Sit — if you dare...

Nothing puts a damper on a pleasant evening out with friends like being grabbed by the hand of Satan and ripped through the gates of hell to spend an eternity in the Underworld. According to local lore, this is one of many possible consequences for anyone brave enough to sit in the legendary Devil's Chair, located in the Highland Park Cemetery in Kirksville.

The Baird Chair of Kirksville is one of several similar cemetery monuments scattered throughout the country, in states such as Florida, New York and Vermont, that are referred to as "devil's chairs."

Monika Williams, co-founder of the Missouri Paranormal and Crypto Society, said that in the late 1800s, the chairs were used as places for cemetery visitors to sit and grieve or to talk with those who had passed.

"Some religions have either benches or chairs as a way of leaving an offering," Williams said. "That was the place you could lay items, and they would go to the loved one that had passed. This more than likely led to someone making up stories."

Williams said the term "devil's chair" possibly stems from a story, which said the devil hired three women to gather rocks and supplies in order for him to construct a castle. Upon their failure to complete the task, the devil supposedly became upset.

"As he got angrier, lava flowed from his eyes and just the way the lava formed, it looked like a chair," Williams said. "This oddity of the earth was referred to as the devil's chair."

As for the Kirksville Devil's Chair, very little information is known about the inhabitants of plot C-63 and the chair marking the inhabitant's final resting place.

The stone chair bears only the name "Baird" and serves as the grave marker and monument for marble cutter John C. Baird and his wife. The original Highland Park Cemetery Association superintendent, John C. Baird was one of the four men who founded the Highland Park Cemetery in 1895 with the purchase of 40 acres of land at the east end of Normal Street.

Resting in the core of the cemetery, this moss and spider web-covered stone chair is the center for a number of urban legends and constantly evolving stories. Like many urban legends, there are an endless number of stories and variations surrounding the infamous chair and the consequences that will fall upon those who sit on it at a certain time.

"Some people say that on Halloween, if you go sit in the chair, you'll die within a

year or if you sit in the chair on New Year's Eve at midnight, something bad will happen to you," Williams said. "I think it has just kind of grown and grown and grown as people made up stories."

"You hear ‘Devil's Chair,' and you just assume by the name that there is some kind of witchcraft or evil associated with it," said senior Phil Denight, a "survivor" of the Devil's Chair. While Denight, who has sat in the chair three times, heard that circling the chair supposedly is the key to provoking the spirits, junior Alex Meneely has heard that sitting in the chair three times on a full moon will earn the trespasser a trip to hell. Meneely, who has never sat in the chair, said he enjoys the fact that there is no consistency between stories.

"It's an older myth that started and is just reinvented," Meneely said. "It's kind of fun that you get to make your own story."

While some sit in the chair to prove themselves, others like Williams, think it is disrespectful to sit on the grave marker or monument of the deceased.

"I find it a bit disrespectful," Williams said. "That's your last stopping ground, for some people. That should be a place of rest and peace, and it's upsetting to me to know that kids and teenagers go into the cemetery at night and party and say, ‘Oh, let's go sit in the chair!' I don't think that chair should be used for that purpose."

While she does think that legitimate research should be carried out by paranormal experts, she doesn't believe just anyone should test the legend.

"I've heard many stories of kids going there late at night, and it's just a good way to get the cops after you," Williams said.

On the other hand, a simple "Do it!" conveys the feelings of Denight and others who see only innocence in the act and think others should experience it.

While there is debate about the act of sitting in the chair itself, the real question still remains: Is there any truth behind the multitude of urban legends surrounding the Devil's Chair? Although many test the chair and attempt to prove their courage, not all believe the folklore and stories surrounding the chair.

"I'm not one to kind of believe in the Devil's Chair, but I mean, if it's past dark and you're in a cemetery, you're feeling kind of creeped out," Denight said.

Unlike Denight, Williams thinks there may be more to the chair than meets the eye.

"I'm going to say that almost any cemetery is going to have paranormal activity, because not everyone is going to be resting after they're gone," Williams said. "As far as this particular chair and that particular cemetery, I don't know. It's always something worth checking out."