The Actual TRUTH About Helltown Ohio

Last Updated on December 20, 2019 by Urbex Underground

If you grew up in Ohio, it was all but impossible to not have at least heard one story about Helltown. A Crybaby Bridge, government experiments, and Satanic rituals were just some of the stories that would come out of Helltown. But what really happened there?

Let’s take a look at the real history of Helltown Ohio, and what’s left to see there.

Myths, Folklore, & Outright Hoaxes Of Helltown Ohio

Teenager Attacked In Helltown Ohio

A video uploaded from 2016 is about 20 seconds long, it depicts a girl screaming, some flashes of lights in the background, and of course more screaming. It’s so fake it’s actually laughable, but this doesn’t stop people from really believing there are monsters in Helltown.

Satanic Church

There was an old Presbyterian church called ‘The Mother Of Sorrows” that was abandoned in the Helltown area. Stories of Satanists performing rituals and animal mutilations in the church was one of the most popular stories in the area. It’s said the churches architecture resembled upside-down crosses and other Satanic symbols.

Crybaby Bridge

Almost every small county town has some version of a crybaby bridge, and Helltown Ohio was no different. Rumors circulated that if you parked on the bridge at night you would hear babies crying in the forest. Sometimes tiny hand prints would be found on your car windows and on the hood.

End Of The World

While driving through a dark road in Helltown you will suddenly feel as if you’re dropping off a cliff. This is partially true, but in reality it’s just a very steep section of Stanford Road.

Murder Bus In The Wood

There once was an old rusting school bus abandoned in the woods of Helltown. Rumors started that this was the hideout of a local serial killer and that he could be found around the bus smoking cigarettes.

The truth in the matter is that a family camped in the bus while they finished building their home. The bus has now been towed away.

Mutant Town

The legend goes that the government was using Helltown to dump toxic chemicals. Those chemicals then somehow created mutants which run around at night with glowing heads.

Interestingly enough there was chemical contamination in the Helltown area. Just off West Hines Hill road was the Krejci Dump. This landfill was bought by the park to use themselves.

Rangers would get sick and suffer from chemical burns when in the area and it was discovered that heavy metals and toxic chemicals were seeping into the ground.

Soon it was declared a Superfund site and was completely cleaned up by 2015. Due to it being a Superfund site you can actually read all the details about the contamination online.

Helltown Ohio Wendigo Monster

Native American Folklore also surrounds another mythical beast that roams the Helltown hillsides. The Wendigo is a man eating creature that lurks near the Great Lakes and Nova Scotia area. It’s likely this might be one of the oldest legends about the area since it’s origin predates Helltown itself.

Helltown’s True Dark History

While nearly all of the modern day stories about Helltown Ohio are false, the area does have a dark history dating all the way back to the 1750s.

Helltown Ohio’s First Settlers

In 1758 tensions were at an all time high between the Native Americans and the white settlers from the east. In an effort to stop the bloodshed the Treaty Of Easton was drafted, but unfortunately this meant a lot of natives had to leave their homelands and move further west.

It’s during this time that displaced Lenape people settled the Helltown area around 1755. The story goes, they named their village Clear Town after clear waters that run through the nearby woodlands. Eventually the Lenape people learned that the German word for ‘clear’ was hell. Thus, Helltown was born.

I don’t speak German, and Google Translate doesn’t align with this story but I couldn’t find a better explanation.

Bloodshed At Helltown

Over the years the British continued west eventually colliding with the Lenape people again. Clashes escalated into outright battles as the English settlers and native tensions peaked. The Helltown village was eventually abandoned in 1782 due to all the violence.

Helltown was situated right on a war trail that stretched from Sandusky all the way through the Cuyahoga River Valley. Natives would use the trial to move throughout the territory and launch attacks against the British.

As the fighting passed and time went on the area remained mostly calm and sparely inhabited.

That is until 1974.

Government Takeover

The residents of Helltown would be shaken to their core as their town would be swept up in a national effort to preserve the environment.

President Gerald Ford signed an act that would protect large swaths of land, and turn that land into parks. Unfortunately for Helltown, this included them.

Eminent domain followed and all residents were forced to accept the buyout and leave their homes. Many of these homes were abandoned until being demolished in 2016.

I find it interesting how Helltown has come full circle. Natives were forced from their land to settle in Helltown, then 200 years later the government forces people from their homes to protect that same land.

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme a lot.

Helltown Ohio Location

Helltown Ohio is located just west of Brandywine Falls in Boston Township. Below Helltown is listed on Google Maps, with the marker directly on one of the dead end streets on Stanford road.

You can find directions to Helltown Ohio in the Google maps below. You can find Helltown by getting off the 271 exit towards Brandywine Falls. Note that as of 2016 all of the buildings were demolished, but the road still remains shutdown.

If you’re into Ohio ghost towns and history, be sure to check out the history of the Moonville Tunnel.