My fiance and I went to visit Centralia about a week ago, we drove by the abandoned highway about six times before we found it. We also saw two more groups of tourists wanting to see it, which I was surprised. A couple actually drove their motorcycle down the road. Sadly, we didn't see any smoke coming out of the big crack, or smell anything. We did walk out far enough to notice our feet start to feel really hot (we were wearing TOMS) and we were sweating more than usual. It was a really cool site. What sold me on going was your video and a documentary I saw on here about the people who still live there. Got some sweet pictures out of it. :)
8:20 Unfortunately, the town opened the time capsule today (in 2014...2 years early) and discovered a foot of water inside it, which ruined most of the contents.
I've seen various reports about this place on a number of different programs, but I learned more in your 8min+ video than in any of those other shows For example, I never knew about the time capsule or chapel until watching your vid. The info about the temperature at a depth of only 12 inches juxtaposed w/ the images of the cemetery is mind boggling. It's macabre, but one has to wonder about those interred in that cemetery...at depths of 5 to 6 feet down...
I would love to come back in 2016 to see if they do return to the time capsule. Thanks to you and everyone for your awesome comments and support! I greatly appreciate it! :)
We used to drive through this town on the way to our cabin, always seemed pretty creepy. My family used to tell us it was called transylvania, and I believed them. Lol
I was born and raised in PA and gone on road trips across the state, yet I never knew this place existed until last night. .-. Damn, I need to make a trip to Centralia. More specifically on 2016. :D
Rebecca Wolfe I don't remember what the info said, but I wanna go to see it opened. I never been to the opening of a time capsule. I know of them is a miner's lamp.
I find this more interesting than Chernobyl at the moment. All you ghost town filmers in Centralia can immediately see symptoms of cause of town's evacuation: burning stuff. Chernobyl, you wouldn't want to wait around to film the symptoms.
Nice video, thanks, and the thermometer was a nice touch. About 10 or 15 years ago I was driving through Pennsylvania, pretty much wandering around and seeing what I could see. Was just driving along a highway (61?) when I noticed odd things like no traffic and grass growing through the expansion joints. Then a sign put me on a detour that was a much narrower road apparently built for the purpose. Then I drove into town and it was like driving into the Twilight Zone. Streets and sidewalks, but only about two buildings and it was obvious where houses used to be. (It looks like it's grown up a lot since then). At first I had no idea what was going on... towns don't normally just disappear, but as I thought about it a faint memory came up. I asked someone in the next town about it and she confirmed what I remembered about Centralia and that really was the place. Finding that place by accident is one of the creepier expediences I've had.
A well narrated and presented video, Pam-thank you. I watched a really good hour-long documentary on RUclips last night about the town-a lot of interviews with former residents and home movies of parades and picnics-what a lovely place this was! It's hard to picture when all that's left now is rocky ground and trees and emptiness. Very sad. Apparently the owner of the town gas station discovered Centralia's, um, "problem" when he noticed the dipstick seemed warm when he was checking the fuel level of the station's tank-can you imagine how he felt?? Wow! So your temperature probing was very pertinent and enlightening. I think I'd like to explore there myself sometime soon... Again, thanks!
Thanks so much, Cristina! This one was a very fun one to do, and very educational for myself. I can imagine how he felt when he noticed the warm dipstick. That must have been quite shocking and a little unnerving to wonder why that would be. Especially dealing with gas. It was a long drive from me to get there, but well-worth it for sure!
your info is pretty good, but the town dump was an old stripping pit. and back in the day it was common for small towns to dump their garbage in them. Centralia did this for years and about once a year they would set it on fire to reduce the size and smell but unknown to them there was a vein of coal exposed at the bottom of the pit and when the local FD hosed the fire it didnt go out completely and they went back i be leave a day or 2 later but it was to late. and the vents were put in to monitor how far and where the fire was (something like 70 vents). inadvertently feeding fuel (oxygen) to the fire. the time capsule was buried in 1966 (on the 100th anniversary of the town) a 50 year time capsule.. up date the last few people who live there right now ''only'' have the right to live there until they die. once the last house hold member dies the house will be torn down and belong to the state or US government.
Well we're living here in Allentown And they're closing all the factories down Out in Bethlehem they're killing time Filling out forms Standing in line
I took a picture of the road sign at the edge of town in 1980, back when they had big plywood signs. "BOROUGH OF CENTRALIA" and in the middle of the bottom part of the sign, someone placed a bumper sticker that says "We Burn Coal".
Hey guys I love the video I was born and raised in centtrilia and I went through the woods with my friends we were playing hide n seek after we got outta school next day woke up I cried my mom said we got to evacuate the area ASAP
Tiki, you are seriously my hero. I love urban exploration. I love ghost towns. I'm so happy that Urbex has blossomed into the movement that it is today. It seemed that 5 years ago there was nothing of the sort on youtube, it was all so vague. Now there is content all over, I can't get enough of it, and your channel is the best one I've come across. You are respectful and thorough in your investigations, you engage your viewers i.e. "I wonder what this is/what do you think?" and you always make sure that those who view through the camera lens get to see absolutely everything with full panning shots of rooms, good lighting, close ups, etc. Furthermore, your pacing is perfect. You never just run through a house, you always pay the same attention to each room and you always make sure to keep the viewer aware of your position in the house relative to other rooms. Beforehand, I was under the impression that my desire to explore abandoned structures with camera equipment was merely a childish whim. Your videos are mainly what connected me with the true intentions of urbex; to explore and document the forsaken structures of mankind. I was inspired by you to take a step and go on my own urbex adventure. I haven't uploaded it yet, but I am super excited to share it when the time is right.
lobsterbox20 Thank you so much for your kind words and high praise. It's very much appreciated. I'm glad to have been an inspiration to get you started in your own exploration videos and wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
Tonight, I read about Centralia in the March 1991 issue of National Lampoon. It was featured in the column, "Don't Go There" and I wanted to confirm that it is a real place. I suspected that it was, and lo and behold, here it is. It was reported that the population was around 100 people at the time. An impromptu interview was held with one of the older residents as well.
Thanks, Steve! You certainly don't deserve dislikes, either, as your work is top-notch. That is exactly what they are, just trolls and haters with nothing better to do. That dislike button should be removed as it's just a tool for them to play with.
Just found your videos today & 'thanks' for doing it right! No stupid music. No dazzling (aka garbage) effects. No rifling through people's past to take home & sell. Just a very cool exploration & 'come along with me' narration of some random & interesting spots. Thanks.
I've seen a few videos on this town, but this I think was the best one. Very informative and well captured. Thanks for posting it. I do enjoy your videos.
Thank you so much for this video! I have wanted to see this town for so long after hearing all the stories. Now I feel like I have at least gotten to see it before there's nothing left of it. Pretty creepy about that cemetery though most of those people buried are probably now cremated!
I've been the that cemetery! We went at night. Took us 3 hours to get there. We also saw the church. Had no luck finding the old highway :( we were so close! Just couldn't find it in the dark.
I watched your interview on "72 Dangerous Places to Live" and I think you did an excellent job. It looked like they even used your video footage. Looks like that is a real hot place to live. Thanks!
I grew up in Boulder CO and the town of Erie a few miles away has about 50 mines under it. A fire has been burning under there since early 1900’s also. Also the town of New Castle has had one burning for 120 years. They have built so many subdivisions now in Erie they have sinking homes, streets that cave in, sinkholes and other problems due to mine tunnels collapsing underneath.
As a kid, I'd go thru Centralia once or twice a year on our way to a local amusement park. And each year you'd see how much the town dwindled as homes and businesses were boarded up or town down. The remaining residents just won the legal right to stay on their properties until they die. So I'm sure there will be a celebration and opening of that time capsule in 2016. Great video by the way.
Great video!! My husband and I were in Centralia back in April. It is a very interesting place to visit, I would like to go back there and explore some more.
I remember living in PA years ago, and seeing on the news when the fire just started. The town was all still there of course, and they had vent pipes on the ground like you see in big garbage dumps. Now its all empty. Too bad with todays technology how we can't put out the fire, but its said that the type of coal in the mines burns extremely hot and for a long time. Anyway.. thanks for posting the video. Perhaps one day, the fire will burn itself out
Very interesting video! Your videos, in my opinion, are by far, the best abandoned place videos on You Tube. I always look forward to your next one. :)
A nice informative video. I just read about this place in Bill Bryson`s book about the Appalachian Trail. I hike sections of the AT in PA frequently and really should visit Centralia. Thanks for posting this!
It's all open and easy to explore, surprisingly. I talked very briefly to one local who showed me where exactly to find the garbage dump area where the fire originally started. He just warned me to be very careful.
I live near Centralia and it is dangerous to walk around there. Before the town was evacuated a 12 year old boy was playing in his Grandmothers back yard and a subsidence occurred and he had to grab the edge of the hole to save his life. The hole was 200 to300 feet deep. Methane, a poison gas, was seeping into people's homes. I would not take the chance of walking around there for fear the ground would give way. Glad Tiki remained safe. This is an interesting place.
Awesome video and neat history on the town. I saw this clip and immediately the movie silent Hill came to mind it's always interesting to know that most of our Movies are really based on either true events or real places. Keep up the great work ☺
Thanks for posting this very interesting video. I visited there in the late 1990's after I had met a friend who lived in Shamokin who told me about it in the mid 90's. I just found the whole thing entirely fascinating, but did not understand how the fire started until you explained it. I understand Centralia proper stopped burning about a decade ago, but the area east of the abandoned town is now burning, obviously following the vein.
I was born and raised in Centralia, Washington and always heard about this town. There's also a Centralia, IL and OK. People still live in Centralia, PA.
Such a tragedy and a government failure. My grandmother was born here, and lived here until evacuation. It broke her heart when St. Ignatius church was demolished.
I admire your intrepid investigations of the derelict side to our Disposable society. I am amazed that the authorities have never used existing tech to harvest the energy being wasted there. If you look at Iceland & Greenland's geothermal recovery systems, and how much steam turbine energy is harnessed used successfully, there is a strong possibility this burning coal field could power a medium sized town for one hundred years. Pretty good return on investment as well considering the source is essentially free, With great respect for your endeavours, Gary Roberton.
Edge Of Darkness This only inspired the movie, the games were based on Jacob's Ladder and Stephen King's book, "The Mist", and various other source material, but the this city only made the movie, not the games. :p
Playful Fruit I guess you don't know Silent Hill. This town never inspired the video game franchise, do your homework, bro. Concept and influences[edit] Development of the Silent Hill series started in September 1996 with the beginning of the development of its first installment, Silent Hill.[48] The game was created by Team Silent, a group of staff members within the Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo studio.[49][50][51] The new owners of its parent company Konami sought to produce a game that would be successful in the United States. For this reason, a Hollywood-like atmosphere was proposed for it. Despite the profit-oriented approach of the parent company, however, the developers of Silent Hill had much artistic freedom because the game was still produced as in the era of lower-budget 2D titles. Eventually, the development staff decided to ignore the limits of Konami's initial plan, and to make Silent Hill a game that would appeal to the emotions of players instead.[52] The first installment's scenario was created by director Keiichiro Toyama.[53] The story of the second installment, Silent Hill 2, was conceived by CGI director Takayoshi Sato who based it on the novel Crime and Punishment, with individual members of the team collaborating on the game's actual scenario;[54][55][56] the main writing was done by Hiroyuki Owaku and Sato.[54][55][57] The first game, Silent Hill, utilizes real-time 3D environments. To mitigate limitations of the hardware, developers liberally used fog and darkness to muddle the graphics.[1] Sato estimated the budget of the first installment at US$3-5 million and Silent Hill 2 's at US$7-10 million.[55] He said that the development team intended to make Silent Hill a masterpiece rather than a traditional sales-oriented game, and that they opted for an engaging story, which would persist over time - similar to successful literature.[52] The games are known to have drawn influence from media such as Jacob's Ladder, Phantoms, Session 9 and Stephen King's The Mist largely through cultivating a technique of inducing fear through more psychological levels of perception, many sequences and tropes from these films share identical concepts.[58] The films of American filmmaker David Lynch are also acknowledged to have influenced the development team on the development of the series,[59][60] especially on the creation of Silent Hill 2.[60] Another major influence is Japanese horror, with comparisons made to classical Japanese Noh theatre and early 20th-century fiction writers such as the Japanese Edogawa Rampo.[61] The town of Silent Hill is an interpretation of a small American community as imagined by the Japanese team. It was based on Western literature and films, as well as on depictions of American towns in European and Russian culture.[52] The Order's religion is based on various characteristics of different religions, such as the origins of Christianity, Aztec rituals, Shinto shrines, as well as Japanese folklore; the names of gods in the organization's religion were conceived by Hiroyuki Owaku, but they have Aztec and Mayan motifs, as Owaku used pronunciations from these civilizations as a reference.[27] Certain religious items appearing in the series were conceived by the team and for some others various religions were used as a basis: the evil spirit-dispelling substance Aglaophotis, which appears in the first installment and Silent Hill 3, is based on a herb of similar name and nature in the Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism); the name of the talisman called "Seal of Metatron" references the angel Metatron.[31] Do your homework. Centralia, was only for the movie.
I wrote too Denmarks local news, about your youtube channel, and the Centralia, PA history Really great channel, extremely exiting to watch :) Hope you will keep making videos, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! :D
The road u were on, 61 farther back ends up turning into a rollercoaster with bigger cracks. Funny when u said 7 bars but 1 gas station haha. That's pa's coal towns for you. You should check out trevorton pa sometime
I remember first hearing about this town around the time they made the Silent Hill move. Nice video, would have loved to have seen more of what remains of the residential area.
Anyway, this was a very cool video. I grew up hearing about all the problems and issues coming out of Centralia. The residents fought very hard to stay, but many left when they knew they couldn't get much money for their property and concerns for their safety. (By the way, if you go through central and northeastern PA, you may see things named "Black Diamond". It's the name locals give to anthracite coal.) I hope you come back to PA, because there are many cool eerie places there!!!
You were extremely prepared and completely covered the underground coal mine burning in PA, that i had no idea existed ! Your work is more than entertaining, its educational !
With winter coming to the northwoods, I can't help but think this place would be nicer in wintertime. :) Another fine video, always interesting narration.
Another excellent tour. Love all your vids. Thanks so much for sharing with us less fortunate that don't have the ability to explore for ourselves. Your videos are the next best thing.
Thanks! I don't think you'll be disappointed. It's a great place. I love watching your abandoned mine explorations, btw! I was hoping to check some out while in the area, but I wasn't there long enough.
thank you for doing this one. I have recently seen a show about it on the history channel, and I thought they were making it up lol, super interesting and once again we never know where your adventure is going to take is :) you should really email some productions and show them your channel and videos. it would be amazing to watch you with your own tv show. im quite sure MANY people would watch!!!!
This was extremely interesting. I thank you for sharing this oddity with us. I wish something could be done to clean this environmental hazard up. Can't help but wonder about how far the veins of coal may extend... and therefore how far the fire will travel. it's definitely time to be more responsible about cleaning up after ourselves! I have that exact thermometer. It's very accurate. This was incredibly interesting thank you very much!
Good video Pam. Another fine example of a small human mistake impacting the planet for generations. One day I hope to be able to find the time to do videos as I have been too busy to make it happen at this time. I do appreciate your efforts as well as the quality of filming.
Wow, Pam, that was a very interesting video! I've never heard about this area. Your information was so informative. Too bad you were unable to explore the church. The time capsule was an awesome find! It would be so cool if someone would come back and open it in 2016. Hopefully that will happen and somehow we'd be able to see what was left for so many years! As usual, Great video!! Keep up the excellent work & always Stay Safe!!:)
I think I'm going to go look around out there. I'm hoping my daughter will go with me. Thanks so much for sharing this video with us. You are amazing :).
Did you do this recently? Should of let me know, not far from here. Not much left. Many years ago there use to be a lot of vacant houses but they got rid of them. It crazy one small accident caused all this
I live near that town, and every few months or so on the news they show cave-ins or how the fire is growing or shrinking, but no rpeort on the fire being stopepd completely. What a waste of Anthrecite, the best coal for burning.
I was watching Madonna's new music video, "Ghost Town" yesterday. And I also ate some Ghost Pepper fries - new menu item at Wendy's yesterday & I was listening to a new CD I bought from Ella Henderson, and the first song off of that CD was "Ghost". Then I saw Tony Goldwyn do some charade thing on an Ellen DeGeneres video yesterday for pottery scene from "Ghost". So, yeah, a lot of ghost stuff on my mind yesterday. Then I stumbled upon your RUclips Channel watching some of your abandoned buildings & homes videos for the first time. Then I saw some of your ghost town videos. I want to visit Centralia, Pennsylvania now. I've visited Pennsylvania many times in the past when some of my relatives lived there for many years before they moved back to Thailand. But I never visited Centralia. It's sad what happened to Centralia. It makes me think of the 'Silent Hill" movies. I also think of places with natural hot springs like Hot Springs, Arkansas, Bagby Hot Springs, Oregon, or volcanoes in Hawaii, etc., all of these places I've seen up close. One of my ex-boyfriends is a photographer and he and I took many pictures of abandoned buildings and homes. In fact, one of the birthday gifts he gave me was a black & white picture he took of an abandoned home. Bodie, California has a nice ghost town. It was a nice place for my ex-boyfriend & I to use our cameras to take pictures of. I saw the one video of you visiting the ghost town of Nelson, Nevada. If you visit California, visit Bodie, California. I'm sorry many of the townspeople had to leave Centralia, Pennsylvania. Anyways, I would like to see this place in person. Things like this interest me. I've been enjoying many of your videos. I like how respectful you are of the places you visit. And how you don't mess things & objects in these places, and how you treat these homes, sites, & buildings as historical places, museums, or places to appreciate, respect, and learn from. You are also a good narrator, articulate, and well spoken. I like how you take your time and don't rush through things, too, letting your viewers soak in the experience with you. Thanks for sharing these videos. Your RUclips Channel is very unique and interesting. Have a good weekend! :-)
I am blown away by hearing that the coal under the ground has been burning for over 50 years, that's crazy. Smoke rising to the surface. WOW! I wouldn't have thought it was possible. This was so out of this world I had to look it up for myself, even though I know you're good with your facts tiki. Another great vid.
***** Here's something you may find interesting. A fire estimated to have been burning for 5,500 years. news.discovery.com/earth/worlds-oldest-fire-has-been-burning-for-5500-years-150123.htm www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/Burning-Mountain-Nature-Reserve
Another perfect vid. You are a wealth of info. Thanks again. Centralia haunts me. Love the church and Oddfellow's cemetery. New American flags as well.
Very cool video. I saw someone else do a video of the same place but wasn't near as interesting as yours!!! Good job!!! I loved it even though it's a very sad looking place!!!!
This was brilliant to watch! I'd never even heard of this until reading an article online and thought "hmm, someone on youtube has to have been there" and low and behold, someone has... thanks!
Hi Shailesh. All of the houses except one that I saw were demolished. The Municipality Bldg still stands. My hands are okay, thanks for asking :) I wanted to see the inside as well, but being landmarks of the area, I doubt it will happen anytime soon.
I wonder how those 11 people still there survive with no resources or stores in there town. I feel demolishing all the buildings were pointless. It would have made the town more attractive for tourists and the surviving 11 people. Hope they check the time capsule! This video was very relaxing
If they hadn't demolished the buildings they would have just fallen into disrepair and become overrun with drug addicts and vandals... though they still would have been cool to explore.
Any enclosed structures in an area such as this would be extremely hazardous as the gasses escaping from the ground could concentrate in the buildings. I live across the street from a former quarry which was turned into a municipal dump where yard waste used to be dumped from the early 40s up until the early 80s. After that, it's been filled with clean fill. Developers wanted to buy the land and build houses. Test vents were installed. The decomposing yard waste is still releasing methane. This would make living in any houses built on the site uninhabitable, so the area is now a park.
There is nothing in the city other than the homes. Fortunately it is not far from surrounding cities that do have local corner stores, gas stations and other shopping centers. It's interesting to drive through. It's almost driving through the country with seeing few homes, but in a small rural setting.
Heaps of tourists go there so not hard to get stuff to eat or drink they can get stuff delivered there by truck easily for only 11 people that is just the size of a large family. The burning is deep underground and the water pipes are mostly above ground.
I felt apprehensive for you, Pam... because some toxic gases don't give a warning smell. Thankful that you are ok. The temp probe readings made this kinda scientific. Like Sherlock Holmes and Watson. You are respectfully nominated as Sherlock. :) Love your sense of adventure. - - Tom
So I walk into the living room while my son is watching TV and the narrator says "TikiTrex". Whoa, that's one of my favorite channels, and there she is!
This is one place I have seen a lot of documents and videos of. Its such a shame to be so deserted but the government couldn't do anything with it. Im very interested in what the time capsule holds for next year. I would love to be there when they open it. Ive often thought of moving there to get out of whats going on in the rest of the nation. Maybe there we would find some peace.....
But it would be too hot! And, there are poison chemicals... altho I guess there ARE three families nearby, so... funny thing is, I also thought of that! I love weird stuff like this.
![[DRAGON BALL LEGENDS REVEALS ＆ STUFF] LEGENDS FESTIVAL 2024 Special Edition Part 2](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/af0phKxitX8/mqdefault.jpg)
My fiance and I went to visit Centralia about a week ago, we drove by the abandoned highway about six times before we found it. We also saw two more groups of tourists wanting to see it, which I was surprised. A couple actually drove their motorcycle down the road. Sadly, we didn't see any smoke coming out of the big crack, or smell anything. We did walk out far enough to notice our feet start to feel really hot (we were wearing TOMS) and we were sweating more than usual. It was a really cool site. What sold me on going was your video and a documentary I saw on here about the people who still live there. Got some sweet pictures out of it. :)
8:20 Unfortunately, the town opened the time capsule today (in 2014...2 years early) and discovered a foot of water inside it, which ruined most of the contents.
I've seen various reports about this place on a number of different programs, but I learned more in your 8min+ video than in any of those other shows For example, I never knew about the time capsule or chapel until watching your vid. The info about the temperature at a depth of only 12 inches juxtaposed w/ the images of the cemetery is mind boggling. It's macabre, but one has to wonder about those interred in that cemetery...at depths of 5 to 6 feet down...
I would love to come back in 2016 to see if they do return to the time capsule. Thanks to you and everyone for your awesome comments and support! I greatly appreciate it! :)
It was reopened Oct 4, 2014. Sadly some of the items were water damaged.
We used to drive through this town on the way to our cabin, always seemed pretty creepy. My family used to tell us it was called transylvania, and I believed them. Lol
Seeing this video makes me wish I could go there and check it out. Fantastic footage and awesome narration. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thanks for the nice comment, Windy. It is an interesting place for sure.
I was born and raised in PA and gone on road trips across the state, yet I never knew this place existed until last night. .-. Damn, I need to make a trip to Centralia.
More specifically on 2016. :D
Not 2016 it has to burn for 250 years
minecraftman34489 There is a time capsule that is supposed to be opened on 2016. I want to see it when it is opened.
i was born and raised here to *high five* :D
Atisuto Chibi whats sopposed to be in it?
Rebecca Wolfe I don't remember what the info said, but I wanna go to see it opened. I never been to the opening of a time capsule. I know of them is a miner's lamp.
I find this more interesting than Chernobyl at the moment. All you ghost town filmers in Centralia can immediately see symptoms of cause of town's evacuation: burning stuff. Chernobyl, you wouldn't want to wait around to film the symptoms.
Nice video, thanks, and the thermometer was a nice touch.
About 10 or 15 years ago I was driving through Pennsylvania, pretty much wandering around and seeing what I could see. Was just driving along a highway (61?) when I noticed odd things like no traffic and grass growing through the expansion joints. Then a sign put me on a detour that was a much narrower road apparently built for the purpose. Then I drove into town and it was like driving into the Twilight Zone. Streets and sidewalks, but only about two buildings and it was obvious where houses used to be. (It looks like it's grown up a lot since then).
At first I had no idea what was going on... towns don't normally just disappear, but as I thought about it a faint memory came up.
I asked someone in the next town about it and she confirmed what I remembered about Centralia and that really was the place.
Finding that place by accident is one of the creepier expediences I've had.
I hope someone recordes them opening the time capsule
Unfortunately, haven't found anything till now! They opened it 2 years earlier, in 2014!
Thanks, Ben! I really enjoyed making this one. I'm glad you enjoyed it as well.
I found just recently this was the partial inspiration for the movie Nothing But Trouble and the town of Valkanvania.
It's 2016 right now, is someone going to open the box?
+Xenomex Actually, they ended up opening it early. Sometime earlier in 2015, I believe.
+TikiTrex The time capsule was opened on October 4, 2014.
Matthew S Thanks, Matthew.
+Matthew S did they have no patience? did they not get Christmas gifts?
TikiTrex. Why did they open it early?
A well narrated and presented video, Pam-thank you. I watched a really good hour-long documentary on RUclips last night about the town-a lot of interviews with former residents and home movies of parades and picnics-what a lovely place this was! It's hard to picture when all that's left now is rocky ground and trees and emptiness. Very sad.
Apparently the owner of the town gas station discovered Centralia's, um, "problem" when he noticed the dipstick seemed warm when he was checking the fuel level of the station's tank-can you imagine how he felt?? Wow! So your temperature probing was very pertinent and enlightening.
I think I'd like to explore there myself sometime soon...
Again, thanks!
Thanks so much, Cristina! This one was a very fun one to do, and very educational for myself. I can imagine how he felt when he noticed the warm dipstick. That must have been quite shocking and a little unnerving to wonder why that would be. Especially dealing with gas. It was a long drive from me to get there, but well-worth it for sure!
Really great coverage of this area Tiki. The video was interesting, entertaining, and informative. Thanks so much for making it!
your info is pretty good, but the town dump was an old stripping pit. and back in the day it was common for small towns to dump their garbage in them. Centralia did this for years and about once a year they would set it on fire to reduce the size and smell but unknown to them there was a vein of coal exposed at the bottom of the pit and when the local FD hosed the fire it didnt go out completely and they went back i be leave a day or 2 later but it was to late. and the vents were put in to monitor how far and where the fire was (something like 70 vents). inadvertently feeding fuel (oxygen) to the fire. the time capsule was buried in 1966 (on the 100th anniversary of the town) a 50 year time capsule.. up date the last few people who live there right now ''only'' have the right to live there until they die. once the last house hold member dies the house will be torn down and belong to the state or US government.
Well we're living here in Allentown
And they're closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they're killing time
Filling out forms
Standing in line
Why isn't this the number 1 comment!
I took a picture of the road sign at the edge of town in 1980, back when they had big plywood signs. "BOROUGH OF CENTRALIA" and in the middle of the bottom part of the sign, someone placed a bumper sticker that says "We Burn Coal".
Hey guys I love the video I was born and raised in centtrilia and I went through the woods with my friends we were playing hide n seek after we got outta school next day woke up I cried my mom said we got to evacuate the area ASAP
Não sabia da Historia dessa Cidade, fiquei sabendo ontem.... Muito interessante e Macabra.....
Tiki, you are seriously my hero. I love urban exploration. I love ghost towns. I'm so happy that Urbex has blossomed into the movement that it is today. It seemed that 5 years ago there was nothing of the sort on youtube, it was all so vague. Now there is content all over, I can't get enough of it, and your channel is the best one I've come across. You are respectful and thorough in your investigations, you engage your viewers i.e. "I wonder what this is/what do you think?" and you always make sure that those who view through the camera lens get to see absolutely everything with full panning shots of rooms, good lighting, close ups, etc. Furthermore, your pacing is perfect. You never just run through a house, you always pay the same attention to each room and you always make sure to keep the viewer aware of your position in the house relative to other rooms. Beforehand, I was under the impression that my desire to explore abandoned structures with camera equipment was merely a childish whim.
Your videos are mainly what connected me with the true intentions of urbex; to explore and document the forsaken structures of mankind. I was inspired by you to take a step and go on my own urbex adventure. I haven't uploaded it yet, but I am super excited to share it when the time is right.
lobsterbox20 Thank you so much for your kind words and high praise. It's very much appreciated. I'm glad to have been an inspiration to get you started in your own exploration videos and wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
Tonight, I read about Centralia in the March 1991 issue of National Lampoon. It was featured in the column, "Don't Go There" and I wanted to confirm that it is a real place. I suspected that it was, and lo and behold, here it is. It was reported that the population was around 100 people at the time. An impromptu interview was held with one of the older residents as well.
Thanks, Steve! You certainly don't deserve dislikes, either, as your work is top-notch. That is exactly what they are, just trolls and haters with nothing better to do. That dislike button should be removed as it's just a tool for them to play with.
Just found your videos today & 'thanks' for doing it right!
No stupid music. No dazzling (aka garbage) effects. No rifling through people's past to take home & sell. Just a very cool exploration & 'come along with me' narration of some random & interesting spots. Thanks.
I've seen a few videos on this town, but this I think was the best one. Very informative and well captured. Thanks for posting it. I do enjoy your videos.
I commented you 7 years before your voice reminds me of this well spoken girl I knew years ago.saw you your Nevada ghost town .thanks.
Thank you so much for this video! I have wanted to see this town for so long after hearing all the stories. Now I feel like I have at least gotten to see it before there's nothing left of it. Pretty creepy about that cemetery though most of those people buried are probably now cremated!
You're very welcome, Theresa! And you are probably right about the cremation!
@@TikiTrex Tiki thanks for this interesting tour. I believe I've heard of this before.
God Bless and Be Safe🙏
Cathy🌻
Ohio,🇺🇸
I've been the that cemetery! We went at night. Took us 3 hours to get there. We also saw the church. Had no luck finding the old highway :( we were so close! Just couldn't find it in the dark.
+Adam T. I think I know exactly what you're talking about and we probably drove past it 3 times lol
I watched your interview on "72 Dangerous Places to Live" and I think you did an excellent job. It looked like they even used your video footage. Looks like that is a real hot place to live. Thanks!
I grew up in Boulder CO and the town of Erie a few miles away has about 50 mines under it. A fire has been burning under there since early 1900’s also. Also the town of New Castle has had one burning for 120 years. They have built so many subdivisions now in Erie they have sinking homes, streets that cave in, sinkholes and other problems due to mine tunnels collapsing underneath.
As a kid, I'd go thru Centralia once or twice a year on our way to a local amusement park. And each year you'd see how much the town dwindled as homes and businesses were boarded up or town down. The remaining residents just won the legal right to stay on their properties until they die. So I'm sure there will be a celebration and opening of that time capsule in 2016. Great video by the way.
Great video!! My husband and I were in Centralia back in April. It is a very interesting place to visit, I would like to go back there and explore some more.
I remember living in PA years ago, and seeing on the news when the fire just started. The town was all still there of course, and they had vent pipes on the ground like you see in big garbage dumps. Now its all empty. Too bad with todays technology how we can't put out the fire, but its said that the type of coal in the mines burns extremely hot and for a long time. Anyway.. thanks for posting the video. Perhaps one day, the fire will burn itself out
Very interesting video! Your videos, in my opinion, are by far, the best abandoned place videos on You Tube. I always look forward to your next one. :)
I was fascinated and saddened!
Wow - never heard about this till I saw it on the weather channel with a link to you. You're a great reporter! Thanks a lot!
A nice informative video. I just read about this place in Bill Bryson`s book about the Appalachian Trail. I hike sections of the AT in PA frequently and really should visit Centralia. Thanks for posting this!
Fascinating, Tiki. I've heard about this place, but never looked into it. Stay safe!
It's all open and easy to explore, surprisingly. I talked very briefly to one local who showed me where exactly to find the garbage dump area where the fire originally started. He just warned me to be very careful.
I live near Centralia and it is dangerous to walk around there. Before the town was evacuated a 12 year old boy was playing in his Grandmothers back yard and a subsidence occurred and he had to grab the edge of the hole to save his life. The hole was 200 to300 feet deep. Methane, a poison gas, was seeping into people's homes. I would not take the chance of walking around there for fear the ground would give way. Glad Tiki remained safe. This is an interesting place.
Awesome video and neat history on the town. I saw this clip and immediately the movie silent Hill came to mind it's always interesting to know that most of our
Movies are really based on either true events or real places. Keep up the great work ☺
Thanks for posting this very interesting video. I visited there in the late 1990's after I had met a friend who lived in Shamokin who told me about it in the mid 90's. I just found the whole thing entirely fascinating, but did not understand how the fire started until you explained it. I understand Centralia proper stopped burning about a decade ago, but the area east of the abandoned town is now burning, obviously following the vein.
I seen this featured on TV a show called Dangerous Places to Live, interesting! Thanks, great video!
TikiTrex was in that documentary - this is her channel. They interviewed her and used her footage above here for that show.
Me too
I was born and raised in Centralia, Washington and always heard about this town. There's also a Centralia, IL and OK. People still live in Centralia, PA.
Such a tragedy and a government failure. My grandmother was born here, and lived here until evacuation. It broke her heart when St. Ignatius church was demolished.
Just shows that the people in church did not pray enough for god to hear them so that he could save it.
ba sillah lmao wtf no they just couldn’t do anything about the fire
Thank you, Michael! I appreciate your nice comment.
I admire your intrepid investigations of the derelict side to our Disposable society.
I am amazed that the authorities have never used existing tech to harvest the energy being wasted there. If you look at Iceland & Greenland's geothermal recovery systems, and how much steam turbine energy is harnessed used successfully, there is a strong possibility this burning coal field could power a medium sized town for one hundred years. Pretty good return on investment as well considering the source is essentially free, With great respect for your endeavours, Gary Roberton.
Silent Hill, anyone?
This town is what inspired Silent Hill. It's a real place.
Edge Of Darkness This only inspired the movie, the games were based on Jacob's Ladder and Stephen King's book, "The Mist", and various other source material, but the this city only made the movie, not the games. :p
Damon C Um no.
Playful Fruit I guess you don't know Silent Hill. This town never inspired the video game franchise, do your homework, bro. Concept and influences[edit]
Development of the Silent Hill series started in September 1996 with the beginning of the development of its first installment, Silent Hill.[48] The game was created by Team Silent, a group of staff members within the Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo studio.[49][50][51] The new owners of its parent company Konami sought to produce a game that would be successful in the United States. For this reason, a Hollywood-like atmosphere was proposed for it. Despite the profit-oriented approach of the parent company, however, the developers of Silent Hill had much artistic freedom because the game was still produced as in the era of lower-budget 2D titles. Eventually, the development staff decided to ignore the limits of Konami's initial plan, and to make Silent Hill a game that would appeal to the emotions of players instead.[52]
The first installment's scenario was created by director Keiichiro Toyama.[53] The story of the second installment, Silent Hill 2, was conceived by CGI director Takayoshi Sato who based it on the novel Crime and Punishment, with individual members of the team collaborating on the game's actual scenario;[54][55][56] the main writing was done by Hiroyuki Owaku and Sato.[54][55][57]
The first game, Silent Hill, utilizes real-time 3D environments. To mitigate limitations of the hardware, developers liberally used fog and darkness to muddle the graphics.[1]
Sato estimated the budget of the first installment at US$3-5 million and Silent Hill 2 's at US$7-10 million.[55] He said that the development team intended to make Silent Hill a masterpiece rather than a traditional sales-oriented game, and that they opted for an engaging story, which would persist over time - similar to successful literature.[52]
The games are known to have drawn influence from media such as Jacob's Ladder, Phantoms, Session 9 and Stephen King's The Mist largely through cultivating a technique of inducing fear through more psychological levels of perception, many sequences and tropes from these films share identical concepts.[58] The films of American filmmaker David Lynch are also acknowledged to have influenced the development team on the development of the series,[59][60] especially on the creation of Silent Hill 2.[60] Another major influence is Japanese horror, with comparisons made to classical Japanese Noh theatre and early 20th-century fiction writers such as the Japanese Edogawa Rampo.[61] The town of Silent Hill is an interpretation of a small American community as imagined by the Japanese team. It was based on Western literature and films, as well as on depictions of American towns in European and Russian culture.[52] The Order's religion is based on various characteristics of different religions, such as the origins of Christianity, Aztec rituals, Shinto shrines, as well as Japanese folklore; the names of gods in the organization's religion were conceived by Hiroyuki Owaku, but they have Aztec and Mayan motifs, as Owaku used pronunciations from these civilizations as a reference.[27] Certain religious items appearing in the series were conceived by the team and for some others various religions were used as a basis: the evil spirit-dispelling substance Aglaophotis, which appears in the first installment and Silent Hill 3, is based on a herb of similar name and nature in the Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism); the name of the talisman called "Seal of Metatron" references the angel Metatron.[31]
Do your homework. Centralia, was only for the movie.
Bomb Chele I could be wrong but silent hill is located in coal region of West Virginia
I wrote too Denmarks local news, about your youtube channel, and the Centralia, PA history
Really great channel, extremely exiting to watch :)
Hope you will keep making videos, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! :D
Thank you so much! Very much appreciated, and I'm glad you enjoy my channel! :)
Fizz TheTidalTrickster
Did you get any response from the Danish local news?
***** Unfortunately i didn't. But i am pretty sure they read it, they are just busy with different stuff.
This is really cool. I had seen video on this location before, but your video seems to be more detailed. Thanks!
The road u were on, 61 farther back ends up turning into a rollercoaster with bigger cracks. Funny when u said 7 bars but 1 gas station haha. That's pa's coal towns for you. You should check out trevorton pa sometime
I remember first hearing about this town around the time they made the Silent Hill move. Nice video, would have loved to have seen more of what remains of the residential area.
Anyway, this was a very cool video. I grew up hearing about all the problems and issues coming out of Centralia. The residents fought very hard to stay, but many left when they knew they couldn't get much money for their property and concerns for their safety.
(By the way, if you go through central and northeastern PA, you may see things named "Black Diamond". It's the name locals give to anthracite coal.)
I hope you come back to PA, because there are many cool eerie places there!!!
You were extremely prepared and completely covered the underground coal mine burning in PA, that i had no idea existed ! Your work is more than entertaining, its educational !
Thank you!
With winter coming to the northwoods, I can't help but think this place would be nicer in wintertime. :) Another fine video, always interesting narration.
I must add a "thank you" for *_not_* adding music... intriguing story - well narrated .
Great video!!! Nice coverage/filming work.
Another excellent tour. Love all your vids. Thanks so much for sharing with us less fortunate that don't have the ability to explore for ourselves. Your videos are the next best thing.
Nice job! I grew up in Indiana County but never made it over to Centralia. After watching your video, I'd like to go back there and check it out.
Thanks! I don't think you'll be disappointed. It's a great place. I love watching your abandoned mine explorations, btw! I was hoping to check some out while in the area, but I wasn't there long enough.
Another great video. Thank you for posting them.
Creepy. The crickets must like the heat.
thank you for doing this one. I have recently seen a show about it on the history channel, and I thought they were making it up lol, super interesting and once again we never know where your adventure is going to take is :) you should really email some productions and show them your channel and videos. it would be amazing to watch you with your own tv show. im quite sure MANY people would watch!!!!
We have abandoned turn pike tunnels in Breezewood Pa. The Pa. Turn Pike rerouted the highway
There are a thousand vids on this , but a fresh look is always nice.
BAMR DEP Stands for Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation Department
strange that there is no other date on the opening other than 2016 , I don't know how miss this vid, and thanks for taking the time
Another awesome video, Tiki!
Awesome! Nice video!! I can't wait to go with a small portion of my team
You have a wonderful vocabulary.
Thank you, Devon.
This was extremely interesting.
I thank you for sharing this oddity with us.
I wish something could be done to clean this environmental hazard up.
Can't help but wonder about how far the veins of coal may extend... and therefore how far the fire will travel. it's definitely time to be more responsible about cleaning up after ourselves!
I have that exact thermometer. It's very accurate.
This was incredibly interesting thank you very much!
Good video Pam. Another fine example of a small human mistake impacting the planet for generations. One day I hope to be able to find the time to do videos as I have been too busy to make it happen at this time. I do appreciate your efforts as well as the quality of filming.
My state and never knew this. Thanks for taking the time to educate. Good vid.
Excellent video; have traveled a lot of Penn over the years however, never did get to stop and explore Centrailia
Wow, Pam, that was a very interesting video! I've never heard about this area. Your information was so informative. Too bad you were unable to explore the church. The time capsule was an awesome find! It would be so cool if someone would come back and open it in 2016. Hopefully that will happen and somehow we'd be able to see what was left for so many years! As usual, Great video!! Keep up the excellent work & always Stay Safe!!:)
Awesome video. I had no idea that such a place existed AND that Silent Hill was inspired by it. So creepy, but interesting! Love it! ♥♥
thanks for doing it in celsius love form the uk :)
+HaiLsKuNkY No problem. I'm actually from Canada, so we are also on the metric system. :)
Nice video! Looks like a good place to take a bike. As always you do a great job narrating these. Thank you.
I think I'm going to go look around out there. I'm hoping my daughter will go with me.
Thanks so much for sharing this video with us. You are amazing :).
Thank you for saying so! I think you will like it there. Very interesting place. Enjoy! :)
This one is awesome! I really love your videos, so interesting, but I'm always waiting for something crazy to show itself! Be safe!
I lived in southern PA, there was a MNE burning under the area, a few homes only had hot water coming out of thier taps.
Did you do this recently? Should of let me know, not far from here. Not much left. Many years ago there use to be a lot of vacant houses but they got rid of them. It crazy one small accident caused all this
I still want to explore Centralia. It fascinates me. Thank you for your video.
I live near that town, and every few months or so on the news they show cave-ins or how the fire is growing or shrinking, but no rpeort on the fire being stopepd completely. What a waste of Anthrecite, the best coal for burning.
I was watching Madonna's new music video, "Ghost Town" yesterday. And I also ate some Ghost Pepper fries - new menu item at Wendy's yesterday & I was listening to a new CD I bought from Ella Henderson, and the first song off of that CD was "Ghost". Then I saw Tony Goldwyn do some charade thing on an Ellen DeGeneres video yesterday for pottery scene from "Ghost". So, yeah, a lot of ghost stuff on my mind yesterday. Then I stumbled upon your RUclips Channel watching some of your abandoned buildings & homes videos for the first time. Then I saw some of your ghost town videos. I want to visit Centralia, Pennsylvania now. I've visited Pennsylvania many times in the past when some of my relatives lived there for many years before they moved back to Thailand. But I never visited Centralia.
It's sad what happened to Centralia. It makes me think of the 'Silent Hill" movies. I also think of places with natural hot springs like Hot Springs, Arkansas, Bagby Hot Springs, Oregon, or volcanoes in Hawaii, etc., all of these places I've seen up close. One of my ex-boyfriends is a photographer and he and I took many pictures of abandoned buildings and homes. In fact, one of the birthday gifts he gave me was a black & white picture he took of an abandoned home. Bodie, California has a nice ghost town. It was a nice place for my ex-boyfriend & I to use our cameras to take pictures of. I saw the one video of you visiting the ghost town of Nelson, Nevada. If you visit California, visit Bodie, California. I'm sorry many of the townspeople had to leave Centralia, Pennsylvania. Anyways, I would like to see this place in person. Things like this interest me.
I've been enjoying many of your videos. I like how respectful you are of the places you visit. And how you don't mess things & objects in these places, and how you treat these homes, sites, & buildings as historical places, museums, or places to appreciate, respect, and learn from. You are also a good narrator, articulate, and well spoken. I like how you take your time and don't rush through things, too, letting your viewers soak in the experience with you. Thanks for sharing these videos. Your RUclips Channel is very unique and interesting. Have a good weekend! :-)
The town in silent hill was actually very much inspired by Centralia :)
the time capsule is opened exactly one year after you posted this video on October 4th 2014
interesting and VERY good video! You did this one like an ace! Was interesting to see those hot and hissy steam vents.
I am blown away by hearing that the coal under the ground has been burning for over 50 years, that's crazy. Smoke rising to the surface. WOW! I wouldn't have thought it was possible. This was so out of this world I had to look it up for myself, even though I know you're good with your facts tiki. Another great vid.
***** then tell me how the fuck you would stop such a fire! that's uncontrollable
***** Here's something you may find interesting. A fire estimated to have been burning for 5,500 years.
news.discovery.com/earth/worlds-oldest-fire-has-been-burning-for-5500-years-150123.htm
www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/Burning-Mountain-Nature-Reserve
That shit's fire
Fascinating and yet sad.....love your exploring!
Another perfect vid. You are a wealth of info. Thanks again. Centralia haunts me. Love the church and Oddfellow's cemetery. New American flags as well.
Very cool video. I saw someone else do a video of the same place but wasn't near as interesting as yours!!! Good job!!! I loved it even though it's a very sad looking place!!!!
Wow, this is really neat! Great video!
Loved this one of centralia -- it is the best I've seen, thanks so much for sharing!
This was brilliant to watch! I'd never even heard of this until reading an article online and thought "hmm, someone on youtube has to have been there" and low and behold, someone has... thanks!
Thanks for the nice comment! I'm glad you enjoyed. :)
***** It was just a brilliant intoduction to it all and of course a tour too, can't wait to see your other work :)
Hi Shailesh. All of the houses except one that I saw were demolished. The Municipality Bldg still stands. My hands are okay, thanks for asking :) I wanted to see the inside as well, but being landmarks of the area, I doubt it will happen anytime soon.
That does sound interesting. I'm going to look it up. Thanks for sharing that information with us.
I wonder how those 11 people still there survive with no resources or stores in there town. I feel demolishing all the buildings were pointless. It would have made the town more attractive for tourists and the surviving 11 people. Hope they check the time capsule! This video was very relaxing
If they hadn't demolished the buildings they would have just fallen into disrepair and become overrun with drug addicts and vandals... though they still would have been cool to explore.
***** Like 92ASC said, drug addicts and vandals - the vermin you are speaking about.
Any enclosed structures in an area such as this would be extremely hazardous as the gasses escaping from the ground could concentrate in the buildings. I live across the street from a former quarry which was turned into a municipal dump where yard waste used to be dumped from the early 40s up until the early 80s. After that, it's been filled with clean fill. Developers wanted to buy the land and build houses. Test vents were installed. The decomposing yard waste is still releasing methane. This would make living in any houses built on the site uninhabitable, so the area is now a park.
There is nothing in the city other than the homes. Fortunately it is not far from surrounding cities that do have local corner stores, gas stations and other shopping centers. It's interesting to drive through. It's almost driving through the country with seeing few homes, but in a small rural setting.
Heaps of tourists go there so not hard to get stuff to eat or drink they can get stuff delivered there by truck easily for only 11 people that is just the size of a large family.
The burning is deep underground and the water pipes are mostly above ground.
Thanks for posting, very interesting but a tragedy for the towns inhabitants. 🇬🇧
I felt apprehensive for you, Pam... because some toxic gases don't give a warning smell. Thankful that you are ok. The temp probe readings made this kinda scientific. Like Sherlock Holmes and Watson. You are respectfully nominated as Sherlock. :) Love your sense of adventure. - - Tom
So I walk into the living room while my son is watching TV and the narrator says "TikiTrex". Whoa, that's one of my favorite channels, and there she is!
I saw it as well. What a pleasant surprise!
I just watched it too on "72 Dangerous Places" on Netflix!! That was great to see her on this show!
This is one place I have seen a lot of documents and videos of. Its such a shame to be so deserted but the government couldn't do anything with it. Im very interested in what the time capsule holds for next year. I would love to be there when they open it. Ive often thought of moving there to get out of whats going on in the rest of the nation. Maybe there we would find some peace.....
But it would be too hot! And, there are poison chemicals... altho I guess there ARE three families nearby, so... funny thing is, I also thought of that! I love weird stuff like this.