My late grandmother lived in Dover Plains, NY for the final years of her life. Obviously we made countless to visits to see her, and my aunt, uncle and cousins - all of whom lived there as well. Not too far away was this strange land known as "Oniontown." The legend of Oniontown seemed too scary to be true.
"Don't go in there", I'd get told by everyone. "You might not come out alive."
Oh, OK. And that's because the Loch Ness Monster, Abominable Snowman, and Charles Manson all live in there?
Well sort of.
Anyway, the legend persisted. Of course, the truth was somewhere in the middle. So I'd drive right on by on New York route 22, always chuckling to myself about the stories, and telling strangers to the area.
It seems there's been some YouTube foolery mocking the O-towners, and they're not too happy about it. Then again, they have computers back there? I was always led to believe that they didn't have TV, power, and teeth.
Again, whatever. Let's carry on here.
So a couple of upstanding youngsters (that is, they're idiots) from my beloved hometown of Mahopac decided to take a drive in. The Journal News wrote the story, and a Google search reveals that many others (USA Today) are picking up on it as well.
Oniontown gets some pub. Probably not what they wanted.
12 comments:
Hi,
I live in Dover Plains, not far from Onion Town.
Onion Town is a community of people who live in a area where there is one road to get in and out of it. So the only reason someone should be in their neighborhood, is if they live there, are visiting someone who lives there, or they are lost. If someone goes into this area for any other reason it is obvious they are looking for trouble.
This community is no different then any small communities around the USA. Some people pay for this by living in gated community. Since Onion Town has only one road in and out, the people watch out for each other. So when car loads of kids looking to cause trouble drive into Onion Town, they are seen and watched. Think of how you would react if a car would drive by your house, radio blasting and camera's clicking.
They have Tv's, Computers, flush toilets and the children go to school and the parents go to work. Yes you might see a chicken or two. You can also see chickens on a lot of properties in Dover Plains. Especially if you drive away from the main roads.
I am sure the attention that is being given to Onion Town is not appreciated, by the people who live there and also by the people of Dover, these are our neighbors, and they should be able to go about there business without running to the window every time a car passes there house.
I hope this helps to take away some of the mystery that is drawing so many bored teenagers and possibly some adults from wasting there time by bothering this small group of people of Dover Plains
Dianbee,
Thanks for your well thought-out reply. Like I said, I knew the truth was always in the middle, as the stories I was told were too bizarre to believe. My brother reminded me today that my aunt did talk with people from Oniontown, but she also recommended that one never drive through there alone.
I completely agree with what you say. While not condoning violence, I can see why folks would get a little protective of their turf and respond in the way they did. Yet I think what the police said was probably true - just stay away. Not because of the violence, but because people are just looking for trouble.
In the case of the kids from Mahopac, that's what they got.
Give me a break. This is America, and you have the right to visit any town you damn well please! The roads going through Oniontown are PUBLIC roads and are definitely not privately owned like in a gated community. Nobody has the right to harass or assault you just for using them or touring the place. If you don't like people gawking at your sorry ass, that's your own damn problem and you should clean up your property. If you look at the YouTube videos, you can see that there is trash and junk strewn all over the place. Being poor, in and of itself, is not an excuse to allow yourself to be surrounded by garbage and burnt-out cars. There are many extremely poor communities where the residents at least keep their property clean and tidy. There is something seriously wrong with those people, and the county government needs to start enforcing some zoning laws around there. Currently, even the state police are still afraid to enter the place. Imagine how much domestic violence and other crimes the residents probably get away with in such a chaotic and lawless area.
actually that road is private and IS marked and posted ik because i live less than a mile from it and today 4 kids went up there looking to make fun of those ppl and about half an hour after they went in 13 cops and 2 ambulances had to drag their beaten bodies out and now one is missing and assumed dead and right now their is a hellicopter flying above to try and find the "body" and as far as ik the other 3 ppl one guy and 2 girls and btw a girl is still missing, are in the hospital from almost being beaten to death so i'd think that ppl would stop trying to go in there and take pictures because obviously they dont want ppl on their property so if u think u can go any where you want I DARE YOU TO GO IN THERE and ill laugh my ass of when you come out in a body bag
"actually that road is private and IS marked and posted"
If the road is located on private property, who's the legal owner then? And why doesn't the county enforce some health ordinances and make him clean up the place?
Even though your original post was like 2 years ago:: Thats horrible that people would think it's okay to go onto other people's property and decide to disrespect them. Like its one thing to drive through just to see what it looks like, but its a completely different thing to take pictures/videos and harrass these people. I'm sure they never did anything to anyone before they were disresepcted. Things like that bug me.
OK, from what I've read in the past year about Oniontown, the entire place (including the road going through it) is communally-owned private property, so I can see why they'd get pissed off at outsiders trespassing there. Driving around taking pictures from a public street is perfectly within anybody's rights, but this is basically like intruding into somebody's backyard. Somebody who's been by the place mentioned to me that they recently put up a gate at the entrance, so that should keep out the stupid bored suburban kids as well as anybody from accidentally wandering in. So maybe we should just leave those yahoos alone to wallow in their filth, I say.
You don't throw rocks at people. They were just kids looking for a thrill in this boring part of New York. If it was adult spelling rocks at kids because they felt disrespected, that's ridiculous. You call the police, he don't assault them. Goes to show you what kind of people they are.
Hi! I knew about this town few hours ago.
So I'm very interested to learn more about this community and the people who live there.
If someone here could give me more information I'll be glad
Please, help me whit this investigation.
So, I really want to go. Do you recommend me to do it? (I'm writing this in 2018).
Regardless what happened,nobody has the right to assault anyone else just because somebody verbally "made fun of them". The only legal reason for putting one's hands on another is in self defense. Antoineone here defending these Oniontown morons has serious moral issues
Bruh has anyone actually BEEN to this place? Because I cannot find sufficient evidence to suggest anyone actually has. Obviously the google maps pictures make this place look like a literal dumb, but other than that, what first person, real life accounts of entering this place are there?
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