The Devil’s Tree

Posted: 10.21.2020 | Updated: 05.22.2025

Found in Port St. Lucie, the Devil’s Tree is a big oak in a county park on canal C-24. A mighty oak, an ordinary tree, nothing to write home about… or so one would think. The Devil’s Tree has an evil, macabre, and incredibly blood-soaked reputation in the state of Florida.

Before we delve into the history of this massive oak and the infamous Devil’s Tree killer, book a tour with Miami Ghosts for a spooky trip into the darker side of Florida.

Where is the Devil Tree?

As mentioned, the Devil’s Tree sits in Port St. Lucie, Florida, just outside of Miami. It currently resides in Oak Hammock State Park. There is a knot in the tree about 10 feet off of the ground, shaped like a goat’s head with branches protruding like horns. This is one reason why it’s referred to as the Devil’s Tree.

However, there is a much more sinister reason why this tree is so infamous. One of Florida’s most prolific serial killers committed heinous acts involving this tree. While this monster may not be as documented as Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer, his odious legacy left an irrefutable mark on the state of Florida.

Florida’s First Serial Killer

The story of the Devil’s Tree begins on January 8, 1971, way before Hammock Park was created. The tale begins in a most bloody and shocking manner when a serial killer sexually attacks and mutilates two teenage girls. The monster, after having his fill with the two girls, hangs them from the oak tree. He then buries the two victims in a shallow grave underneath the tree… only to return numerous times later to have his way with the decomposing bodies. 

The man’s name: Gerard John Schaefer. 

Schaefer began experimenting with bondage and sadomasochism at around age 12. The man would inform his state psychiatrist that he loved to tie himself up to trees and get sexually excited by the lack of freedom. Schaefer would explicitly hurt and pleasure himself thinking about assaulting women from a very early age. 

Schaefer’s earliest childhood memories were that he desired to be a lady. This was because his sister was favored by his alcoholic, verbally abusive father.

By the age of 14, Schaefer had a sweetheart named Cindy. Their relationship was sordid and strange. He would make her take part in role-play fantasies. These fantasies specifically revolved around raping scenarios.  

Further Down the Rabbit Hole

In 1966, Schaefer tried to enter the priesthood but was rejected because he “lacked faith”. By now, Gerard Schaefer was a ticking time-bomb. That same year, faithless, and going down a black hole the bomb exploded. Gerard had graduated to animal cruelty by this point. 

Gerard was so angry that he just quit the Catholic religion and allowed his inner demons to run amok in his cerebellum. The bomb went kaboom and Gerard decided to start his true calling… he became a professional serial killer.

Everything came to a head in 1966. On October 2, 1966, Nancy Leichner age 20, and Pamela Nater age 21 were having fun with their boyfriends in Alexander Springs Park in the Ocala National Forest. While the boys dove and played in the lake, the girls went out for a stroll… Their bodies turned up – molested and choked – a couple of hours after their boyfriends called in the cops and a manhunt ensued.

They were Gerard’s first victims and he had gotten away with the deed. Surprisingly, he wasn’t even a suspect. Schaefer turned to law enforcement as a profession, graduating as a patrolman at the end of 1971 at age 25.

Suspicion

On July 21, 1972, Schaefer plucked two teenage girls named Nancy Trotter and Paula Sue Wells from the streets. The two girls were hitchhiking. The next day, he kidnapped them, took them to a remote woodland, and tied them to trees where he threatened to kill them or sell them into prostitution.

Schaefer was about to get rid of the girls when his radio screeched. He was called away to a police emergency. He left both girls tied up and promised to return. Miraculously they managed to wiggle out of their bonds. That call saved their lives.

The girls, aged 17 and 18, escaped their ropes and ran to the nearest police station – their kidnapper’s own station. When Schaefer returned to the groves and discovered that his would-be victims had vanished, he called his station and insisted that he had done “something foolish”.

He went on a longwinded explanation. He told the Sheriff that he had simply pretended to kidnap the two girls in order to “scare them silly.” Schaefer’s boss didn’t buy it. Gerard was stripped of his badge and slapped with a battery of charges. 

Somehow, in spite of everything, Schaefer managed to post his bail and was released from prison. Two months later, on September 27, 1972, Schaefer abducted, tortured, and butchered Susan Place, aged 17, and Georgia Jessup, 16. He buried their corpse right underneath the now-famous Devil Tree in Oak Hammock Park in Port Saint Lucie, Florida.

Arrest

Months later, after Schaefer had beaten the rap for kidnapping Nancy and Paula, a couple of hikers came upon the decomposing and mutilated remains of Place and Jessup. The autopsy revealed that both girls had been tied to a tree at some point. Upon further investigation turned up documented eye-witness account that the girls were known, hitchhikers. There were too many similarities; a warrant was issued for Schaefer’s house. 

In Schaefer’s boudoir, the police recovered violent stories he had written. These stories were full of accounts of the torture, rape, and murder of women, whom he routinely referred to as “w****s” and “s***s”. A diary of all his victims. Even more damning, the experts found personal possessions such as jewelry, diaries, and in one case, teeth. These trophies were collected from at least eight young women and girls who had gone missing in recent years. 

Schaefer was charged with the deaths of Place and Jessup. In October 1973, he was pronounced guilty and given two life sentences. Officials soon declared that he was linked to around 30 missing women and girls.

On December 3, 1995, Schaefer was found knifed to death in his cell. Fellow inmate Vincent Rivera was sentenced in 1999 of stabbing Schaefer and had 53 years and ten months added to the life-plus-twenty years’ sentence he was already serving for double murder. 

“I am probably at least one of the top SKs serial killers of this century,” I am certainly one of the most interesting and maybe the most articulate and introspective. I am no doubt the most skillful killer….I killed women in all ways from shooting, strangling, stabbing, and beheading to odd ways such as drowning, smothering and crucifixion.”

Gerard John Schaefer

The Tale of The Devil Tree

How many women were tied and killed on the Devil Tree is still up for debate, nonetheless many believe that the Devil’s Tree is permeated with the darkness that Gerard John Schaefer freed into the world. It is a skin-crawling locale full of nasty things and supernatural events.

Many have tried to rid the world of the Devil’s Tree. People have tried to poison it, fill it with cement, and set it on fire. Yet, the tree still remains. Throughout its years of existence, there have been many unexplained phenomena occurring in the area.

The Curse of the Devil’s Tree

• Satanists heard about the killings and chose the Devil’s Tree as a new sacrificial site.
• More than 4 women have been found dead in the nearby area. Many showing signs of having been tied or chained to a tree.
• There are countless reports of hikers hearing odd sounds and singing through the pines and oaks. 
• Hooded figures are known to prowl the area.
• The trails have become ominous and vegetation has even ceased to grow in certain patches. 
• Authorities have made various arrests in the area, particularly Klu Klux Klan members, and other white supremacist groups.
• The area is filled with ghost sightings. Many believe that Gerard’s victims haunt the forest.  
• Folks have taken a piece of the tree, and oftentimes run into misfortune immediately afterward. 
• It’s been described that the screams of young women can be heard emanating from the nearby bathrooms.

Haunted Miami

Have you ever seen the Devil’s Tree in Port St. Lucie for yourself? If you’re interested in True Crime stories, it is worth taking a visit. Just be wary of the encounters you might just have while you’re there.

Book a ghost tour with Miami Ghosts to explore more haunted places on the most haunted Miami ghost tour you’ll ever experience.

Want to learn about other hauntings in Miami, Florida, and the greater U.S.? Follow our blog, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram for more of the eeriest hotels and historic buildings across the country. 

Sources:

• https://cbs12.com/news/local/haunted-florida-the-devil-tree
• https://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/schaefer-gerard.htm
• https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2007/07/19/41-years-later-killings-solved/
• https://torontosun.com/news/crime/crime-hunter-how-damn-weird-florida-cop-became-a-serial-killer
• https://books.google.com/books?id=7K4amzFbIrYC&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=St.+Thomas+Aquinas+High+School+Gerard+Schaefer&source=bl&ots=xYZXzXo-11&sig=IrrVelIDattEMG4MVndcjeeU5nw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi11_j5yuPbAhWTAHwKHaoSBKI4ChDoAQhDMAg#v=onepage&q=St.%20Thomas%20Aquinas%20High%20School%20Gerard%20Schaefer&f=false
• https://thought.is/gerard-john-schaefer-a-serial-killer-who-wrote-killer-fiction/
• https://bocamag.com/paranormal-historian-mark-muncy-talks-the-devils-tree/