This story is based upon encounters of people other than me. However, the legend of the place is well known in my area.
For many years, the high school kids in Chester County have talked about a place called The Gates of Hell. As legend would have it, the name refers to the very large, supposedly blood red, cast iron gates at the entrance to an old, secluded mansion. This mansion is also abandoned, having been vacated shortly after a family was murdered there around the turn of the century. Currently, one cannot see the gates from the road as they are in the middle of a long driveway and a chain-link fence guards the entrance to the driveway. The yard is overgrown with grass to a height of about three feet.
One young lady I knew years ago claimed that friends of hers went to the house and peered in the windows. She said that they could seen shadowy shapes moving within. I kind of poo-pooed her story, but it spooked me a little as I'll relate at the end of my story.
More recently, like 1 month ago, one of my wife's young co-workers went to see the house with a group of college-aged friends. They climbed the chain link fence, walked through the high grass, which even covered the drive-way and looked into the house. Amazingly, candles and lanterns were lit throughout the house, dimly showing antique furniture covered with tarps and sheets. Also, there was an epitaph, detailing the birth and death dates of a girl named Molly. They didn't see anything within, but became spooked over the lights and decided to leave. As they walked away, their pace became more frantic and then they realized they were being chased by two large doberman-type dogs. They all barely got over the chain-link fence in time to escape. The question remaining is how could the dogs and the lights be there if the place was abandoned and there was not sign of anyone being near the place in ages?
Myself, I had only one experience connected with the Gates. One night, the previously mentioned young lady, another friend and I tried to drive out to see these fabled gates. As we drove down the dirt road leading to it amidst dense woods (Blair Witch type), we noticed something in the branches of a tree on the side of the road. As we got closer, we saw that it was a fairly large teddy bear with the branch stuck through its neck! Laugh if you will, but it spooked the living daylights out of us and I did the quickest three-point turn of my life!