PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. \u2013 It might sound crazy, but this is based on a true, horrifying story.<\/p>\n
Most drivers passing through Port St. Lucie along I-95 have likely never even heard of the \u201cDevil\u2019s Tree,\u201d but for those willing to explore the local Oak Hammock Park, it could be an unnerving experience.<\/p>\n
Near the middle of the park is a small clearing with a massive oak tree, with gnarled limbs shooting out in all directions. For the unprepared, it\u2019s a creepy sight.<\/p>\n
A small trail clearing in Port St. Lucie’s Oak Hammock Park where the “Devil’s Tree” is located (Anthony Talcott)<\/p>\n
But what makes the scene all the more eerie is the tree\u2019s ties to an infamous Florida serial killer \u2014 Gerard John Schaefer<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cTHE KILLER COP\u201d<\/p>\n Schaefer was a law enforcement officer in the 1970s, serving as a police officer near Fort Lauderdale and eventually as a deputy in Martin County. This fed into his later moniker as \u201cThe Killer Cop.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilton Manors police applicant photo of Gerard John Schaefer (1970) (Public Domain)<\/p>\n In an interview with Boca Raton Magazine<\/a>, historian Mark Muncy explained that Schaefer had a habit of picking up hitchhikers by the pair before taking them back to an abandoned house and chaining them to a tree.<\/p>\n \u201cHe would do terrible things to them,\u201d Muncy told the magazine. \u201cAnd then he would make them decide which one dies first, kill the other one, and then still do terrible things to the dead one, so that the other one would see what was going to happen to them after they died.\u201d<\/p>\n Investigative photos kept on file at the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office show the remains of Schaefer’s victims. (Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n But court records show that Schaefer was ultimately caught after two of his victims \u2014 a pair of teenage girls he\u2019d captured while they were hitchhiking \u2014 managed to escape their bonds and alert investigators.<\/p>\n Initially, Schaefer was accused of false imprisonment and assault, reportedly having tied the girls by their necks and ankles to a tree, news reports at the time<\/a> show. Schaefer claimed it was meant to be a lesson for the girls not to hitchhike, though the excuse didn\u2019t stop him from getting fired.<\/p>\n Despite the kidnapping, Schaefer was able to post bail shortly after his arrest, and later that year, a couple more teenage girls went missing: Susan Place, 17, and Georgia Jessup, 16.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until around half a year later that their remains were discovered<\/a> buried by a large tree in Port St. Lucie.<\/p>\n An investigative photo kept on file at the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office showing an aerial view of the woods where the girls’ remains were discovered in April 1973. (Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n While much of the area has since been cleared out to make way for the small neighborhood of Oak Hammock, it used to be a heavily wooded site, making it an ideal place for Schaefer to murder the girls.<\/p>\n \u201cPort St. Lucie was just rural nowhere, and it had all these little dirt roads that went around, and that\u2019s where Schaefer had this place that he knew was abandoned and safe for him to hunt,\u201d Muncy told News 6. \u201cAnd so he took them there, and then he tied them to the tree and just did terrible things to them. And then he decapitated them. And then the necrophilia… I mean, it\u2019s everything you can possibly imagine \u2014 this guy being terrible did.”<\/p>\n Old building materials found near the Devil’s Tree, which Muncy said may have once served as the foundation for an abandoned house that Schaefer used. (Anthony Talcott)<\/p>\n However, Muncy explained that Schaefer wasn\u2019t used to operating in this area, so after he stashed the bodies, they were soon found by a homeless man wandering around the area.<\/p>\n After police arrived at the scene, they realized that the girls had been tied to the tree, which mirrored what Schaefer had done with the other two hitchhikers the previous year.<\/p>\n \u201cThey put two and two together, and that\u2019s how they piece together what he had done,\u201d Muncy continued.<\/p>\n Another investigative photo shows law enforcement agents examining the remains of the two girls in Port St. Lucie. (Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n Schaefer was ultimately arrested and found guilty of first-degree murder in the girls\u2019 deaths, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1973 (a U.S. Supreme Court ruling had prevented Florida from implementing the death penalty at this time).<\/p>\n However, investigators believe that Schaefer may have had dozens of other victims<\/a>, based on so-called \u201ctrophies\u201d that they had dug up from Schaefer\u2019s home. <\/p>\n \u201cThere were lots of people\u2019s things (in his room). He was tied to a lot of missing persons cases,\u201d Muncy said. \u201cThe problem was, he swore he was innocent, right? \u2018I didn\u2019t do any of this, and I\u2019m being framed because they need somebody. I know how the police work because I was a cop.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Gerard Schaefer, chats with newsmen in the hall as he escorted to court for sentencing. Schaefer was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of two Broward County girls. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n Regardless, Schaefer was only ever convicted in Place and Jessup\u2019s deaths. To pour salt in the wound, his wife left him for his defense attorney immediately after the conviction, and Schaefer was fatally shanked by a fellow inmate<\/a> decades later in 1995.<\/p>\n But the \u201cDevil\u2019s Tree\u201d itself still stands at Oak Hammock Park.<\/p>\n THE LEGEND OF THE DEVIL\u2019S TREE<\/p>\n The area around it has largely been developed, leaving the tree isolated on the small forest trail next to the neighborhood\u2019s park space.<\/p>\n A closer look, though, reveals that the tree has been gouged and filled with cement at some point in the past.<\/p>\n The Devil’s Tree, with an open hole filled with apparent cement and several gashes along its trunk (Anthony Talcott)<\/p>\n According to Muncy, these features stem from legends about the tree that erupted after Schaefer\u2019s capture.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople say the whole reason he went crazy is because the tree is the devil\u2019s tree. It put him up to this. It called him to bring his victims there,\u201d Muncy explained.<\/p>\n Muncy claimed that the mythos surrounding the tree attracted unwanted attention.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re having all these people come visit it, and people in cloaks… trying to perform rituals there,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the city of Port St. Lucie is like, \u2018We gotta get rid of this damn tree!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n A statue of a small girl left near the remains of the abandoned home Schaefer reportedly used (Anthony Talcott)<\/p>\n Per Muncy, the story goes that city officials hired a couple of men to chop it down with a chainsaw, though the chain ended up breaking. So they went to get another chainsaw, which also stopped working once they tried to cut the tree.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat they did was they take their chainsaws, put them back in their truck and are driving away to get it repaired,\u201d he stated. \u201cAnd I could never find the truth of this, but it might have happened: they said that those two men were killed in a head-on collision while leaving the tree.\u201d<\/p>\n Gouges in the tree are alleged to have been caused by contracted workers trying to fell it (Anthony Talcott)<\/p>\n Muncy added that there are several similar stories out there of people taking pieces of the tree before meeting unfortunate ends, further cementing the tree\u2019s dark reputation.<\/p>\n \u201cNow the city\u2019s like, \u2018We\u2019ve really gotta get rid of this tree.\u2019 So they tried poisoning it, and it didn\u2019t work. There\u2019s that hole in the side of it \u2014 supposedly it dripped black sap,” he said. \u201cAnd of course, the reason that people kept going with the cloaks, collecting that sap to make Satanic candles.\u201d<\/p>\n With the tree\u2019s reputation putting pressure the city, Muncy said, local officials decided to fill it with cement.<\/p>\n However, the tree instead grew around it, creating a trunk that now can\u2019t be cut down.<\/p>\n The trunk of the Devil’s Tree as it appears nowadays (Anthony Talcott)<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t appear as though the tree poses much of a threat nowadays, though a local man told News 6 that he still sees \u201cSatanists\u201d come out to visit the tree some nights, placing candles near its base.<\/p>\n BUT WHAT\u2019S THE TRUTH?<\/p>\n News 6 reached out to the city of Port St. Lucie to confirm whether these legends had any validity.<\/p>\n As it turns out \u2014 the answer is a resounding \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe tree everyone thinks is the \u201cDevil Tree\u201d is NOT the tree that is associated with the murder and discovery of two female bodies in the early 1970\u2019s by former Martin County Sheriff\u2019s Deputy Gerard John Schaefer. The tree known as the Devil Tree is a Southern Live oak, probably over 100 years old. <\/p>\n As a healthy, mature live oak in a public park, the City has not attempted to have the tree removed in the past 25 years. Any action to remove the tree prior to 25 years ago is not known. <\/p>\n However, there is evidence to suggest that over the years, unknown persons have attempted to damage, mar and\/or deface the tree, including chopping bark off the main trunk, spray painting the trunk and on at least one occasion, setting a small fire at the base of the tree.”<\/p>\n Sarah Prohaska, Communications Director for the City of Port St. Lucie<\/p>\n According to Prohaska, some unknown people tried to burn the tree years ago by setting fire to the trunk. <\/p>\n Although the fire was extinguished, it created a cavity in the trunk that had to be filled with cement to prevent potential wood rot and discourage further arson attempts.<\/p>\n As for the story about work crews being killed by the tree? Prohaska said it is \u201c100% urban legend.\u201d<\/p>\n [BELOW: The terrifying story behind Florida\u2019s most evil tree]<\/p>\n \u201cVarious versions of the urban legend include stories of chainsaws that wouldn\u2019t start or the chains not being able to cut through the bark of the tree,\u201d she told News 6. \u201cStaff is not aware of any story involving workmen dying in a car accident.\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless of the truth, the huge oak tree is accessible to the public, and the local trails can serve as a fun way to pass the time outdoors.<\/p>\n To find the so-called \u201cDevil\u2019s Tree,\u201d simply head to the nearby parking lot and walk up the path along the local canal. Eventually, you can take a left turn onto a path that will lead directly to it.<\/p>\n The canal path leading to the Devil’s Tree (Anthony Talcott)<\/p>\n In the meantime, you can check out plenty of other stories about odd and fascinating places across the state by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n