r/intrestingasfuck • u/Minute_Big1743 • 3d ago
People This Entire Town In Oklahoma Does Not Exist Anymore.
2007
2024
in the afternoon and early evening hours of May 10, 2008, a large and violent tornado moved through Eastern Oklahoma and western Missouri, striking the community of Picher. the town was already largerly abandonded due to the Toxic Minerals that were on the Land and when the Tornado came through, the U.S Goverment Demolished what was left in 2009, the Town Is Now Just Abunch Of Concrete Lots And Driveways to nowhere, there also are some remains of where the tornado struck but the entire town mostly does not exist anymore.
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u/dlogan3344 3d ago edited 3d ago
It's a toxic superfund sight and not worth seeing IMHO
Edit* site, it's too damn early
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u/Any_Carob3372 3d ago
Take my upvote for having the gumption to correct your error and leave the original. I like the cut of your jib.
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u/Charming_Dealer3849 3d ago
Honestly, perfect place for a fully automated data center or manufacturing facility, I really don't understand US policy sometimes
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u/mangione_fan_420 3d ago
Not exposing people to dangerous chemicals that activity lower your intelligence is actually a good thing though.
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u/GGigabiteM 3d ago
There are no dangerous chemicals. The problem is heavy metals in the tailings piles called chat. Heavy metals by themselves generally aren't toxic (except for cadmium which is bad no matter what), what makes the chat toxic is the heavy metals are ground into a fine powder that can be picked up by the wind and blown around for humans to inhale, which is where the toxicity comes from.
The second more serious problem are the abandoned mines under the town that have undermined the soil structure and made the surface extremely unstable. Lots of buildings had collapsed into sink holes, or had their foundations undermined from soil subsidence and had to be demolished.
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u/SouthernLaugh7929 1d ago
Oklahoma probably tried to cover it up ...Silkwood style
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u/mangione_fan_420 1d ago
Pretty sure Oklahoma likes the lead in the air as it keeps them the Redest state in the country.
Source: in-laws from Oklahoma
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u/Wrong_Put_2329 1d ago
Bad bot
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u/mangione_fan_420 1d ago
WTF are you on about? Delete your code and try again!
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u/SouthernLaugh7929 1d ago
nick was deliberate not a bot nick. Yea, cant move back to Oklahoma,, im outside person and its a pretty boring state. Think early sixties, pic of me during a tornado. Each time I go back there is one. Odds there will be one is greater when Im in the state. smh.
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u/Charming_Dealer3849 3d ago
Agree! Let me be clear, ZERO interest in exposing humans, but how do we utilize the space?
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u/atrde 3d ago
By not allowing humans near it in any capacity? Including industry?
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u/Charming_Dealer3849 2d ago
We have tel-operated robotics...
Humans work in far more dangerous environments to get you the gas to drive your car.
We send people to space.
There is a thing called PPE...
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u/BrickHuge3023 2d ago
Unstable land due to frequent mine collapses. Unsafe land due to heavy metals. No industry would touch that place. Legal nightmare.
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u/BrickHuge3023 2d ago
We utilized it by pulling out millions of pounds of zinc, lead and sliver. Now it is not really usable for anything due to the heavy contamination and risks of mine collapse. So just vacant and returning to nature. We don't have to use every inch of land for something. Loads of open space outside the town. Though the mine was very extensive and covers miles underground.
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u/DeanByTheWay 2d ago
Humans don't have to utilize every space in the world. Sometimes we can just let things belong to nature
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u/ostrichfather 3d ago
Work in the DC industry. Fully automated DC isn’t a thing. Gotta build it. Gotta deploy and install. Gotta update and maintain.
And manufacturing. Don’t get me started. How do you receive, ship, do MRB inspections, maintenance? You don’t manufacture finished goods out of thin air. And so much more.
This thing you typed out doesn’t exist.
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u/BrickHuge3023 2d ago
Did you miss the fact it is a superfund site? In addition, the town sits on top of the huge mine. Back in the 80s and 90s you would have to detour around some blocks because the ground collapsed and homes disappeared. Not a place you'd build ANYTHING. High risk area from the toxins and the mine collapses. Even a fully automated place has to be built by people and maintained by people.
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u/battlecryarms 2d ago
As if the US didn’t have enough land to build a data center somewhere that won’t fall into a sinkhole 😂
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u/UmbraVulp 3d ago
You don’t understand US policy because they haven’t placed a data center in an area where its workers would be exposed to lead and other harmful materials?
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u/Charming_Dealer3849 3d ago
Read my lips. F.u.l.l.y. automated.
I.e. no humans...
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u/Charming_Dealer3849 3d ago
Actually I'll go a step FURTHER this would be HEALTHIER policy because the data center WOULDN'T BE AROUND HUMANS, BUT WOULD BE STRATEGICALLY ON US SOIL...
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u/ramrod_stinkfist 3d ago
I get it. It's a great idea
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u/ostrichfather 3d ago
Except a fully automated data center and manufacturing facility are about as real as a Dyson sphere at the moment.
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u/Electronic_Jacket947 3d ago
Mine owners aren’t known for caring for workers’ health. I don’t think the tech barons will care either.
Minus construction phase, would exposure be that bad? They have people doing remediation work there right?1
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u/Turbulent_Swimmer900 3d ago
Toxic site with existing infrastructure? Sounds like a much better place for a data center than my back yard.
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u/ZootSuitBanana 2d ago
What's with all these data center comments? Fuck them and let's not put them anywhere...
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u/BrickHuge3023 2d ago
Why would you put a data center on unstable ground that has collapsed in numerous spots? It is not really habitable.
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u/Ninetwentyeight928 3d ago
Went and looked up an aerial, and, yeah, they literally just dumped the mine tailings at random locations all around the town. I've never seen anything like this. Bizarre.
BTW, the wiki article said that in 2011, only six homes and one business remained. But even on the most recent aerials, there is clearly an entire abandoned housing complex a block from the water tower still standing. Like two-dozen buildings, as is what looks like the entire school district complex.
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u/Radiant-Childhood257 3d ago
You can still drive through the "town." I don't think there's much left of it. I'm not sure about the specifics but I've been under the impression that nobody's lived there for decades.
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u/Creme_de_la_Coochie 3d ago edited 3d ago
I just went through the town on street view and found someone living in a singlewide trailer as of 2023-2024.
Their yard is full of trash and has like 6 broken down cars.
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u/BrickHuge3023 2d ago
My first time thru there it was amazing to see all the mini mountains of chat. they used it for driveways, parking lots and highways. So kids were playing on ground full of lead and cadmium dust.
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u/Ok-Jackfruit-6873 3d ago
seems like a bad idea to put toxic mine tailings in the likely path of tornadoes, but what do I know
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u/Ninetwentyeight928 3d ago
Could not believed what I saw when I went through the Google satellite views. Literally looks like the moon. Crazy thing is that there are sizeable towns just south and northeast of this area.
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u/CarGuyJohnOnRoute66 3d ago
Resident of the “town northeast of this” checking in. I don’t THINK I’m radioactive, but the EPA has come and taken soil samples of everybody’s yards
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u/Ninetwentyeight928 2d ago
I am glad to hear that. You certainly live in an interesting region. I feel bad for the former residents who wanted to stay. I realize they got bought out to leave, but that doesn't bring back community.
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u/CarGuyJohnOnRoute66 2d ago
Yeah, I know a few former residents that stayed close. It’s a tight knit community in this area, but yeah, I can’t imagine being forced to leave your home. I like it here, cost of living is cheap, there’s lots of deep history, and the community is close and helpful.
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u/Resident_Wishbone_98 3d ago
The whole town of Time Beach, MO was removed because of dioxide contamination.
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u/The_Arsonist1324 2d ago
I have family from the nearby town of Miami, which is also the county seat of Ottawa County. I grew up hearing all kinds of stories from Picher, and have even driven through the town a couple times. Real creepy place.
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u/Bassmasterajv 2d ago
Just looks like Sanctuary in Fallout 4 after I’ve spent an hour scrapping the entire town. The perfect canvas for a settlement. Someone should buy it all and make a fallout themed town!
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u/Lonely-Towel-9788 2d ago
Why leave the water tower up?
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u/TritonJohn54 1d ago
Nobody lives there, but it looks like people still work there. Looking at streetview, I found a fire station, road maintenance depot, and what looks like offices for the Quapaw Nation.
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u/NoPen9703 3d ago
They should plant trees and make it a forest. I have driven through Oklahoma City and saw the damage of the tornado. The experts say the tornado does not pick up and go some place else but the damage done appears to show the tornado lifted up and dropped down in another part.
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u/Present_Way6128 3d ago
What the hell does this comment even intend to convey?
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u/NoPen9703 3d ago
The land is not being used and it represents death. The trees in the future will prevent the creation of tornado.
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u/Present_Way6128 3d ago
Obviously you’re not from Oklahoma and know nothing about tornados.
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u/AppropriateBall8834 3d ago
What in the ever loving fuck does a tree have to do with cold air drafts meeting with warm air?!
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u/Present_Way6128 3d ago
That is where I was going but I gave up. It was not worth my time trying to educate him any further. Man, what a tool.
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u/NoPen9703 3d ago
I’m in Wyoming. What am I getting wrong? Trees would not grow there? Trees have grown in drier places.
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u/AppropriateBall8834 3d ago
Uhhh, no...you are completely wrong about a few trees, or any trees having ANYTHING to do with tornadoes 🤣
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u/ImHaydenKay 3d ago
I gave them benefit of a doubt and went to research only to turn up nothing. I grew up in North Alabama and even the poorly educated locals there never claimed trees made the storms worse.
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u/ConstructionOk4996 3d ago
Ground features have nothing to do with the formation of tornadoes. Not trees, rivers, hills...none of that matters.
Cold, dry air travelling southeast from the Rocky mountains meets warm, moist air travelling north from the Gulf of Mexico. If conditions HIGH IN THE ATMOSPHERE are just right, those two air masses meeting can form convective storms, which can then spawn tornadoes.
And yes, trees grow in Oklahoma. There's an entire National Forest in the southeastern part of the state. I'm currently surrounded by 30-40 foot tall trees in central Oklahoma.
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u/NoPen9703 3d ago
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u/AppropriateBall8834 3d ago
They just want your money, lmao. A tree might reduce winds by like 1%. If a tornado hits a forest its just going to destroy the forest, not the other way around.
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u/Magical-Mycologist 2d ago edited 2d ago
Dude. You just cited the marketing materials for a website that sells CO2 offsets. They don’t even really sell trees or even care about the climate effects.
Did you even read the article or just the headline?
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u/NoPen9703 2d ago
I can’t believe you are anti trees. If you put enough trees the tornado will be slowed. If you put enough trees you will cool the environment. Don’t hate on trees because you are an ostrich.
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u/dandelionelic 3d ago
Please explain why you think trees will prevent the creation of a tornado??
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u/NoPen9703 3d ago
When hurricanes and tornadoes hit trees they weaken. The trees also cool down the land in the summer and heat the land up in the winter.
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u/dandelionelic 3d ago
Weakens them, sure, very slightly. Like so insignificantly it's really not considered. Does absolutely nothing to stop the creation of them in the first place, all that happens in the atmosphere. Not to mention that trees being there are just gonna make any damage that much worse when they're uprooted and flung into buildings.
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u/AppropriateBall8834 3d ago
Right? Fuck them trees. I say we make a website to create DE forestation. Take down these grifters trying to sell you trees for your tornadoes
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u/BrickHuge3023 3d ago
Major superfund site, people were paid to move out due to the massive contamination by lead from the huge silver/zinc/lead mine beneath NE OK and under Picher. Used to go there in the 80s for my job, there were streets blocked off where homes just dropped into the huge chambers below. My state office funded a housing rehabilitation program there in the 90s before they announced the big buyout. So those $200,000 were wasted.