Graffiti Highway History: Centralia's Abandoned Road

The burning town of Centralia

Chapter 1

The spark in the coal

Chapter 2

The science of a subterranean fire

Chapter 3

Life on a boiling crust

Chapter 4

The ghost town and its legacy

YOUR GOAL

Master of The burning town of Centralia

Ch 4 · The ghost town and its legacy

hank Burying the Graffiti Highway

hank Centralia

The highway's cracked and the vapors rise, An endless fire underneath the skies.

hank The colorful history of Graffiti Highway

Burying the Graffiti Highway

hank The famous painted highway was covered in dirt in 2020.

The colorful history of Graffiti Highway

hank An abandoned stretch of Route 61 became a famous canvas for artists.

The Forever Ember

BETA

hank Dodge venting steam to learn why this Pennsylvania town has burned underground since 1962.

Fun Fact

Time capsule: In 2016, former residents gathered to open a time capsule buried in 1966, which survived the underground heat.

Glossary

ghost town (noun)
An abandoned town or city, especially one that still has remaining visible structures. An underground coal fire burning since 1962 slowly turned the borough of Centralia into an abandoned settlement.

Gossip

Should Graffiti Highway be buried?

Quiz

Why was a portion of Route 61 permanently closed and bypassed in 1993?

hank The birth of a real ghost town

Quiz

What did tourists and locals paint on the abandoned stretch of Route 61 in Centralia?

hank The inspiration for Silent Hill

Quiz

What famous horror media franchise was inspired by the smoking streets of Centralia?

Quiz

What did the town of Centralia bury in 1966 that they intended to open in 2016?

Quiz

Why did the private owner of the Graffiti Highway cover it with dirt in April 2020?

Quiz

What happened to the local ZIP code (17927) of Centralia, Pennsylvania, in 2002?

Quiz

Approximately how many years do scientists estimate the Centralia coal fire could continue to burn?

Quiz

Which of the following structures is one of the very few that still stands in Centralia today?