Lighthouse 13 - Inside Passage

...:::LIGHTHOUSE 13 - Inside Passage:::...

----->> || Random Images || Helltown || House of Hex Hollow || Mudhouse Mansion || <<-----

A personal web page dedicated to abandoned places, historical legends, and myths.

All images were compiled from various online sources...

This page is periodically being updated.

RANDOM IMAGES

More random images to come...


THE LEGEND OF HELLTOWN Helltown is one of the most legendary areas of Ohio. It wasn’t always called Helltown and that is not it's official name, but the legends surrounding the now-abandoned town make Helltown a far more appropriate name. The area known as Helltown is located in the northern part of Summit County. Officially called Boston Mills, it was settled in 1806 and is the oldest village in Summit County. Construction projects brought settlers, and a railroad station installed in the 1880s made the town thrive. In 1974, President Ford signed a legislation that allowed the National Parks Service to buy the area and turn it into a national park. Unfortunately for residents, this gave the government the chance to claim eminent domain and take possession of the land. The idea was that they would raze the town and turn the area into a national park. Residents had to leave immediately, leading to graffiti that read “Now we know how the Indians felt.” However, the government being the government, they didn’t really get around to knocking down all the structures, so many streets would contain rows and rows of abandoned homes with “No Trespassing” signs, seated next to the burned-out remains of homes that had been used in fire department exercises.	It is easy to see how legends and ghost stories grew around a town that looks like it had been abandoned in the middle of the night. One of the most common tales is the cursed school bus. Out in the woods is a broken-down school bus with all the seats removed. Depending on who tells the story, the children on the bus were killed by either a serial killer, an escaped mental patient, or a cult. Some stories would place the ghostly children inside the bus, sitting in their assigned seats, motionless. Others claim you can hear their cries coming from the school bus shell. Some say that people have tried to dispose of the bus, but it always ended in grievous injury or death. In reality, the school bus was used as temporary housing for a family who bought a house that was undergoing some repairs. When the government bought the land, the family left the bus behind. Eventually, the government had the bus hauled away after locals complained of ghost hunters searching the woods for the abandoned bus.

As with any town, churches are a strong source of creepy legends. There are two churches within Helltown: Boston Community Church and Mother of Sorrows, but the legends never specify which church.	Some say there is an “evil” man in the basement who prevents people from entering the church, and won’t let people see his face. Others say that “devil worshippers” own the church; there are candles burning at all hours; it is never open for mass; and that there are upside down crosses used as decoration.

And then there are the roads in Helltown. There are two roads that dead-end for “no reason.” Both roads have signs that say “road closed,” even though the continue off into the distance. Legends say that Satanic cults put up these signs to keep people out of their secret hideouts. In reality, the two dead-ends are just opposing sides of Stanford Road. The street fell into disrepair many years ago, making it unsafe to traverse. Two different towns own portions of the road – Sagamore Hills and Northfield Center Township – but neither could afford to repair the road. Because it was a liability, it was safer just to close it.	Stanford Road is also sometimes called The End of the World or the Highway to Hell. It is a twisting road with a steep incline – so steep that when a car crests the top of the hill, from some angles it looks like the car is driving off a cliff. Some stories say that the road is evil, will take possession of your car, and cause fatal accidents. It is more likely that thrillseekers were experimenting with the incline and crashed on their own. Other rumors claim that robed Satanists will form a “human chain” around your car to prevent you from leaving; a serial killer lives in the woods and butchers drivers with an axe; or a ghostly hearse (sometimes with one headlight) will chase you.


	[Highway to Hell road...]

Another rumor persists that the residents were driven out due to a chemical spill. Abandoned buildings and “No trespassing” signs put up by the US government fueled these rumors, which often said that chemicals in the area caused mutations in the local children. The chemical spill is also said to have created the Peninsula Python, a monstrously huge python that is said to reside in the woods. There is no evidence this python exists.	Unfortunately, there may be some truth to the chemical tales. The Krejci family owned a private dump not far from Helltown. The Krejci Dump was part of the park that was created in 1974, though the National Park Service didn’t acquire the land until 1985. They thought it was just an old junkyard, but park rangers started reporting strange odors, leading to headaches and rashes. One man became physically ill while collecting old bottles. The Environmental Protection Agency ran tests, and discovered that there were a number of toxic substances in the area, emanating from thousands of drums of chemicals dumped by major companies. The site was closed, and a massive cleanup operation got underway.

Other legends include: an abandoned house in the woods with a light on at all times (it’s not abandoned; it’s a hostel); a ghost who sits on a cemetery bench and stares blankly (there is no bench in the cemetery); trees in the cemetery move (allegedly caused by Satanists who cursed the trees to disguise their location);	allegations that the cemetery or other parts of the town were built on native burial grounds; an abandoned slaughterhouse and/or funeral home that is said to be haunted (this is the same building, and it was never a slaughterhouse or a funeral home); and that 1984’s Children of the Corn was filmed and/or inspired by Helltown (it was actually filmed in Iowa).

[Abandoned structure - unknown name]	The abandoned Moonville. The Moonville tunnel lies in the southern map of Ohio which is reported as to be haunted by the spirit of a man who died in a train accident inside the tunnel and now wanders at night near the track bed.

The Holcomb Woods. The entire road and woods here has become the location for series of spirits of school students and the driver in the woods who met with an accident at the same place years ago, after the dark touches the ground.	[An abandoned barn...]

The crybaby bridge. In is said that at some point in the past, a child was supposedly thrown off the bridge and died in the Cuyahoga river below. There is also an experiment associated with this bridge where 10 steps must be taken accordingly:	1: Bring along a spare set of car keys. 2: Go there at night. 3: Park the car on the bridge. 4: Turn off the car. 5: Put your other set of car keys in your pocket. 6: Get out of the car. 7: Lock the doors. 8: Walk away from the bridge. 9: Wait “a while". 10: Go back to your car. Upon returning, the car will be mysteriously running, and you will find dusty child’s footprints on the outside of your car.

	Nowadays, Helltown isn’t as creepy as it once was. The area is part of what is now known as the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area. It was designated a national park in 2000, and as such, abandoned structures have been restored or demolished, and the creepy ruins of the past are all but wiped away.

THE HOUSE OF HEX HOLLOW

On a cold November night in 1928, a terrible crime occurred here and vestiges of the crime remain to this very day.

This is how it all went down…

Three members of the Pennsylvania Dutch community had been experiencing a spell of bad luck and ill health. They were told that they had been hexed by another member of the Dutch community – Mr. Nelson Rehmeyer

The men were also told that the only way to rid themselves of the hex was to find the guy’s spell book and burn it, along with a lock of his hair. (Apparently the early Dutch community in Pennsylvania was into witchcraft.)

On the night of November 27th, the three men went to this very house – Mr. Nelson Rehmeyer’s house – and confronted him.

It did not end well.

Rehmeyer refused to cooperate and was subsequently strangled to death in his kitchen. The perpetrators went a little further and mutilated his body for good measure. They then attempted to burn the house down in order to hide the crime. But the old house at Rehmeyer’s hollow had a stubborn soul.

It only partially burned before the fire died out. There was plenty of evidence that survived the fire which indicated who the killers were. The three murderers were tried and found guilty of the murder of Nelson Rehmeyer.

Below is a photo that was taken of the burnt-out house during the police investigation:

The house was abandoned for years after the murder and fell into extreme disrepair, as shown below:

Rehmeyer’s daughter and her husband took over the house to use as a rental property and they fixed it up to the point where it was livable again. Starting in 2007, great-grandson Ricky Ebaugh brought the house to the next level by restoring it to how it would have looked in 1929.

One of the things Rehmeyer’s great-grandson did to preserve the house’s terrible history was to uncover the hole in the original kitchen floor where Nelson Rehmeyer’s burned body was found. In the photo below, you can see where his legs burned through the floor joist and if you look closely, there is even dried blood still visible from that gruesome night in 1929…


THE LEGEND OF MUDHOUSE MANSION Mudhouse Mansion was located outside of Lancaster, Ohio. According to locals in Lancaster, the house was built in the early 1800s by a government official who lived there after the Civil War. The man still kept slaves in Mudhouse Mansion, even though it was illegal. It seems this man didn't abide by the law and kept his slaves locked up in an outbuilding at night. He treated his slaves very poorly and conditions were so bad that one slave started building a tunnel underneath the wall of the outbuilding. He dug a little every night after the lights in the mansion had gone out and the slaveowner and his family had gone to sleep. Eventually his tunnel was completed and he squeezed himself down the small opening and came up on the other side of the wall.	In the dead of night, he crept towards the mansion, slipped the lock on the back door, tip-toed up the staircase and killed everyone inside. In the morning, locals discovered what had happened, but all the slaves had escaped and no-one was ever charged with the crime. The house lay vacant for years afterwards and neighbors heard strange groans and shrieks coming from within the empty mansion. Everyone believed it was haunted by the ghosts of the slaveowner and his family. Nobody dared to enter the menacing looking building.

According to another local legend, a man actually did buy the house in 1892 and moved in with his wife and their 3 children. Neighbors saw the family moving in, unloading their belongings from trucks and carrying them into the house. And then... nothing. Neighbors never saw them again. The family never left the house. Neighbours thought it was very odd for a family of 5 to spend all their time indoors. When one neighbour looked out her bedroom window, all she could make out was the figure of a woman, dressed all in white, standing at the second floor window. The figure wasn't doing anything, just standing there, staring at her.	When the neighbour looked again, the following day, she saw the figure again, standing in the same position. Every day, whenever the neighbor looked at Mudhouse Mansion, the figure was always there. Standing in exactly the same position. On the 10th day, she called the police and asked them to investigate. When policemen broke into the mansion and climbed the stairs to the second floor, they were greeted by a terrible sight. All 5 family members were hanging lifeless from the ceiling. They were all dressed in white nightgowns. It appeared that they had taken their own lives. The figure the neighbour had seen was the mother of the family. And she hadn't been standing at the window, she had been hanging there... for 10 whole days.

After that, nobody would live in the house and it has remained vacant since. People still come to visit the old mansion but the current owner will not allow anyone to enter the property. Sometimes, she sits outside with a shotgun in her lap, to frighten off trespassers. She is afraid that if anyone goes in, they will never come out alive. Mudhouse Mansion is said to be the home of the original “Bloody Mary”. If you say her name three or five times while in front of the mirror, she will appear. Children in town have even called Mudhouse the House of Mary. According to traditional folklore, all her children were killed either by her or her husband.	Local children call it "Mary's House" and tell each other that the famous Bloody Mary of legend grew up there. People who live in the area say that on cold dark nights, you can sometimes still see the figure of a woman, all in white, standing motionless at the second floor window. Mudhouse Mansion had 7 bedrooms - plumbing was never installed since it was built almost 150 years ago. To have it turned into a Bed and Breakfast or just fix it to be liveable it would have cost over 3 million dollars. Plus buying the 270 acres of land it sat on would cost a person close to 10 million. Sadly, Mudhouse Mansion came to it's fateful end. It was demoilished on September 21st, 2015. May the Mudhouse Mansion rest in peace.

This web page was created by J.M. February, 2019. About.