As a paranormal investigator and someone who has been intrigued by the paranormal since I was very young, I’ve had a bit of internal conflict lately. I’m immensely interested in the paranormal field, but ashamed at the circus-like aura that has enveloped it lately. With the popularity of the paranormal came the leeches, the people who are irresponsibly ignorant of the subject matter yet want to make money off of something that nobody can yet prove. And after a recent trip to Gettysburg, PA, I’ve come away feeling more embarrassed than ever about the field I used to love. Instead of a town steeped in history and reverence, I found gaudy glow-in-the-dark t-shirts and all manners of self-promotion for the local ghost hunters, who would gladly share the haunted history of the town (for some cash, of course).
It’s a slippery slope, to be sure. On the one hand, I do understand the desire to share information about alleged hauntings at a location, and I fully support it, as long as it’s respectful to the history and people of said location. There are many groups out there who handle this the proper way, and kudos to them. On the other hand, glowing t-shirts and “investigators” running around the streets at night trespassing on people’s private property, using flash photography and generally being a loud obnoxious nuisance does not come across as respectful. And these aren’t children or teenagers I’m referring to, but actual full-grown adults. And stories like this one about a portal to Hell, as well as my experiences in Gettysburg, are becoming all too common.
Maybe then they’ll learn…
BLUE ASH, Ohio — If you believe some of the residents of Cincinnati suburb Blue Ash, Ohio, there is a “portal to hell” there.
According to WCPO, the “portal” is a storm drain — that is on private property.
The site is attracting ghost hunters and it is causing headaches for both the homeowners and the local police.
“It’s rough on the homeowners,” Blue Ash Police Lt. Steve Schueler told WCPO. “People park in their driveway and try to get into the drainage system and nobody likes that. [The owner] has had to chase off some people, for sure.”
Many who live nearby claim they’ve heard screams coming from the tunnel — dubbed “Satan’s Hollow” — at night.
Filmmaker and ghost hunter David Scott told WCPO of the tunnel, “This is one of the scariest locations I have ever investigated.”
Look, I have no idea why the local yokels think that this storm drain is haunted. Sure, I could Google it and perhaps learn about it, but honestly I don’t care. And it’s irrelevant. It’s located on someone’s private property, and these ghost hunters need to stop trespassing. End of story. If these people really have nothing better to do on a Saturday night than to ask questions of a storm drain, then why not just ask the homeowners, respectfully, if they will allow them to be on the property? And if the homeowners say “no,” then they need to accept it and stop harassing these people and being a drain on the local police force. There are plenty of manholes right in the middle of the street they are welcome to investigate.
