Some places are just spooky.
Salem, Massachusetts, leans into its history as the home of 17th century witch trials, highlighting its Puritan-era churches and graveyards. There are occult- and witchcraft-themed shops and museums, tall ships and tours. Sleepy Hollow, New York, is the namesake and setting for Washington Irving's 19th century story of the Headless Horseman, a story that's haunted readers and inspired television and film adaptations.
But those aren't the only places that feel haunted — or at least unsettlingly creepy — in the United States.
A long-burning underground coal fire has left Centralia a virtual ghost town. Located in the anthracite coal region in the Appalachian Mountains, the Columbia County town was founded in 1866. At its peak in 1890, about 2,800 people lived there, and the town had hotels, theaters, churches, saloons and stores — all the things that made up a bustling, if small, mining town, according to Centraliapa.org.
But demand for anthracite coal began to decline in the middle of the 20th century, and the mining industry moved on. By 1950, about 2,000 people lived in Centralia.
