The Grim Society

Archive for the ‘Site Research’ Category

The following is an unedited story we received recounting one person’s experience with The Devil’s Tree in Oak Hammock Park. We do not know the storyteller in person and can neither confirm nor deny the statements made in this tale of the paranormal. We are posting the full story in order to allow you to judge the contents for yourself.

---

My sister,her fiance, two other people and I decided to check out the Devil’s tree. Keep in mind that this is a group of older people who were very skeptical of the legend.

We looked up directions for the tree and headed to the park at around 7:30p.m. When we reached the park we went through the wooded area and not the actual park.

As soon as I stepped foot into the woods my legs began to shook and I was starting to regret the whole thing. After a few minutes we all collected ourselves, calmed down our nerves and stepped onto the dark, overgrown path. Through the first set of woods it was very calm and we began cracking jokes and were very at ease. After about twenty minutes of being completely lost we came out of the woods and found the canal. Nothing was out of the ordinary except for the clanking of chains we heard from time to time. It was a calm warm night and we weren’t very scared at all….. until we came to the mounds. From there on it felt like we were being perpetually watched.

We wove our way through the path men up front (of course) and the girls holding hands keeping up the rear. All of a sudden the three of us in back halted. It was like a wall was blocking our way. Our knees buckled simultaneously, but we didn’t say a word. The boys hadn’t noticed and kept walking ahead. Out of no where a screeching sound like an animal in mortal danger filled the air. Then it got silent. My sister was earnestly whispering for us to go back, but the boys were not concerned. The air kept getting heavier and the scariest feelings came over me. Then my sister’s fiance walked a little forward and confirmed our suspicions, “It’s the tree”. He was so dumb as to touch the tree, and from then on it got worse.

Trying to be as professional as we could we turned around and as we started walking the flashlight went out. [Its like we weren't getting a freaking break]. My sister said that she felt like something was hovering on her shoulder and she couldn’t get it off. I had the feeling of an evil presence skulking by me and everything was screaming get out. We just all knew we weren’t supposed to be there, nothing good was there.

Panicking we hurried to get out of the trail. We finally got the the flashlight to work again and we walked as fast as we could out of there. As soon as we got to the canal again we were somewhat relieved and the presence was gone.

This is a true story of skeptics turned to believers.

It was honestly the worst experience of my life. I can never doubt the paranormal again.

Will The Real Devil’s Tree Please Stand Up 

We finally got a chance to revisit Oak Hammock Park, with the goal of finding the ‘real’ Devil’s Tree.  Armed with information provided by actual witnesses to the events which took place in the past, we were fairly confident we could locate the actual tree.

From our own research, we knew that the tree was carved with a cross and later a wooden cross was nailed to the tree.  Our group was a little surprised that, after setting out on the adventure, it took only about four minutes to find the oak.  It was exactly at the location described by our witness.  We found a scar in the bark from the original carving and also located nails and remnants of wood from the cross.

Unfortunately, the tree has become a local oddity and has reached true urban legend status, as mentioned in our previous posts.  Rumors of occult rituals being held at the tree, a group of clergy performing a blessing on the oak and even a suicide committed underneath its branches have led to an overwhelming number of people attempting to visit the tree after dark.  After a prolonged discussion, our group decided that it would be in the best interest of Parks and Recreation (and of the tree) to not reveal the location publicly.  Ultimately, the location is where two young women died horrific deaths and later a despondent man took his own life.  It is an area that should be treated with a sense of respect and not turned into a circus sideshow.

We can tell  you that the many directions posted throughout the internet on forums and even found in books are quite wrong- not one of them will lead you to the correct tree.

Now that G.R.I.M. has the location of the actual Devil’s Tree and permission from Parks & Recreation, we are going to proceed with an overnight investigation of the location.

Things You Don’t Always Think About

Some of the reports of activity at Oak Hammock Park center around the restrooms.  Specifically, the women’s restroom.  The reports range from people hearing voices and screams to slamming doors.  An investigation in a public restroom presents numerous problems- installing camera equipment in a ladies restroom might score G.R.I.M. an interesting rap sheet, but most likely wouldn’t turn up any evidence.  While audio equipment might not land us behind bars, we can’t help but wonder if the men on the team really want to monitor the sounds and discussions in a women’s restroom.  Probably not.

Those issues to the side,  this particular restroom has some interesting things to note. The floor is far from level and there are open screened window cutouts along the roof-line.   This could account for nearly all of the phenomenon reported in the location- a stray breeze causing one of the stall doors to slam, voices carrying in through the open windows- even the screams could be rather common place, due to its proximity to the children’s playground.

As we continue to work on the Devil’s Tree Investigation, we will report our findings.

Before I get started with this entertaining story, I want to let everyone know that our forums are currently disabled due to an error in the PHP Code that powers them.  We’ll have them back up and running as soon as possible. Now, on to the story of the crying woman…

The other night we were at our current extended-investigation location, taking pictures of the outside of the home when I was surprised to hear someone (female) say something that sounded like “Help Me” from the McCarty house next door. Let me set the scene….this is the McCarty House, built in 1905 and currently slated for demolition:

Here is a clip from the local paper giving the history of the building:

“The name Dan McCarty may not mean much to most people, but it should. Although he was tragically cut down in his prime, McCarty’s the only person from this area to be elected governor of Florida. Inaugurated in 1952, McCarty suffered a heart attack the same year and died in office in 1953 at the age of 41.

It’s doubly sad that the house where he grew up is now threatened with demolition.

When his father, Dan Sr., built the house in 1905 at 303 S. Indian River Drive as a wedding present for his bride, Elizabeth, the family wanted to know why he was building so far outside town. Nowadays, the city has spread to surround the house. It’s an imposing, two-story wood frame white house with steep gables and a tin-shingled roof, that sits on a ridge of land high above the Indian River in a marvelous location that catches the breezes off the water.”

My husband, who was standing next to me at the time, did not hear a thing, which was interesting, but the oddest thing was that the sound came from the top of a tree in the back yard of the home. The tree is near a 2nd floor window, which is boarded up. We searched the area for about 20 minutes, but couldn’t find anything that would account for the noise. We finished up the pictures of the outside of the house we’re investigating and headed home.

The next morning a friend messaged me to tell me she had just had the chance to read our recently posted research. She also commented that she wished she were at work (as a 911 dispatcher), as they get a lot of calls from the area. I inquired about the calls and here is what she said:

we get “ladies of the evening” calling up that there are screams coming from that area but they never say its from that house you’re researching. they are about the house next door.

I of course ask if it is the McCarty house. She responds:

AAAHHHH yes that sounds right. they call to report a woman asking for help. they always say someone is calling from UP…..and we always get calls, can’t remember what time of the night or what nights are the “norm” but i do remember getting calls, and they are always drunk chicks and ‘ladies of the night’, always female now that i think about it and they always say it sounds like a female voice yelling for help. of course when the cops get out there the person calling it in is long gone and theres never anyone screaming

There is one officer that you cant PAY to go to that location- she REFUSES to respond to either house, flat out, unless someone is getting shot at she aint going

Now we’re really interested. The house has no history of paranormal activity that we can find, other than these people reporting the woman screaming. Well, last night we went back to our investigation house but also spent a bit of time investigating the McCarty house. While we were there, we couldn’t find anything that would account for the ’screaming woman’.

Then we came home and started reviewing our evidence. Here is what we found:

Note the two feral cats in the bottom left of the image. You can’t see them when you’re there in person, but we’d be willing to bet $100 that one was in the tree the other night. In case you haven’t heard a feral cat cry, they can sound just like a woman.

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

This afternoon I met a friend and her young son downtown for lunch. We enjoyed our meal along the water front as we caught up on the goings on in our lives. During the conversation, we began discussing the Old Fort Park. Curious, she asked if I would take her over there, as it is only a few minutes from where we were. We packed up and headed to the park.

I walked with her, taking her around the front of the mound, then up to the top. After that, we walked back down the mound and went around the southern end, coming out at the western center of the park. During this walk she told me she felt as if she were being watched (I did as well) and at one point even felt nauseated.

We then headed over to the area of the odd planting in the middle of the palms; this is the same location at which I’d had the odd feeling the last time we’d been there at night. I held the baby as she walked between two trees and headed towards the mound. As she passed between the trees, she appeared to stumble. There were no roots, no protruding branches. Coming over to stand next to me, she explained that she’d felt as if the ground suddenly ’sank’, had a sense of vertigo and felt as if she’d been pushed. At this point, her young son looked at the trees and began waving, saying “Hi”.

We finished up our visit, with her declaring that the Old Fort Park gave her the creeps even in the daylight and headed our own ways. Shortly afterwards, she sent me this message:

“When i got in the car and got onto Indian River Drive, I continued to feel like I was being watched; almost like something hitched a ride. I didn’t feel scared or freaked or anything, but my little guy kept saying HI HI HI and waving. As I turned at Midway Road, I felt like my arm was burning. At the same time, my ears popped and the baby started screaming- like something had scared the heck out of him; he was bright red in the face. I looked down and saw I’d been scratched on my arm. As soon as I felt the scratch, the feeling of being watched was gone, but I felt really scared. When we got home, I tried to put the little guy down for a nap, but he won’t go to sleep- he’s still obviously upset.”

I can’t confirm or deny the incident that took place in the car, but I can tell you that while we were at the park she did not come into contact with anything that would have caused the injuries pictured in the images below.  The first two images were taken only moments after the scratches appeared; the others were taken a little over an hour and a half later.

We went back to the Old Fort Park on Friday, Sept. 28th, in a final attempt to reach the mound.  There were no other people at the park on this night, so we were able to explore not only the area of the Old Fort and behind the mound, but also the area of the steps and the top of the mound.

We began by walking around the Old Fort area; there was one section where there was an ‘odd’ feeling of being watched.  If you look at the Scouting photographs, you will be able to locate the spot, as it is near the large ‘planting’ area.

After this, we went over and explored the mound. We climbed to the top and were somewhat disappointed to find that there was not even an odd feeling in that location.  However, as we were coming off the mound, I felt again that I was being watched.  I commented to Jim that I didn’t want to be the last off the mound; he laughed and said he didn’t want to have to go first.  About that time I stopped short; it felt as if someone had just brushed by me. As I stood there trying to figure out if there was a tree or some other innocuous reason for the feeling, it happened a second time, only this was much lower to the ground, almost like a small dog or animal.  The second incident even caused my pant leg to move.  After reviewing the audio of the incident, we were somewhat interested to hear that I had just announced we would be leaving the mound prior to this occurring.  We also were surprised to hear that there were two out of place wind gusts at that time.  After the incident, I asked a question and in response there is another wind gust.

While this information is highly subjective, we felt it was interesting enough to share.  Below you will find the audio of the incident; note that at one point you will hear a loud bang as I move the audio recorder in order to take a picture.

[display_podcast]

When we finished exploring the mound, we went around to the back of it yet again.  As we rounded the south west side of the mound, both Jim and I felt an overwhelming sense of being watched.  The EMF meter remained steady, with no odd spikes.   I should point out at this time that during all of our investigations at the park, the EMF meter remained fairly steady, ranging between .0 and .4.

The feeling of being watched was so powerful that Jim even began taking photographs over his shoulder, just to see if he could catch anything behind him.

During the investigation, we again caught several oddities on the digital camera. There was no rain, no fog or mist during the time we were there; nor had it rained during the day. The grass and trees were dry, and – as per our protocol- the equipment had all been cleaned prior to beginning the investigation.  We are unable to reasonably explain the oddities we captured with the theory that it is dust or moisture in the air. While none of these are as impressive as the anomaly found during the previous trip, we thought we’d post them here for you to review. We’ve also included an image of the oak tree, which we just felt was a great capture and wanted to share.

As a final note, I wanted to mention that Searcher and I went back to the fort and did a quick walk-through of the entire park with the EMF meter.  The wind was howling (25 mph average) and there was absolutely no sense of anything odd at any of the locations.  However, the EMF meter repeatedly spiked to 1.8 & 1.9, with no obvious source for the spiking.  We are completely baffled as to what would have caused this.

Summary:

At this point, we feel that further exploration of the Old Fort Park would yield similar results to our three expeditions. Until we are capable of returning with a larger team of investigators and additional equipment, we are forced to call this investigation inconclusive.

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.