Helltown, Ohio
Helltown is an area in Boston Township, Summit County, Ohio, known formally as "Boston, Ohio".[1] Local legend associates the area with Satanists and hauntings. These stories are generally considered fakelore, resulting from the empty buildings that stood as a result of a mass eminent domain seizure of homes in the area during the designation of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.[2][3]
History
Boston Village was founded in 1806, and apparently flourished until 1974, when a bill was signed by Gerald Ford that allowed the National Park Service to create a National Park in the county. On December 27, the National Park service bought several houses with the intent to demolish them. The homes were boarded up and listed as property of the government, some standing for years before being demolished.
Rumors began to surface that the government was trying to conceal a chemical spill. Other people, especially tourists, did not know of the eminent domain proceedings, and mistook the empty buildings for a long-standing ghost town. Today the village remains, but some homes are boarded up- these were homes purchased by the NPS and the occupants moved out, but the park has left most of the homes intact. Some have been demolished, including a few around 2008 on Latta Lane.
Rumors of the chemical spill may have come from the NPS's toxic waste discovery in 1985, when a hiker in the park became ill after touching something coming out of some rusted drums at the abandoned Krejci Dump. The Krejci dump is a very short distance from Boston Village, just at the top of Hines Hill Road.[4]
References
- Gurvis, Sandra (2007). Ohio Curiosities. Globe Pequot. p. 72. ISBN 0-7627-4344-1.
- Moran, Mark (2004). Weird U.S. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. p. 316. ISBN 0-7607-5043-2.
- Summers, Ken (2006). Haunted Cuyahoga. Lulu. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-9791064-0-8.
Coordinates: 41°15′48″N 81°33′34″W / 41.26333°N 81.55944°W
External links
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