HELL TOWN

History from James Willis

"My website, Ghosts of Ohio, had been in operation only a few months when we first began hearing rumors about Hell Town—a Dark and forboding place where ghosts, cults, and even a serial killer were said to lurk. Some told us that the entire town was cursed, warning us that it was dangerous to be in the area after dark. Needless to say, we were intrigued and wanted to learn more. In the summer of 2001, I made my first visit.

Hell Town is a nickname given to the northern part of Summit County. The areas most often associated with the Hell Town are Boston Township and Boston Village, along with portions of Sagamore Hills and Northfield Center townships. In most of the legends all of these areas are combined into one large region, which is referred to as Boston Mills.

First settled in 1806, Boston stands as the oldest village in Summit County. The first mill was built in the village in the early 1820's. Several years later the construction of the Ohio & Erie Canals brought more people to Boston, and over the next few decades mills began to flourish in the area. When a railroad station was constructed in the town in the early 1880's, the station was named Boston Mills, and the name stuck.

Over the years little changed in the small town, However, in 1974, in an effort to save the nation's forests, President Gerald Ford signed legislation that enabled the National Park Service to purchase land and us it to create national parks. As a result, on December 27th, 1974, hundreds of acres, including land within the township of Boston, were officially designated a National Recreation Area.

What many people did not realize until it was too late was that this legislation had a darker aspect to it. It gave the federal government jurisdiction to buy houses and land right out from under the current owners in order to clear the way for the national park. Almost immediately after the bill was passed, the government began acquiring houses throughout Boston Township and the surrounding area. Once the government had decided to buy a property, there was no negotiation involved—the owners were forced to relocate.

Residents began leaving in droves, and the entire townships began to be swallowed up by the Cuyahoaga Valley National Park. These tragic events were featured in the 1983 PBS documentary For the Good of All. The general feelings of the displaced homeowners were best summed up in a statement scrawled across the wall of a vacated home: 'Now we know how the Indians felt.'

Houses were boarded up, covered with government-issue NO TRESPASSING signs, and left vacant until the government could arrange to tear them down. Some houses were intentionally burned in training exercises for local fire departments. But with hundreds of homes being purchased in such a short period of time, the government quickly fell behind. It was not uncommon to drive down a street and find several boarded-up houses sitting next to the burned-out remains of other ones. To a passing motorist, it seemed as if an entire town had mysteriously disappeared into thin air. Undoubtedly, this is where the roots of the Hell Town legends lie." -James Willis