BUTLER TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Some call it the "Big Mine Run Geyser."
Very few people know there is a geyser in Schuylkill County. It isn't a traditional one but was created years ago by an old coal mine in Centralia.
We spoke to a representative from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection who says this gushing water is part of an old coal mine drainage tunnel.
For decades, water has flowed out of this unlikely spot in Butler Township near Ashland.
It is named after the road it is; on locals call it the "Big Mine Run Geyser," and it's now getting a lot of attention on social media.
Newswatch 16 spoke to a representative from Butler Township who says this has been here for a long time. People in the area even tell us that there used to be a second one.
"I don't understand myself. It's there for all the years and what's underneath us. How much water is underneath us right here?" said Ed Weikel.
"It's just a mine drainage from the Bast Colliery and like when the rain gets higher and the snow melts, it just pushes out of the ground," Lee Sincavage said.
A spokesperson from the Department of Environmental protection confirms an old mining company in nearby Centralia drilled the hole for air ventilation.
Now that the mine is closed, the spokesperson says high water pressure causes the water to shoot up from the hole.
The geyser has a distinct smell.
"Sulphur, like eggs, coming from mines," Sincavage said.
And it's pretty noisy.
Both the township and the DEP say they get few complaints about the geyser.
"Actually, if they shut that, it would probably flood the mines and a lot of people's basements in the towns around us here."
The DEP says the geyser is 32 inches wide and is nearly 300 feet deep.
We reached out to the Environmental Protection Agency to see if the geyser is harmful to people in any way. We're waiting to get an answer back.