Notebook of Ghosts

The following post is from my May 2025 newsletter, which I send directly to your inbox each month. Not subscribed? Join us! It’s free.

You might remember a tree-stump tombstone (a tree-shaped gravestone, also known as a treestone) I shared on #humpdayhaunts last year. Allegedly, if you sit on this tiny chair at the foot of the gravestone, you will die within seven years.

Such a chair and story are part of an urban legend tradition of devil’s chairs. These stories are most often attached to memorial or funerary sculptures in the shape of chairs, which were especially popular in the nineteenth century. These chairs welcome visitors to rest while visiting the deceased.

Somewhere, along the way, these chairs became paranormal portals and death clocks.

Devil’s chairs are associated with the practice of legend tripping, or visiting locations of tragic, horrific, and/or paranormal events, oftentimes at night. Participating in legend tripping can be a rite of passage for teenagers, challenging them to visit spooky places like cemeteries, abandoned buildings, or sites of murders. They might possibly have to complete a task to trigger the supernatural events. In this case, sitting.

There are several devil’s chairs throughout the United States. I will share three chairs, with honorable mentions at the end.

An unmarked chair sits between two graves in Union Cemetery of Guthrie Center, Iowa. No one is sure which grave to attribute the chair to, which adds to its mystique. Legend warns that anyone who sits on the chair will experience bad luck. According to one Facebook user, they sat in the chair only to later experience the death of their dog and friend. (Source)

The next devil’s chair is not located in a cemetery, but rather in Congress Park of Saratoga Springs, New York. While this stone is clearly chair shaped, it was never intended to be a chair in the first place. Allegedly the chair was meant to be the cornerstone of a new church nearby (back in the day). Plans for the church were scrapped, and a new gentlemen’s clubhouse took the lot instead. Since the lot was stolen away—and for a building with an unholy gambling parlor,—the cornerstone naturally holds a grudge.

The cornerstone was placed in the park, along with its curse. According to local lore, if one sits in the chair they might travel back in time to the turn of the 20th century. Before you go buying your plane tickets, some argue it only works if you are a teenage girl sitting on it after midnight. (Source)

The final devil’s chair, rather a bench, is located in Lake Helen-Cassadaga Cemetery in Cassadaga, Florida. Many of those interred at the cemetery are members of the spiritualist community. The Southern Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp, dating back to 1894 and still in existence today, is home to mediums, psychics, and other spiritualists. (Source)

The graveside bench, made of brick, is a favorite haunt for the devil to grab a beer. According to legend, if you leave an unopened beer can on the bench, it will be empty by morning with an unopened top. If you are lucky enough, you might even meet the devil if you sit in the chair at midnight.

I recommend not sitting on the chair because the cemetery is patrolled after dark because of previous damage made by legend trippers.

Honorable mentions

• I recommend not sitting on the devil’s chair of Highland Park Cemetery in Kirksville, Missouri. If you do so at midnight on Halloween, a hand will break through the ground and drag you to hell. Very dramatic.
• Those wanting to make a pact with the devil visit the Greenwood Cemetery of Decatur, Illinois. If you sit on the devil’s chair, the devil will give you whatever you want for seven years. After seven years, though, he will come and claim your soul.
• Don’t sit on top of the well in Alma Cemetery of Alma, Kansas. Legend tells of an angry farmer that was pushed into the well when he refused to sell his land for a new cemetery project. The well was covered with his dead body inside, and the project proceeded. Today, people who sit on the well disappear in thin air.

In closing, I recommend not sitting on devil’s chairs. I’m not worried about you time traveling or dying (but don’t risk it), rather I want to protect these interesting memorials from long-term damage. If you’d like to hear more about these chairs, you can expand your search with “witch’s chair,” which is a similar concept.