# Route 666 to Hel is no more!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 15, 2023, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547 "2023-06-15T07:09:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2023, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547/1 "2023-06-15T07:09:38Z")
_The bus to the town of Hel on [Poland](https://www.theguardian.com/world/poland)’s Baltic coast has long been popular with tourists. But some Christian conservatives have protested against the use of a number signifying the devil on a bus leading to a place that sounds like the word “hell” in English._
> **[No 666 to Hel: Polish bus route drops ‘devil’s number’ after Christian protests](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/14/bus-666-to-hel-poland-devils-number-transport-route-protest)**
>
> Operator announces route to town of Hel has been redesignated as No 669 – a change that has prompted public outcry
---
### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2023, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547/2 "2023-06-15T09:09:47Z")
Sixty nice.
---
### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2023, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547/3 "2023-06-15T09:12:59Z")
I wish they’d redesignated it as Highway 999.
---
### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2023, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547/4 "2023-06-15T11:41:17Z")
It’s the 21st century and some still bow to superstitions…
---
### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2023, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547/5 "2023-06-15T15:11:04Z")
[Hell, Michigan - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell,_Michigan)
---
### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547/6 "2023-06-15T15:27:30Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#):
>
> It’s the 21st century and some still bow to superstitions…
To be fair, while I’m sure it’d be an interesting ride in itself, many of the sightseers were taking that bus route to that destination because of the superstitions.
---
### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2023, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547/7 "2023-06-15T15:47:53Z")
The US had a Route 666 for 77 years.
> **[U.S. Route 491 | U.S. Route 666](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_491#U.S._Route_666)**
>
> The route was upgraded to a U.S. Highway in 1926, as U.S. Route 666. This number was appropriate and in accordance with the road numbering guidelines for U.S. Highways, being the sixth spur along the highway's parent highway, the famed cross-continental highway U.S. Route 66, from which US 491 breaks around Gallup, New Mexico. This number was assigned by the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO), a coordinating body that created the U.S. Highway System. At that time, the nort Ov...
---
### Author:  [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2023, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547/8 "2023-06-15T16:28:42Z")
Our standard state license plates are AAA-NNNN, I was driving behind someone with xxx-6666; was he _extra_ devilish? It got me thinking - there are 20 666 numbers for each letter combo; I wonder how many times someone has balked when they go to get in their new car & see triple-6 on their license plate, _after_ all of the paperirk is complete?
---
### Author:  [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547/9 "2023-06-15T19:36:15Z")
This is good news. But I heard that it wasn’t the number that annoyed people. It was that the road was paved with good intentions.
---
### Author:  [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2023, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547/10 "2023-06-15T19:49:43Z")
As a kid I remember occasionally passing through Hell on our way to visit other parts of Michigan. They had a cool little gift shop where you could get trinkets with red devils on them and mugs and t-shirts that said things like “I’ve been to Hell and back”
---
### Author:  [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2023, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547/11 "2023-06-15T19:51:29Z")
I’ve driven through Michigan. And taken the train to Chicago. I’m not saying it is a question of semantics, but other parts of Michigan…
If you ever find yourself in Hell, keep going.
---
### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2023, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547/12 "2023-06-15T20:05:22Z")
Tom Scott goes to Hell.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CJZ5BwpuRk)
---
### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2023, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547/13 "2023-06-16T04:30:36Z")
> [@Spiderman](#):
>
> paperirk
Excellent coinage!
---
### Author:  [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2023, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547/14 "2023-06-17T00:47:49Z")
Almost there!
## [Half Hell, North Carolina - Wikipedia](https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=75ab249f342b14c8JmltdHM9MTY4Njg3MzYwMCZpZ3VpZD0yZjcwMmJhNS01ZjM5LTZlYzMtMWIxMy0zOTRkNWUxNTZmMzQmaW5zaWQ9NTIzNA&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=2f702ba5-5f39-6ec3-1b13-394d5e156f34&psq=half+hell+north+carolina&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnL3dpa2kvSGFsZl9IZWxsLF9Ob3J0aF9DYXJvbGluYQ&ntb=1)
> **[Half Hell, North Carolina](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_Hell,_North_Carolina)**
>
> Half Hell is an unincorporated community in Brunswick County, North Carolina, United States.
> The settlement is located on Highway 906, approximately 2 mi (3.2 km) south of Bolivia. "Half Hell Swamp" is located approximately 2 mi (3.2 km) south of Half Hell.
> The settlement's name may have originated in the 1800s when settlers migrating south encountered dense swamps located there. Unable to cross, they settled at that location "halfway to hell". The name "Half Hell" may have also originate...
---
### Author:  [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2023, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/route-666-to-hel-is-no-more/985547/15 "2023-06-17T00:50:36Z")
from the area’s early reputation for illegal activities, particularly [moonshining](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonshining). Finally, the name may have been a reference to the midway point—“half way to hell”—for local farmers traveling to [Southport](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southport,_North_Carolina) to pay their taxes.[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_Hell,_North_Carolina#cite_note-3)[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_Hell,_North_Carolina#cite_note-Schachtman-4)