This story is based upon encounters of people other than me. However, the legend of the place is well known in my area.
For many years, the high school kids in Chester County have talked about a place called The Gates
of Hell. As legend would have it, the name refers to the very large, supposedly blood red, cast iron gates at the entrance to an old, secluded mansion. This mansion is also abandoned, having been vacated shortly after a family was murdered there around the turn of the century. Currently, one cannot see the gates from the road as they are in the middle of a long driveway and a chain-link fence guards the entrance to the driveway. The yard is overgrown with grass to a height of about three feet.
One young lady I knew years ago claimed that friends of hers went to the house and peered in the windows. She said that they could seen shadowy shapes moving within. I kind of poo-pooed her story, but it spooked me a little as I'll relate at the end of my story.
More recently, like 1 month ago, one of my wife's young co-workers went to see the house with a
group of college-aged friends. They climbed the chain link fence, walked through the high grass,
which even covered the drive-way and looked into the house. Amazingly, candles and lanterns were
lit throughout the house, dimly showing antique furniture covered with tarps and sheets. Also,
there was an epitaph, detailing the birth and death dates of a girl named Molly. They didn't
see anything within, but became spooked over the lights and decided to leave. As they walked
away, their pace became more frantic and then they realized they were being chased by two large
doberman-type dogs. They all barely got over the chain-link fence in time to escape. The question
remaining is how could the dogs and the lights be there if the place was abandoned and there was
not sign of anyone being near the place in ages?
Myself, I had only one experience connected with the Gates. One night, the previously mentioned
young lady, another friend and I tried to drive out to see these fabled gates. As we drove down
the dirt road leading to it amidst dense woods (Blair Witch type), we noticed something in the
branches of a tree on the side of the road. As we got closer, we saw that it was a fairly large
teddy bear with the branch stuck through its neck! Laugh if you will, but it spooked the
living daylights out of us and I did the quickest three-point turn of my life!
Anyway, that's what I know of the Gates of Hell of Chester County, PA
Waterford City and County has a lot of ghost and
horror stories which fit into every other classic
ghost story in the Castle of Spirits but there
is one that seemed to play back my memory. The
Gates of Hell.
There's a place in Waterford County called
Passage, and old river side town with probably
the best example of a real haunted town. On the
road to Passage there is bridge with a train
track over it. Near this bridge is or should i
say was a fairly large house. The house was
surrounded by a small wood and a long lane way
from the road up to it. You can see most of the
the house from the road but locals say you cant
see the road from the house. The font gate is big
enough but easy to get over. There is an old sign
on the gate which is so rusted that you cant read
the writing, but locals say it contains the name
of the house and the date it was built. Anyway, a
family used to live there (I've been told they
were O Briens) and they were very popular in the
town. The daughter was named Molly and she had a
lot of friends who lived in the town. One day
Molly met a young man who worked in a the harbour
bringing in fish and cargo and so on. Well Molly
fell in love with him strainght away. As time
went on the two became very close and decided to
marry. Unfortunatly Molly's father wes having
none of this and (like most suicide stories)
Molly hung herself from the landing. The family
moved out and was never heard from again.
In the 70's people started to talk about the
house and some secondary school students decided
to brake in. As they got up to the house the wood
seemed 100 times bigger than from the road (like
i mentioned before). They looked in the window
and saw only an empty room with a huge marble
fireplace. As they looked across to the door a
thin dark figure walked past the door. If that
wasnt enough the fireplace lit up. The kids got
so scared that they ran down the road. But they
were getting nowhere the wood now seemed like a
forest they ran and ran until they finaly reached
the gate. They scaled the gate and ran home. When
they got home they were greeted crying familys
who had reported them missing. In the town
records the news papers show that the kids had
been missing for two weeks. This story was never
explained. But in 1996 a company bought the lad
and knocked down the house. During the
construction the workers had to cut down most of
the trees to clear space. (this part is
compleatly true) The workers cut down about 1/3
of the forest by the end of the week which was a
friday. On monday they returned to find all the
trees had grown back and the workers from there
on in refused to cut down any trees. The people
who work in the house now still say they see dark
figures, fireplaces lighting by themselves and
voices coming from the bridge which people say is
where Molly lives now since her house is no
longer there.
Submitted from: Ireland
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