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Looking to plan a vacation this summer but still not sure where to go? Why not schedule some decidedly devilish destinations? If nothing else, it will give you a ton of great puns to go on for the rest of the year. Just imagine the possibilities – “I went through Hell this summer.” “You should go to Hell.” “I’ve been to Hell on earth, my friends.” Comic gold.
1. Hell, Arizona. If you’re looking for Hell, you can find it between Yuma and the California state border, but don’t expect to find anyone there: Hell is a ghost town. Maybe its citizens wised up?
2. Hell, California, is another Hell that no longer exists. It used to be located in Riverside County, California. Although its residents were few, California played up their connection to the devil’s den with punny glee. Newspapers and weather forecasters watched for the days when L.A. was particularly warm so they could say, “L.A. is hotter than Hell today!” and then report the temperatures in each respective town. And road signs used to reference it, including one that warned there were 100 miles of desert between your current location and Indio, California – “Right through Hell!”
3. Hell, Michigan is the one Hell in the U.S. where you can still find inhabitants. The little community that makes the most of its name is about 15 miles away from Ann Arbor. There are two stories as to how the menacing moniker came about – one says that a couple of German travelers passed through the area in the 1830s and remarked, “So schön und hell!” which translates to “So beautiful and bright!” The other says that during the same time period, a farmer from New York invested in the area quite heavily by building a store, a mill and a distillery, which brought people to the region. When grateful locals asked him what he thought they should name the town, he reportedly said, “Name it Hell for all I care.” Hell definitely plays up the connection, holding road races in the summer called “The Run Thru Hell” and offering stamp cancellations bearing the town’s name (the USPS doesn’t actually recognize the town of Hell, but uses the nearby city of Pinckney instead). The town held a big party on June 6, 2006, and sold lots of souvenirs for $6.66. Residents are called “Hellions.” I would consider moving there just to be able to call myself a Hellion and properly mean it.
4. Hell isn’t just in the U.S. – there’s one in Norway as well. It doesn’t mean what we think – it is thought to stem from the Old Norse word for “overhang” or “cliff cave.” Miss Universe 1990 attracted attention when she billed herself as “The Beauty Queen from Hell,” although she actually hailed from a nearby town. Still – pretty awesome.
5. There’s a little place in the Grand Cayman town of West Bay that people refer to as Hell, although how you could have hell in such a gorgeous setting is beyond me. The only reason it’s called Hell is because of the ominous look of a random outcropping of limestone that jets up from the ground there. The limestone takes up an area about half the size of a soccer field and, from some reports, is somewhat unimpressive. But that hasn’t stopped locals from capitalizing from it – cruise ships passing by often make special stops at Hell so vacationers can send postcards from Hell and visit Satan’s own gift shop.
6. If Hell is too much for you, there’s always Half Hell, North Carolina, in Brunswick County.
7. And if “Hell” isn’t convincing enough, there’s Hell for Certain, Kentucky. It’s an unincorporated area that is actually named Dryhill, but since Hell for Certain Creek runs through it, that’s what everyone calls it. It’s a coal mining community that doesn’t find great joy in the name like Hell, Michigan does – to them, it’s just a name.
8. Satan’s Kingdom is apparently a state park also known as Nepaug State Forest. According to NewEnglandTowns.org, it got its name when “An inhabitant of the town invited one of his neighbors, who lived within the limits of this district, to go and hear Mr. Marsh, the first minister who was settled in the town. He was prevailed upon to go to church in the forenoon. In the course of his prayer, Mr. March, among other things, prayed that Satan’s kingdom might be destroyed. It appears that the inhabitant of this district took the expression in a literal and tangible sense, having probably never heard the expression used but in reference to the district wherein he resided. Being asked to go to meeting in the afternoon, he refused, stating that Mr. Marsh had insulted him; ‘for blast him,’ said he, ‘when he prayed for the destruction of Satan’s kingdom, he very well knew all my interests lay there.’”
9. Đavolja Varoš (devil’s town) has a story similar to Hell in the Grand Caymans. The region has a strange and creepy rock formation that has led locals to decide that the “earth pyramids” were once wedding guests that had been turned to stone either by Satan or as a punishment from God. Đavolja Varoš is in the running for the world’s New Seven Wonders of Nature and is currently winning the rock formation division.
10. Finally, this one isn’t so bad – it’s just Purgatory. Purgatory, Maine, that is, in the southern half of the state. No word on why it’s called Purgatory, but I’m sure it’s a welcome respite from Hell.
So, what weird town names are near you? We have What Cheer, Iowa (said like “whacheer”) and when my husband and I lived in Pennsylvania we weren’t too far from Bird-in-Hand, Blue Ball and Intercourse (like a 12-year-old, I totally sent all of my friends postcards from Intercourse).
Comments (58)
Comment
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Castle Danger, MN
Fertile, MN (not too far from Climax, MN)
posted by MCW on 5-13-2009 at 4:42 pm
Volcano, CA
Nowhere near a volcano.
posted by Leah on 5-13-2009 at 4:59 pm
Intercourse, PA. Blue Ball, PA. Bird-In-Hand, PA.
posted by Pete on 5-13-2009 at 4:59 pm
Manzolino, Italy (Manzolino means Little Beef)
Talent, Oregon (Yes, we’re really THAT good)
Looking-Glass, Oregon
posted by Kate on 5-13-2009 at 5:00 pm
dammit…just read that last paragraph. Redundancy, thy name is Pete. My apologies.
posted by Pete on 5-13-2009 at 5:01 pm
Boring, Oregon
posted by Paul on 5-13-2009 at 5:14 pm
Plenty of Hells. On the other hand, there’s Zion, IL which was founded as a utopian fundamental Christian community.
posted by Ben E. on 5-13-2009 at 5:19 pm
I’m from Pennsylvania (Erie – to which most people respond “like Eerie Indiana?”) and I remember all sort of strange town names including:
Plum, Mars, Forty Fort, Scotland, Japan, and Fearnot (near Sacramento, PA which is interesting as I now live in Sacramento, CA).
posted by Beau Straub on 5-13-2009 at 5:42 pm
Well, not as interesting as some of these, here in South GA we have Hopulikit (pronounced hope-you-like-it), Portal (not even a city, just a portal to pass through).
posted by GuardianOfFreyja on 5-13-2009 at 5:46 pm
And isn’t Paradise, PA right next to Intercourse, PA?
posted by Beau Straub on 5-13-2009 at 5:46 pm
As a fellow Iowan, I can’t believe you didn’t include the Devil’s Backbone in Backbone State Park between Strawberry Point and Lamont, Iowa.
Plus, every year someone gets too close to the edge and falls off. That also makes it kind of evil.
posted by Rebecca on 5-13-2009 at 5:47 pm
Bad Axe, MI
Nirvana, MI
Gay, MI
posted by paige on 5-13-2009 at 5:50 pm
Toad Suck, Arkansas
Yes, it’s real. Drove through it once. Blip on the map but real.
posted by frodopal on 5-13-2009 at 5:51 pm
Buck Snort, Tenn.
posted by Tracie on 5-13-2009 at 5:52 pm
According to local lore…
Ink, Arkansas is named Ink because when it came time for the settlers to establish a post office, the government paperwork said “Write In Ink” right next to the line where the name for the town was supposed to be filled in. So when the post office was established, the federal gov’t had named the town Ink, and rather than go to all the hassle of getting the gov’t to recognize the town by its real name, they just let the name stick.
posted by Melissa on 5-13-2009 at 5:58 pm
Hell in Norway: link: en. wikipedia .org/wiki/Hell,_Norway
posted by metacrawler on 5-13-2009 at 6:03 pm
There’s a place in New Mexico called Truth and Consequences.
posted by Julie on 5-13-2009 at 6:17 pm
Accident,MD
Boring, MD
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 5-13-2009 at 6:31 pm
Bagdad, AZ
posted by nobody on 5-13-2009 at 7:03 pm
Gas, Kansas
Sweet Lips, Tennessee (went to college with a girl who hailed from Sweet Lips)
posted by janeeyre316 on 5-13-2009 at 7:22 pm
Cut ‘n’ Shoot, Texas
posted by Bryan on 5-13-2009 at 8:14 pm
Booger Hollow, Arkansas
posted by Becky on 5-13-2009 at 8:46 pm
There’s a place here (New Zealand) called Whakapapa – the ‘wh’ being pronounced like an ‘f’… This is a fairly unexceptional Maori place name as far as we kiwis are concerned, but tourists always have a giggle.
posted by Jo on 5-13-2009 at 10:01 pm
Antiville In (has about 2 people and 30 chickens.
Russia Ohio (but it’s pronounced Rue-she)
posted by Amy on 5-13-2009 at 10:17 pm
Christmas and Paradise are both in Michigan too! (and not that far from each other)
posted by Amy on 5-13-2009 at 10:27 pm
Gross, Nebraska
Funk, Nebraska
I’ve even spent a few days in Funk. Not too funky, in either the positive or negative sense. Just a very tiny town.
Now I live in New York. I don’t know the geography very well, but there is a Horseheads pretty nearby. I find that rather odd.
posted by kate on 5-13-2009 at 10:43 pm
Santa Claus, IN
Model, TN
Soddy Daisy, TN
Wartrace, TN
Frog Level, NC
Hungry Mother State Park, VA
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 5-13-2009 at 10:51 pm
I used to drive past exit signs for Groseclose – I think it was in VA
Arab, AL
Cuba, MO
Moscow, ID
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 5-13-2009 at 10:56 pm
crooked tree, oh
hunkadora, oh
posted by A.J. on 5-13-2009 at 11:13 pm
Tomball, Texas
Clute, Texas – Home of the annual Mosquito Festival
Humble, Texas
Plano, Texas
Paris, Texas – Complete with its own Eiful Tower adorned with a gigantic red cowboy had.
posted by Tex on 5-13-2009 at 11:22 pm
Big Ugly, WV
Acme, WV
Alloy, WV
Canvas, WV
Forks-Of-Cacpon, WV
Friendly, WV
Frost, WV
Hurricane, WV
Left Hand, WV
Mammoth, WV
Man, WV
Odd, WV
Pinch, WV
Shanghai, WV
Sod, WV
Tornado, WV
posted by John on 5-13-2009 at 11:34 pm
There’s a North Pole, Alaska (oddly, it’s south of Fairbanks) and it is really just a tourist trap filled with X-mastophiles who think it’s X-mas all year long. Made me sick to go there.
In southwestern Montana you have probably the naughtiest concentration of place names on earth – Beaverhead County, which contains the Big Hole River and Bloody Dick Peak.
Recaptcha clobber ing
posted by Eric on 5-14-2009 at 12:08 am
The one that always used to get me growing up was a village about fifteen miles away called Six Mile Bottom. I’ve never actually been there, but if you’re curious it’s in Cambridgeshire, England. You might find Cambridge itself to be a more interesting tourist destination though…
posted by MaW on 5-14-2009 at 3:41 am
@ Julie – it’s actually Truth OR Consequences, NM.
There is also Hope, NM, which is barely inhabited now. On trips to see family my dad used to joke that we had passed all hope once we left the town limits.
posted by Beks on 5-14-2009 at 8:22 am
Floyds Knobs, Indiana…’nuff said.
posted by KittyMarie on 5-14-2009 at 8:24 am
In NC, some strange town names include:
Aho, NC
Bethlehem, NC
Hookerton, NC
Duck, NC
Lizard-Lick, NC
Seven-Devils, NC
finally, to fit with the Hell-ish theme of the list, if you go to Siler City NC, there is this creepy little spot in the woods called The Devil’s Stomping Grounds.
posted by Josh on 5-14-2009 at 8:26 am
Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg Lake, Massachusetts.
Beat that.
posted by scamps on 5-14-2009 at 8:38 am
Climax, MI
Been through it. Never felt a thing.
posted by Kim on 5-14-2009 at 9:02 am
We have a Big Bone Lick State Park here in Kentucky.
posted by Jon on 5-14-2009 at 9:15 am
Cut-and-Shoot, Texas
posted by BKReporter1 on 5-14-2009 at 9:27 am
Between, Georgia. It’s on 78 between Atlanta and Athens. I got pulled over there once. Needless to say, being in Between was no fun that day.
posted by Steve on 5-14-2009 at 9:54 am
Here in Canada, Newfoundland is famous for having really strange town names.
There’s definitely a place called Dildo.
posted by Reese on 5-14-2009 at 10:13 am
There is a town in South Africa called Hotazhel.
posted by Mac on 5-14-2009 at 11:00 am
My family has fairly old roots in Bumpass, VA. I’ll leave it to you to decide where the space goes. Most of us pronounce it “Bum-piss”, which isn’t much better, granted,
posted by Andy on 5-14-2009 at 11:19 am
Gnawbone, IN
Monkey’s Eyebrow, KY
posted by Steven on 5-14-2009 at 11:34 am
All in Tennessee, most are little towns or unincorporated;
Bucksnort,Only, Nutbush (Tina Turner lived there), Frog Jump, Skullbone, Grinder’s Switch (Minnie Pearl lived there), Three Way, Calfkiller, Hanging Limb, Defeated, Difficult, Christmasville, Static, Disco, Dismal, Goat City, Nameless, Stinking Creek, Bitter End, Finger, and Smartt (intentional spelling). I have lived near or passed through most. I think we either try too hard or not enough.
posted by Paul on 5-14-2009 at 12:13 pm
I read an article headline once that may have been fabricated, but it looked like the real deal–it was from the 60’s or 70’s and was from a small town Minnesota newspaper… and the headline read like this:
Fertile Woman Dies in Climax
(Fertile, MN and Climax MN are both towns, just like MCW said)
posted by Ophelia on 5-14-2009 at 1:10 pm
Notrees, TX. It’s in West Texas, and no, there aren’t any trees to speak of there. Just tumbleweeds.
posted by Anthony on 5-14-2009 at 1:21 pm
When I lived in Toledo OH we weren’t too far from Ai. Pronounced ay-eye.
posted by crocostimpy on 5-14-2009 at 1:24 pm
Taintsville, FL
Christmas, FL
YeeHaw Junction, FL
posted by Jeff on 5-14-2009 at 1:24 pm
A few that I’ve passed through at one time or another:
Pumpkin Center, Louisiana
Dolomite, Alabama
Burnt Corn, Alabama
My favorites have to be just off U.S. 78 in Alabama right before you reach the Mississippi line: Guin and Gu-win. There must have been an argument over pronunciation.
posted by David on 5-14-2009 at 2:28 pm
Lost Nation, IA
near Oxford Junction, IA
posted by the creature on 5-14-2009 at 3:09 pm
As Jon said in KY we have Big Bone Lick State Park, which isn’t far from Rabbit Hash. Not to mention Black Gnat, Dog Walk, Hippo, Hazard, and Lovely. I guess Versailles (actually pronounced ver-sales since its a teeny little hick town), Paris, and London could be strange names as far as KY goes too…
posted by Megan on 5-14-2009 at 6:49 pm
In Newfoundland:
Bay of Exploits
Black Tickle
Brown’s Arm
Cape Onion
Cape Porcupine
Come By Chance
Conception Bay
Cow’s Head
Dildo (yes, seriously. There’s also s South Dildo, but I don’t know if that’s any better)
Dildo Cove
Dyke Lake
Goobies
Great Placentia
Happy Adventure
Haricot (french for green beans)
Heart’s Content
Heart’s Desire
Heart’s Delight
Indian Tickle
Joe Batt’s Arm
Lady Cove
Maggoty Cove
Mosquito
Octagon
Random East Head
posted by anaximander on 5-14-2009 at 11:00 pm
I don’t think this has been mentioned…
Uncertain, TX
posted by bokonon on 5-15-2009 at 4:13 am
Flippin Arkansas
posted by Amanda on 5-15-2009 at 5:36 pm
Mud Lick, Kentucky
Shoulderblade, Kentucky
Quicksand, Kentucky
Petroleum, Kentucky
Krypton, Kentucky (I don’t think Superman comes from here)
Ordinary, Kentucky
Cut Shin, Kentucky
Hazard, Kentucky
Hippo, Kentucky
Ready, Kentucky
Relief, Kentucky
Wax, Kentucky
Burning Springs, Kentucky
Dwarf, Kentucky
Sugartit, Kentucky (refraining from Mel Gibson joke)
Beaver Lick, Kentucky
Decoy, Kentucky
Viper, Kentucky
Vortex, Kentucky
Big Knob, Kentucky
Knob Lick, Kentucky
Mummie, Kentucky
Cranks, Kentucky
Top Most, Kentucky
Deerlick, Kentucky
Duckers, Kentucky
Lovely, Kentucky
Parrot, Kentucky
Birdie, Kentucky
Butterfly, Kentucky
Hickman, Kentucky
Moon, Kentucky
Turkey, Kentucky
Slusher, Kentucky
Pippa Passes, Kentucky
Fisty, Kentucky
Jetson, Kentucky
Yeadiss, Kentucky
Select, Kentucky
Pyramid, Kentucky
Ringos Mills, Kentucky
Dukedom, Kentucky
Big Bone Lick, Kentucky
Skullbuster, Kentucky
If you can’t tell I’m from Kentucky. And yeah we have some of the most weird city names. Also, I honestly think that Dwarf is a “little person” town because I rmember my grandma talking to me about it one day saying that I’d get beat up if I went there because they don’t like “big people.”
posted by Chris on 5-17-2009 at 9:09 pm
Rough and Ready, CA (Nor-Cal)
Always good for a giggle when I was 14 y/o
posted by Brandy on 5-18-2009 at 10:45 am