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Unincorporated community in Michigan, United States
Photo: Sswonk, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Hell is a town of 266 people (as of 2000) in Livingston County, in Southeast Michigan, best known for... well, its name. Despite its small size — the "main drag" of Hell is all of three buildings — the community has become a popular tourist destination for its irreverent name alone. The local businesses are given amusingly devilish titles, painted with licking flames, and stocked with gruesome and kitschy souvenirs of the sort you usually only see around Halloween. Every so often you'll hear of a nationwide promotional contest in which the prize is "a trip to Hell".
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A marriage that begins in Hell has no place to go but up. It can be rented by the hour: $125 for the first hour; $100 per additional hour. Wedding officiant and license not included. One couple opted for a cold day in Hell to finally make their vows. Operated by Screams Souvenirs.
Hunting, swimming, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, snowmobiling, cross country skiing, metal detecting, wildlife watching and camping. Contains dozens of lakes, Silver Lake and Bruin Lake being two of the largest.
Canoe, kayak and fishing boat rental for visitors to the surrounding Pinckney Recreation Area. Tours available.
Held every Father's Day weekend by the GM Skywagon Club. Hell Creek Ranch, 10866 Cedar Lake Rd.
Hell Creek Ranch. Held in mid-August. 5- and 10-mile races sponsored by the Pinckney Running Club; participants receive a free T-shirt that says "I Ran Thru Hell".
Open seasonally (October) from dark (around 8 pm) to midnight Friday and Saturday, and dark to 11 pm otherwise, when open. Recommended only for those over 12 years of age.
T-shirts, souvenirs (of the mundane and frightening varieties), Department 56, motorcycle paraphernalia, and copies of the Hell, Michigan comic books. You can also purchase both bats (to take out of Hell) and confectionery snowballs (which don't stand a chance). The ice-cream parlor offers cones, shakes, malts, floats and sundaes, with a coffin buffet laden with oddly-named ice-cream toppings including ghost poop (actually marshmallows), toenail clippings (shredded coconut), bat droppings (chocolate chips) and dark ooze (hot fudge). The children's play area outside the Ice Cream Parlor features the Gates of Hell, and painted plywood cutouts for you to stick your head through and get your photo taken.
Located by the dam on Hell Creek, of course. Country tavern featuring pub food, weekend entertainment and a pool table in the back. Soups, salads, appetizers, burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, subs, and pizzas; dinner also features steak, pork, chicken, seafood, and frog's legs. Bar specialties include beer-in-a-can (a holdover from the rowdy earlier days of bar brawls) and cocktails including the Bloody Devil.
100 primitive and electrical sites. Horseback riding, fishing, kayaking and canoeing available. Horseback riding is $22 (1 hour) or $40 (2 hours); canoe rental is $30 (3-4 hours). Nightly camping rate is $7 (rustic) or $16 (RV).
In Pinckney Recreation Area.
A convenience store with groceries, sundry supplies, and the local post office, if you want to send your friends and relatives a postcard from Hell. They do a lot of business forwarding tax returns on April 15th (really!).
Hell is on a two-lane county road D-32 (Patterson Lake Road), about 5 minutes southwest of Pinckney; despite the saying, the road is paved with asphalt., and then a right on Patterson Lake Road.
Read in the guideGiven that downtown Hell is so small, you won't need anything more than your own two legs to get around. There's ample free parking by the general store and the ice cream parlor.
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