thinking the Silent Hill siren went off in his head.
My visits to Centralia total fifteen.
I've walked the entire town.
Explored everywhere including digging for bottles south of the cemetery.
I think it wise that we invite this idiot to actually visit Centralia as opposed to just writing sensational lies about it.

[judd2401]

The newspaper article was just a sensationalist piece like most papers these days. The story of Centralia is both tragic and captivating, I've driven through there hundreds of times watching the homes and businesses disappear over time, I remember the fights about relocating, the mayor holding meetings in the municipal building, then Rt 61 got detoured and now there's really nothing left but a few hold outs. I can remember peaking the mountain and descending into Centralia, it was always very picturesque and when the fire really got going, you could see the smoke coming up in many locations, it was/is surreal. Not to minimize the hardship people in that town went through, but it makes for interesting history and I wouldn't doubt a movie is made about the process that took place there. The homemade movie that is circulating now is eerie enough, but to tell the true story from beginning to end would be something worth learning about including the emotional/financial impact it had on the families who lived there, the various struggles that took place between the state and the town, the controversies over the seriousness of the fire and how it started, the conspiracy theories that abound, etc etc etc. Unless you knew the town before the fire started, I'm not sure visiting as a stranger has much to offer, it's us locals who watched it happen over the years that I think are dumbfounded and somewhat saddened, but nothing like the families who actually lived there and had to give up their town and their homes, that would have been really tough, it was a tightly knit community, everybody knew everybody, lots of tight relationships existed there and it all got torn apart. I had several friends from Centralia as a kid and got a taste of it when it first started and nobody at that time would have believed the town would be leveled.

[MatildaLoo]

Originally Posted by judd2401

The newspaper article was just a sensationalist piece like most papers these days.

As a journalist I take offense to this. While it's true that "If it bleeds, it leads," and that many publishers prefer their reporters to drawn in an audience with colorful writing at times, an article like this shows a complete lack of research and journalistic integrity. If you read the article you'll see that the writer has authored books, so he should know better. Shame on him. It's not "just a sensationalist piece." It's a bunch of outright lies about a town that deserves better.

Julian, I agree. Unfortunately when I attempted to sign up for comments they never approved it. Didn't even make a comment yet, just tried to sign up. Wonder what that's about

[Velvet Jones]

Originally Posted by MatildaLoo

Have you seen Silent Hill or played the videgame? That's what will happen.

I think Pyramid Head retired and moved to Ashland though.

I heard there is a judge with a really big nose that lives there. Out back of the court house is a big machine that chops the convicted in to little pieces. Oh yeah, and he HATES bankers.

[MatildaLoo]

Originally Posted by Velvet Jones

I heard there is a judge with a really big nose that lives there. Out back of the court house is a big machine that chops the convicted in to little pieces. Oh yeah, and he HATES bankers.

And there's a cache of weird nurses in the basement of the hospital. They can't see you, but they can feel you!!