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Centralia, PA - On Fire for the Last Six Decades

The small town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, started out with a population of about 1,000 people before the 1980s, and that number has been shrinking ever since. The reason for this is because the town, or at least the ground underneath it, is literally on fire and has been since a disaster in 1962. That's when coal reserves buried underneath the town ignited in a mine explosion, killing some 111 miners.

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Today, the town's population sits at less than a dozen, and officials have restricted anyone new from moving in. Scientists also predict that the fire and subsequent sinkholes and toxic fumes could continue for 250 years. Centralia is kind of like America's Chornobyl in that sense. You can still drive through and visit the town.