Centralia Pennsylvania
  

The area you encounter is shocking. The first impression you might get while looking at the smoldering ground and dead, bleached trees might be that you have visited right after a fire had roared through the hillside.  True however the fire took not hours but decades.  The smell of sulfur and fumes hangs in the air.  As the wind shifts towards you, your eyes and nose burn.  the ground is warm, even in the winter.  Move closer to the hot spots and the heat radiates off of the ground.  Reach down and touch the ground and the you realize why the dead trees are charred.  You'll find vent holes where hot gasses are escaping from the ground.  Stones are discolored from the heat and from deposits that come from the burning coal below your feet.

You look down the hill and see that not more that 300 feet from this location are several home where people still live.

At first one might think these are Birch trees with white bark but actually they are maple trees that have long since been bleach white from constant exposure to heat and fumes.  Some of the trees are burned.

These trees had burned due to the super heated ground. Recent ground temperature samples gave readings of over 1000º F not too far from the surface.

Below is a few of many vent pipes placed into the ground to release the gasses. 

The gasses coming out of the pipe pictured below is hot enough to ignite a piece of wood.

The constant threat of deadly fumes and carbon monoxide that comes up through the ground and into basements and houses had made living unbearable for some.  Residents had complained of constant headaches and nausea from the conditions.  Those that feared for their health and safety moved out.  Some stayed.  Some still remain.

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