urban legends

URBAN LEGENDS PAGE

THE DEVIL'S TREE

Revealed!

Ghost Pros recently sent a team to Oak Hammock Park in the town of Port St. Lucie in search of the
infamous "Devil's Tree".
We'd heard and read all the stories, and as usual, what you hear and what really happened are far from the
same. After a historical search of county and court records, we learned that the real story is not exactly
what legend would have us believe.

In brief here is the legend:
Two young women were kidnapped, murdered by hanging, dismembered, and sexually desecrated by the
murderer when he re-visited the site annually.
Hooded Satan worshipers were seen at the site occasionally performing rituals
and the legend links ghostly sightings to the hanging tree.

What really happened....

In 1979, a man convicted of a separate murder was linked to the 1972 killings of two hitchhikers in what is
now Oak Hammock Park. They were killed by hanging, presumably from a tree.
He left the bodies above ground, in the bushes, and their remains were scattered by animals over the years.
When the police found the remains, they were roughly 60 or so feet from a medium sized oak tree.
The women were never mutilated, buried, or dug up repeatedly. These are rumors.
The tree may never have been involved at all, as the remains were in the bushes, not at the base of a tree.

The first thing Ghost Pros realized was that all of the maps and coordinates that were published either in
books or on the internet in regard to this story were incorrect. The police report contained detailed
directions to the site of the remains, and this in no way corresponded with published rumors, or even
corresponded with the site of a tree.

The tree that is thought by locals to be the Devil's Tree is in fact hundreds of yards from the murder site.
We found that of all the trees photographed and published, none of them is the correct one.
It was interesting to note that there were locals at the park who led us to the real "Tree" that was in fact the
farthest one from the truth.

The tree in the lower left photo is the one most call the "Devils Tree"
The tree in the lower right is the nearest to the actual crime.

At Ghost Pros we just love a good ghost story, and one of our favorite things to do
is travel abroad in search of famously haunted sites. Many are the stuff of legend,
and some are more hype than reality. But regardless of which, we've decided to
give them all a fair shake. Check back often, and see just what we dig up in our
search for the truth in the land of the Urban Legend.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Oak Hammock Park do so. It's a beautiful place, and It's fun
to see if you can find the "real" Devils Tree. No one will ever really know which one it is. Even the
"experts" have in all wrong. Their measurements are way too far off to be of any significance, and
there are just too many trees in the park to tell which one it really is.
We measured each of the "expert testimony" distances published on the internet and they were all
different from one another.
Then we measured the distance on the police report and there wasn't a tree in sight!
Maybe the Devil screwed up the maps, we'll never know for sure....

THE INFAMOUS
DEVIL'S CHAIR

Nestled in the softly rolling hills of north-central Florida
lies the sleepy spiritualist camp of Cassadaga.
Just miles from Daytona, this town is both peaceful and captivating.

Cassadaga is known for it's Spiritual side, and it plays host to a variety of persons involved in the pursuit of
the spiritual realm.
We highly recommend a trip to this historic town, as the people are warm and very welcoming.

In the Cassadaga graveyard lies a place of urban legend.
The infamous "Devils Chair"

The legend states:
Sit in the red brick chair in the center of the graveyard at the stroke of midnight on Halloween eve,
(or many other nights depending on the rumor you heard)
And you will see the Devil rise up from the ground!!
And better yet, We were told that he likes it if you offer him a beer!
That we can handle!

So, what did we find? First, we found that there are actually three chairs
(sounds familiar), and that the chair called the devils chair is the wrong one.
The legend states that the chair's builder made it so he could sit and mourn his departed wife. It turns out
that the famous chair has graves around it, but all of them are from Men!    No wife grave,   -just Dudes!
Sheesh!!

Turns out the real chair is down the hill a ways, but regardless, we sat in it, and guess what. No Devil.
AND!!!, our guide actually sat in it on Halloween eve, with the beer, and the moonlight. And guess what?
-Yup thats right....

So, there-ya-go folks.   Another Urban Legend shot to hell.

Check out these photos of the "Devils Chair"
At least it looks creepy...

During our trip to the Cassadaga spiritual weekend getaway, we and associates
from several other paranormal organizations visited the Cassadaga Cemetary.

Led by Memphis Mid-South Ghost Hunters-
we investigated "the Devils Chair"

Here's the real chair.
The "wrong one" is on the top of the hill, to
the left of the white stone

No Devil here,
But the girls from F.L.A.G.
(FLORIDA'S LOST AND ABANDONED GRAVEYARDS)
We're a little devilish..