Lake Helen-Cassadaga Cemetery

A historic cemetery serving the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp community, featuring the infamous "Devil's Chair" - a brick bench that has become one of Florida's most famous supernatural legends.

The Lake Helen-Cassadaga Cemetery, established near the Spiritualist Camp founded by George P. Colby in 1875, is most famous for the Devil's Chair—a large red brick bench that has spawned countless legends. The chair was actually built by George Thatcher after his wife and young daughter were killed in a house fire. He would sit there from daylight to dark mourning them, earning it the nickname mourning chair that eventually became Devil's Chair. Locals whisper that sitting in the chair at midnight summons the Devil himself, whispering temptations in a voice colder than the grave. The most popular legend involves leaving an unopened beer on the chair overnight—by morning, it's either empty but still sealed, completely gone, or found open. Rev. Louis Gates debunked this, revealing teenagers were drinking the beer, not the Devil. Visitors have reported seeing dark shadows lurking among trees and ghosts wandering the premises. The cemetery contains gravestones dating to the 1800s, though many have been vandalized over the years. Lake Helen Police have arrested hundreds attempting to sit in the chair, and guards are posted on Halloween. George P. Colby himself was buried here in 1933.