Random Weirdest Small Towns In United States (20 items)

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  (#1) Centralia

  • Pennsylvania, USA

  In 1981, there were 1,000 people living in Centralia, PA. By 2010, there were less than a dozen. What happened? Well, there's been a coal mine fire burning beneath the town since 1962. Sinkholes, toxic smoke, gas—the highway itself is hot to the touch. Residents apparently couldn't deal. Although it's been on fire for decades, experts believe that it may burn for another 250 years.

  If, for some bizarre reason, this sounds like a place where you'd like to live, you can't. In 1992, the state of Pennsylvania seized all the property in the town and condemned it. They allowed the then-current residents to stay, but once they're gone, that'll be the end of Centralia.
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  (#7) Hell, MI – A Town That Really Embraces Its Name

  Hell, MI, is a small town located in the southeastern part of the state close to Ann Arbor. Originally a milling town––and later a town full of bootleggers––the town with the name Hell has really embraced it. As the story goes, Hell got its name after one of the city's founders was asked what he wanted to name it in the 1840s; he responded "You can name it Hell for all I care," and it stuck.

  The town has profited off the name, though. They've embraced hell and Satan––you can even get married in a devil church. You can buy a plot in Hell (as the website says, "buy a piece of Hell,") get a Gravedigger Sundae at The Creamatory at Screams, and even have a burger at the Hell Hole Diner who's pastries are "to die for." Hell also has a fake university called Damnation University––Dam U for short.
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  (#5) Miracle Village, FL – The Town Of Sex Offenders

  Miracle Village is a small housing development outside of Pahokee, FL, that's home to more than 100 registered sex offenders. It was founded by a minister named Richard Witherow who worked in prisons for 30 years. He created the development as a place for recently released sex offenders to live while reintegrating into the community.

  Witherow and his ministry, Matthew 25, oversee the development and have final approval over who lives there.
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  (#17) Nameless

  • Tennessee, USA

  Of the many unusual names of American cities, including Ugly, TX, Peculiar, MO, and Accident, MD, Nameless, TN, is one of the best. Legend has it that a long time ago when its residents applied for a post office, they left the name on the application blank, so the US Post Office Department issued applications back with "Nameless" stamped on the form. Sounds like somebody at the Post Office was trolling.
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  (#6) Slab City, CA – A Place Totally Off The Grid

  In the words of Vice, "This bizarre, lawless land in the California desert is inhabited by drug addicts, eccentrics, army vets, hippies and just plain old weirdos. Slab City is referred to by its residents as 'the last free place in America.'"

  Remember that scene in Into the Wild when Christopher McCandless (played by Emile Hirsch) meets Tracy Tatro (played by Kristen Stewart)? That was in Slab City. It's a place where hobos can live in peace, off the grid, free to smoke crack and be hippies. There are 150 people who permanently live there, but squatters and RV owners sometimes visit to pass the time. Decommissioned and uncontrolled, Slab City is a bastion for the free spirited anti-socialite.
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  (#4) Colma

  • California, USA

  In Colma's two square miles, there are 17 cemeteries. The San Mateo County necropolis has been dubbed the "City of Souls" because it hosts an estimated two million dead people and only 1,200 live ones. Back in the days of William Randolph Hearst and Wyatt Earp—who are actually buried there—they transported bodies from San Francisco to Colma to make room.

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