Cuyahoga Valley National Park was established as a recreation area . And for 46 years and 9 months, thrill seekers in Northeast Ohio have claimed that a section of the park was haunted.
Few people remember the Robert Blake TV series, 鈥溾�� and with good reason; it lasted just a few weeks in the mid '80s. But say 鈥淗ell Town鈥� to people in Northeast Ohio, and it might conjure images of Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Specifically, a portion centered in what is now the Village of Boston.
Lance Wilfred, from Creston and Litchfield, visited the area with friends and has always wanted to hear about its history.
is a ranger with the CVNP with a background in Folklore and Public History. She said every urban legend probably starts with a grain of truth. And in this case, it started in the 1970s as the government began buying up properties in what was then Cuyahoga Valley Recreation Area.
鈥淯nfortunately, as we were buying these properties, we had no plan in place on how to manage them," she said. "So, what we were doing at that time was acquiring properties and then boarding them up and putting signs on them that said, 'No trespassing.' People said, 鈥榃ell, what's going on? We all love a good story, and if there's not enough information in place, pretty soon an urban legend will migrate into the area.鈥�
One of the legends was that the government was buying the properties because of a chemical spill. Jones Macko said that has only a slight connection to reality and to an issue which wasn鈥檛 resolved until decades later.
鈥淭here was a Superfund site within the boundaries of the area. There was the . And then just to the north lies the . And in testing the soil of both of these, we find very toxic chemicals,鈥� she said.
The even gave rise to rumors of a mutant which preyed on anyone unlucky enough to drive through the park at night. There was also the bridge where one can supposedly hear a crying baby, a myth which Jones Macko said pops up in the stories of many haunted or abandoned towns. There was also the one about the hearse, which supposedly followed people through town. It was actually just rangers in their official park vehicles, encouraging Hell Town thrill seekers to move along after dark.
The Road to Nowhere
Jones Macko said "The Road to Nowhere," or "The Disappearing Road," is really just Stanford Road.
鈥淭he road was abandoned sometime, I think, in the early 1980s... by Sagamore Hills," she said. "If you could imagine being a teenager in 1982, driving down this road... in that large, old Mercury Marquis, and you come down and there's a sharp turn and your headlights go off into the darkness. At first glance, in that first second, it doesn't seem like there's any road there.鈥�
The sound today isn't teenagers in a land yacht; it鈥檚 semis speeding by on the Turnpike. Interstate 80 runs above this section of the park, the supposed center of Hell Town.
Visited there last week were a couple from Westerville: Katie Cremar and her wife, also named Katey, who were out hiking.
鈥淎re you finding anything haunted about this area?鈥�
鈥淪o far, we haven鈥檛 run into anything yet.鈥�
鈥淣o not yet, but anything鈥檚 possible.鈥�
鈥淵ou have an PKE meter to test this area?鈥�
鈥淟eft it at home.鈥�
Later on, Kathy and John Sachleben from Medina County said they were unfamiliar with Hell Town.
鈥淚鈥檝e never heard of that. Only thing I鈥檝e ever heard are nice things because people love the park. Wow, 鈥楬ell Town鈥�?鈥�
Not haunted by ghosts
Jones Macko said that the only haunting is for residents who aren鈥檛 happy about the lingering reputation of Hell Town.
鈥淲hat it would be haunted by is the fact that they've lost so many of their neighbors when the land was bought up. And it's haunted by late night teenagers looking for Hell Town thrills and driving through the town at great rates of speed,鈥� she said.
鈥淏oston is a lived-in community. This is still somebody's hometown. It is private property, and Rangers do patrol Peninsula roads. So be respectful of the fact that it's still somebody鈥檚 town.鈥�
So, one can鈥檛 say Hell Town is gone, because it never physically existed except in gossip, rumors, and myths.
