The smoke still rising through large cracks in the asphalt contrasted with the colorful spray paint contributes to the strange and eerie atmosphere that draws visitors to the area where an underground mine fire turned Centralia into a ghost town.
![graffiti highway graffiti highway](https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5e8b73463ace6200072c745f/960x0.jpg)
![graffiti highway graffiti highway](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/graffiti-highway-ghostwinds-photography.jpg)
About 200 people were in the area, not all in connection with the bonfire, according to officials who said some came from as far away as New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Delaware.” “Fire officials said at the time that there were about 30 ATVs and side-by-sides in the area of the bonfire, along with four-wheel drive vehicles. 1 to the scene with its brush truck,” the Lehigh Valley paper wrote. 1 to head out, and subsequently, call the Wilburton Fire Company No. On March 25, several people started a bonfire, prompting The Aristes Fire Company No. “The number of visitors has increased during the coronavirus pandemic. The Morning Call reported that heavy equipment arrived today to begin dumping dirt on the colored pavement and bury what is regarded by some as public artwork. “It’s ridiculous,” Hynoski told the Sunbury newspaper. The project is expected to completed within three days after state troopers increased patrols and chased away at least 50 people on Monday morning, he noted. “People steal stuff, they spray paint in the cemetery it’s about time something gets done.” “They got sick of the complaints and the liability,” Hynoski said. It became a tourist attraction because of its fascinating history and bright graffiti, but it will soon be covered with dirt to drive away trespassers on the land currently owned by Pagnotti Enterprises in Wilkes-Barre. In the past month, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf issued a stay-at-home order and closed non-essential businesses due to the coronavirus, so many people are looking for ways to spend their time.Ĭentralia fire chief and EMA director Tom Hynoski told The Daily Item that large groups have been visiting the Graffiti Highway, a stretch of Route 61 that was abandoned because of the famous Centralia mine fire that has been burning underneath the borough since 1962. The problem is, there are unacceptable repercussions for other members of the group, as tweets, “Thanks to the stupidity of several hundred people who came here during the pandemic, Graffiti Highway is gone forever.” Oh well, Vita longa, graffiti brevis.Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Text Size Print This Page Send by Email So, if people want to risk catching COVID-19 by visiting a tourist trap or not wearing a mask, that’s okay. Under such theories, individuals not observing correct protocol lose their membership in the collective, either through death or ostracization. Social Darwinism is a theory that applies biological concept to sociology and politics. With such an absurd proposal, it was decided to solve the problem by eradicating the highway rather than try to keep people away from it, especially when online reviewers hype the potentially fatal act of visiting the highway as an opportunity to have “fun with a side of sad and creepy.” To challenge that control through democratic processes, a petition was initiated designating the highway an official state historic landmark something that would, ironically, bring even more potential COVID-19 infectors. New York Times Magazine writer Jenna Wortham recently tweeted, “Everything unsettling that is happening right now… is about power.” Consequently, visitors to the vanishing Graffiti Highway who equate caution with restriction bemoan its destruction as the act of an authoritarian Nanny State. This is understandable but misguided, for the problem is the mindset of the visitors, not the highway itself.
![graffiti highway graffiti highway](https://thetravellingblizzards.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Graffiti-Highway-Centralia-PA-2-1024x768.jpg)
“They’re supposed to be staying home due to the COVID-19 but they’re coming from New York and New Jersey to be here.” Since the state of Pennsylvania isn’t too keen on taggers from other states arriving to spread disease, it mandated that Graffiti Highway be destroyed.
![graffiti highway graffiti highway](https://rt-homepage.roadtrippers.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/centralia-graffiti-highway-5-1920x1280.jpg)
“It’s ridiculous,” said Tom Hynoski, county emergency management agency director. The property owner always had plans to destroy the highway in order to prevent “more damage to the community.” But, with no community around to be damaged, erasing Graffiti Highway didn’t seriously begin until groups of people showed up during Pennsylvania’s pandemic lockdown.