After getting defaced, Ohio's famous Hell is Real billboard repainted – and just in time

Sharon Coolidge, Cincinnati Enquirer
Updated ·2 min read
1
Kentucky developer Jimmy Harston put up Ohio's famous Hell is Real billboard in 2004 along I-71 in Mount Sterling. Last month he made sure it got a refresh so it can last at least another 20 years.
Kentucky developer Jimmy Harston put up Ohio's famous Hell is Real billboard in 2004 along I-71 in Mount Sterling. Last month he made sure it got a refresh so it can last at least another 20 years.

Kentucky developer Jimmy Harston, the man who decades ago put up religious billboards all over the country, is 72 years old.

So he said there's no better time to give a facelift to the billboards, including Ohio's Hell is Real one. And that's exactly what he's doing. Two Ohio billboards along I-71 between Cincinnati and Columbus got replaced with updated versions last month.

"I am not going to live another 25 years, so who will make sure they look good when I am dead and gone?" Harston said. "I would like them to stand for the Lord, for the Lord, for many years to come."

The restoration comes just in time for the FC Cincinnati Eastern Conference Final Saturday night against the Columbus Crew in Cincinnati. FC Cincinnati and the Columbus Crew rivalry is one of be most heated in Major League Soccer and fans have dubbed matches between the two Hell is Real derbys, a nod to the billboard.

Signs defaced with demon

Forty years ago Kentucky developer Jimmy Harston said he heard the Lord calling.

If you've driven on I-71 between Columbus and Cincinnati you've seen what Harston said he heard: Share the message of Christianity. And thus the signs were born.

Harston has put up roughly three dozen billboards − in Ohio and six other states − to answer that call, he said.

He put up the Ohio billboards in 2004. Ever since it's been the subject of speculation about why it was there, fodder for comedians and synonymous with long drives through Ohio cornfields.

Kentucky developer Jimmy Harston recently updated his signs on I-71 in Ohio.
Kentucky developer Jimmy Harston recently updated his signs on I-71 in Ohio.

The Ohio billboard re-dos were particularly important to Harston after one was defaced with the sticker of a red demon, but timing was key. They sit on privately-owned farmland in Mount Sterling, Ohio, so he had to work between crop seasons.

The original Hell is Real billboard on Interstate 71 between Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio had been defaced with graffiti of a red devil. The developer who commissioned the sign in 2004 had the billboard redone last month. The red devil is now gone.
The original Hell is Real billboard on Interstate 71 between Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio had been defaced with graffiti of a red devil. The developer who commissioned the sign in 2004 had the billboard redone last month. The red devil is now gone.

The new signs are made of vinyl, just as the original signs were. But this time they got a clear protective coat that didn't exist back when he put the signs up.

"Hopefully there will be lots of people who will read the religious saying for years and years to come," Harston said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio's famous Hell is Real billboard gets refresh