Across the street from the Fernandina Beach High School is a little dirt path that leads to an ancient oak tree with a stone marker nearby. This is, allegedly, the burial site of “Wiccademous” – a young girl who was convicted of witchcraft in the 1600s and buried beneath this tree. Local students swear that when you walk down the path towards the tree, the ground will start shaking beneath your feet. (Possibly because there’s a large drainage pipe buried directly underneath?) Others have vanished down the path, never to be seen again.
Never mind that there are no records of any settlements in this area in the 1600s… this story has been around for at least a hundred years now, and it looks like it’ll stay around for at least another hundred!
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Geographic Information
- Address:
- 435 Citrona Dr
Fernandina Beach, FL 32034
United States
Get Directions » - GPS:
- 30.66247299999999, -81.445245
- County:
- Nassau County, Florida
- Nearest Towns:
- Fernandina Beach, FL (1.1 mi.)
Saint Marys, GA (7.6 mi.)
Yulee, FL (9.8 mi.)
Kings Bay Base, GA (11.8 mi.)
Kingsland, GA (17.4 mi.)
Atlantic Beach, FL (22.8 mi.)
Callahan, FL (23.9 mi.)
Nassau Village-Ratliff, FL (24.0 mi.)
Neptune Beach, FL (24.4 mi.)
Jacksonville Beach, FL (25.6 mi.)
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Disclaimer: The stories posted here are user-submitted and are, in the nature of "ghost stories," largely unverifiable. HauntedPlaces.org makes no claims that any of the statements posted here are factually accurate. The vast majority of information provided on this web site is anecdotal, and as such, should be viewed in the same light as local folklore and urban legends.
This is absolutely a fake, made up story. But I have to admit, I thought it was cool when I heard, not felt, the ground rattle when I skipped English class to witness for myself what my friends described. What’s great is the same tale told above was told to me in 1996 and still passed along today. It is from a drain line that rattles when cars pass by. There is a stone marker but it is a survey mark from the Army Corp of Engineers and the tree is a large not ancient, Cedar. Sorry folks…
I heard about it so much… This is the real local legend… Sometimes the spirit of Wiccademonus will follow the intruders home. If this happens, you will dream of the girl two nights in a row, and if you visit the grave after the second night, you will see her apparitiion that is if you are brave enough to go back… Hey Michael you think this is so fake, you must have not heard about the spirit of Wiccademous… Everybody at Fernandina Beach High knew it. I am still believe there are some paranormal activity still going on there… I has exprienced it of this when I was young boy…
Dude, I grew up here and have skipped school there and the only thing that’s there is a drain of some type. You can actually hear metal on metal thumping. Also, the ground doesn’t shake, it bumps a couple of times and may do it once or twice a week. I think it has something to do with the tide and the Green Way Preserve, that’s just south of here. No haunted ground at all, lol!
When I went to FBHS in the 90’s, this place was called shaky ground. I have visited it many times. The is a large drainage system that runs under the ground hence the ground movement. I have done research on this. Although the local legend is a good one, the city of Fernandina Beach begs to differ.
Has anyone notice the human standing on the right side of the picture.
the place at the tree was a pipe that ran from ITT to a pump station to south flech a little way back from the light house rental on the beach,,,look to the right as you head north and you will spot the pump station,,,,as kids this was a short cut to the beach as we would walk the pipe and was a dump site for locals back in the 50s and 60s ,,,I think on south 12th there is part of the pipe still running east above ground,,,the pipe was removed due to green way as far as the witch I know of no such tale,,,I do know of a murder or hanging in the late 40s maybe early 50 some wee close to tree,,,,there was tails of a ghost as a kid but no witch,,,,,,,,
maddog
i see like a man in uniform
I graduated from Fernandina Beach High School in 2005 and I never once heard the story of wiccademous, but skipped school often and we played back there all the time they called it the Outdoor Learning Center where some of our science teachers and our biology teachers actually took us out there and did really cool experiments and used it as a place to learn about nature then turned into a wonderful part of the greenway that we have there as a nature trail. Unfortunately now the property is being sold and will probably be used to build more stupid houses
Wrong location, but cool story. The trees are too small in the location mentioned and 1600’s is too earlier for settlement in the area. I would say 1800’s and look for bigger oaks. The school and road were not there prior to the 50’s, I think. The road mentioned was an old dump access road, used until the early to mid 70’s. I’m inclined to improve the story with more accurate background and more difficult to disprove information. The pipe was an old line from Rayonier and noise was likely coming from a connection to the mill…about 1- 1 1/2 miles west.
Ya it got me good the first time but it is fake it is a bull head T on plumbing under ground still fun to get first timers hahaha we call it the ghost of nickermalia sorry about the buzz kill and I am not sure it is still their
It was the pipeline from the paper mill that ran to the beach. I’m not sure what year the paper mill closed the pipeline and removed. It was still there in the 70’s and 80’s. The mill used to flush water through the line and emptied it in to the ocean. When the water was pushed through the pipe the ground moved and it made a noise. Almost everyone knew what caused it. If someone new came to the island it was a good way to scare them. So you’d make up a story and take them out there in the woods and wait for the ground to move. It was good fun. The mill has long since closed the pipeline but people go out there and think they feel the ground move. It’s become a legend because most people are transplants and have only heard the stories through word of mouth. There’s a subdivision there now. I’m sure the story will change and get better with time. It was pretty much like sniped hunting or cow tipping that went on in Yulee. It was something funny to watch. By the way cows are awake if they’re standing and a small cow weighs around 900lbs. I never seen a cow tipped. I have seen a startled cow chase someone around a field at night.