Cassadaga and the Devil’s Chair

From Find A Grave:

The cemetery is located between the two small communities on property that is county owned.
In order to buried there one must contact the city clerk of Lake Helen.

Here is how I would rewrite this after a visit to this cemetery, so listen up, Find A Grave!

In order to buried there one must be desperate for a place to be laid to rest.

Everybody in Florida has heard the urban legend that has caused the ultimate decline of this cemetery, that if you sit in the brick chair (a.k.a. The Devil’s Chair) at midnight, then the devil will come and talk to you.

FullSizeRender

The devil, however, isn’t responsible for the vandalism, as I’m sure some people would say- human beings are, and ignorant ones at that. Who started the rumor is a mystery, most likely it was someone who was trying to find a cheap way to protect the place from kids and vandals, and they started the rumor to scare people away. However, humans are curious creatures, and things like this usually only serve to cause even more traffic. It’s like Cassadaga itself, which began as a retreat for Spiritualists and had its climax in the 1920’s when the hotel was built. Some people mistakenly think Spiritualism is about Satanism, but it’s not, and that makes people curious so they come visit, whether the psychics want them there or not. In my opinion, the group of people living there just want to be left alone. You can feel it.

IMG_3692

The chair itself is situated in the Thatcher plot, and there are two of them that are nearly identical. However, it’s the one in the back. The chair stands out because the plot doesn’t have as much foliage, and the dirt plot is covered with footprints from people sitting in the chair. The footprints were fresh.

The other Thatcher plot had a lot of plant life and curious smell that I couldn’t identify. I hate smells in cemeteries.

The cemetery has three bench structures built into the family plots, and all of them were most likely built for the use of visiting family, not the devil. The design is simple and direct, and would be attractive if it weren’t for the legend, the general feel of the place, and the fact that some douche-nozzle decided to spray paint LOVE GOD on one of the monuments facing the chair.

IMG_3713

The day that we visited was hot and still, and when we got out of the car the heat hit us like a blast from a furnace, which my friend BB later pointed out was probably the ideal condition for the devil. We walked around anyway, sweating and not talking much. The thick woods next to the cemetery were dark, and the sound of cicadas was overwhelming. It wasn’t a good day to be there and I knew that. A vehicle that we couldn’t see due to the downward slope of the property slowed down to a crawl on the main road by the gates and idled for a minute before we heard the engine roar and take off.

Five minutes later the police came, slowly cruising and staring at us. I walked right up to the car and spoke to the officer, who said he was just driving through.

Sure he was. At noon on a Sunday. Someone had called the police because we were there, but he didn’t say so. He asked if we needed anything and when I said no, he left. I was furious.

The cemetery itself is a blighted mess, with weeds and black sand on one side and grass on the other with sparse burials. The earliest date we saw for a burial was 1904, but I’m sure there are some earlier ones. Some enterprising person had gone into the older plots and pulled up every speck of grass or greenery leaving the most depressing scene you could imagine in a cemetery. The place looks unloved, which surprises me since the locals are so protective of it, enough to act like jerks during visiting hours.

FullSizeRender (1)

So, Cassadaga, if you want to protect this site you might think about springing for a brick wall and not a flimsy fence, which is torn down on one side by the many people trying to get into this place. You might consider making the entire place look loved and cared for, rather then letting it look bleak and desolate. You might enlist the nosy neighbors as volunteers to get over there and work on the place instead of calling the police every time someone drives through the gates. You might install some lights.

No, I won’t be going back to this one. If you go be aware that the police may randomly show up along with the devil. In fact, just skip it. Drive to Deland and visit Oakdale, Central Florida’s version of Bonaventure.

FullSizeRender (2)

 

15 thoughts on “Cassadaga and the Devil’s Chair

  1. Excellent entry… well said… I agree with what you have written…
    I’ve watched several youtube-videos of some paranormal groups, The G-Team Paranormal Investigators and OmarGoshTV, excellents.. if you can take a look at them.

    Thank you.

  2. They installed street lights. We stayed outside the fence took pics street light over our head (only that one) went out. Came back on when we drove away. Hmmmm… Manuel I don’t know. great pics. Everyone needs to be respectful of the site and people that live in the area or please don’t go.

    1. I’m glad they installed streetlights at least. I’m not crazy about that cemetery but you’re right- people need to be going out there for the right reasons.

  3. We went here yesterday .. I did sit in the chair , I had a horrible anxiety attack and got super hot. However people did stop and look in the police did park across the street from the graveyard . And a lady from the house that you have to go into the graveyard and down the street and then down the driveway to get to her house came out and started screaming like 2 miles away ”bye , go away” Mind you there are no signs that said you can’t be there however there is a sign at the beginning of her driveway that says no Trespassing … we were no where near her property if we moved to the other side of the grave yard anyways . We also saw a house that was completely burnt down and we pulled over to take a picture and all the neighbors came out and started looking at us . I’d say they are not friendly at all . The whole little town is full of psychics and people that do readings and mediums but they don’t want guests ? It’s a tourist attraction they have it set up like that so people will spend money their but are human ne dude to the guests. I just don’t get it .

    1. Thanks for sharing, Kori. I wondered if I was the only one that had such a strange experience in their cemetery. They need better protection for it if they don’t want it to be publicly accessible.

  4. I grew up not far from here, and unfortunately there has been a lot of vandalism. My best friend lived across the street and we used to cut through the cemetery to go into town on our horses. There are so many urban legends on The Devil’s Chair, that there is a lot of foot traffic. Sorry you had to deal with the police, but they heavily patrol that cemetery because of all the delinquents that have nothing better to do than destroy things..

  5. A shame about the vandalism. I was thinking about making the trip up before March. I just stumbled across your blog. Very interesting stuff!

    I wonder if the Devil is kinder if you leave him an entire six-pack..

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *