Aerial Survey of Picher, Oklahoma, December 2016 (Abandoned Ghost Town Drone Footage)

Monique and I return to Picher for a chilly day of flying. Picher used to be the lead and zinc mining capital of the country before the EPA slated the city as the largest superfund cleanup site in history, due to the groundwater contamination and adverse health affects recorded in the people of the city. In 1996, 34% of the children in Picher were found to have suffered from irreversable lead poisoning.

Those giant piles you see are called "chat", which are mining tailings riddled with zinc and lead. Very poisonous to come into contact with. The children of Picher used to slide down these piles on sleds before the community knew any better.