Centralia, Pennsylvania
According to the History Channel, the city council of Centralia, Pennsylvania, decided to burn the coal mining town’s landfill to clean it up for a Memorial Day celebration. However, the fire resulting from this decision ended up spreading into the mine and burned so intensely that its fire is still raging today. It would end up dooming what was once a busy town.
These underground fires continually cause smoke and noxious gas to fill Centralia’s air, shifting the ground behind former residents’ homes and creating sinkholes. In 1992, the state government kicked out all but seven residents and removed Centralia’s zip code. Those seven remaining residents are forbidden from passing down or selling their homes due to the persistent danger.