Half a century later, Centralia ... branch of Route 61 that runs through the town was permanently closed when it became too expensive to repair. The abandoned highway is now covered with graffiti.

Not all ghost towns look like ghost towns. Centralia, once a thriving coal mining town, is a ghost town in the making, thanks to an underground mine fire that’s been burning since 1962.

Officially abandoned in 1940 ... A coal fire has been burning under the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, since 1962 and may not stop for 250 years. An attempt to clean up the local landfill ...

In 2005, Arnold Schwarzenegger, then governor of California, even designated the place the “official ghost town of the Silver Rush.” In 1962, underground fires in the coal town of Centralia ...

As seen in the photo, a closed highway leading to Centralia is now covered ... richer deposits elsewhere in the country. The town was completely abandoned by 1956 and the desert began to reclaim ...