The Smoldering Ruins of Centralia

There is a small town in Pennsylvania called Ashland where Route
61's northbound traffic is temporarily branched onto a short
detour. Exactly what the detour is circumventing is not immediately
clear to travelers, however few passers-by pay it any mind... a
detour is nothing unusual. But anyone who ignores the detour and
ventures along the original route 61 highway will soon encounter an
abrupt and unexplained road closure. Beyond it lies a town filled
with overgrown streets, smoldering earth, and ominous warning
signs. It is the remains of the borough of Centralia. Centralia,
Pennsylvania was never a particularly large community, but it was
once a lively and industrial place. At its peak the coal mining
town was home to 2,761 souls, but today the population of its
cemeteries far outnumbers that of its living residents. The series
of events which led to the community's demise-- slowly diminishing
its numbers to less than a dozen-- began about forty-four years
ago.