Strange CA thermal anomaly makes ground temp rise to 812 degrees...

[The Annoyed Man]

Well sir, I know the abandoned coal mines under Scranton, PA caught fire and burned for years.

Centralia, Pa is still burning I believe.

Wow.  So I guess that was what the movie Silent Hill was based off of?

[alex_trebek]

Well sir, I know the abandoned coal mines under Scranton, PA caught fire and burned for years.

Centralia, Pa is still burning I believe.

Wow.  So I guess that was what the movie Silent Hill was based off of?

Yep it is.

Is Silent Hill based on a real place?

While the supernatural and religious elements of Silent Hill are fictional, the story of a town ravaged by the fires of its own mining industry is true. Centralia, Pennsylvania was a coal mining community of some 1,000 people. In 1962, a trash fire set in an abandoned mine site ignited a dormant vein of coal. Fumes from the underground blaze, cracks and sinkholes formed in the unstable earth, and other problems eventually led to the evacuation of the town. Although millions of dollars were spent trying to extinguish the blaze, it still burns beneath the town, making it nearly uninhabitable. Despite this fact, some residents, including the town's longtime mayor, remain firmly grounded in Centralia.

One of Silent Hill's screenwriters, Roger Avary, encountered the story of the town while working on revising the screenplay and incorporated elements of its history into the film. (Source: http://silenthill.ugo.com/features/realsilenthill/default.asp)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384537/faq#.2.1.11

[K Frame]

"Drill there, drill now!  Think of the grass children."

No no NO!

More drilling is not the answer!

If you drill now, you won't have more mine fires for at least 10 years!

[just Warren]

By pouring water in there are they risking causing rocks to explode?

If you had one on your property would you tell anyone or would you just plumb for steam and go off the grid?

[280plus]

It seems a LOT of these mine fires were started by burning trash dumps. They used the leftover holes for dumps and when they caught fire they touched off the exposed coal seams. I never knew it was so prevalent.

[French G.]

Are there any coal seams under DC? I'm sure we can group buy thermite.

[K Frame]

It seems a LOT of these mine fires were started by burning trash dumps. They used the leftover holes for dumps and when they caught fire they touched off the exposed coal seams. I never knew it was so prevalent.

You never knew that?

You're originally from Pennsylvania, right?

I thought everyone knew that the state sport is filling holes in the ground with trash...

[RaspberrySurprise]

Actually Silent Hill the movie is based on Silent Hill the game series. Though in the first game there was a lot of fog mostly due to the PSX's hardware limitations though I believe there was a half assed explanation.

Now if you meant that it was the idea for the whole coal fire part then I agree.

[280plus]

It seems a LOT of these mine fires were started by burning trash dumps. They used the leftover holes for dumps and when they caught fire they touched off the exposed coal seams. I never knew it was so prevalent.

You never knew that?

You're originally from Pennsylvania, right?

I thought everyone knew that the state sport is filling holes in the ground with trash...

No, I'm originally from New Haven, CT. My family moved to Scranton in ~ 71 when I was 14 and then Mt Cobb a couple years later. I graduated, joined the Nav and except for the last couple reunions and a trip to Steamtown I have never been back. I went to Bishop Hannon for a couple years and never knew a thing about the roundhouse. Then I went to North Pocono HS. Funny though. You get on the train ride in Scranton about two blocks from BHHS and it terminates at the old depot about two blocks from NPHS where we used to hang out. When I realized where the hell we had gone to and stopped at I was like, "Holy S***, will you look where we're at!" 

Never knew the whole trash hole sport thing. 

From what I could tell at the reunions another sport is to get killed in car accidents. They're like squirrels out there. I'd say half the HS "Dead List" is car accidents.  I figure it's the narrow windy roads.

[K Frame]

"From what I could tell at the reunions another sport is to get killed in car accidents."

Pretty much, yep.

Roads are twisty, alcohol is a major factor in many such accidents, and it normally happens while they're on the way back from a rousing round of filling a hole in the ground with trash.

[280plus]

 

yea, they do seem to love their beer. 

I drew several looks of shock and awe when I said, "Yea, I don't drink much beer these days." 

Oh, to fill in a blank, the family moved back to Hartford, CT area while I was in which explains why I never went back. I think about retiring to the backwoods, I love it out there. But then again, I don't want to move out there just to fill holes with trash, set coal seams on fire and get killed in a car wreck. Or eaten by a bear, that would suck too... 
 

[K Frame]

Well, the good thing about Pennsyltucky is that bear attacks are VERY rare.

Bear find virtually all the food they need in piles of trash that have been put in holes in the ground.

[280plus]

Ah, see, the pennsyltuckians have a plan... 

No I did a little walk along the gravity railroad beds up in the mt cobb area and there I was way into the woods when it dawned on me that i could easily become bear chow (lot's of black bear around there) and had nothing but a damn walking stick to prevent it. I decided to skedaddle right back on out of there. Funny I used to walk the same trails as a kid and thought nothing of it.

[K Frame]

You would have been just fine had you taken some trash to put in a hole in the ground.

[Tallpine]

You would have been just fine had you taken some trash to put in a hole in the ground.

And a match to light it on fire 

[280plus]

I see, to appease the bear Gods. It all  makes sense now...