Haunted DeLand and the Ghosts of West Volusia County

Book excerpt: Author and Haunted DeLand tour guide Dusty Smith recounts a century of ghostly history in the bustling historic community of DeLand, the Athens of Florida. Specters include those of Jeannette Barnhill, whose ghost drove her real estate mogul widower mad by standing behind him to keep a constant watch on his accounting books, and of the guest killed in the 1917 Putnam Hotel fire who leaves the smell of burnt wood and flesh in the air. Forlorn lovers Ruby and Joshua, a freed slave and a plantation foreman, and Suzanna Brown, who jumped to her death with unrequited love for a Stetson professor, are included, as well as the ghostly horse-drawn hearse that has been seen parked alongside what was once the Old Casket Company. From steamboat captains to Spiritualist camp residents, DeLands ghosts are sure to delight visitors and residents alike in this stirring account of the areas historic haunts.