The residents of the 'real Silent Hill' want you to leave them alone

Leigh Alexander 11:43 am Wed Oct 14, 2015

Centralia, PA has been on fire for 53 years, and now it's been dubbed the spiritual home of a deeply-creepy horror series.

Silent Hill is one of games' most iconic horror brands, having spawned some 14 titles and two visually-faithful, if thematically-insulting, movies. If you're not acquainted, I wrote about the founding heart of the series and why it matters so much to fans here.

Now, Duncan Fyfe brings us a worthy and entertaining longread about Centralia, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town that shares traits with the illogical, fog-belching purgatory of Silent Hill—and that was used as a site for its movies. It's a haunting read, not least because the people of the area had been through quite a lot before their lost town became a gawking site for tourists and graffitos.

Centralia has been on fire for 53 years.

Fyfe's piece is part of the Campo Santo Quarterly Review, a regular journal he (beautifully) writes for Campo Santo, the developers of the upcoming (and exciting) Firewatch.

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