Home >Haunted HellTown - Real Stories of Helltown Ghosts - Unexplained Mysteries
Haunted HellTown - Real Stories of Helltown Ghosts - Unexplained Mysteries
Source: http://www.prairieghosts.com
What can you say about a place called Helltown? Helltown is one of Ohio’s most famous horror/supernatural legends. It’s a good example of the way folklore can get really complicated. There is no single haunted farmhouse, no headless train conductor, or ghostly children running around in the woods. Helltown is home to six or seven separate legends, each with dozens of variations. All of which has led this area in Boston Township to be grouped as one haunted site and given an evil-sounding name.
Helltown is actually the northern part of Summit County, encompassing several towns, including Boston, Boston Township, Peninsula, Sagamore Hills, and Northfield Township. The area is often referred to as Boston Mills.
Here are some of the Legends!
“Mutant Town” and “Mutane Town”
These are two alternate names for Helltown. The excellent website Ghosts of Ohio did an impressive job of researching the Helltown stories, and found out that the area was first called “Mutant Town” when the federal government bought up the land in the area in 1974 to create the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area. They boarded up most of the houses they bought and put US Government “No Trespassing” signs everywhere because there had been a chemical dump in the area. So naturally everyone assumed there were slimy mutants wandering around murdering people.
“Mutane Town” seems to be a simple misspelling of “Mutant Town,” although on another site I here that some one sent them an e-mail which assured him that there had been a butane plant in the area, which somehow led to this name. Unfortunately, that’s not true. Neither is it true that there was a chemical spill in Boston Township.
The Satanic Church
This one goes with the Satan worshiping made against the entire town. The Church, called “Mother of Sorrows” in the real world, has upside-down crosses on it. People say that all the people in the area worship Satan and that there are animal mutilations and satanic symbols all over the place. All of these things lead to the church which is actually an early Irish Catholic church. I have heard the Black masses are conducted here and also there have been reports of midnight satanic masses held in the basement. However, an investigation has confirmed that the church does in fact have some upside-down crosses on it. The upside-down crosses are just a feature of Gothic revival architecture. There is a larger, more prominent right side-up cross atop the steeple.
There is also a direct connection between this church and the spooky Mater Dolorosa Cemetery, located about two miles from the church. “Mater Dolorosa” is Latin for Mother of Sorrows. The deceased members of this church are buried there.
The Cemetery
There are a lot of ghost stories from the scary cemetery on top of a hill. It contains graves dating back to the 1800s. There are stories of the cemetery being haunted and that there are ghosts or spirits around the graveyard. One story is that a ghost sits on a bench in the cemetery at night. The cemetery exists and is worth a trip to see, but don’t expect anything bizarre to happen to you.
Getting back to the story, guess what there’s is no bench, and the cemetery is pretty ordinary. Lately the Boston locals have installed floodlights at the cemetery and patrol it regularly, so if you’re going up there, be careful.
Legend:
A whole busload of children were slaughtered in the woods by (choose your favorite from the list below):
•A serial killer
•A band of serial killers
•An escaped mental patient
•Several escaped mental patients
•A group of Satanists or cult members
The bus is still there, although all the seats have been removed. But sometimes (again, choose your favorite):
•The bus fills up with the ghosts of the murdered children, each one sitting in their ghostly seats.
•The ghost of a man ("the killer") smoking a cigarette is seen at the back of the bus.
•Children's screams and/or laughter are heard coming from inside the bus.
Locals have tried to tow the "cursed" bus away, but each time they attempted to do so, some mishaps, which often resulted in injury and even death, resulted. As a result, they decided to leave the bus there.
The Truth:
Prior to the 1974 buyout, a family bought the house, which was in dire need of repairs. Since the house was not in livable condition, the family needed a place close by to stay while they made the repairs. Their solution was to bring an old school bus onto the property and they lived in there until repairs were completed. And while this is a bit odd, there is certainly nothing paranormal about it. It also explains why all the seats were removed from the bus. When the government bought the property, the family had no use for the old bus and it was left behind (note: this is also why there are abandoned cars, farm equipment, etc. scattered across the area-in most cases, non-working machinery was simply left behind as junk).
Now, before you go driving down there to see the bus for yourself and attempt to prove The Ghosts of Ohio wrong, you should know that the bus is no longer there. Locals complained of the large number of people running through the woods at night in search of the "cursed bus" and it was eventually towed away. . . without mishap. And why did the bus sit there for so long? Simple-when the land was purchased, the bus became government property, so it was up to the government to move it. Need we say more?
The Hearse
Legend:
If you go past the "Road Closed" signs, you will find a house that a creepy man (sometimes it's a family) lives in. The man drives a hearse and will chase you in it if you get too close to his house. Sometimes, he will even try to run you down in his hearse. In some versions of this legend, the hearse has only one headlight:
•"A hearse with one headlight chased us through town."
•"We tried to follow the hearse, but it vanished at the end of the road."
The Truth:
There is a bit of truth to this legend. According to Randy Bergdorf, curator/historian of the Peninsula Library and Historical Society, there was a Boston Township family that owned a hearse at one time. But they only used it for during Halloween. It appears as though someone took the story of a hearse in town and ran with it.
As for a hearse being able to drive down past the "Road Closed" signs, it is impossible to do so. The area is heavily wooded on both sides and there is even a creek running alongside the road. And the gates across the road are locked tight.
The Slaughterhouse and Funeral Home
There’s a slaughterhouse not far from the cemetery, or so they say. The Ghosts of Ohio website reports that it’s just part of an old barn. Over time it acquired a reputation as a haunted slaughterhouse where you would see faces if you looked through the windows at night. People also call this building the “abandoned funeral home,” but it’s not.
Crybaby Bridge
Of course, Helltown has a crybaby bridge. The actual story is a little fuzzy on the details but at some point in the past, a child was supposedly thrown off the bridge and died in the Cuyahoga river below.
However, the story is not nearly as important as the experiment itself. The rules of this bridge are the most complicated. The following steps must be followed exactly. If you miss one, and the experiment will fail. Here are the Step by Step directions:
Bring along a spare set of car keys.
Go there at night.
Park the car on the bridge.
Turn off the car.
Put your other set of car keys in your pocket.
Get out of the car.
Lock the doors.
Walk away from the bridge.
Wait “a while.”
Go back to your car.
Upon returning, the car will be mysteriously running, and you will find dusty child’s footprints on the outside of your car.
"SATANIC ACTIVITY" WARNINGS
Legend: Local authorities warn motorists not to travel through Boston Township at night due to "Satanic activity" in the area.
The Truth:
In an effort to curb the trespassing and vandalism that is taking place, Boston Township trustees have asked the Summit County Sheriff's Office Department to tell individuals to "move along" should they be found loitering in certain areas at night, including around the cemetery.
