Helltown, Ohio

The abandoned village of Helltown was purportedly teeming with a satanic church, a “crybaby bridge,” a spooked school bus, and a mutant python. Although the town was torn down in 2016, largely becoming part of a nearby national park, the folklore surrounding it haunts us to this day.

Originally named Boston, Ohio, the village gained the name Helltown after becoming a literal ghost town. Before that, though, it boasted being the oldest village in Summit County.

Founded in 1806 by Aflred Wolcott and James Stanford, the village began with a cabin on the site of the future Boston Cemetery. In the 1820s, the Ohio and Erie Canal was built, and the town boomed. In 1880, however, the introduction of a railway began the decline of canal-based transportation. The Flood of 1913 was also a huge blow to the canal, and quarrying—one of the village’s biggest industries—was halted in the 1920s due to the ubiquity of concrete.

Boston Village’s bad luck streak came to a head in 1974, when it fell victim to the nationwide anxiety over disappearing forestland. Using the laws of eminent domain, President Gerald Ford signed a bill that gave the federal government’s National Park Service jurisdiction to expropriate land for the establishment of National Parks. The NPS bought the properties of the town’s longtime residents to build the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. 

Citizens scribbled on the wall of one of the houses: “Now we know how the Indians felt.” The empty homes were boarded up with “No Trespassing” signs.

The government quickly fell behind on its plan to create the park and the village sat neglected. The remnants of the vanished town was fertile soil for urban legends over the years.

A Presbyterian church in the town adorned with upside down crosses sparked rumors that the people of Helltown worshipped satan.

On the crybaby bridge, you could allegedly hear the cries of a baby thrown off the bridge; and if you left your car there, it would be covered in dust and children’s footprints when you returned.

Through the windows of an abandoned, rusted school bus, it was said you could see the ghosts of schoolchildren—and the serial killer who murdered them.

Perhaps the most pervasive tale claimed a toxic chemical spill turned a snake into a giant mutant that terrorized the town, and the government covered it up by shutting the town down.

In reality, upside down crosses are common for gothic style churches. The crybaby bridge was likely part of a larger trend of crybaby bridge stories. The school bus was just another abandoned structure—although, strangely, a family whose house was being renovated did live in it at one point. Finally, rangers did discover toxic chemicals in the Krejci Dump in 1985. They fell ill and developed rashes but did not, in fact, mutate.

These explanations, of course, don’t diminish the public’s enthusiasm for the Helltown legends. The village of Peninsula celebrates Peninsula Python Day in honor of the legendary giant snake, and Boston Cemetery remains with stories of hauntings.