Drivers journeying in Ohio between Columbus and Cincinnati on I-71 will encounter a stark reminder, courtesy of a conspicuous billboard off the side of the highway: “Hell Is Real.” Another billboard just a bit up the highway helpfully asks: “If you died today where would you spend eternity?” Drivers going north, from Cincinnati to Columbus, will see the Ten Commandments, five on the reverse side of each billboard.
In today’s Cincinnati Enquirer, Sharon Coolidge tells the story of the signs. They are the brainchild of Kentucky developer Jimmy Harston, who has actually put up similar signs across the country. Coolidge reports that “he’s never counted them up, saying the Bible warns against taking censuses of good works.” Ohio’s sign was born out of the drives Harston would take between his Kentucky home and his relatives in Hartville, near Canton. The flat, visually accessible expanse of Columbus seemed like the perfect place for his message. “The Lord put in my heart,” he said. So he procured some farmland from local landowner Bob Hall. “Hell Is Real” went up in 2004. In the years since, the billboards have become nationally known. The rivalry between the soccer teams of Cincinnati and Columbus is even known as the “Hell Is Real” rivalry, which doesn’t bother Harston: “It doesn’t damage what I have done. I am sure the Lord is using it for what it was meant to be.”
As a Cincinnati native with family and friends in Columbus, I have passed these billboards many times over the years. I love them. They always make for a dramatic and thought-provoking interruption from the zoned-out road thoughts that tend to occupy a driver making his way between these two cities. They are, moreover, a wonderful testament to America’s weirdness. Ours is a sprawling, varied nation, full of distinct particularities and replete with idiosyncrasies. I’ve written before about how local oddities, such as the now-defunct Georgia Guidestones or a given area’s mythical beast, are one of my favorite expressions of this aspect of America’s character. A spokesman for the Ohio Development Department told Coolidge that to her, the billboard is “one of many unique things in Ohio, adding that “if that’s the kind of thing you enjoy, you might like to learn about some other unique finds in Ohio.” Indeed. For more such finds, consult the excellent book Weird Ohio, check out the Facebook page for Hidden Ohio (and purchase one of its excellent maps, one of which I own), peruse Atlas Obscura‘s Ohio resources, or refer to any number of other collections of Ohio arcana online or in print. And if you’re ever on I-71, you won’t have to look very hard for an always timely reminder.