Hidden in the woods in Clermont County, in an area called Peaceful Valley, sits what is referred to as The Devil’s Church. Some say it’s an old warehouse that’s now used by Satanists, others that it’s a house, and when you drive up to it, there is always candles burning in the windows, the number of which is equal to the number of people in your vehicle. Add to that the claims that if you go looking for the church after dark, you will be chased off by those that worship there, or in some cases, they will try to take you…makes for a pretty creepy story.
Theres also some debate over the location of the Devils Church, but it’s generally said to be down a single lane road accessed though the parking lot of St. Philomena’s church (pictured above). I have personally never seen The Devil’s Church, though I’ve tried on two occasions. Milford is the other side of town from me, or I’m sure I would have made it there more often and succeeded by now. But anyway, let me tell you about my two attempts.
Now first let me say, I do NOT Believe there’s a Satanic Church out there. But, like everything else on this site, I still just wanna check it out. So a few years ago, we decided to take a drive out there about midnight and see what we could see. We went and checked out The Stonelick Covered Bridge, which is there also, and then pulled into the lot of St. Philomena’s.
The first thing we noticed as we pulled in was a car parked to our right. It appeared to be empty, but having heard the stories about Satanists coming after unwelcome visitors, we stopped and looked around. Now we didn’t see anyone, but we did see the “No Trespassing” sign at the entrance to the driveway, so we sat and discussed wether or not we were going to go anyway. deciding that yes, we would, I started to pull forward…and that’s when we heard a car start.
The ’empty’ car in the lot not had at least 3 people in it, and they had just started their engine. Now we couldn’t really see them clearly, but they didn’t appear to be wearing goods, or anything to disguise themselves. We stopped, caught off guard, but quickly decided it was probably just kids , checking the place out like we were. So I started to roll forward again….and the other car started to pull out. I got closer to the driveway…and the other car was now angled towards us. As I got right to the edge of the driveway, which as you can see in the picture, is only wide enough for one car, they pulled closed to us.
like I said earlier, I don’t believe there’s any Satanists hanging out here, but I’m not stupid either. I wasn’t about to get up this drive with no way out and them coming up behind us. So I backed up a bit, turned around, and got outta there! The other car circled around and followed for a bit before turning off and disappearing. Yeah, it was pretty effing creepy. I still believe it was just some kids having fun with us, but again, I wasn’t taking any chances.
My second attempt to find it didn’t go much better. Going during the day this time, I wasn’t worried about mystery cars coming after us. Again, I pulled into St. Philomena’s lot, but this time the church priest was standing in the open door, just looking at us as we pulled in. We waved and rolled by, he did nothing but look at us. So yeah, that was creepy. We proceeded up the private drive, on our way to finally find the church…only to be stopped by 4 men, 3 on foot, one on a bobcat, working on something up ahead. I couldn’t see what they were doing, but they made NO attempt to move out of the way, just stopping to look at us.
Now I’m sure this was just a matter of us picking the wrong time to go site seeing, and the locals not giving a shit about someone trying to get by, but after a few minutes of sitting there I decided to say screw it and backed out. Defeated again.
As it turns out, to see the so called Devils Church, you have to go up someone’s private driveway, so I guess that means we won’t be trying again. Which is fine by me, I’ve had enough by this point anyway.
Can you visit this location?
The site is private property.
Creepy Cincinnati 
Never heard of this before, will have to check it out on a bike ride.
The actual spot is up the graveyard through the woods. Its not down the road,. I live minutes from it. The house with the “candles” was demolished years and years ago. And if you try to walk up there the sherrifs will show up and give you trespassing charges.
i lived next door to the church and trid for years to see a ghost or witches.and anything else. Down the lane[private] is a bunch of houses the last is up a hill.this house is huge and attached to the house is a huge building it contains a indoor tennis court. I have known everyone in that little part and no devil worshipers or witchs have been seen just stupid and scared kids
i was friends with Sara, her family owns the PROPERTY. all made up!
When is was in school I was friends with some of the “freaks” and they were satanic and would go back there and to the covered bridge and do u”rituals and prayer” they wore cloaks and did animal sacrifice drink deer blood but they were just stupid kids who thought they knew what they were doing but in reality they were copying movies I’m sure my generation wasn’t the first and that’s probably where a lot of the rumors come from
You all are so damn crazy!!!My grandfather owned property from the church to the top of hill to route 50. Nothing but woods and wild animals. I grew up on that lane with Sara that has sadly passed away. We often thought about building a place and charge all you idiots for coming to see nothing!!! Which we had we would be rich by now!!!!
No you need a car. They might kill you
I haven’t heard of this either, but have you tried getting a look via Google Earth? It won’t be the greatest, but it can give you an idea of what it is you’ll be looking for when you do make it over there.
Yep I tried it…too many trees to see much of anything
PEACEFUL VALLEY IS MY GRANDPARENTS PROPERTY OFF STONELICK ROAD. ITS RIGHT UP THE STREET!
Can you tell me about the so called Devils Church? Obviously it’s not what the stories say it is, but curious if you know how the story got started.
I’ve been there. A couple times. There is a big house/warehouse in the woods at the end of the driveway you see in the picture. I’ve only seen people stare at us through their house windows on the lane, and yes I have been followed out of there. If you ever make it back to the house/warehouse there is a drive that continues around it and I have no idea where it goes. It is a very creepy feeling just being there. The people seem strange, and so does the whole idea that there are a bunch of houses on that lane that lead up the hill into the woods where this place is. There is rumor a man hung himself on the covered bridge that possibly lived in the house/warehouse. The covered bridge is now closed. So you can only see it if you come from 32. Good luck.
Thanks Gary, I’ll try again next time I’m out that way.
My dad used to own a very small church on stonelick Williams corner rd. one day, many years ago, my mom and I were cleaning the church. When we were finished I was waiting in the car facing the road while my mom loaded some cleaning supplies into the car. I looked up after adjusting the radio and saw about 5 people in hooded cloats (sp?) carrying a dead animal on a wooden stretcher looking thing. They were carrying it into the woods towards the big ravine. Scariest thing ever. We drove off as fast as we could. We always had heard about the satanists but didn’t know if it was true. I became a believer then.
My two friends and I were big on trying to find creepy places to visit when we were 18. We always had gone to the covered bridge at stonelick but this time instead of turning left toward the bridge we turned right to check out the other bridge. We hung out on that bridge for a little while. It was around 2 am. We went to go turn around in the church parking lot.. or at least I thought it was a church. We stopped for a minute to switch music or do something but all of a sudden we looked up and like 10 people were in the front of this building walking toward us with their cell phones lit. It was one of the creepiest things I’ve ever seen.
The bridge collapsed last year. I saw the warehouse on Google earth and think it is a private warehouse.
I see the “warehouse,” and the road that wraps around it seems to lead up to a large house in the woods, which has an above-ground swimming pool, which they don’t have time to use if they spend all their time sitting in the parking lot chasing off trespassers.
Back in the late 90’s me and some friends from work went down there late one night as soon as we pulled into the parking lot a car chased us back up the hill on Benton. I was so scared. We were going very fast up that hill and the car was up on our bumper with there brights on. We eventually lost them and never went back again.
this is exactly what happened to me, also in the late 90’s….actually it was 1997 to be exact!
In the late 90’s. My friends and I went a few times. Never made it past the church. We were always chased out.
My husband’s uncle lives in the house across from the bridge. He has been chasing people out of there for years. He isn’t the church priest or any of those rumors, just a man chasing people off of private property, sometimes with a gun. The bridge collapsed recently. It’s just an old building where kids like to go cause trouble.
I was chased off by 2 dudes with shotguns back in the late 80’s. Middle of the day! Almost made me regret skipping school. Could that have been your husband’s uncle I wonder?
That was our old stomping grouds. In high school mike even swing on rope/swinging bridge I also did. A lot of stories our weekend entertainment. Just took down covered bridge. Stories galore!
Went back the lane with a handful of friends about 12 years ago. It does dead end to a huge house/warehouse as most people are saying. I think there are tennis courts back there as well. We all went in the middle of the night. Once we made it to the house we parked and looked around (still in the car). From a distance we could see sombody smoking a cigarette at the front porch/deck area. The glowing ash looked as though they were moving towards us so we turned around and sped down the hill where there was a white pickup truck waiting for us. We swerve around them and they followed but didn’t keep up.
Try to view it on bing maps. Last time I checked it was pretty visible using that source. Good luck!
It might be interesting to look up the property on the county auditor’s website. It should give a layout of the property and all the buildings on the property as well as who the owner is… http://www.clermontauditor.org/
so you can almost guarantee someone is gonna chase you do any of you think it would be safe or do you think those people could hurt you
I have walked all the way up to the church/warehouse and went around back and up the hill. I even beat on the door and waited to see what would happen there was some gun fire from the back I walked to the back and NO one was back there! I did find out that when you drive back up there 1 person calls a friend and they come out there to scare you and when they hear noise up there they will shoot off a gun to scare you!
I’ve went there once in the middle of the Night it was a little Creepy but i didn’t see any one or anything that was Not normal there was some writing some where on a board that wasn’t english cool place to go see
My friends and I were chased out of there when we were in highschool. It was a bunch of boys our age. My friends antagonized them with a flashlight. We lost them, but then went back and found them again. There were actually two cars. One got in front of us while the other got behind us. They stopped us and started trying to kick our windows in. I was scared to death!!! When they realized they couldn’t break the glass they ripped their temporary licence plate off the car and drove off. That place always gave me the creeps. 😦
I went there a few times by myself probably back in the 90’s. I always stayed in my car. Nothing ever happened to me. I never saw anyone. I was never chased. I guess they either thought I was harmless or this is just a bunch of hype. I’m not sure which. I will have to say, if I was them and people kept harassing me by showing up on my property, I would probably chase them off too. Then again, isn’t there always some truth to legend?
I graduated high school 1987, that was the thing to do. Many Stories, guns, I never actually saw anything. I can’t believe it is still talked about after all these years.
I have been many of timess and something exciting has happened each time. The bendy road leading up to bridge is freaky enough. The actual bridge wasone lane and looked creepy. We would often stop, roll the windows and listen. We have heard many screams and the car actually shut off one time. Ahead to the church on the hill with graves on each side. My friend who was dumb enough to get out and piss. I have seen crosses flipped upside down on the side of the church with fake bodies and blood. Mary is on a cross at the top. We have also been chased. A car with one headlight going 50 on the bendy road. And followed out to 275
I have lived on Stonelick Road all of my life. I have walked back the road all the way to the houses beyond the so called “Devil’s Church” and even stayed at a friends house back there. I have never seen anything weird or been bothered by anything going on there. People still attend Sunday service there as far as I know and it has a bad rep because of rumors from a long long time ago. My mother grew up here as well and she said it has been nothing but a normal church that is now haunted by nothing but nosy obnoxious teenagers trying to find something scary. I’m sure if anyone was unfriendly while being back near there it is simply because they are fed up with people snooping around.
I’ve driven down the road past the church before but, I saw nothing strange. I remember the road was quite long and had loads of houses along it but, I don’t recall having seen a warehouse or anything of that sort. I was not chased out either.
Hearing about everyone else’s encounters has left me thinking perhaps I missed out a bit 😉
I will say this, with certainty, there is certainly something odd about that place.
Lol… These are all quite humorous !! Peaceful valley as u call it is a private road, Balzhiser Lane … Less than 100 years ago the whole valley was a farm owned by Oscar Balzhiser …he split it into parcels and sold it off in the late 40-50’s … My grandparents still live on the land there as well as 6 other families … Most for a VERY long time … No satainist… Just old red neck NRA loving peeps tired of lookie loos.
I went there many time and played as a kid my my great grandfather owned the whole valley and that’s why it’s named after the family and there is lots of interesting rock formations in the woods around there and the old church is not that bad to play around either but never seen anything bad there and I can remember as a teenager helping the run of all the people that use to go up there and leave stop burning and that
Balhizer lane is fun. i hung out there with Sarah Torress. I babysat her kids. its a private lane with family who would like to be left alone. nothing creepy. Just normal people.
I heard the stories as a teenager. I never went there. I always fished that creek, and hung out at the swinging bridge.
There really is a satan worshipping house in Indian Hill. It’s right across from Kroger Farm. Me, and about 4 or 5 friends went there one night. It was very very strange. There was a big barn. Around the back of the barn was about a 12 foot high wall. We climbed on top of a tool shed that was attached to the wall. There were satanic symbols on the floor and around the walls. There was a huge door that came out of the barn. My guess was that was where the grand poobah (lol) came out. Directly across from the door was an entrance to a “cave”. The entrance room to the cave had more satanic symbols, and there were “guardrails” that protected a sewer down below. The next room had some type of fountain with some kind of water demon / demigod statue. There was a handle at the entrance of the room. Come to find out, it opened a huge clam shell that was at the statues feet. There was also a huge fake tarantula spider hanging from the ceiling. The statue had some kind of sceptre in his hand. One of my friends decided he wanted that sceptre. He pulled on it, and broke the hand off of the statue. There was some kind of electrical wire that went through the hand and attached to the metal sceptre. After he broke that off, and someone pulled the rope to open the clam shell, and it slammed shut with a loud noise, we ran out of there.
We tried to go back again some time later. We parked our car the same place we did last time, at the entrance to Kroger Farm. As we walked towards the satan worshipping house, 3 huge rottweilers came from 3 different houses, and started tracking us. We walked back to the car, and got in. The dogs surrounded the car. They did not bark, or anything. They just watched us. The followed us part way down the street as we were leaving, and then went back to their 3 separate houses. Very weird stuff!
I used to go up there every weekend almost and something different has happened Everytime. Even generations before me have told stories about all the crazy shit they have seen and been through. My mom and uncle has seen sacrifices happening up in the woods when they were younger as well. Every one I talk to that has still to this day gone up there has had stuff happen to them. Personally the very first time my friends and I have went up there we parked before the covered bridge and walked across it before is fell down, and walked passed the red church there on the right and kept going. The whole road in general gives you a weird creepy feeling. The first night we went we walked all the way up the hill down the little one lane gravel road and saw shadows, heard noises and seen a random light come on in the completely abandoned barn. A couple seconds after we seen the light we heard a truck start up, we all froze not sure where it was coming from, then we seen headlights right in front of us and it started chasing us down the hill, once we got close to the bottom the truck disappeared and you couldn’t hear it anymore. There was no way the truck could of turned around or anything. There has been a lot more things happen to us down there and something has happened Everytime and I’ve been there 20+ times. That whole lane is definitely haunted.
Hey there, I enjoyed your post. I actually lived in the house behind St. Philomena for 18 years. Up until about 2007. I’d be happy to answer any questions you have! I’ve explored that area pretty thoroughly over my years there. I remember the one time we walked all the way back to the “warehouse”. Its pretty scary looking. Its big wooden and no windows. The first time we tried to get close there were two huge dogs that scared us off. I later found out after asking the police that it was a game warden shack. Most of the locals are cold because some of the curious people that go exploring make the peaceful valley not very peaceful. We had plenty of kids knock over tombstones and spray paint the church with graffiti. So please be respectful of the locals. Its very beautiful back there and I have a ton of good memories!
Shaun I am married to George Anderson and his parents were married in St Philomena Ive asked my Mother Janice about what people are saying and she says its all bull. Her father was Oscar Balhizer who at one time owned all that property down there. I dont believe any of what people are saying just stay out of there and dont bother our family you will get shot too…
What’s the address of the place for the auditor
You all for the most part are full of crap. I lived next to that for many years. I don’t think there is much fact in this story.
I was here a couple of nights ago with a friend who knows the people who own the church. It wasn’t that scary until she told me about how the neighbor of the church told her the story of how a man was murdered in the house down the street… She said that house is the really scary part
I’m sorry but this whole satanist crap is annoying. I’m not saying I’m a satanist but I do know all the rules and read parts of the bible, what they are describing in this is NOT a satanist. This is a bunch of stupid movie based crap that a few losers made up. It’s annoying to make people who have a very civil religion seem like animal sacrificing idiots. No where in the Satanic bible does it say you should sacrifice ANYTHING. Also, satanism was founded in the 60’s so this couldn’t have been some urban legend from many decades ago. The whole background of this story is hilariously full of continuity issues.
Of course it makes no sense, most of these stories don’t. Obviously there’s no satanic cult hanging out there.
I LOVE that someone has posted about this place…when we were 16, we used to drive around back there looking for the satanic followers or to see if they would chase us away like I had heard from the stories. We never did see any action, but we did see A LOT of tire marks all over the road. Not sure if people were having fun drag racing back there or what, but, that was pretty creepy.
Me and two buddies of mine went up there a couple days ago in the middle of the night . yes the atmosphere was pretty creepy at first driving down that gravel road but no cars followed us no one was seen walking toward my truck and when we got to the end of the road there was a big gate blocking the road going up the hill deeper into the woods so we didn’t stay we just pulled off in the grass turned around and slowly drove back down the road but like I said no cars no satanist came after us it was a bust
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[…] 2. The Devils Church – We’ve been here several times over the years, and something out of the ordinary happens EVERY time. There’s a lot of stories about satanists and such here, none of which I believe, but I’ve still had some creepy experiences there regardless. In all the times I’ve been there, I still don’t have a picture of the so called church…something always interferes. Read about it Here. […]
Does anyone remember a tunnel in the area that was closed on one end? Remember in high school in the 90’s driving around the area and going down a long curvy one lane road that was a dead end that had a tunnel structure at the end. Lots of graffiti. Old stone type tunnel with the other end closed off. I remember all the stories , but never saw anything in the area and was never chased by anyone. Just a lot of dark roads that make it easy for the mind to play tricks. We also tried the covered bridge a number of times with no luck and no car trouble.
When I was in high school I used to take people to St. Philomena’s, to freak them out. My buddies and I used to park there and when other people drove in we would turn on the car and chase them out. We did this about once a month. We used to dare people to run to the top of the graveyard touch the last grave stone and then run back. When they got to the top we would drive off. We would come back and get them minutes later. One time we pulled in and another car was parked there. The other car fired up their engine and tried to chase us out. Turns out it was my friend Kim. No devil worshipers just a bunch of board high school kids.
We went up there a bunch of times, but only had something happen once. One night when we got all the way to the top someone came outside and we took off down the hill. When we got out on the main road a car came out of no where and was riding our ass for about two miles, because of this we were going way, way over the speed limit and they still continued to ride us. We finally pulled into the UDF and so did the car. We just sat in our car in the parking lot, but the man in the car got out and just stared at us and then went inside. I am not sure if it was someone from the house, but It was so freaky… I have been up there a bunch of times, and that was the only weird thing that ever happened. We stopped going down the private driveway because we heard a bunch of people had trespassing charges pressed for going up there. There is also a lama farm nearby-thats pretty cool.
Let’s clear up a SERIOUS problem here. True Satanists do NOT drink blood of any sort or sacrifice animals. Do some research and you will learn Anton LeVay’s Church is in New York. THERE IS NO DEVIL’S CHURCH IN MILFORD.
Uh, yeah…it’s an urban legend….I doubt anyone actually believes there’s a bunch of devil worshippers hanging out here.
the future is now,an he is transforming the world
Shot at less than 25 yards away no warning 6 times pointed right at us we sped away and we were followed on route 50 with the brights on then off
LIES LIES and more LIES…… our family has lived there for decades and our parents got married at that church there has never been devil worshippers there nor will ever be it is sacred land so stop this bs
There has to be a reason why all these rumors started. Usually when a place gets a long standing reputation and name such as “devil’s church”, it comes from some event. Add to that the general creeped-out feeling visitors get in their gut. It would be advised to just leave those people and that property alone. About 10 years ago my husband and I were chased off by two construction looking guys in an old pickup truck. And all we did was pull in that parking lot.
my friend and I go there every other weekend hoping for something to happen but nothing ever happens. my dad said he would go there and be chased off in the late 80’s but I have yet to encounter any strange things. and I’ve gone as far as you can in a car. all the way to the top. yeah there is a creepy feeling in the air especially at night but nothing has yet to happen
People get a creeped out feeling because they are chickens.
For it to be an alleged devils church, how come not one person has ever determined what denomination? There’s laveyan and theistic Satanism.
Fake fake fake. Because I know the actual “Satanists” in Clermont county.
Been there at night, looked in the red stained glass windows stood next the the two Hursts and Ran like Hell to get away, contact me to learn more
A couple of my friends and I went back there last week and like you said it’s a ONE LANE road in and out. We got to a gate in the far far back after driving by a house the WHOLE family was staring out the window at us. We turned around to leave and there’s a bridge you cross to get out… it was blocked with bicycles. We ran their bicycles over and got the hell out of there.
Went there a couple times in high school (late 80’s) and was chased off both times-once by car and once by several people on foot. The people on foot ran up to my car and wrote down my license plate nos.on a small pad as I drove off. The other two ran after us a bit.
My ex-sister in law said there were rumors of animal sacrifices there in the late 70’s/early 80’s. She herself was ran off by hooded people one time at the church. Scared her so bad she never went back.
Grew up on this road….mother was born on this road. Families land still connects to this area.Aunt still lives in the last house that has the barn that says PEACEFUL VALLEY. There are many TRUE haunting tales of this land. My mother went to school with the Balhizers. YES, in the late 80’s there were SATANIST. People can deny it all they want but YES, they have been seen…From my cousins friend Dwight who saw a man in a red robe chasing a goat crossing the road, to my mother seeing them, also as you drive off the covered bridge(separate occasion). Dont know if its just coincidence, but we saw a campfire with people around it, up in the woods one night behind the cemetery behind philomina. I personally remember in the 80’s after you come off the covered bridge and the stream is down on the right, the twist in the road, there were pentagrams and upside down crosses spray painted on the ground and guard rail and even on the covered bridge itself… There were two little boys who went to sail a captain crunch boat off the back of the cereal box, the little boy fell in, and his brother went to go help, he fell in and BOTH drowned and died. My mom used to watch mickey mouse club at their house. There was an old swinging bridge,when the streams would flood the kids would cross the swinging bridge to get to the school bus…a little girl was crossing and her glove fell off went to reach for it and fell off and died in the waters below. Another man was backing his boat out of his drive and ran over his kid. Theres a house that is almost as you leave peaceful valley thats red and sits on the left side and is elevated up off the road with a covered porch. Back in the day she had a gun hung on her porch and would fire it as a signal for her husband to come home for dinner from hunting in the woods…One day he didnt come home…next day they found him on the adjacent hill top…she shot him by accident. A boy was swimming with family and friends infront of Philomina and kept faking he was drowning and kept calling for help…Well he really started to drown and called for help and no one came this time and he drowned. Another man kissed his family goodbye on a Thanksgiving, got up from the table, walked outside, went up one of the “hollers” and blew his brains out….said he died and heard a voice tell him it wasnt his time and he was being sent back…Lived through it.
When my friends and I were in High school back in the early 90s, we would go to the “devil’s church” when we were bored. Got chased a few times, shots fired at us sometimes. Never made it all the way back to the so called devil’s church. The area around it was creepy too. There is a house that always had all the lights on. The covered bridge was cool. One time we saw people in white robes holding candles on the side of the road spaced out evenly. Another time our car broke down near the church. We went to the closest house to use their phone to call a tow truck. The lady lived there all alone with alot of cats. That was freaky. Fun times.
It is a myth! My husband grew up there and his parents were married in that church it is sacred ground so there is no way. My husband said in all the years that he grew up there none of that ever happened but the guy shooting at you is probably his uncle.