In the true essence of Halloween, and with it being right around the corner, I wanted to shed light on such an underrated and spooky place just maybe twenty minutes down the road from my home:
Helltown.
If you've ever been to Northeast Ohio, specifically the Akron area, I'm sure you've probably been to the Cuyahoga Valley. If you have not yet explored it, I highly recommend you do - it's a local and national treasure that we truly uphold and are grateful to have situated right in our backyards. Being from a small town just west of the valley area, I've always heard the lore around the valley about this strange little town near Peninsula, Ohio, that utterly shut down and kicked all of it's remaining residents out...without being given any reason what so ever.
Boston, Ohio - so rightfully named for the people who founded it - was one of the oldest villages around built up in the early 1800s when Ohio became a state. The land fell on the Western Reserve, the then most Western acquired and recognized territory the United States had. The town thrived, being situated right along the Ohio and Erie Canal System, and about halfway along it to Cleveland, a then just starting yet booming, industrial, business-oriented, steelyard city.
Boston thrived and housed residents in and out of the town until the 1970s, according to the legend and research I've done, The Cuyahoga Valley National Parks basically wanted to reclaim back land to make it natural again for the fear spread under President Gerald Ford that the nation's forests were utterly disappearing as we modernly evolved around them. And just like that - Boston was chosen to be the epicenter of the Cleveland and Akron area's Cuyahoga Valley National Parks System.
And that's where things got really weird, fast.
Citizens were ejected out of their homes immediately and everything was boarded up. They closed the main road leading into Boston, Stanford Road, and pasted 'No Trespassing' signs everywhere. The once peaceful, ancient by America's terms, towns were suddenly closed down and evidently became a dump - a chemical one - where officers began experiencing fumes and rashes. And, with that, stories began to spawn about all kinds of urban legends.
And just like that: the abandoned town of Boston, Ohio, was forever renamed Helltown.
Now, no one is allowed into the town. You can try to go in, but officers and rangers are in constant pursuit to eject you, seemingly as if when you go past a certain area of Standford Road, a trip wire signals them to come rushing. So, from the girl who's been to Helltown and back with her aunt that's lived through its history, here's the scoop on all the local legends.
There is supposedly a Satanic church situated in the middle of it all with an upside down cross. And yes - while there is a church in the vicinity of the Helltown area - that church is actually a very quaint, little white church in the totally explorable and tourist trap area of the valley in downtown Peninsula. The upside down cross is actually a nod to Peter, the first pope of the Catholic church and Jesus's number one disciple friend, who felt it wasn't honorable to be crucified in the same way as his savior was - and requested to be upside down. A lot of Satanists do use the symbol, but I feel as though this whole issue is actually debunked.
And while we're on the topic - rumored Satanists infest the woods just beyond the road closed sign at the edge of Stanford road...I honestly can't confirm or deny this one, unfortunately. Needless to say, it's better to just not go in for fear of being caught by police or any weirdos that might be rummaging about.
Among the woods, an apparent school bus still sits - although I've never seen it - where a murderous bus driver abducted and murdered all kids involved. With no reports of the incident, which I have to believe would've made local headlines, I found nothing of the sort at all.
Another tall tale of Helltown is frankly just ghost stories that could quite possibly be true! Helltown is built among the locks and banks of the Cuyahoga River, which at the time, was the highway from Canton all the way to Cleveland. With heavy trafficking of industrial businessmen, robbers, prostitutes, and other sketchy characters lined the banks and often murder to loot someone's goods wasn't out of the question or uncommon. Not to mention the souls of the Irish men who perished along the trenches while building all the canals. The valley is a hot spot for paranormal activity in general.
Helltown is actually built over a Native American settlement where they prized the hilly, valley area situated along the river for their resources and perspective over incoming intruders. Lots of Indian burial mounds are sprinkled within the trees, and where their exact location lies is unknown to us as the settlers wiped and whitewashed that out of Ohio's history. Disturbances in the land, like farming or building a home, shelter, or lodge, have certainly and supposedly increased paranormal activity in these areas where this virgin land was once unaltered and sacred. Indian chanting and disembodied drum beats are all evps (electrical voice phenomenon) that I have heard local paranormal investigators discuss before.
Crybaby bridges are ridden and exist throughout Helltown, but among the most haunted of these is a covered bridge built just outside of the Helltown area on Everett Road. Cars can no longer drive over, but back when they could, people would hear horse hooves clicking behind them with no evidence of anyone nearby. The bridge is said to be haunted after a carriage or sleigh of some sort crashed off the side due to icy conditions and the couple involved were killed instantly. I myself have had a freak occurrence here when my fully charged cell phone died instantly when I didn't want to cross over the bridge after I had a bad feeling.
One of the other most popular legends Helltown has to offer is the cemetery in the woods where you will 'fall right off the edge of the world'. This is completely debunked as well - the drive up is actually through a small, quaint, colonial-era neighborhood. The cemetery itself is on a huge mound - which some claim is an ancient burial mound - and the road is raised so if you did drive off, you would have a little way to fall down from.
Some beasts are also dreamt into reality in these parts as well. Peninsula, the neighboring and surviving town, is infamous for their supposed 'python' that escaped a circus train in the late 1800s as well. Its rumored the beast still lurks in the banks of the river and nearby woods to this day. Bigfoot sightings have increased tremendously after the inspiration of hunting shows have become popular. Helltown is also home to its own creature, the Wendigo, that is something spawned from the notorious chemical dump within old Boston and it preys on anyone who enters the abandoned town.
From hauntings to cemeteries, to bridges and beasts, Helltown has so many legends that I probably haven't even heard all of them or covered any of them yet. So, if you're planning on heading to Helltown this Halloween for a spook, I suggest you do not. Trespassing is a serious offensive crime, and I encourage you to be safe on any endeavors. Check it out for yourself - but more importantly, see if it lives up to its haunted reputation.
