THE REAL HAUNTED SILENT HILL THE GHOST TOWN OF CENTRALIA Located in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, Centralias story began in 1841 as a coal boomtown community called Bulls Head. Bulls Head was later incorporated as borough of Centralia in 1866 by the local coal companies who mined the rich Anthracite coal from the area surrounding the small town. For the town of Centralia these rich deposits of Anthracite coal proved to be a double edged sword, when in 1962, the coal beneath the town caught fire. Through the 1980s and 1990s the fire slowly tore their town apart politically from above and and physically from below. Nearly all of the homes, businesses and buildings were torn down as families left their beloved town behind and the Zip Code of 17927 was revoked. Centralia was disappearing. Today it is merely a skeleton of what it once was. As people from near and far learn of the story of Centralia, they come to visit. Most are awestruck by what they see. A grid work of streets without names, without homes. Remnants of properties such as steps to a front door that is no longer there. A few abandoned buildings scattered here and there, surrounded by smoldering hillsides and devastated wastelands. 3 cemeteries remaining on the grounds of a church that was torn down years ago. Only a very few occupied homes remain. While no lives had been lost that can be directly attributed to the mine fire, what has been lost is the soul of a community. With any strange or unusual occurrence comes rumors and stories. Centralia is no different in that respect. Walking amid the ruins of this modern day ghost town gives one the feeling of supernatural forces working under foot. From visitors to the town, stories arose from these ashes. Some were stories from visitors who left in fear after thinking they saw a person or thing, heard odd sounds and some felt they were being watched. Others go as far as to say Centralia is the gateway to Hell. Imaginations can run wild. As Centralia becomes a modern day ghost town and the fire encroaches upon the grave yards of the abandoned town, rumors have circulated that Centralia is haunted. Recently the movie Silent Hill has fueled rumors. Silent Hill by Sony Pictures, is a story about a small town in West Virginia called Silent Hill. When researching the different elements of Silent Hill, screenwriter Roger Avary came across the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania. Centralia planted the seed for what developed into the cinematic version of the town of Silent Hill. The movie invites the audience to explore their fears of the unknown. Yet, Silent Hill is a horror film and a work of fiction. For more about the connect of Silent Hill the movie with Centralia click here. Centralia on the other hand is a real town. A tangible location that can be visited and explored. Quite frequently it is. Centralia is not a tourist attraction. The dangers are real. The story of Centralia is real. People visit the town and leave with a deep impression on their soul. Some people swear there was more to the visit than sight seeing. Some leave with their own stories. Occasionally a story emerges that makes you wonder if there really is a soul of Centralia. Disturbed by its fate, haunted by its past. Possibly the disturbed souls of those departed, buried in the three cemeteries in Centralia who can not rest knowing the town they grew up in, worked in, lived in and loved is now gone. Lost to fire and the incompetence of those who could have stopped it from taking the town and their final resting place from them. There is the story posted on a bulletin board a few years ago of Ruth Edderson who visited in the fall of 1998. Ruth and her friend swore they saw a couple of people walking out of the smoke who appeared to be wearing mining helmets. The two figures walked up out of the large subsidence hole behind the grave yards and de-materializes like the smoke rising out of the same hole.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 09:56:59 +0000
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