The Grim Society

Author Archive

I recently took a little vacation to Gatlinburg, Tennessee in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains. I’ve been there many times so I was looking for something new to do when Luna suggested that I go on one of the ghost walks that are offered. We searched the net together and found that some were encouraging you to bring a camera and guaranteeing paranormal photos! Of course we knew that those kinds of tours weren’t for me so we kept searching.

Soon Luna found one that was a little more suited for people like us called Ghost Walk of Gatlinburg. We weren’t mislead as it says right on their site that they may embellish a bit for entertainment purposes and I really enjoyed the late night walk and the stories our guide told along the way. The best part for me though was after the walk. Our guide Tyler, was available to answer questions and was more than willing to go way above and beyond the parimeters of his job by talking with my husband and I about the history of Gatlinburg and his own ghost hunting experiences in the area! He gave us more than an hour of his time and when we had to leave to go back to the cabin I’d felt as though we’d made a new friend! I’ve invited him to join us here on The G.R.I.M. Society and hope to hear from him soon!

He told us many stories along our walk but the one that I found most interesting was the story he told about the pizza parlor.

Many years ago people could buy plots in the cemetery just like they could buy any other land so people would buy up a bunch of plots and then clear off the headstones, lump the plots together on one deed and sell them as usable land. Ths is what happened to a large portion of the White Oak Flats cemetery in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Just over 35 years ago (a time that the locals refer to as B.D. — Before Dollywood) two businessmen bought a plot of land adjacent to the cemetary and erected the town’s first pizza parlor. Business was going well when they experienced some vandalising night after night. The owners noticed that there was no evidence of breaking and entering and contacted the police. They posted a night watchman outside and he never saw anyone going in or coming out, yet the vandalism continued.

Eventually one of the owners installed cameras inside and was astounded to find that things were being thrown about by something he couldn’t see and now and then he’d see an apparition on the film! He was afraid that his findings would not only label him the “crazy one” about town, but that it would be bad for business to admit to the haunting so he destroyed the tape and removed the cameras immediately! His business partner was anxious to find out what was on the tape so reluctantly the first man finally told him but swore him to secrecy. Of course the man’s partner couldn’t keep this outragous information to himself so he went to his best friend and told the story.

Before long the news had traveled through the small town and to the first man’s surprise it was very good for business but unfortunately it wasn’t good for keeping help. All of the workers promptly quit and the two men were left to run the booming business all by themselves. Sadly they weren’t able to keep up with the flurry of patrons so they eventually had to close up shop. I find it hard to believe that a business would have to close due to too many customers!

Today the building has been razed and there is nothing left but the parking lot. I snapped a couple photos there but haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary in those photos.

William Turpin Jones was born in Carnesville, Franklin County, Georgia on August 31, 1868. He came to Florida in 1892 to work as a machinist helper for the Saint Augustine railroad shops. His career in the FEC was quite successful and in 1900 he was promoted to engineer and relocated by the company to Fort Pierce. As an engineer he operated the trains between Jacksonville and Key West.

During his career he survived two train accidents. The first took place when workmen left dynamite on the tracks and the train hit it; Mr. Jones was seriously injured in the incident and given a settlement by the FEC. The money he received was used to pay the $6,000 needed to build his new home, Cresthaven, which was located at 239 Boston Ave, Fort Pierce. The home was built in 1909 and was a marvel, with most of the materials being brought in by railway from Georgia and other points throughout the US. The second accident took place on a rainy afternoon when the station master sent Jones a note written in red pencil, warning him of an oncoming train and instructing him to switch to a separate track. Unfortunately the rain smeared the note and the train remained on course, meeting up with the oncoming train at a curve in the tracks, where they collided head on. Both engineers and firemen jumped into the watery canals running alongside the tracks and survived the incident.

Mr. Jones was married to a woman named Margaret and together they had five children:

• Fred, born about 1896
• Louis, born about 1898
• William L., born about 1901
• Margaret, born about 1905
• Clifford, born about 1909

Jones’ career with the FEC came to a stop in 1913, when he retired and began to raise oranges and pineapple and sell real estate. It was in this same year that Jones’ son Fred A. Jones was involved in a motorcycle accident that took a life. Fred, who was 17 years old and engaged to young Ada Daniels. On Friday, May 16^th, a party was held at Cresthaven and Fred decided to take Ada for a moonlight ride on his motorcycle. They were joined by Fred’s best friend Raymond Saunders, who was driving a second motorcycle with Ada’s sister, Nola on the back. Shortly after leaving Cresthaven, something went terribly wrong and the two motorcycles collided. Fred, Ada and Raymond were seriously injured; Nola was pronounced dead on the scene. Fred would later recover from the accident, but walked with a limp and never married Ada Daniels.

After the accident, life continued fairly quietly for the Jones family until 1915, when a fateful incident in downtown Fort Pierce (which we will report on later), ended with Jones being appointed Sheriff of Saint Lucie County around June 4, 1915. He ran for reelection in June of 1916, and continued to serve in the office of Sheriff.

On Friday, September 6, 1918, Mr. Jones’ son Clifford was involved in a fatal shooting. Clifford, age ten and his nine year old playmate William M. Fee were in the living room of Cresthaven when Clifford reached to take the cartridge out of his fathers gun. The gun fired, shooting William Fee in the abdomen. William was taken by train to the hospital in Miami, where he died shortly after 11:30 p.m. that night.

During that same year, Sheriff Jones made national headlines in the case of E.D. Griswold and David P. Valley; the former having perpetrated a scam that cost Mr. Valley over $11,000. Jones was made famous for refusing to accept a bribe from Griswold, instead choosing to prosecute a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Jones continued to serve as Sheriff until May of 1920, when he resigned the position due to the financial loss it was causing him. As a side note, he was replaced by Sheriff William R. Monroe, who was killed on March 25, 1921 while piloting a confiscated rum running boat. The boat, loaded with 200 cases of rum from the Bahamas, exploded in the Indian River Lagoon across from the Oslo area.

Rather than returning to work as a Sheriff after the death of Monroe, Jones went back to work for the FEC. He was beginning to feel the strain of the Depression and was having trouble covering his investments. In order to save his orange groves, he negotiated with a friend, Irving C. Whitney, who loaned him a sum of money and Cresthaven was used as the collateral. Sadly, Mr. Whitney soon passed away and the note went to his sister and heir, Rose P. Whitney, who was a retired school teacher hailing from Massachusetts. At the time of Mr. Whitney’s death, Rose was 62 years old and living in a modest house on S. 12^th Street with her sister who was 74. Rose Whitney inherited the note on Cresthaven and on September 3, 1932 she forced the immediate sale of the home to her. Both spinster sisters moved into the house.

While the Jones family’s involvement with Cresthaven ends here, their story is an interesting one and we thought you’d like to follow it all the way through. They were dispersed throughout the area. Mr. Jones and his wife moved to a small one story home north of Fort Pierce, overlooking US 1 and his beloved FEC Railway tracks. They had 40 acres of grove and hammock that later became Vero Shores. When trains would pass by the home, the engineers would sound the whistles and the Jones family would come out to wave to them. The sons opened the Jones Brothers Garage, which was located at 618 N. 4^th Street.

In 1938, the 3^rd son, William L. Jones, was severely injured in a motorcycle accident. He was taken by rail to Philadelphia, but died after surgery; he was only 36. Two years later, William Senior became very ill. He was taken by railway to the FEC hospital in Saint Augustine, where he died December 7, 1939. His wife passed away on January 10, 1944. In 1948, their daughter Margaret, who was in perfect health and working as a clerk at Canaday’s Pharmacy, suffered a heart attack and also died. On October 2, 1957, Fred Jones, the eldest son, took his own life, shooting himself in the bedroom of his family’s home at 135 N. 10^th Street, Fort Pierce.

Returning to the story of Cresthaven, we find that the home has been renamed to the Boston House and that both Rose Whitney and her elder sister died in the home. Rose suffered a drawn out illness before her death on April 5, 1954.

Her will, which was read into record on April 21, 1954, included a dispersement of nearly $150,000.

After her death, the executors of her estate held an auction, selling off the contents of the home. An advertisement was placed in the local paper, dated Sunday, December 19, 1954, and they also attempted to sell the Boston House.

Because the home did not sell, the executors petitioned the city for a change in zoning. On May 31^st, 1955, the notice was printed in the local paper that a public hearing would be held on June 20^th at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall to determine if the home could be rezoned to a commercial property; the zoning change was granted.

It is interesting to note that, according to the local historical society, Cresthaven was sold to John McCarty in 1949, but that he never resided there. According to the records, this is not possible, as there is a clear line of possession that does not include a sale to any of the McCarty family.

The home was sold in 1957 to Wood, Beard & Assoc., an Engineering Firm. They in turn sold the home to Diane & Leanord Cottem in 1976. Mr. Cottem began holding séances in the attic. This time period is the birthplace for the numerous ghost stories which surround this historic home.

The ghost stories include reports of Indians sitting on the front lawn, maniacal laughter sounding throughout the building, moving objects, and perhaps the most well-known haunting tale in Fort Pierce, the story of the Perkins family. The legend (as shown below in an article from The Fort Pierce Tribune, December 28, 1995) is reprinted nearly every year at Halloween.

“According to legend, the Perkins family was vacationing at the Boston House, which at the time was an inn. Young Tim and his father went fishing and drowned when their boat sank in a storm. The father’s body washed ashore, but Tim’s corpse never was found. According to local lore, the ghost of wife and mother Aleacon Perkins has been spotted at a third-floor window still awaiting the return of her lost family.”

In 1984 the Cottem family sold the Boston House to the current owners. During the renovations, old bottles from bootleg rum were found hidden in the walls behind the plaster. It was also discovered that Louis Jones, the 2nd son, had carved his name into a 2nd story window of the home with the engagement ring he was preparing to give to his girlfriend. The renovations by the newest owners caused quite a stir, yet again. Here is another quote from the Tribune:

“The law firm’s employees often are greeted by a whiff of perfume or the smell of coffee when opening the office in the morning. And sometimes office doors that were locked tight at closing time are found standing open the next morning. “We weren’t aware of the history of the building until after we bought it,” Phillips said. “After we bought it we talked to the former owner and he had experiences in the Boston House. The owners before him said odd things happened to them and some of their employees wouldn’t work on the third floor after dark.”

Phillips said he realizes that stories sometimes get exaggerated over the years, but the things that have happened to him and other in his office are not tall tales. “What has happened here has happened here,” he said. “There has not been any embellishment. There are certainly some oddities going on here.” The stories has led author Chaz Mikell to list the building in his book of haunts, “Florida Ghost House Directory.””

In addition to the Florida Ghost House Directory, Cresthaven’s ghost tales are retold in “Stories from the Haunted South” (page 62), as well as other books on hauntings in the area. As you can see from the research posted above, Cresthaven was never run as a boarding house or inn. Additionally, there are no records of a Perkins family in the area at the time frame in question. Searches of historical records (which have been corroborated by two independent researchers) show that there was no Perkins family in the area at that time; there also were no deaths of anyone with the last name of Perkins in Saint Lucie County at that time.

While researching the history of this home, we took the time to visit Riverview Memorial Gardens, the cemetery where the Jones and Fee families are interred. We were startled to find that the Fee family crypt contained not only nine year old William Fee, victim of the shooting at the Boston House, but also his mother, Emma Morgan and father, Fred. Fred was buried in the same grave as William Mixon Fee, grandson of Emma Morgan and Fred, who is listed as having passed away at the same time as Fred in 1939. Could this be the source of the tale of two lives lost by drowning on a fishing excursion? We can’t say for sure at this time, but we will continue to research the topic.

Cresthaven was added to the National Register of Historic Places is 1985 and is currently for sale. To view the full sized images of the pictures posted within this report, click on them below.

Resources:

• The Palm Beach Post
• The Fort Pierce News Tribune
• The Saint Lucie County Tribune
• Census Records dating from 1910-1930
• Saint Lucie County Historical Museum
• Downtown Main Street Association
• Clerk of the Court, Saint Lucie County
• FRF B Jones, William T, The Building of Cresthaven by William Paul Rogers, Jr., Grandson of William T Jones. Available at the Saint Lucie County Library, Fort Pierce.
• The Florida State Archive
• The Florida Photographic Archive

We were hoping to find a scientific explanation for the uneasy feelings along the backside of the mound. Well, that didn’t work out the way we planned; we actually left with more questions than we started out with. Let me explain.

We arrived as the sun was setting and started to walk towards the west side of the burial mound. I was getting a base EMF reading of 0.0 to 0.3. We immediately checked the electrical box and found EMF readings as high as 35.0 within 12 inches of the box, but at five feet away, the EMF returned to the base reading.

Next we decided to follow the trail behind the mound. As we passed through the trees in the image below an uneasy feeling began to grow. We came to a spot where the hair on my arms started to tingle and the hair on my neck stood on end. Luna mentioned she was also having the same feeling, without any prompting from me.

The EMF meter stayed at the base reading as Luna snapped a few pictures, including this one:

Obviously, there is a bug in the picture, but we are not sure exactly what the blue light could be. Just to clarify, this picture was taken facing the back of the burial mound, which is 15 feet high or so with no lights. For now, we’re going to refer to this as an anomaly.

Here is a close up:

Next we continued to move south behind the mound and we noticed a raised area of earth that runs from the mound under the fence to the rail yard. I don’t know if this is part of the mound or just dirt from the construction of the railroad. There is no way to be sure since the railroad has been in that location for nearly 100 years.

As we moved along the south side and headed back east, the uneasy feeling seemed to fade. We decided to take a look at the steps going up to the top of the mound. As we approached the steps, the feeling returned and was even stronger. We stopped to do a little EVP work but, like before, audio at this location is going to be difficult at best. Between trains, radios from the rail yard and people talking it will be nearly impossible to get uncontaminated audio.

Luna was about six to eight feet in front of me as we went up the steps of the mound when she suddenly stopped and turned around. She looked at me, had a strange expression on her face and said that someone or something had just touched her on the shoulder. Later, she described it as having been two taps. A quick examination of the area turned up no likely suspects for the tap- no low hanging tree branches, and I was too far away. Here is the audio clip from this point in the investigation.

[display_podcast]

About this time a couple of cars showed up and we decided to call it a night and head home to review what we had caught. We ended up with one photo anomaly, one personal experience and we managed to disprove our theory that the uneasy feeling in certain areas was caused by high EMF coming from the rail yard.

It occurred to us that we are ghost hunting at a place that- to the best of our knowledge- has no history of paranormal activity, but we believe that between the Ais burial mound and the Fort, the possibility exists. Remarkably little information is readily available about the fort, its activities or the men that served there from 1838-1842. For this reason, I sent a request to the Library of Congress for diagrams and layouts of the fort, military rolls, service records and death records for Fort Pierce. At one point twelve to fourteen hundred soldiers were stationed here. There is no record of where the dead were buried-and we find it hard to believe that in four years, not a single soldier died of disease, old age, accident, animal encounter or Indian engagement.

The Library of Congress has redirected me to the National Archives, so we will keep you posted.

Over the past few days we have continued to research the Devil’s Tree and the legends surrounding it. We’ve come up with some very interesting information that we wanted to share. In order to explain the information to the fullest, we’ll break it down into sections.

Oak Hammock Park is a local hangout for fishermen and boaters along the C-24 Canal. On January 8th, 1973, long before the park was built, the deranged serial killer beat, raped, hung, then buried 2 girls beneath the “Devil Tree”.

A bit of research into this has shown us that this part of legend is actually untrue. Let’s start with the date. According to the legend, the murders took place on January 8th. The truth is that the victims, 19-year-old Iowa residents Collette Goodenough and Barbara Ann Wilcox, left Biloxi, Mississippi and began hitchiking to Florida around that time; however, an exact date of their death was never established. We can confirm that they disappeared between January 8th and January 15, 1973- when serial killer Gerard Schaefer was jailed for assaulting two other hitchikers, Pamela Sue Wells and Nancy Ellen Trotter.

Wells and Trotter managed to exact a narrow escape from Schaefer, who left them handcuffed and gagged, “balanced on tree roots with nooses around their necks, at risk of hanging if they slipped and fell.” Schaefer left the area and the two escaped, leading to the capture of Schaefer. You might find yourself wondering how we know he is tied to the remains of Goodenough and Wilcox. The answer was found in Schaefer’s mother’s home during a search- a passport, diary and book of poetry owned by Collette Goodenough and the drivers license of Barbara Wilcox. Because of this, we can reasonably assume that Schaefer murdered Goodenough and Wilcox, but the date of the murders would fall between January 8th and January 15th, most likely somewhere after the 8th as they would have had to hitched all the way to the Treasure Coast prior to him discovering them.

The next point that is made in this first section of the legend is that the women were hung from the Devil’s Tree and then buried beneath it. Both of these points are actually incorrect. According to newspaper articles discovered during our research, the remains were actually scattered in a palmetto thicket several hundred feet from the tree; additionally, there is this statement, taken from the same article:

“Former St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Detective Rick McIlwain, now an investigator for the State Attorney’s Office, said he found several pieces of the Iowa girls’ dismembered bodies at the base of a small tree off Leafy Road, about 300 feet from the oak.”

In January 1977, almost 4 years to the day that the murders were committed, two fishermen discovered the skeletal remains of the two bodies, and the hanging ropes were also found.

Yet again we can turn to eyewitness reports to debunk this portion of the legend. An article run by the Palm Beach Post in the 1990s, which focused on the history and fate of the Devil’s Tree, tells us:

“West Palm Beach resident XXXXXX, who found the Iowa girls’ bones when he was having a barbecue with friends off Leafy Road 16 years ago, was happy to hear the mighty oak will be spared and called it “one of the finest live oak specimens around.”

“Investigators believe Schaefer hanged his victims up with telephone wire in the smaller tree by kicking out an orange crate from beneath their feet. Wire and a crate were found near the small tree, which also may have been an oak, McIlwain said. Authorities removed a branch believed used in the murders and still have it in an evidence locker, sources said.”

As you can see, this pretty much decimates that section of the legend. However, the same article reveals something previously unknown about the Devil’s Tree:

“One of the inverted crosses was drawn by a friend with marital problems who committed suicide under the tree in 1983″

Over the years people have reported hearing screaming, and seeing hooded figures walking around the woods. In 1993 an exorcism was held, and a cross was erected, after two boys claimed to have seen a Satanic ritual taking place near the tree, and being chased away by the Satanists who yelled that they wanted their blood.

This rather astounding information has proven to be true. Again, from the article:

“After two children reported being chased by youths in black hoods off Leafy Road last weekend, XXXXXX and a group of pastors blessed the tree at neighbors’ urging Thursday and made plans to chop it down.”

This leads us into the remainder of the legend, which tells us:

Before the park was built, they were going to cut down the tree, but their chainsaws kept malfunctioning in the area surrounding the tree. They tried to cut down the tree manually with a two-man saw, but the teeth of the saw broke off, so they left the tree where it was.

We can not confirm or deny this portion of the legend at this time, but we did find this, again in the newspaper:

“Pastors gathered at a 150-year-old oak in Port St. Lucie Thursday and chanted, ‘ Demons be gone,’ to drive away the evil they say resided in the tree. The tree won a reprieve Friday when the owner decided not to cut it down.”

Whether that decision was based on a desire to preserve the tree or because the tree wouldn’t ‘allow’ itself to be cut down, we can’t say at this time.

Most people we talk to have never heard of Deputy Sheriff Gerard Schaefer- we hadn’t, and we’ve been residents in the area since birth. It took a rumor overhead by a friend to tip us off to the strange history of Port Saint Luice; a little digging led to the truth and the story of Gerard Schaefer. This twisted individual was responsible for the deaths of possibly hundreds of women, with his victims remains having been found at both Blind Creek and in what is now Oak Hammock Park in Port Saint Lucie. For a full history of this man, visit Michael Newton’s article, “All About Gerard Schaefer“.

The murderous past of Oak Hammock Park was compounded in the years after Schaefer’s horrific crimes took place. Soon groups of Satanic worshipers moved in, claiming the tree Schaefer’s victims had been hung from as their own. They held rituals under what was fast becoming known as the Devil’s Tree, despite the attempts of others in the area to prevent their activity. Here are a few excerpts from the local papers over the past years:

“With Bibles in hand and a can of paint at their sides, a team of pastors set out to rid an oak tree of evil Thursday after reports that the tree has been the site of two murders and several satanic rituals. Chanting “demons be gone” and “this is holy property,” four pastors and two church members joined hands around a 150-year-old live oak on Southwest Leafy Road.”

Author: TERESA LANE, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Date: March 5, 1993

“A 150-year-old oak tree slated for the chopping block because of folklore tying it to evil will not be razed, the tree’s owner said Friday. Instead, an 8-foot wooden cross will be erected near the tree to warn devil-worshipers they’re not welcome on Southwest Leafy Road, said Alan Weierman, administrator of the children’s shelter that owns the 30-acre tract in western Port St. Lucie.”

Author: TERESA LANE, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Date: March 6, 1993

The land on which the Devil’s Tree grew eventually found its way into the hands of the Parks and Recreation Department in Port Saint Lucie. As the story goes, the employees were instructed to cut the tree down in preperation for the land becoming a public park. Here is an excerpt from a standard “friend of a friend” accounting of what happened next:

“The city decided to remove the tree. They contracted the work out to a local tree removal service, who went in with their chainsaws and equipment to cut down the oak, however, their chainsaws wouldn’t fire up. Frustrated, but not ready to give up, they returned with some unused chainsaws, and were surprised to find they also wouldn’t start. All of the chainsaws worked properly later on.

The story got even odder because they came back again, planning to cut down the tree with an old fashioned two person pull saw, the kind made out of tempered steel. Oddly, the teeth broke off the saw.

At this point, the city felt they had run out of options and just decided to leave the tree. That is- until recently. I have heard rumor that perhaps the Devil’s Tree may have been cut down without anyone having been told. Since I haven’t been to Oak Hammock Park recently, I can’t confirm that though.”

In addition to the rumors of activity at The Devil’s Tree, it is said that the woman’s restroom at the park is also a spot with unexplained noises and other events. Today, we decided to take the chance and visit Oak Hammock Park in search of the infamous Devil’s Tree. We went off directions we’d found on another website, which pointed us towards the tree and explained that it was a very old, large oak with metal benches under its branches and a lot of Spanish moss hanging above. After following the directions to reach the tree, we came across one that seemed to fit the bill exactly. We took pictures and discussed the fact that none of us had an erie feeling from the tree, something everyone seemed to report. We continued on down the path, eager to explore the remainder of the park, which is an idyllic slice of ‘old Florida’.

It wasn’t long before we came upon the second tree. It was a very large, old oak. There were metal benches under the branches. The Spanish moss was there. All the signs, yet this was the second tree that fit the description. We thought it odd and, after taking pictures of this second tree, continued on down the path- where we found tree number three. There are five large, old oaks that fit the description of the Devil’s Tree along one path alone, making it nearly impossible to identify with the information we currently have.

Having said that, only one tree gave off an eerie feeling; only one tree seemed to be “creepy”. It also had a rather interesting branch, which you will be able to see in close up in the images below. We also took time to check out the women’s restroom, which didn’t seem like anything interesting during the day.

We’re not done exploring the Devil’s Tree- we are currently attempting to reach those who were involved in the original cases in an attempt to find someone who can verify which of these majestic oaks has the sordid past.

Last night we went on a preliminary investigation at the Old Fort. We knew weather would be an issue due to thunderstorms in the area, but we felt like it would be a good night to get a feel for what we would be up against. We arrived at the location and were disappointed to see that there were other people already there, apparently on the top of the mound. Since the Fort is sometimes known as a ‘lovers lane’, we felt it wise to give them a wide berth.

We decided to attempt a few photos, video and sound recordings. We headed to the area of interest from our scouting expedition, the north west corner of the lot. There was a strong smell of decay in this area, although there were no remains that were visible. We proceeded from there around the back of the mound. At this location we both experienced a sense of unease; however, this is near the East Coast Railway hookup station, so we will need to check the area for high EMF readings.

As we came around the front of the mound, we continued to take pictures and record audio and video. The video showed nothing interesting and the audio (a sample of which is posted below) was virtually useless due to the excessive noise coming from the Railway station.

[display_podcast]

Wrapping up for the night, we headed home and reviewed the images we’d captured. We were interested by two anomalies in the images, which can be seen in the gallery below. The first was an odd red light that appeared at random locations through out the park. There was no actual light in the area that would have caused this, but after deliberating over the images, we realized that it was caused by lightning in an offshore storm.

The second anomaly came in the form of two nearly blank images. These were the last two photographs of the night and were taken as we headed back to the car. Both were direct shots of the burial mound. What makes them so interesting is that, while you can see light points in them, there is nothing in the images. Despite the fact that every other image taken has at least something in it (tree, leaves, ground), these two are empty.

While we find it interesting, there is nothing here that is of any real use. We will be going back to the Fort at another time, hopefully in better weather and without company.

This location is going to prove difficult for any small research team. There are two separate trails; one leading to the graveyard and one leading to the burial mounds. Both paths are littered with debris and overgrown with weeds. The path to the graveyard winds through the woods and will be nearly impossible to find in the dark without the use of night vision.

Additionally, Spruce Bluff has been surrounded by housing developments. Roads encircle it, creating the typical traffic issues of shadows and sounds. There are electric and telephone lines on the outside of the park grounds, but no improvements within the park are visible. There are no underground cable or line markers; however, with such a large amount of housing in the area, there very well might be unmarked lines.

For those interested, here are some images from the scouting expedition.

After the end of the Second Seminole War, Congress passed the Armed Occupation Act, which provided for the settlement of the unsettled part of east Florida. (That was 1842; Florida became a state in 1845.) Under the Armed Occupation Act, any head of family or single man eighteen or over, was able to claim 160 acres of land, south of Cedar Key and Palatka, Florida. Under the law, the man must live on for five years and put at least five acres under cultivation. This Act enabled thousands of people to move to Florida to settle the region.

John Enos Fultz Jr., originally from South Carolina, was one of those people. He founded a settlement at a location called Spruce Bluff in 1889, when he moved to homestead 160 acres on Winter Creek. Other settlers soon followed. Through the 1890’s they tried pineapple farming, which was being done successfully all around Stuart, Jensen and up toward Ft. Pierce, clearing the land to make their fortune in pineapples, much of which was transported to northern markets, such as New York.

In the late 1890’s, William and Harley Crews came to Spruce Bluff to run a sawmill. John Fultz rowed and sailed the St. Lucie River to Stuart and back, to deliver mail, was paid $10 a month. Harry Hill raised bees and promoted the production of honey in local newspapers.

Times were hard for the settlers. Measles, Malaria, Chickenpox, and difficulties during childbirth took its toll. Many died very young. Mosquitoes were a constant problem. They built crude cabins, some with oiled-paper windows because they couldn’t afford glass panes. There were no roads in the area. All supplies and saleable products came up from Stuart or Rio in boats. Occasionally traveling ministers came down the coast on sailboats to preach to gatherings of settlers. Spruce Bluff eventually grew large enough to have a school and post office.

A freeze in the winter of 1894/95 killed most of the pineapples in the area. When the crop didn’t thrive, there were few options. Some settlers (like Fultz) left, going to Stuart or Ft. Pierce and by 1905 the original families had left Spruce Bluff. When St. Lucie County was formed in that same year, Fultz became the first clerk of the court and lived in Ft. Pierce with his second wife and family. He owned over 600 acres of Spruce Bluff when he died in 1921. Today, very little is left of the small community.

There is a cemetery located at the back of the property. This small cemetery contains the remains of 7 residents of Spruce Bluff and is all that has survived of the settlement, identified by headstones were 6, which were vandalized and replaced with the marble monument.

• George Fultz; died July 16, 1906 (38 years old); Son of John and Sarah Fultz
• Gertrude Fultz Winter; July 6, 1906 (28 years old); Daughter of John and Sarah Fultz; Wife of Ed Winter
• Arnold Winter; Age 5 years; Son of Ed and Gertrude Winter
• Infant Girl Crews; Daughter of William Frank and Mary Fultz Winter Crews
• Infant Son of Charles D. Blakeslee
• An older Child; Son of Charles D. Blakeslee

In addition to this cemetery, visitors to Spruce Bluff are often surprised to find that, yet again, the town was erected next to an ancient Ais burial mound. In this case, there were rumored to be three original mounds; two were razed to make way for the roads in the modern town of Port Saint Lucie.

We recently took a trip to the Old Fort to scout for the upcoming investigation. After spending quite a bit of time there, we noticed that there were four main areas of concern:

The steps are very steep and could pose a serious hazard in the dark. In addition, the park is large and will need to be worked in teams so that nobody gets hurt or lost.

The main road at the entrance to the park is quite busy and could easily cast shadows in through the trees.

There is a large pump house and electrical box located on the property. These could give false readings.

The railway runs directly behind the park, giving list to a host of electrical, sight and sound issues that must be kept in mind.

Now that we are aware of these issues, the investigation can be planned around them. For those who are interested, here are the pictures from the scouting expedition.

As we prepare for an in-depth exploration of the Old Fort Park, we felt it imperative to understand the history behind the location.

Old Fort Park is the site of Fort Pierce, a military installation constructed by the U.S. Army in Florida with the purpose of being a main supply depot for the army during the Second Seminole War. During the Second Seminole War (1835-1842), the U.S. Army began setting up military posts throughout the state of Florida. In 1837 Col. Benjamin K. Pierce (brother to the future 14th president) was sent down the Indian River from St. Augustine, charged with finding a location to build a base for operations in the area. Finding a fresh water spring, he chose his spot on a bluff overlooking the Indian River Lagoon. A year later, he built a fort out of palmetto trees.

Col. Pierce and his men were far from the first residents in the area, though the town is named after him. In fact, the fort itself was constructed near an ancient burial mound of the Ais Indians.

The mound is several hundred feet around, and a series of stone steps takes you to the top, where there is a beautiful view of the Indian River, named after the Ais. Although the Ais died out 250 years before the fort was built- long before the Seminoles migrated south from Alabama and Georgia- the survival of their structure compared to the vanishing of the soldiers’ fort, which burned to the ground in the 1840s, is quite remarkable.

We will be going out during the day to take pictures of the location and to scout for any situations that might interfere with the conduction of an investigation.