By Michael Rubinkam
The Associated Press
CENTRALIA, Pa. — It’s an anniversary the few remaining souls who live in Centralia won’t be celebrating.
Fifty years ago on Sunday, a fire began at the town dump that ultimately spread to a network of coal mines underneath hundreds of homes and businesses in the northeastern Pennsylvania borough, resulting in the demolition of nearly every building.
All these decades later, the Centralia mine fire continues its grip on the popular imagination, drawing visitors from around the world. It’s a macabre story that has long provided fodder for books, movies and plays, the latest one debuting in March at a theater in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Yet to the handful of residents who still occupy Centralia, their town is no sideshow attraction. It’s home, and they’d like to keep it that way