EVACUATION ORDERS

Helltown, Ohio is the name given to the ghost town of Boston Village, Ohio. Hundreds of accounts of hauntings, monsters, and Satanists are part of its long and storied history. Today it sits as an abandoned town, with empty buildings and nature taking over the land, but the town is anything but dormant—tales still emerge of things in the woods and spirits that live in its empty homes.

The town has been allegedly home to supernatural activity for centuries. And conspiracy theories arose when the government effectively decided to shut down the entire town and relocate all of its residents. On December 27^th, 1974, President Gerald Ford—while he was on a holiday skiing trip—made a sudden and unexpected executive order to immediately evacuate the town and seize the land. They claimed that the land had to be turned the land over to the National Parks Service to be turned into a recreational area. But this executive order was treated as an emergency. For a national park area. So, why was it so rushed? Residents had to leave in droves in the sudden mass evacuation. Armed troops were sent in to force people to leave their homes. Some people lost everything. Houses were boarded up and “no trespassing” were put up in the perimeter of the town. The tragedy of the town was featured in the 1983 Documentary “For The Good of All.” To this day, no one know why the town was truly closed.  

Gerald Ford on a ski trip in Vail, Colorado on Dec 27, 1974 - the day the evacuation orders were signed.

THE CONSPIRACY

The more you find out about Helltown, the more questions come up.

From the rushed evacuation in 1975 and the fact that there is still so little information out there, many believe that there is a government cover-up hiding the truth about Helltown. Why was the evacuation so hurried? Why send in the military to force people out? Why was it so important to order the evacuation of the town that President Ford signed the bill over the Christmas holidays?

One theory suggests that the government was hiding the truth about a toxic waste dump—the Krejci Dump—that gave rise to poison land and water, and some speculate that the chemicals seeped into the land mutated the nearby animals. Some have even said that the contamination made some people sick, and resulted in some human mutations.

Others believe Satanists have overrun the town. A growing cult of religious extremists seemed to have taken hold of many of the residents of the town. No one knows for sure what the cult was doing or what they practiced and believed. Did the government have to shut down the town to extinguish one of the more insidious cults in America?

Lastly, another theory believes the forced evacuation was to hide the fact that a monster roamed in the woods. Stories of “animal attacks” seemed to happen with increasingly frequency—even resulting in the death of a teenager as recently as 2016. Did the government finally see a truth to the threat, and finally take measures to stamp it out?

To this day, no government official will go on the record to speak about what happened in Helltown. So, all we have are theories. What is the government hiding? What is the truth?

THE ORIGINS OF BOSTON, OHIO

The small town’s eerie past goes back centuries—even long before European colonists arrived in the area. The Algonquin Native Americans around the Great Lakes region often told tales of monsters and spirits in the woods. And in particular, they feared one especially dangerous beast: the Wendigo; a giant humanoid monster, covered in fur and with spiny antlers growing out of its head. It had a ravenous appetite, and was believed to have hunted and eaten humans. So great was the Native Americans’ fear of the Wendigo that the Algonquin refused to settle on the lands. In spite of this, Boston, Ohio was eventually built atop these cursed lands by European settlers.

Founded in 1806, Boston Village, Ohio was the oldest village in Summit Township. The town was founded by pioneer Reed Farrington, an enterprising frontiersman looking for a small plot of land for his parish. He settled on the land that became Helltown because the land appeared fruitful, serene, and local Native Americans seemed to avoid the territory.

Right on the onset of its founding, the village seemed cursed. Crops failed, people were struck by illness, and winters were brutal and unforgiving. Early settlers became ill, and many starved during its early years. There are even accounts of desperate cannibalism during the town’s early years. Moreover, the winters disfigured many of the town’s residents—ill equipped for the cold, many individuals lost fingers, toes, and lips to frostbite. Other frontiersmen who passed through the settlement spoke of mutants, and some historians tie their accounts to the disfigured residents in the town.

The town eventually bounced back and flourished, but perhaps at a cost. Historic accounts say that Reed Farrington led his community of settlers down a path of cultic rituals. During their early and desperate years, Farrington and many of his followers threw away their Christian customs and took to bastardized version of Algonquin rituals to appease the mythological Wendigo that lived in the woods. They offered up blood sacrifices of livestock, with goats in particular.

The town is well known for its connection with Satanic rituals, and this history may very well go back to these traditions and its founders.

1967 - W CULT

Undated photo of W Cult member prior to the 1967 FBI raid.

The Satanic history of Boston, Ohio was made public in 1967, with the discovery and exposé of a mysterious cult which had been brewing in the small town of Boston. Many believe that this cult had ties going back to the original founders’ satanic practices. The cult, known as the W Cult (because of their signature “horns” symbol that resembled the letter “W”) stayed under the radar for quite some time, practicing their rituals right under the noses of the town for years. By 1967, the cult had grown to dozens of followers and they began more brazenly living on a fenced compound in the restricted area of Helltown. The disappearance of two local children near their compound put the cult under suspicion to local law enforcement. Locals soon began accusing the cult with kidnapping, and murder.

The cult vehemently refused to allow outsiders and police on their property. After they rebuffed local reinforcement, the FBI was eventually called in. It was later found that they had been amassing a large arsenal of weapons, and the cult was charged with being a public threat. A shot was fired from the compound towards the FBI, and the resulting confrontation erupted into a violent standoff that lasted hours, and it ended with 14 members of the cult dead in the shootout. To this day, we still do not know what was actually in the compound or what the cult was actually hiding.

1975 - THE US ARMY’S DEBACLE

The only known photo of Corporal Everett McMahon.

After the evacuation of Boston, Ohio in 1975, US Soldiers were sent into the abandoned town. A mysterious incident resulted in five US soldiers and two townspeople being killed in in the region that had been evacuated. Details on what actually transpired are thin to none. The United States Government has never officially commented on the matter.

Over the ensuing years, rumors began to swirl that the government had sent in the US Signal Corps—a military group best known as the source footage of many a WW2 and Vietnam era battle—into the evacuation of Helltown. Which begs the question – why, and what, were they sent in to film, especially after everyone had been moved out?

In that one night, five armed soldier and two Helltown residents were killed. We don’t know much else. Beyond the fact that there was only one person survived that massacre. Corporal Everett McMahon.

Corporal McMahon was present during the victims’ mysterious deaths. The last time I investigated into the matter, he was still alive. But to this day, Everett McMahon has refused to speak publicly about what happened, or what he was involved in. Many have pursued his version of the story, but he remains silent.

Why would Everett McMahon stay silent on what happened, unless he was forced to?

2016 - ANOTHER DEATH IN HELLTOWN

The teenager who allegedly was killed by an "animal attack" in October 2016. Her identity has been obscured out of respect to her family and other victims in the attack.

After over 40 years of relative quiet surrounding the area once known as Boston, Ohio, another disturbing incident has occurred in Helltown.

Visiting Helltown’s haunted hotspots has become a rite of passage for many teenagers in neighboring towns. On October 13, 2016, four teenagers trespassed into a fenced-in, restricted area within the National Park. The night of fun turned deadly.

One of the teenagers was killed, and two more severely injured. Official records say that an animal had attacked them. Days later, a bear was identified as the culprit and shot. Official records claim that it was a brown bear attack and the case is closed.

Many suspicious details emerge from that night. Unusually there was no publicly available autopsy report on the teenager who died, or a necropsy report released on the supposed suspect – the bear.

And the teenage survivors of the incident, just like Everett McMahon 40 years before them, refuse to speak publicly about what happened. As if they are being silenced...

Rumor has it that cell phone video of the attack exists, and that the video indicates that it wasn’t a bear behind the attack. I have been unable to locate the video to date, but should I find it, I will post to this website for all to see.

HAUNTED & CURSED LOCATIONS

 While Helltown as a whole has had no shortage of ghost and monster stories, a few places in particular seem especially cursed…

THE ROAD AT THE END OF THE WORLD

THE CEMETERY

THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE

SATANIC CHURCH