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Centralia, PA - Once a thriving mining town home to over 1,000 people, the population of Centralia was last recorded as 9 (2019).

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It’s a near-ghost town - Now you’ll find eerily empty streets, broken fences, dead patches of grass, and tangled heaps of dead trees.

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It’s been burning for 60 years -

Some of its main, spooky draws are the deep pits with melted tires wedged in them, a myriad of danger and warning signs, and steamy sulfurous gases blowing out from cracked lips of concrete.

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What sparked the everlasting flame? -

Burning garbage! In 1962, local sanitation workers began burning trash at a site over an old mine entrance by the town, igniting the honeycomb of underlying coal.

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They could extinguish the fires above ground -

But a much bigger inferno seared underground, eventually spreading its destructive, fiery tendrils to the town center.

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At first it was harmless - The Smithsonian reports that residents recalled harvesting tomatoes at Christmas in their naturally heated gardens, and that they were relieved of shoveling snow.

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Calamity followed -

People started passing out in their homes from the carbon monoxide, the gas station tanks started heating dangerously, and a 12-year-old was practically swallowed up by a hole that opened in the ground of a neighbor's backyard.

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It spreads uncontrollably and unpredictably -

The fire burns at depths of up to 300 ft and across 3,700 acres of land, creating huge holes in the ground big enough to swallow cars.

Over some 20 years, firefighters tried to put it out eight times, by digging trenches, flushing the hole with wet sand and gravel, flooding it, and drilling holes, but nothing worked.

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How much coal exactly is there? -

The area is estimated to have enough coal to fuel the fire for another 250 years!

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No other option but to relocate -

In the ‘80s, a $42 million relocation plan was put into action to incentivize residents to move. It’s estimated that the total cost for putting out the fire would have cost $600 million.

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A handful of people stayed - Though experts advised against it, a few remained. They watch the tourists, lured in by the signs warning about danger and trespassing, stealing “souvenirs" in the form of those very same street signs.

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Residents try to maintain normalcy -

Even though their zip code was taken away in 2002, they still have municipal elections. The mayor (pictured) says he mows what used to be neighbors’ lawns “to keep things looking neat.”

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They opened a time capsule in 2014 -

They opened it two years before they were supposed to, only to find that the contents from 1966—books, photos, mining gear, bibles—were severely water damaged.

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The Graffiti Highway -

The abandoned art-covered section of Route 61 has become a popular tourist destination, though it’s reported that in 2018 the road became private property, and it remains a notable reminder of Centralia’s disaster.

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And now: Green Bank, WV - Known as The Quietest Town in America, where there are no cell phones or Wi-Fi allowed, where radio stations are almost impossible to find, and where there are no stoplights in sight.

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Population: 143 -

They couldn't stir up that much noise even if they wanted to with the few people they have. However they'd have a  difficult time even if they wanted to tune in, as they’re in the middle of the country's National Radio Quiet Zone, where broadcast transmissions are highly regulated.

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It looks like it never left the 1950s - There is one school, a knit and quilt store, one post office, a barbershop, one gas station, and the people still square dance.

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But it's also home to the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope -

It’s one of the world’s largest telescopes, as well as one of the most advanced in the world.

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The telescope is pretty incredible - Also the world's largest steerable radio telescope, it weighs in at 17 million lbs, it’s two acres wide, and it soars 485 ft tall.

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Project Breakthrough Starshot - In 2016, Stephen Hawking and Russian billionaire Yuri Milner joined forces to launch a $100 million 10-year search for life in outer space, using the Green Bank telescope.

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It’s very sensitive - The telescope can pick up sounds that are hundreds of millions of miles away, so, naturally, sounds from the town would be extremely amplified. 

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They use only diesel cars around the telescope -

A fleet of old diesel cars and trucks without built-in modern technology or spark-plugs are used for the site maintenance to minimize radio pollution around the telescope.

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No microwaves or electronic doorbells - Even the faintest signals can cause problems with the scientists' research, including gadgets like electric heated blankets, but especially things like microwaves.

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Cell phones and Wi-Fi are prohibited - You can get in trouble with the law if you’re caught using wireless communication! The only internet access is via dial-up or an ethernet cable.

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The town is patrolled for noise -

Didn’t think they were serious? A white van drives around town with long antennae, searching for any interfering sound.

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How do the residents feel? - They love it! The people call it an oasis from technology. Paradoxically, the town is made up of people who are escaping technology while fully supporting the advancement of it.

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It’s changed how they see modern phone use - Jay Lockman, the principal scientist of the telescope, said, “To tell you the truth it seems pretty strange and annoying to see people always diddling with their devices and not paying attention to what's going on around them.”

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They may be the first to find out about aliens - And they won’t have their cell phones to document it!

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