From the 1970s to the 2010s, Helltown inspired countless urban legends about frightening ghosts, mutant snakes, and bloodthirsty killers — and it’s not hard to see why.
Flickr CommonsAn infamous church in Helltown , Ohio that was adorn with upside - down hybridization .
Boston , Massachusetts is the most famous Boston in the U.S. , but it ’s not the only metropolis to abide this name . In Ohio ’s Cuyahoga Valley , there was once another Boston . Abandoned in the seventies and late demolished , this Boston was often know by a different name : Helltown .
Unlike theghost townsof the West , this Midwestern townsfolk stood out because it did n’t appear all that onetime . Although some buildings include feature that were common in former America , many anatomical structure clearly belong in the late 20th century . The “ No Trespassing ” and “ Road Closed ” signs brand throughout the townspeople were certainly modern — and official .
Flickr CommonsAn infamous church in Helltown, Ohio that was decorated with upside-down crosses.
Until the town was pulverise in 2016 , there were still remainder of the lives the former residents left behind , let in an abandoned school bus topology . But it was the town ’s Presbyterian church that seemed to have inspired the name Helltown : The building was curiously decorated with upside - down cross .
Just what happen to this town that led to its defection and eventual destruction ? Why did the former Boston Village take on such a dark , foreboding name ? There are numerous hypothesis about what happened to Helltown , Ohio — some of which might get off a chill up your sticker .
The Rise And Fall Of Boston, Ohio
Wikimedia CommonsA advanced point of view of Cuyahoga Valley National Park , where the former town of Boston was once locate .
While the region is often remember as Helltown today , it was once known asBoston Townshipor Boston Village . First surveyed by Alfred Wolcott of Connecticut and his co-worker James Stanford in 1805 , the settler regress the next year to erect a cabin at the situation of the next Boston Cemetery . This marked the beginning of a more permanent settlement in the region .
However , the township would not be agnise in an official capacity until January 15 , 1811 , when what was then known as Range 11 , Town 4 of the Connecticut Western Reserve became Boston Township . The new name of the town was exhort by Boston , Massachusetts as a sort of testament to the fact that most of the settlers hail from New England .
Wikimedia CommonsA modern viewpoint of Cuyahoga Valley National Park, where the former town of Boston was once located.
In its early class , the township ’s economy was bolstered by the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal between 1825 and 1827 , which provided a vital transportation path for people and various goods . at last , this led to economic increase in the neighborhood , drawing in more farmers and prole to assist in the transport of lumber , flour , quarried stone , bricks , and agricultural products to markets in places like Cleveland and Akron .
Then , by the 1850s , the small town of Peninsula became the largest in the township . It was incorporated in 1859 and thrived thanks to its emplacement near the canal , host boat yards , wry docks , hotel , and bar catering to canal doer and travelers . The region get a line another major variety in 1880 upon the arrival of the Valley Railway , which mark the start of a notable shift from channel transport to rail transport . While this did open some newfangled opportunities , it also contributed to the decline of the epithelial duct - base transferral .
Public DomainThe shock of the Great Flood of 1913 in Dayton , Ohio .
Public DomainThe impact of the Great Flood of 1913 in Dayton, Ohio.
This decline only keep in the twentieth hundred . Traditional industry like quarry see a massive drop - off , and the Flood of 1913 dealt a meaning blow to the Ohio and Erie Canal . By the twenties , local quarries stop operations , in turgid part thanks to the arise availability of concrete .
Eventually , in the 1970s , the American political science decided that the land in Boston , Ohio would be well - suit for the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area , afterward designated as the Cuyahoga Valley National Park . The National Park Service soon buy the place of the townsfolk ’s house physician , top to the locals being give notice , their homes being boarded up , and the eventual abandonment of the once - expand township .
Although this seemed to be a relatively par - for - the - course story of a decliningRust Beltregion , there were ominous rumors that began to swirl around this specific town ’s fall , leading to the moniker “ Helltown . ”
Flickr CommonsAn old, abandoned gas station in the town.
But just what were those rumors , exactly ?
Chilling Legends About Helltown’s Satanic Church, Haunted School Bus, And Crybaby Bridge
Before its demolition in 2016 , visitant to Helltown were greeted with an eerie sight : an abandon town where living had seemingly disappear out of thin line . construction were boarded up and sign were erected to monish visitant against trespassing , but a few landmarks stood out as especially chilling .
Flickr CommonsAn old , abandoned gas post in the town .
The first and most obtrusive was easily the Presbyterian church service that once stood marvelous above the townsfolk . The church was adorned , shockingly , with upside - down crosses — something not distinctive of most church service .
Flickr CommonsThe Crybaby Bridge in Helltown.
This strange , ostensibly blasphemous particular led to rumors that the town ’s local anesthetic had not been people of God , but rather infernal practitioners who stalked the streets and attempted to tempt in visitors with tales of their sinister praxis . This rumour then go to cool legend about animal mutilation and even human sacrifice being performed in the town .
In truth , the church had been designed in a Gothic revival meeting fashion , in which it was fairly common to display hybridization upside - down . Still , the church was likely not the only ground for Helltown ’s frightening renaming .
Another point of regression in the abandon town was an older schooling bus that had been go out to corrode . The chilling image of an empty school bus led to further speculation that some tremendous circumstances had befall Boston Township .
Flickr CommonsAn abandoned barn in Helltown.
touch hunter even exact that they had seen the spirits of schoolchildren reside within the bus at sealed head . According to legend , these schoolchildren were all murdered by a serial killer , and their spirits never left the fomite . purportedly , if you peered through the bus ’ windows , you could see either the ghosts of the victims or their slayer still posture at heart .
Once again , however , the truth is far less terrifying . In actuality , the double-decker was merely abandoned like the other buildings and structures in town . While there was a family live in the coach at one tip , it was only because their house was being renovated and they had nowhere else to go .
Flickr CommonsThe Crybaby Bridge in Helltown .
Flickr CommonsOne of the many closed-off roads that surrounded the former town of Boston, Ohio.
There was also a legend about a “ Crybaby Bridge ” in Helltown . According to traditional knowledge , if you left your car on the bridge , you would return to find it enshroud in dust and baby ’s footmark . If you listened close , some said , you could hear the cries of a baby who was supposedly thrown from the bridge .
Of naturally , there are similar legends about otherCrybaby Bridgesthroughout the U.S. , so it ’s likely that this peculiar bridge circuit was part of a larger fabulous trend , rather than an existent obsessed location .
The Peninsula Python And The End Of The World
Flickr CommonsAn abandoned b in Helltown .
There ’s also an minacious fable that a chemical substance spillway infest Helltown , leading to the instauration of what local anaesthetic called the “ Peninsula Python . ”
The tale says that an ordinary snake suddenly grew to a massive size and terrorized the region of Helltown . Rumored to be a mutant resulting from the toxic chemical spill , the brute has never actually been observed . But that want of evidence has not stopped some people from speculating that that was the “ real ” reason why Boston , Ohio was abandoned — and that the politics wanted to insure up the disaster that happened .
Flickr CommonsThe Helltown cemetery.
In reality , there were toxic chemical substance uncovered in the nearby Krejci Dump , but this discovery was made in the 1980s , about a decade after it was decided that Boston , Ohio would become part of a bombastic park . Furthermore , there is no proof that these chemicals affected people or animals in the existent town . And rangers who see the Krejci Dump site cover only typical sickness and rash — no frightening mutations .
Flickr CommonsOne of the many closed - off roads that surrounded the former town of Boston , Ohio .
Lastly , there are fable about a location within Helltown fuck as “ The End of the World . ” The End of the World was one section of Stanford Road , which featured a steep incline and a sudden dip down , almost give the effect that cars were driving off a drop . Some have claimed that supernatural occurrences bump on that road , while others have alleged that the route was “ evil ” and caused deathly motorcar crashes .
Once again , though , there are like news report of other “ main road to Hell ” or “ Gates to Hell ” across the humanity , and it ’s more potential that the name was give to this stretch of road simply due to its eerie atmosphere , rather than anything paranormal . In fact , the same could be said of Helltown in general .
Why Helltown’s Real Story Might Be More Sad Than Spooky
Flickr CommonsThe Helltown graveyard .
Helltown ’s nervous name was probable the event of , rather than the beginning , of all these urban legends . The occupant of Boston Township in Ohio were indeed forced to abandon their home base by the federal administration , but not because of a chemical substance spillage or a supernatural cover - up .
With national concerns about deforestation in full cut , in 1974 , U.S. President Gerald Ford approved legislation that grant the National Park Service the power to expropriate Din Land , theoretically to preserve the land ’s forests and establish new national parks throughout the nation .
While the musical theme behind the bill may have been well - intentioned , it was bad intelligence for residents living in area designated by the National Park Service for new parks , including those who resided in Boston , Ohio .
The locals who rest in what ’s now part of Cuyahoga Valley National Park had no choice but to allow after the government bought their properties .
It ’s likely that these former residents became even more resentful when the government fell behind on the challenging undertaking , letting the townspeople ride derelict for decades before it was finally demolished as planned .
One local made his look exonerated in a subject matter he scribble on a wall in one of the town ’s abandon homes : “ Now we do it how the Indians matte up . ”
Next , check out theseseven creepy abandoned cities . Then , go inside thedestruction of 11 historical American landmarks .
