Pithole City’s Oil Boom and Rapid Bust

We've had a lot of listener requests related to ghost towns, so this Halloween season, we've got six places in the U.S. that could be labeled as such. But not not all are empty today.

Research:

• Knutson, Julie. “The End of Centralia’s Abandoned, Colorful, Anarchic ‘Graffiti Highway.’” Atlas Obscura. 9/14/2020. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/centralia-graffiti-highway-buried
• California State Parks. “Bodie State Historic Park.” https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=509
• California State Parks. “Bodie State Historic Park.” https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/509/files/BodieSHPFinalWebLayout2016.pdf
• Severn, Carly. “This Ghost Town’s 'Curse' Isn't What You Think.” KQED. 7/12/2018. https://www.kqed.org/news/11640709/how-this-ghost-towns-curse-backfired-on-park-rangers
• Alabama Indigenous Mound Trail. “The Mound at Old Cahawba Archaeological Park.” https://alabamamoundtrail.org/mound-site/old-cahawba/
• Alabama Historical Commission. “History of Old Cahawba.” https://ahc.alabama.gov/CahawbaHistoryFacts.aspx
• Jones, James. “Cahawba Listed as One of World’s 10 Spookiest Ghost Towns.” Selma Times Journal. 10/19/2023. https://www.selmatimesjournal.com/2023/10/19/cahawba-listed-as-one-of-worlds-10-spookiest-ghost-towns/
• Pykles, Benjamin C. “Iosepa, Utah’s Pacific Islander Pioneers.” Utah Historical Society. https://history.utah.gov/iosepa-utahs-pacific-islander-pioneers/
• Chapman, Hannah. “Iosepa: Utah’s Little Hawai'i.” Intermountain Histories. https://www.intermountainhistories.org/items/show/388
• Fitisemanu, Nafanua. “Iosepa: Utah Ghost Town.” https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/a9e6a54ef1124c4e80d8eecfac09263d
• Schirer, David L. “Iospa.” Utah History Encyclopedia. https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/i/IOSEPA.shtml
• Utah American Indian Digital Archive. “History: The Goshutes.” https://utahindians.org/archives/goshute/history.html
• Atkin, Dennis H. “A History of Iosepa, the Utah Polynesian Colony.” https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4489/
• Heinrich, Kieth. “Pithole City.” Pennsylvania Heritage. Fall 2015. https://paheritage.wpengine.com/article/pithole-city/
• Comet, Jorge Navarro. “Pithole: The Rapid Rise and Sudden Fall of an Oil Boomtown.” AAPG. 7/1/2022. https://www.aapg.org/news-and-media/details/explorer/articleid/63602/pithole-the-rapid-rise-and-sudden-fall-of-an-oil-boomtown
• Town of Jerome. “Jerome: Then and Now.” https://jerome.az.gov/jerome-then-and-now
• Penn State. “Anthracite Coal Mining Region of Northeastern Pennsylvania.” https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/anthracite
• Turino, Mitchell. “Centralia Mine Fire.” Environment and Society. https://www.environmentandsociety.org/tools/keywords/centralia-mine-fire
• Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. “The Centralia Mine Fire” https://files.dep.state.pa.us/mining/Abandoned%20Mine%20Reclamation/AbandonedMinePortalFiles/Centralia/CentraliaFrequentlyAskedQuestions.pdf
• Blakemore, Erin. “This Mine Fire Has Been Burning For Over 50 Years.” History. 5/27/2025. https://www.history.com/articles/mine-fire-burning-more-50-years-ghost-town
• Currie, Tyler. “Zip Code 00000.” Washington Post. 4/2/2003. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2003/04/02/AR2005033108150.html
• Lewis, Herbert J. “Cahaba.” Encyclopedia of Alabama. 5/20/2008. https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/cahaba/
• Shahin, Alexandra Kennon. “Alabama's Ghost Capital.” 9/21/2018. https://countryroadsmagazine.com/travel/getaways/alabama-s-ghost-capital/
• Alabama Tourism. “Tour of Old Cahawba.” 10/25/2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L18GAP-vQY
• Splain, Shelby Weaver. “Pithole or Bust!” 7/24/2024. https://pahistoricpreservation.com/pithole-bust/

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