Pennsylvania’s coal region ghost town, Centralia, continues to capture the imagination and attract tourists, even when there’s no longer anything to see.

On Jan. 13, the TV game show “Jeopardy!” used the town in a category named “Where in the world is that?”

The clue: “About an hour from Wilkes-Barre, the Centralia Mine Fire in the Buck Mountain coal bed in this state has been ablaze since 1962.”

The answer: “Where is Pennsylvania?”

National recognition earned by a town that no longer exists has been causing issues near the Columbia/Schuylkill county area for decades. Endless spray painting, littering and ATV riding have become an annoyance to nearby residents half a century after the fire began.

The subterranean inferno is believed to have started in 1962 as an intentional controlled burn of residential trash in an abandoned strip pit, enabling it to reach nearby coal mine workings.

It took a near tragedy on Valentine’s Day, 1981, to demonstrate the seriousness of the crisis and elevate the problem. That’s when resident Todd Domboski, 12, fell into a hot, steaming hole created by mine fire subsidence. He was pulled to safety.

The fire eventually led to the destruction of most of the town of 1,500.

Between 1983 and 2012, a $42 million government buyout relocated the majority of residents, although some refused to leave their homes.

State and local officials finally reached an agreement with seven remaining residents on Oct. 29, 2013, allowing them to remain to live out their lives, after which the rights to their houses will be taken through eminent domain.

Graffiti Highway, a 1-mile stretch of Route 61 that cracked and sank, became a national tourist attraction. It was finally covered over with dirt in 2020 to discourage visitors.

There exists a risk of ground collapse and danger from toxic fumes, says the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources.

“Centralia is not a tourist destination. Much of the area has its dangers with toxic gases and subsidence, meaning the ground can and does cave in, possibly opening up dangerous underground caverns of burning coal that can kill you in an instant,” the DEP said in a statement.

Today, visitors are urged to stay away and police patrol the area regularly. In reality, there’s no longer much of anything to see.

But interest remains. At least one expert was charging $225 to give personal tours. He describes Centralia as Pompeii in reverse. Instead of fire raining down from the sky, it came up from below.

And if there is something to see, it might be a mile or two away. As of 2020, the fire seems to have traveled east to Big Mine Run.

Motorists can see smoke pouring from rock outcroppings and crevasses adjacent to Big Mine Run Road, SR 2004, about one-half mile from the Columbia-Schuylkill border.

The route is considered a back road to Centralia but is heavily traveled because it provides a shortcut to Mount Carmel, bypassing Ashland.

If you Google tourist websites, you’ll still find Centralia listed, along with countless reviews by visitors on TripAdvisor, Trip.com, Reddit, Yelp and others. Some enjoy it, calling it “eerie” or “a learning experience.”

But it’s clear that some families mistakenly travel hundreds of miles expecting major entertainment.

They jump into their cars and head to Centralia in hopes of seeing a Disney-type attraction. They discover otherwise.

“I was disappointed there are no bathrooms or restaurants,” wrote one man. That review made me chuckle.

There’s no place to eat, sleep or go to the bathroom. There’s no visitors center or gift shop.

Of course not. The town is gone. The town lost its post office and ZIP code in 2002.

But even if the old post office had been turned into a small hotel, visitors likely would be disappointed there’s no escalator.

Because that’s the world we live in.