Legends of The Gates of Hell

We all know Hell to be a place where the sinful and the wicked go after they die–if you believe in that kind of thing. But what if Hell was accessible not only by death? What if there was a physical entrance in our world? 

We will examine places around the world that bear the diabolical moniker “the gates of hell”.  

“‘THROUGH ME, you pass into the city of suffering: 

THROUGH ME, you pass into eternal pain: 

THROUGH ME, the way among the people lost. 

Before me there were no created things, 

Only eternity, and I too, last eternal. 

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!’ 

This passage is the words inscribed on the Gates of Hell in “Dante’s Inferno”. I’m sure you have heard the final line before; it’s become quite famous. 

Hell–or some version of it–exists in nearly every culture. We have been taught to fear Hell our entire lives. It is used as a way to frighten people into morality. To pass through the Gates of Hell would mean entering into eternal suffering, pain, and punishment, at the hands of the most horrid creatures by the most horrific means possible.  

First, let’s explore the various legends and locales dotting the backroads and byways of the United States… 

URBAN LEGENDS 

Urban legends regarding the Gates of Hell exist in at least a dozen states across America. Sometimes, it’s a nickname given to a local cemetery, such as the case in Kentucky and South Carolina. A mysterious green orb is reportedly seen in Kasey Cemetery in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and in Oakwood Cemetery in Spartanburg, South Carolina, cell phones allegedly go dead and feelings of illness and dread are felt. Particularly in the back of the graveyard, where the unmarked graves of prisoners, impoverished, and orphaned children are laid to rest. There are also rumors of satanic rituals and grave desecration. This town of Spartanburg seems to be prolific with haunted locations… 

California boasts not one, but FOUR Gates of Hell locations. In Redside, California, a pair of black gates stood roadside off of Sunset Drive, and it was said that those who dared pass through them would be chased by a ghost carrying a headless cat.  

Through the city of Antioch, California trails an infamous street called Empire Mine Road, which is home to three local legends: Gravity Hill, the Slaughterhouse, and, of course, the Gates of Hell. The “gates” were actually a graffiti-covered stucco wall. There’s a variety of legends relating to this particular spot. Many claim that there was once an insane asylum; pass through the gates and you will find the ruins of the building, and the ghosts of the tortured souls of who were once patients. Deeper into the woods is a second gate, and those said to have passed through will meet their death a year following, under mysterious circumstances… Unfortunately, both of these locations were torn down and no longer exist, but their legends live on… 

There are a variety of other fun little legends smattered across the U.S, but there are a few more I’d like to examine in particular, and they all are linked with a certain number… 

For some reason, the number 7 comes up again and again when it comes to Gates of Hell stories. Two particularly famous locations come up when seeking out these legends, and they are both dubbed “The Seven Gates of Hell”. 

The first one is in Collinsville, Missouri. The “gates” are actually a series of old train bridges, which are laid along a dark and winding road through farmland. Each graffiti-covered bridge has their own unique superstitions, from lynchings to satanic animal sacrifices, to ghost cars. This dark road will take you through sparsely inhabited countryside, requires the passing-by of a small cemetery, and any wrong turns can take you down rural roads into the woods. The legend has it that if you pass through all seven gates correctly at precisely midnight, at the end you will be greeted by the hounds of hell and the farmland before will transform into the Lake of Fire! Most likely, though, you’ll just be in the middle of nowhere, Illinois. You decide which is scarier. 

The second location is in York County, Pennsylvania–more specifically in Hellam Township. And while it does seem suspicious that the entrance to Hell is located in a town with the word “hell” in its name, the name of the town is actually a deviation of the word Halla, after an area in England. 

York County’s legend takes place on Trout Run Road, which is sometimes colloquially known as Toad Road, a rural drive through wooded farmlands. There are two different stories associated with the area. One persists that there was an insane asylum in the woods, which caught fire and released all the surviving patients to the surrounding area. In this story, the gates are said to have been set up to deter the escapees. 

In the second version of the legend, an eccentric doctor constructed seven gates along a path, each one leading deeper and deeper into the woods. At the end lay something mysterious, and possibly deadly, for it is said that no one who passes through the fifth gate returns. 

As it stands, the one gate that exists today was built by a local doctor, but there was nothing reportedly unusual about the man, and he only built one gate. 

There was never a mental institution in the area, and the structure that people believe to be that of a ruined asylum are mostly likely an old flint mill. 

Still, the legends live on, and the road has not only become a frequent spot for late night drives, but also the inspiration for a 2012 independent horror film, Toad Road. 

There’s a lot more to explore when it comes to legends and references regarding the Gates of Hell, so I’ll be discussing more in a Part Two… 

Next time we will be going into films and some other alleged entrances to the underworld. 

**If you’d like to read more on the topics we discussed today, feel free to check out my full source list here. 

~~by Marie Robinson