Pennsylvania has had quite the love affair with zombies.
Zombie king, George Romero, shot his legendary film “Night of the Living Dead (1968)” around Butler County. His other dead creature feature, “Dawn of the Dead (1978),” was filmed in the Monroeville Mall, itself a lifeless shell of the shopping center it once was. Not to mention the state apparently comes in clutch in the event of a zombie apocalypse.
So of course Pennsylvania would be home to a place called Zombie Land. And of course it’s supposedly teeming with animated corpses, along with a bunch of other bizarre stuff.
Pennsylvania has had a longstanding relationship with zombies, very much thanks to “Night Of The Living Dead.” (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)LMPC via Getty Images
“Haunted Western Pennsylvania (2013)” pegs Zombie Land as a small, two-acre lot that lies close to Mahoning Township, right near the Ohio state line.
Records from 1872 state that Mahoning — erected in 1805 — is one of Lawrence County’s original townships. Once a thriving community centered around coal, when the industry died, so, too, did the town; Census data shows that the area is home to just 2,693 people these days.
Lots of nature. Few people. Sounds like a place that’s perfect for an undead infestation, no? Thomas White — archivist and curator at Duquesne University — thinks there’s something to that, in part because those factors make Zombie Land what folklorists refer to as a “liminal space.”
“A liminal space is a place of transition, either physical, social or psychological, where legends tend to thrive because of its ill-defined nature,” White wrote to PennLive via email. “The area that makes up Zombie Land is still relatively rural with old infrastructure, but also within accessible driving distance.
“These pieces of old infrastructure (old bridges, gas wells, etc.) provide an anchor for the legend trippers to go to. It is an area on the fringe of daily life for many people, not necessarily a place they would visit on a regular basis.”
Plus, all the decaying metal and isolation gives it “a level of spookiness,” White continued, breathing life into the legends. The fact that an actual, brutal murder took place in the area — that of 12-year-old Shannon Leigh Kos in 2000 — adds to the place’s dreadful air.
The village of Hillsville in Mahoning Township is known as “Zombie Land” to some. But more than one legend abounds. (Mr. Matté | Wikimedia Commons)Mr. Matté | Wikimedia Commons
Now, to get to Zombie Land, you’ll have to go down Churchill Road. And before you enter, you’ll have to make sure you get the go-ahead from the Virgin Mary.
According to the Lawrence County Memoirs, there’s a Virgin Mary statue located at St. Lawrence Church and Cemetery in Hillsville that serves as a marker to the start of Zombie Land.
Blog “Strange and Spooky World” urges visitors to look closely at the statue: If the Virgin Mary is standing with her arms open in welcome, legend goes, then it’s safe to enter. But if her hands are clasped in prayer, stay away.
(Indeed, author Patty Wilson warns in “Haunted Western Pennsylvania” that “[the statue] has not opened her arms in welcome for many years.” White points out in “Legends & Lore of Western Pennsylvania (2009)” that might be because her hands were carved that way.)
If you’re set on venturing forth — welcoming Virgin Mary or no — be prepared to meet more than just zombies on the way.
There’s the “Light Bulb Heads,” for one, states “Haunted Western Pennsylvania,” a reclusive group of outcasts shunned by people for their deformities that are said to still live along a river nearby. Then there’s the Skyhill Road Bridge — known also as “Graffiti Bridge” or the “Puerto Rican Bridge” for the demographic said to have tagged it — where those unfortunate enough to find their own name sprayed onto its side wind up dead.
There’s also a resident witch, or her ghost, rather, according to “Legends & Lore.” It’s said that in life she once captured and murdered young children in her “Blood House,” a real building that burned down long ago but the foundations of which still remain. Stay there too long, and she’ll possess you.
Not to mention the “Killing Fields,” where disembodied screams and gunshots ring out and the occasionally shadowy figure is seen. And the railroad tracks where a ghostly, disembodied train’s “choo’s” can still be heard.
Even the Green Man and none other than the Hook Man himself are said to linger around the area.
The famed Green Man’s Tunnel in South Park Township, which is about an hour and a half away from Hillsville. South Park Township is where the real Green Man lived, so how the legend made its way beyond its borders remains a mystery.
Barry Reeger | Special to PennLive
PennLive
But the crowning glory of Zombie Land — the reason for going, its Eiffel Tower, if you will — is the Zombie Torch.
Located by path from Graffiti Bridge, both “Legends & Lore” and “Strange and Spooky World” claim that the Zombie Torch — known also as “Eternal Flame” — is the area’s zombie barometer. If it’s lit, that means zombies are coming your way; if not, your brains are safe.
A blog dedicated to the mythos of Zombie Land claims that the torch will actually attract the Hook Man or the Bridge People if lit, too. Ditto for the Green Man.
For some, apparently, the goal is to light the torch to see what happens, which White emphasized “is very dangerous and should never be attempted under any circumstance!” The Zombie Torch, you see, is an old natural gas well that supposedly still leaks gas; having an open flame nearby might not be the wisest thing to do (unless you’re lacking brains already).
Like most all other legends covered by “Paranormal PA” — from doomsday tombstones to the Green Man, too — the zombie stories coming out Mahoning Township had to originate from somewhere. And White believes that “somewhere” is Romero.
“I think the zombie legend probably has direct ties to Western PA because this is where George Romero filmed his original zombie movies,” White said.
“They became such a cultural phenomenon starting in the 1970s and they left their imprint in legends where the modern idea of a zombie really took off (as opposed to the traditions of the Haitian or ‘voodoo’ zombie).”
The legends probably arose thanks to Mr. Romero himself. (Getty Images)Getty Images
They stayed such a cultural phenomenon, too, because the zombie — apart from being just a silly goose time — on a deeper level might essentially serve as a blank canvas to a wide variety of fears, White explained.
“Zombies, at least the modern movie zombies, can represent different things to different people,” he elaborated. “They can express the fears of unchecked consumerism, mindlessness, xenophobia, mistrust of government, or lack of preparation and anxiety.
“Perhaps even modern western culture’s detachment of fear of addressing death as a part of life. As a ‘monster’ they can be adapted to many cultural anxieties, which has made them popular.”
So go ahead: drive down Churchill Road. Check out the Virgin Mary. Wander through a liminal space of rust and trees; lean into the thrill of uncertainty of what lies down that path from the bridge.
Although one thing is for certain: you won’t see White anywhere near the Zombie Torch any time soon.
“Not because I’‘m afraid of zombies,” he said. “But because I have a healthy fear of natural gas explosions.”
