Welcome To DeLand Ghosts
An old hotel with a shadowy guest that won’t leave, a small brick building with larger than life spirits, and a courthouse where an echo cries out over an undeserved execution. DeLand’s specters are a variety of emotionally-charged haunts seeking attention, justice, and peace in the afterlife.
The Crying GhostÂ
One of DeLand’s more standout buildings, the Volusia County Courthouse sports a unique architectural style. However, the restored facade is nothing compared to the legends that were made within. Serial killers were sentenced to death, putting their crime sprees to an end. The courthouse saw the many highs, but also the lowest lows of DeLand — the latter of which tends to manifest in a number of ghostly formations.Â
Venture into the tragic unknown with DeLand Ghosts and hear tales of the most sorrowful specter of the Volusia County Courthouse. Cries echo from an empty courtroom, resonating from the beyond. These aren’t the woeful sounds of a criminal handed justice, though. They’re the pained sobs of a spouse forced to say goodbye to their love forever.
The ghost, believed to be Lucy Furman, stood by her husband despite the blood on his hands. Lucy remains in the courthouse today, her sorrow embedded in the building’s very fabric. Yet, it’s far from the only tragedy that consumes DeLand – discover them all on a heart-pounding DeLand ghost tour.
What Will I See?
Visit DeLand’s Most Haunted Locations, Including:
- The Artisan Downtown Hotel – DeLand’s violent history is embedded in the Artisan Downtown Hotel, a hotspot for vacationers and creepy shadows. Accounts speak of shadows moving along the walls, with few brazen enough to enter guest rooms late at night. Local lore has it that they’re a remnant of the conflicts between the Natives and Spanish centuries ago.
- Volusia County Courthouse – The most vile of souls have entered this courthouse to be handed death sentences. That kind of energy lingers, even long after its conversion into an architecturally striking historical site. Though all manner of villainy has walked through its doors, the courthouse’s primary resident specter is believed to be the wife of a man executed for a very unfortunate accident.
- Athens Theatre – Theaters are a haven for the deceased, as if the performances or nostalgia of live theater is a draw to the afterlife. From a stagehand who suffered for his craft to a starlet who paid the ultimate price for infidelity, the residual apparitions in the theater continue about their business as if they were still alive.
The Drunk of the Wilcox Saloon
Not every relic of DeLand’s past made it into the 21st century. Unfortunately, the Wilcox Saloon didn’t even make it to the 20th. One ill-fated evening in September, a fiery blaze spread throughout DeLand, claiming over 20 buildings, including the Wilcox Saloon. Where it once stood, the energy of the saloon and its more boisterous patrons seeps out into the streets of town.Â
Enjoy a lesson on spirit energy from DeLand Ghosts and hear about the shadows of the Wilcox Saloon. Its physical structure may be gone but the residual energy of its more frequent patrons still lingers, longing for the comfort they once sought in the saloon. A slurred mumbling echoes in the silence of the night, signs that a remnant of the saloon is not far.
Whether it’s the specter of a drunk looking for one last drink or a prominent figure who once enjoyed fame at the scorched saloon remains unknown. All that can be said is that some memory of the saloon still lingers, lost on the streets of DeLand, seeking their favorite haunt.
Why is DeLand so Haunted?
The Doctor is in at DeLand Memorial
At the onset of DeLand’s popularity and growing population, the DeLand Memorial Hospital had the distinction of being more modernized than other hospitals. Of course, that didn’t preclude it from any hospital’s most frequent visitor: death. For over 20 years, DeLand Memorial’s staff worked tirelessly to treat and save all who walked (or was pushed) through its doors. Those who didn’t survive got swept up in the amassing energy that built up over the years.
Listen as DeLand Ghosts unravels the hospital’s history, including the surgeon whose nightmares left an eternal mark. Later turned into a museum, the energy from the hospital’s heyday continues to circulate, manifesting shadows of its past. Though an anguished doctor may be the building’s most notable specter, hospitals are a trove of apparitions and residual hauntings.
Horrifying visions plague the hospital, patients appearing as they did at the moment of their death. But they’re hardly the only terrifying happenings experienced within the building’s walls. Learn about them and more on a spooky stroll with DeLand Ghosts.
The Legacy of DeLand’s Elite
A piece of DeLand’s past, the Stetson Mansion is not short on reminders of its history. Once a mansion owned by the Stetson family, the building has undergone many faces. Having built a name for himself with his hat company, John Stetson used his money to support DeLand and its community. It’s no wonder he’d still have a strong connection to the old town.
Join DeLand Ghosts to glimpse into the past as told through the eyes of the Stetson family. The energy from Stetson’s many parties with the well-to-do flows through the old structure today, calling upon the patriarch himself. John Stetson’s sudden and tragic end created an unbreakable bond with the former mansion, forcing a vision of the patriarch to manifest and patrol his former home.
Though Stetson had pushback from his wife about making the mansion their permanent residence, it seems he may have gotten his wish in the end after all. He’s such a strong presence in the building that even those who never step foot inside claim to feel him nearby.
DeLand’s Most Haunted
A crypt for the whole family, tucked away beneath a 20th-century tower. It’s a peculiarity that sounds more like a legend than historical fact. Yet, it’s believed that the Hulley Tower’s namesake family, Lincoln Hulley and his wife, were interred in a crypt under the tower. It’s a spine-chilling thought and an understandable reason as to why the tower may be haunted today.
About 20 minutes out from DeLand, DeBary Hall is generating its own frights. The 19th-century mansion, formerly owned by wine importer Frederick DeBary, is the perfect venue for a number of ghost stories. Not just one haunt resides within DeBary’s halls, as several female specters have been spotted in hair-raising encounters.
Does an elderly man haunt the rooms of DeLand’s Elk’s Lodge? That’s what many believe after spotting the unidentified ghost roaming through the early-20th century masonic lodge. It’s believed he was once part of the lodge, returning to be amongst something familiar and comforting in the afterlife.
* This is a walking tour and we do not enter privately-owned buildings or private property *
