In nineteen sixty-two, someone set fire to a landfill in Centralia, Pennsylvania. The fire spread into the abandoned coal mine tunnels beneath the town and has been burning ever since. It has been burning for over sixty years. Scientists estimate it will continue for at least two hundred and fifty more. The town of three thousand people that once stood above it is almost entirely gone — demolished, evacuated, erased. What remains is a grid of empty streets, broken road, and smoke rising from the ground.

In this episode of 5 Minute Strange, we cover the underground coal fire that destroyed an entire American town — the landfill decision that started it, the twelve-year-old boy who fell into a one-hundred-and-fifty-foot sinkhole in his own backyard, the residents who refused to leave and took the state to court, and the section of highway that split and buckled and sank and became one of the most photographed roads in America. The fire is still there. It is not going anywhere.

Subscribe to 5 Minute Strange for a new true story every weekday. One mystery. Five minutes. No explanation.

#5MinuteStrange #Centralia #TrueCrime #MysteryPodcast #PlacesThatShouldntExist #CentraliaPennsylvania #TrueStoriesYouNeverKnew #GhostTown #CoalMine #StrangeButTrue

Centralia Pennsylvania fire, Centralia underground coal fire, Centralia ghost town, Centralia abandoned town, Centralia Route 61 cracked road, Pennsylvania mine fire, Silent Hill inspiration Centralia, town destroyed by fire, true crime podcast, mystery podcast, abandoned places, 5 minute strange, short mystery podcast, strange true stories, Dark Whisper Studios