Gates of Hell / Blood Bowl

The story

Directly behind the drive-thru of a mundane Tim Hortons on North High Street, the paved lot abruptly drops off into the overgrown ravine of Glen Echo Creek. At the bottom sits a 1920s concrete storm culvert designed to channel water underneath High Street and out toward the Olentangy River. To prevent fallen trees and urban debris from clogging the subterranean tunnel during heavy rains, city engineers capped the entrance with a tapered, heavy steel cage—a triangular iron structure that looks less like municipal water infrastructure and more like a medieval prison gate.

The sloped concrete apron pouring into the steel cage naturally created a steep basin, drawing generations of local skateboarders and BMX riders who nicknamed the drain the 'Blood Bowl' after decades of brutal wipeouts. The site's forbidding appearance sparked a steady stream of local urban legends, ranging from tales of a skater who cracked his skull during a night ride to whispers of occult rituals in the woods, eventually earning the location a feature in the 2005 book Weird Ohio.

Step past the iron frame and you enter a concrete tunnel blanketed in decades of spray paint, featuring everything from intricate murals to creepy shadow figures. Just past the threshold, the structure takes a sharp turn that swallows all natural daylight from High Street above, plunging you into complete pitch-blackness. It remains one of Columbus's most persistent underground landmarks, where civic engineering, skate culture, and suburban ghost lore meet.