The term devil’s chair (or "haunted chair") in folklore is frequently attached to a class of funerary or memorial sculpture common in the United States during the nineteenth century and often associated with legend tripping. Nineteenth-century graveyards sometimes included carved chairs for the comfort of visitors.[1] In this function, the object was known as a "mourning chair," and cemeteries have since provided benches for similar purposes, most often movable units of the type used in parks, but also specimens in the tradition of the carved chairs.[2] Some carved chairs were probably not intended for use as anything but monuments, while the "monubench" is still commercially available.[3] Once the original purpose of these chairs fell out of fashion, superstitions developed in association with the act of sitting in them. In a typical example, local young people dare one another to visit the site, most often after dark, at midnight, or on some specified night such as Halloween or New Year’s Eve. Variously, the stories suggest the person brave enough to sit in the chair at such a time may be punished for impudence or rewarded for courage.
Missouri[edit] The Devil's Chair or Baird Chair as it is officially named in the Highland Park Cemetery of Kirksville, Missouri was placed in the cemetery by William Baird a prominent banker (who's bank building is now Pagliai's pizza) and is involved in "numerous legends of a type widely replicated across the U.S., especially in rural and small-town communities, and beloved of young people.... Some versions say that something dreadful will happen to the person so bold as to be seated in it at midnight (or on a particular evening, such as Halloween) -- a hand will emerge from the grave and drag the impious one down to the underworld. Other versions suggest the intrepid one will be rewarded." The chair itself was sculpted out of concrete by Charles Grassle of the Baird and Grassle marble company Kirksville MO and placed as a memorial for Anna and David Baird. Despite popular belief it does not act as a marker of any grave.[8]
my ghost hunting buddy Tracy & I will have to make a road trip....
615 S Jamison St, Kirksville, MO 63501
Regular Hours Mon - Fri 9:00 am - 4:30 pm Sat 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
The actual name of this marble monument located in a Missouri cemetery is the “Baird Chair,” but locals know it better as the Devil’s Chair. The myth of the Devil’s Chair says that something dreadful will happen to the person so bold as to be seated in it at midnight (or on a particular evening, such as Halloween). In the case of the Baird Chair, an undead hand will emerge from the grave and drag the seated person to Hell. This chair was placed by William Baird, a prominent banker in Kirksville. Baird himself is not buried at the cemetery. Instead being buried across town in the only mausoleum in Forest-Llewellyn cemetery. In addition, Baird’s home is now the chamber of commerce. The bank he owned is now Pagliai’s pizza, where a picture of William Baird standing next to his car in front of the bank can be seen on the wall. Highland park cemetery is also the resting place of Harry Laughlin, the father of Eugenics in the United States and arguably one of the largest influences in Hitler’s actions against Jews. Though Harry Laughlin’s grave is unmarked, he is buried with other family members and a small HS can be found on the back of the stone.
