Episode 89: The Mine Fire
Mystery Category: Environmental Mystery / Vanished Towns
The Story: Centralia, Pennsylvania, was a busy mining town until a fire ignited beneath the earth in 1962—a fire that is still burning today. We look at the archival history of a town that was literally consumed from below, leaving behind a smoking, cracked landscape that remains a modern-day ghost town.
Centralia, Pennsylvania was a busy mining town until a fire of unclear origins started — and swept its way beneath the town. To this day, the mine shafts that built Centralia are destroying it. But could a curse be to blame for everything?
Hosted by Laurah Norton
Research by Bryan Worters and Maura Currie
Produced and Written by Maura Currie
Engineered by Brandon Schexnayder
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Works Cited
Erin Blakemore, “This mine fire has been…” History.com, 2018.
Sally Kalson, “Slow Burn in Centralia, PA,” The New York Times, 1981.
Maxim W. Furek, “Centralia: Gateway To Hell,” Normal Paranormal, ND.
NA, “Congressional group gets a look…” Republican and Herald, 1962.
NA, “Plan to seal old…” Berwick Enterprise, 1962.
NA, “State to backfill 103…” Republican and Herald, 1970.
NA, “DER notified of water-filled...” The News-Item, 1974.
NA, “Centralia, Pa. Mine Fire…” Associated Press, 1977.
Mary Walton, “A fire beneath the…” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 1979.
Pamela Glass, “Mine fires problem nationwide,” The Daily Item, 1980.
Carol Kline, “Centralia fire fumes hit another…” Republican and Herald, 1980.
Michael Rubinkam, “Few Remain as 1962…” Associated Press, 2010.
John Moore, “Centralians Fear Mine Fire…” WSJ/Daily Item, 1977.
Slow Burn: A photodocument of Centralia, Pennsylvania (via PSU Press)
CentraliaPA.org
George Turner, “The Murder of Alexander…” Columbia Co. History and Genealogy Society, ND.
NA, “James McFarland’s Three Year…” The San Francisco Call, 1911.
Explore PA History, “Execution of Molly Maguires…” WITF, ND.
Matt Loy, “The Legend of the...” PA Center for the Book, Spring 2009/10.