How abandoned mines across America are wreaking havoc on homeowners

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For families living in communities built over America's old mining sites, the biggest threat may be hiding beneath their feet.

An ABC News investigation found abandoned underground mines scattered across the country beneath homes, roads, highways and entire communities. As the aging mine infrastructure deteriorates, the ground above can suddenly collapse, creating massive sinkholes that can destroy property, injure people and, in some cases, take lives.

For many homeowners, there is little warning before the ground gives way.

When the Ground Suddenly Collapses

In Blakely, Pennsylvania, Gene and Rebecca Newton discovered a roughly 35-foot sinkhole in their driveway shortly after Christmas. Their vehicle was swallowed by the opening, while their 25-year-old nephew was sitting in a nearby car just steps away.

The incident left the family wondering whether another section of their property could collapse without warning.

"In the back of your mind ... is it going to open up again?" Rebecca Newton told ABC News.

Similar incidents have occurred elsewhere.

In New Jersey, an abandoned mine shaft collapsed beneath a major highway, creating a sinkhole more than 40 feet wide. In Pennsylvania, a grandmother died after an abandoned coal mine gave way beneath her while she was searching for her missing cat. And in California, an old gold mine collapsed beneath a family living room, killing a 32-year-old man and his dog.

Homeowners Left in Limbo

One of the most striking examples is Hideaway Hills, a South Dakota neighborhood where families thought they had found their forever homes.

That changed in April 2020 when a nearly 30-foot-wide sinkhole suddenly opened. Emergency crews discovered a network of century-old gypsum mine shafts beneath the neighborhood, forcing 13 families to evacuate.

Six years later, some homeowners are still paying mortgages on houses they cannot live in.

Marshall Dalton, who was renovating his basement when the sinkhole appeared, now works two jobs to help pay for a new home. Other residents told ABC News they continue to deal with damaged driveways, troubled utilities and concerns about the stability of the ground around their properties.

For some families, the financial damage has been devastating.

"It's all gone. I'll be working till the day I fall over at the bench," homeowner David Peck told ABC News.

America Doesn't Know Where All the Mines Are

The problem is made more complicated by the sheer number of abandoned mines — and the gaps in historical records.

ABC News analyzed federal records from two agencies and found hundreds of thousands of documented mine locations nationwide. But there is no single comprehensive federal database showing every abandoned or forgotten mine in the country.

Some of the mines date back more than a century, to a time when operations were poorly mapped or records were never created.

Lanny Erdos, an official with the Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, acknowledged that government agencies may not know the locations of every abandoned mine.

"There potentially can be mines out there that we would have no idea that they are there until they express themselves in some adverse way," Erdos told ABC News.

Pennsylvania Carries a Heavy Legacy

Pennsylvania is at the center of the country's abandoned-mine problem.

Coal mining there dates back to the 1700s, and the state says miners have extracted more than 15 billion tons of coal across 250,000 acres over the last three centuries. The legacy includes thousands of unreclaimed mine shafts and extensive environmental damage from abandoned mine drainage.

In communities such as Carbondale, residents say they continue to see roads, utilities and other infrastructure affected by the unstable ground left behind by generations of mining.

The problem isn't simply what is visible above ground. In some places, the greatest danger is the network of forgotten tunnels underneath.

A Reactive System

Federal officials told ABC News that cleanup efforts are often triggered after something goes wrong.

Erdos described the approach as reactive, with federal money generally allocated after a collapse or other incident occurs. Funding is also not the only challenge. Officials say there are not enough contractors available to tackle the enormous scale of the problem.

There is another major gap: federal programs specifically target abandoned coal mines, while other types of abandoned mines — including gold, silver, iron and uranium sites — do not have dedicated, consistently funded federal cleanup programs.

Families Say More Needs to Be Done

For homeowners living above abandoned mines, the issue isn't an abstract piece of American history. It is the fear that the ground beneath their homes could suddenly disappear.

In Colorado, an unmapped, water-filled mine pit claimed the life of hiker Jennifer Nelson in October 2025. State officials said they did not know the mine was there until her death. The shaft was eventually sealed with a metal grate nearly a year after the accident.

Nelson's sister, Nora, has urged officials to find and secure dangerous mines before another family pays the price.

"Find these mines because people are dying," she told ABC News.

For communities across the country, the challenge now is uncovering what was left behind before the next collapse does it for them.

Source: GMA