Not only the restless soul of the deceased can become a ghost, but also - due to a fatal mistake of man - the whole city. Until recently, the Pennsylvanian town of Centralia flourished, but today ash is falling from the sky here all year round, and the air is poisoned
The American state of Pennsylvania has always been famous for its industry, including coal mining: coal reserves on its territory will be enough for several future generations. On one of the most famous natural deposits of anthracite in the state in the 19th century, the town of Centralia emerged. In 1841, in a township, a small village called Roaring Creek (Roaring Creek), a certain Jonathan Faust opened the Bull's Head Tavern. We can say that he laid the first stone of Centralia, although he hardly suspected that in 13 years a real city would grow from a modest settlement.
Meanwhile, this is what happened. In 1854, the large mining corporation Locust Mountain Coal and Iron Company decided to take over the territory and sent mining civil engineer Alexander Ria there. He designed the streets of the settlement and named his creation Centerville. However, it turned out that a town with this name in Pennsylvania already exists, and in order not to confuse the postal service, in 1865 the village was renamed Centralia. A year later, the town received the status of a city, in which schools, hospitals, churches, hotels, shops appeared, theaters, bars, post office and bank.
Coal mining gave two thousand people a money job, their life went on calmly and without incident until October 17, 1868, a high-profile crime occurred - Alexander Ria was killed on the outskirts of the city. the Molly Maguyers society, which, apparently, was not satisfied with the death of the founder of the city alone, and in the following years there were several more murders and arson.
CLEANING UP WITH CONSEQUENCES
After a series of lawlessness, peace and quiet came to the town, as if Centralia had exhausted all the negative supply. But, as it turned out, the real nightmare was yet to come. In the meantime, life went on as usual, people were still mining coal.
Of course, over a century of the city's existence, mountains of garbage have accumulated. Industrial and domestic waste, which was dumped into an old mine near Odd Fellows Cemetery, had to be disposed of. And in 1962, just a reason was found: the Day of Remembrance was approaching - a US national holiday dedicated to American soldiers who died in wars and armed conflicts. The government of Centralia hired five firefighters to carry out a qualified garbage collection. They acted according to an already worked out plan - to set fire to waste, wait until it burns out, and then put it out. The imprudent firefighters, to put it mildly, did not do their job very well: the garbage continued to smolder until it ignited coal in the mines.
In any case, this is what the official version says. According to another, set out in the book by Joan Quigley, "The Day the Earth Opened: A Tragedy of National Significance," the cause of the fire could well have been a cigarette butt thrown by one of the drivers passing by. However, what accuracy must be possessed in order to purposefully throw the "bull" into the mine! Moreover, so that it does not go out in flight or when it hits walls and thrown objects (after all, there were not only leaves and paper).
Throughout the 60s and 70s, the fire continued, despite all efforts to eliminate it. The abundance of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide seriously affected the health of local residents, and the lack of oxygen led to disease. They tried to extinguish the fire, but all attempts failed - the local disaster turned out to be too large-scale. True, according to some eyewitnesses, if the trench near the Odd Fellows cemetery were dug more intensively and did not take time off from work during the holidays, the fire could well be dealt with.
GENNA FIRE
Residents began to leave the city in May 1969 - but many still had faint hopes of a favorable outcome. The mines continued to smoke, and the townspeople for a decade diligently pretended that nothing terrible was happening. The fact that Centralia is on the brink of disaster was discovered by accident. The owner of one of the gas stations, John Coddington, decided to check the level of gasoline in underground tanks and lowered the dipstick inside. When he took it out, the dipstick felt very hot.
Out of curiosity, John measured the temperature - the thermometer showed almost 80 ° C! The news quickly spread throughout the area, and the residents finally realized that they were living on the lid of a boiling underground boiler.
The city's mayor's office was forced to admit that it was unable to control the situation. And an incident two years later drew the attention of the entire country to the disaster. On February 14, 1981, under the feet of 12-year-old Todd Domboski, who was playing in his yard, the earth literally opened up - a hole about 45 meters deep was formed. The boy almost fell there, but managed to grab the roots of the tree, and his cousin came to the rescue in time and pulled Todd out.
A few years after this incident, the US Congress allocated $ 42 million to Centralia to relocate residents to other cities. Most of the citizens accepted the offer, but several families refused, despite government warnings. Then in 1992, State Governor Robert Casey demanded that the government forcibly deprive residents of their property and force them to move, given the increased danger.
The townspeople tried to challenge this decision in court: they suspected that they were being resettled in order to be able to extract anthracite, large reserves of which are stored under the lower part of the city. Officials argued that the Pennsylvania government never had coal mining rights and that no mining company operates in the area. The court sided with the governor.
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In 2002, the postcode 17927, belonging to Centralia, disappeared from the registers. Route 61, which led to the city, was bypassed, and the settlement was removed from all maps of Pennsylvania and the United States. They stopped fighting the fire - it turned out to be a waste of money.
BEYOND POPULATION
By 2010, only five houses remained in Centralia - all the rest were demolished. Now several people live here, including the mayor of the city and a hereditary miner. They flatly refuse to leave their beloved city. Even though the underground fire is still burning. according to various estimates, from 250 to 1000 years. Every day, the asphalt is covered with new cracks, holes in the ground have long become the norm, and the air is poisoned.
Thick smoke constantly pours out from under the ground, ashes can fall from the sky at any moment, and four neighboring cemeteries have become the most "densely populated" areas. What could be worse?
Only ghosts that frighten tourists. Since the disaster struck, and news of it spread across the states, many adventurers and lovers of abandoned places have rushed to Centralia. Some were just interested in walking along the deserted streets, taking photographs, absorbing the strange atmosphere of despair and forgetting about the trip after a couple of years, others were "lucky" to remember it for the rest of their lives. Sometimes tourists think of strange sounds, it seems that they are being watched, or it seems as if a figure flashed around the corner. The imagination knows how to maliciously play its masters, but some cases when several people at once witnessed a paranormal phenomenon really deserve attention.
For example, in 1998, Ruth Edderson and a friend drove to Centralia. They swore that they saw two men in miner's helmets emerge from the haze near the cemetery. They seemed to come out of a huge hole behind the graves, walk a little, and then disappeared. It is unlikely that the frightened young people thought that these could not be ghosts, but a couple of local residents who were difficult to see in the smoke. In the same year, Scott Sailor and two comrades decided to go sightseeing in Centralia. Not finding anything interesting in the city, they went to the cemetery. The pariahs stopped at a hill from which smoke was pouring. As they surveyed the local flora, they were caught off guard by a strange voice coming from underground. The first time they could not make out the words, but the second time they quite clearly heard "Get out of here."
The hill began to smoke much more strongly, and it smelled of rotten eggs. Frightened friends will run to the car, and they rushed after them: “Why? Why did you do this? There were no people or cars in the area. When Scott arrived home and looked at the map, he learned that they were near the fire.
Finally, the third story really makes you wonder about the existence of ghosts. In 1999, a young couple, Laurie and Jim, entered the abandoned houses of Centralia. They adored such places and in their free time they often explored abandoned villages and old cemeteries, completely unafraid of the spirits in which they simply did not believe. In a three-story yak, Jim and Laurie went up to the second floor and stood next to the stairs.
Suddenly the wooden steps above creaked. The young people decided that there was someone in the house, and they were discussing with curiosity when another tourist would come down to them. The footsteps approached, and now they had already reached the second floor, but suddenly they broke off as unexpectedly as they appeared. Laurie looked up - there was no one there. Jim glanced down, but the stairs to the first floor were also empty.
STOP DISCONTINUED!
It is not surprising that Centralia, known for such incidents, liked the screenwriter of the horror film "Silent Hill" Roger Avery. The movie was shot based on the video game of the same name. At one time, "Silent Hill" made a splash and is still considered one of the best games in the horror genre. The virtual town of Silent Hill is somewhat different from Centralia. His story begins not a hundred faithful, but with a settlement of the Indians, imbued with supernatural power. During colonization, most of the Indians were killed and Silent Hill was founded on the site of their villages. As punishment for the blood of innocent victims, misfortunes fell on the city. At first, its inhabitants were mowed down by a mysterious epidemic, then a correctional colony was established in the city, which during the Civil War turned into a prisoner of war camp. After the victory of the northerners, Silent Hill became a mining town, the prisoners were freed,and the camp was turned into an ordinary prison.
Then sectarians who took refuge in the building of an old church seized control of the city, and Silent Hill itself was divided into two parts. The first, real, did not differ much from the current Centralia: abandoned houses, quiet streets, empty roads. The other, the world of horrors, has become a haven for human nightmares and strange creatures hiding in an eternal fog.
The atmosphere and plot of the game were so well thought out that Hollywood took on the task of transferring them to the movie screen. Screenwriter Roger Avery stumbled upon the story of Centralia by accident, went there and realized that this is how the ghost town in the film should be.
Instead of a story about the wrath of the Indian gods, the script was based on real events that led to the death of Centralia. Even the air raid sirens and the church migrated to the film - so much was Avery inspired by what he saw.
But what's next for the Pennsylvania town? Most likely, complete oblivion and despondency, occasionally disturbed by curious travelers - extremals. After the prosperous Centralia has been transformed into a smoldering monument of human stupidity through criminal negligence, only its most devoted inhabitants remain loyal to it. Ghosts of a past happy life.
National Geographic No. 10 2011