Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainSpiritualist Burial Ground and the Devil's Chair
Kicklighter Road, Lake Helen, FL 32744
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public cemetery; daytime access only
Access
Limited Access
Sandy paths and grass between burial plots
Equipment
Photos OK
Spiritualist Community · George Colby Burial · Historic Cemetery
The Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp was founded in 1895 by George P. Colby, a New York medium who, according to camp tradition, was directed to central Florida by a spirit guide named Seneca during an 1875 seance in Ohio. Colby established the camp on a thirty-five-acre tract of pine forest in southwest Volusia County. The community is the longest continuously operating spiritualist camp in the United States.
The Lake Helen-Cassadaga Cemetery sits roughly half a mile north of the main camp grounds. It serves both the spiritualist community and the surrounding Lake Helen population. Colby and many of the original Cassadaga spiritualists are buried in the cemetery, and the property remains in active use as a community burial ground.
The Devil's Chair, a red-brick mourning bench at the cemetery's edge, dates to the 1920s. The bench was constructed as a contemplative seat for grieving family members. Several other similar mourning benches exist in Florida cemeteries, but the Cassadaga example acquired a distinctive regional folklore from the mid-twentieth century onward.
Reverend Louis Gates of the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp has publicly addressed the bench's folklore, noting that the longtime tradition of leaving unopened beer cans on the chair is a teenage prank rather than evidence of malevolent folklore. The camp's stated position is that the Devil's Chair is a mourning bench whose folklore has overgrown its original purpose.
Sources
The Devil's Chair folklore developed in central Florida from the mid-twentieth century onward. The dominant version of the story holds that anyone who sits on the bench at midnight will hear the Devil's voice. A second version holds that an unopened beer left on the chair overnight will be found empty in the morning, yet still sealed.
Reverend Louis Gates of the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp has spoken on the record about the beer story. People used to come to the cemetery, drink heavily, and leave their beers on the markers; teenagers from the surrounding area would then come through later and empty the cans. The supernatural framing accumulated around what was, by the camp's account, a longstanding pattern of cemetery trespass and adolescent prank.
The cemetery has experienced sustained ghost-tourism pressure since the 1980s. Visitors should respect the property as an active community burial ground. The Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp itself offers a more substantive engagement with the spiritualist tradition; the camp's bookstore, mediums, and historical tours provide context that the standalone cemetery visit cannot.
Notable Entities
Walk the Lake Helen-Cassadaga Cemetery and find the Devil's Chair, a red-brick mourning bench dating to the 1920s. The cemetery contains the graves of original Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp founders including George Colby, who established the camp in 1895. Approach the property with respect; this is an active burial ground for the adjacent spiritualist community.
The Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp, a half-mile south of the cemetery, offers historical walking tours covering the camp's founding, the spiritualist tradition, and the surrounding cemetery. The camp is the longest-operating spiritualist community in the United States.
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