"Hell's House"
West Greenwich, RI
West Greenwich, RI
Ah, we come to Hell's House. My favorite abandoned house EVER. I won't tell its location until it's not there anymore. Yes, it's still semi-standing. I used to drive by it every couple of months but now it's more like once a year. I know I'm sad.
I first learned about "Hell's House" in 1999 while driving around RI with my friends after probably visiting Hell's Gates and Nelly Vaughn's grave and all those things you do on the weekends when you're supposed to be doing homework.
The sordid story behind Hell's House is that, in 1959, some guy shot his wife and 4 kids and then killed himself.
Of course, like the legends associated with Hell's Gates, there's not really any truth to this awful tale. One of the inhabitants of this house did in fact die in 1957 and there has been nothing found at the house that dates later than early 60s, so it's very possible this house has been vacant since then. (More on this later!)
I never really got the chance to go see the house close up until February 15, 2003, when I took Nick, James, and Katelyn there while filming some sort of crap horror movie near Nelly Vaughn's, which is the most absurd crap movie we never finished. We'll blame Hell's House and probably a Dominos run for that. (Come to think of it, I should post that movie in its entirety here though we didn't film at the house).
So we went up to the house and were too chicken to venture inside. I don't think anyone would blame us for it, since the structural integrity of the building obviously was a bit compromised. There's one picture from this trip where we walked around the outside of the house and peeked in the windows, probably taken by Nick.
Fast-forward to June 26, when Zack and I decided to start our epic UE escapades of the summer. We went back to the house, and Zack didn't want to venture inside either, so we did the exact same thing as I'd done in February, but took pictures. We found a newspaper from 1939 in the entryway.
By August 12 of the same summer, we'd had a bit of a dry spell and decided to attempt to visit Hell's Gates. When we were almost there, we saw someone ahead of us on the path and turned right around and left. So...we went to Hell's House. And it was 100° that day, so we were lazy and parked right in front of the driveway.
After taking pictures, we heard a car door slam and decided that maybe we should check on the car. We found Mr. Good Samaritan sitting in his van, reading a book. "Are you one of the [name redacted]?" he asked.
"No..."
"Well just so you know, I've called the cops and gave them your plate number and they're on their way."
"Oh..."
That's nice. We were standing in the middle of the road and saw an approaching car, looked at it, and realized it was the cop. So what could we do? We went and sat in the car and waited for the inevitable end.
But it turns out that the cop was really super nice and told us that because we were back in my car, there was absolutely nothing he could do to us. If he had found us beyond the posted signs he could have arrested us and fined us $65, he said.
Good to know!
So we left Hell's House, never to return.
Turns out, never just meant "until April 1, 2006" when I dropped Zack off at the house so he could take pictures, and drove around in circles for 1/2 hour.
My own return to the house happened July 23, 2006, this time with J. whom is the reason that I have images of the second floor, and a piece of homework found up there from 1930, showing the name of a young girl who lived in the house. Apparently this woman was near 90 and living down by the beaches in RI. It is her mother who died in 1957. That woman since passed away in 2010. A look through tax records shows that her brother (who passed in 2004) was the owner of the property. I have no idea who currently owns it or who pays the taxes on it, or who would pay taxes for 50+ years on a property that's not even in use.
This trip turned into another hour of running and hiding in a bush when someone spotted us up there. J. was actually still upstairs and completely inaccessible, while I hid in a bush until dark and we started hearing howling coyotes in the distance. Such crap. lol
We returned for the last time on July 26, and took more pictures. A bottle of turpentine from 1939 was found in the crawlspace under the entryway. I actually ventured into the kitchen and dining room during these last trips. J. accidentally destroyed a plaster wall coming down from the second floor, but the stairs weren't an option. He didn't use the stairs to get up there, either. He also climbed down into the basement and took some pictures.
A part of me wants to return to this house at least one more time before it's gone for good.
2013 UPDATE: Brent and I did return to Hell's House on a whim one day while out letterboxing on August 4, 2013. As feared, the harsh winters we've endured through 2011 and 2012 have caused the partial collapse of the house and it won't be long until the collapse is complete.
I first learned about "Hell's House" in 1999 while driving around RI with my friends after probably visiting Hell's Gates and Nelly Vaughn's grave and all those things you do on the weekends when you're supposed to be doing homework.
The sordid story behind Hell's House is that, in 1959, some guy shot his wife and 4 kids and then killed himself.
Of course, like the legends associated with Hell's Gates, there's not really any truth to this awful tale. One of the inhabitants of this house did in fact die in 1957 and there has been nothing found at the house that dates later than early 60s, so it's very possible this house has been vacant since then. (More on this later!)
I never really got the chance to go see the house close up until February 15, 2003, when I took Nick, James, and Katelyn there while filming some sort of crap horror movie near Nelly Vaughn's, which is the most absurd crap movie we never finished. We'll blame Hell's House and probably a Dominos run for that. (Come to think of it, I should post that movie in its entirety here though we didn't film at the house).
So we went up to the house and were too chicken to venture inside. I don't think anyone would blame us for it, since the structural integrity of the building obviously was a bit compromised. There's one picture from this trip where we walked around the outside of the house and peeked in the windows, probably taken by Nick.
Fast-forward to June 26, when Zack and I decided to start our epic UE escapades of the summer. We went back to the house, and Zack didn't want to venture inside either, so we did the exact same thing as I'd done in February, but took pictures. We found a newspaper from 1939 in the entryway.
By August 12 of the same summer, we'd had a bit of a dry spell and decided to attempt to visit Hell's Gates. When we were almost there, we saw someone ahead of us on the path and turned right around and left. So...we went to Hell's House. And it was 100° that day, so we were lazy and parked right in front of the driveway.
After taking pictures, we heard a car door slam and decided that maybe we should check on the car. We found Mr. Good Samaritan sitting in his van, reading a book. "Are you one of the [name redacted]?" he asked.
"No..."
"Well just so you know, I've called the cops and gave them your plate number and they're on their way."
"Oh..."
That's nice. We were standing in the middle of the road and saw an approaching car, looked at it, and realized it was the cop. So what could we do? We went and sat in the car and waited for the inevitable end.
But it turns out that the cop was really super nice and told us that because we were back in my car, there was absolutely nothing he could do to us. If he had found us beyond the posted signs he could have arrested us and fined us $65, he said.
Good to know!
So we left Hell's House, never to return.
Turns out, never just meant "until April 1, 2006" when I dropped Zack off at the house so he could take pictures, and drove around in circles for 1/2 hour.
My own return to the house happened July 23, 2006, this time with J. whom is the reason that I have images of the second floor, and a piece of homework found up there from 1930, showing the name of a young girl who lived in the house. Apparently this woman was near 90 and living down by the beaches in RI. It is her mother who died in 1957. That woman since passed away in 2010. A look through tax records shows that her brother (who passed in 2004) was the owner of the property. I have no idea who currently owns it or who pays the taxes on it, or who would pay taxes for 50+ years on a property that's not even in use.
This trip turned into another hour of running and hiding in a bush when someone spotted us up there. J. was actually still upstairs and completely inaccessible, while I hid in a bush until dark and we started hearing howling coyotes in the distance. Such crap. lol
We returned for the last time on July 26, and took more pictures. A bottle of turpentine from 1939 was found in the crawlspace under the entryway. I actually ventured into the kitchen and dining room during these last trips. J. accidentally destroyed a plaster wall coming down from the second floor, but the stairs weren't an option. He didn't use the stairs to get up there, either. He also climbed down into the basement and took some pictures.
A part of me wants to return to this house at least one more time before it's gone for good.
2013 UPDATE: Brent and I did return to Hell's House on a whim one day while out letterboxing on August 4, 2013. As feared, the harsh winters we've endured through 2011 and 2012 have caused the partial collapse of the house and it won't be long until the collapse is complete.
February 15, 2003 shot by Nick Magrey with: a disposable camera
June 26, 2003 and August 12, 2003 shot with: Sony DSC-P31
June 26, 2003 and August 12, 2003 shot with: Sony DSC-P31
April 1, 2006 shot by Zack Keegan with: Kodak CX4300
July 23, 2006 and July 26, 2006 shot with: Kodak DX7590
August 4, 2013 shot with: iPhone 4s