Paranormal Awareness Radio Show

Our Guest, Doris "Dusty" Smith

This is only a portion of her impressive Biography. We encourage you to read the rest by clicking here.

Doris “Dusty” Smith is a 44 year old Scorpio, twice divorced with a 19 year old son and four dogs. She was born and raised in NY and has lived in the Daytona Beach area since 1979. After loosing her father when she was only 15, she began her adult life. She has an extensive scholastic background, and has traveled all over the U.S. Her two favorite quotes are, “You can tell the morals of a culture by the way they treat their dead” Benjamin Franklin, & "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but, to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, cigarette in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, "WOO HOO what a ride!" Unknown. Now, married to her work, Dusty keeps herself busy with her son, and her interests in the paranormal and death.

Dusty is the Chief Researcher and Founder of the Daytona Beach Paranormal Research Group, Inc. She holds certifications as a ghost hunter and paranormal investigator, as well as several degrees in fields such as biology, psychology and theology that aid her in her scientific approach to the field of the paranormal.

Members of DBPRG, Inc. have always agreed to donate an afternoon per month to historic cemetery preservation & restoration. That is where The International Association of Cemetery Preservationists, Inc. comes into play. Dusty and her “partner in crime”, Kourtnie James formed the Association while on a trip to Savannah Georgia. They turned their respect for the dearly departed into an ever growing organization that now has members worldwide and makes great strides at changing neglected cemeteries into the historically preserved sites they all deserve to be.

The IACP, Inc. & DBPRG, Inc. have adopted three Daytona Beach area cemeteries, one in Seminole County and the group tries to raise funds for them in unique, interesting and fun ways. Gethsemane Cemetery is located in Ormond Beach and is nearing its completion phase…well, it was until the 2004 hurricane season hit the Central Florida area. This site and the diligent work of DBPRG, Inc. & IACP, Inc. members have been recognized by State Representative Evelyn Lynn and members of the Volusia County Council. 

Saints & Sinners Cemetery in Oak Hill, Florida has so much vandalism that it will be decades before even a noticeable difference is made. The vandals have seen fit to stealing grave markers, shooting grave markers, and even dressing deer kill during hunting season on the vaults. The members of DBPRG, Inc & IACP, Inc. have chosen to continue a boycott of the Flowers Bakery Company as stale bakery goods are continually found dumped at this site. 

Mt. Arrarat Cemetery has suffered vandalism similar to this and much more. Every burial site has been broken into and everything from military medals, personal jewelry to even gold teeth and body parts have been stolen. This site has be co-adopted by the members of VFW Post 1590 who make sure that every veteran at this site has an American flag on their grave on Memorial Day as well as Veterans Day.

Paige Jackson Cemetery in Sanford, Florida is a small area that most vandals go unseen in as the location is too far from the main roads.  The day the decision was made to adopt this wonderful site, Smith, James and two other members were witnesses to two young men on quad-runners desecrating grave sites by driving over the sites and headstones.

These all but forgotten sites have no income and no one to care for the fine folks interred in them, so, Dusty also heads up fund raising efforts for these sites.

One way that funds are raised is through her company, “Haunts of the World’s Most Famous Beach” ghost tours.  These tours operate year round and are the only ghost tours on the east coast of the United States to be owned & operated by a certified ghost hunter and active certified paranormal investigator. The stories are REAL and documented as true hauntings by DBPRG, Inc.

These tours have been featured in The Daytona News-Journal, the Orlando Sentinel, the Birmingham Bugle, Florida Travel Magazine, Good Housekeeping Magazine, That’s Entertainment Magazine, An Explorers Guide to Central Florida, The Volusia Review, Hometown News, Daytona Beach Sun Times, Shorelines Magazine, Backstage Pass Magazine, Exclusive Living Magazine, are members of The Daytona Beach Area Visitors and Convention Bureau, The Daytona Area Attractions Association and FLA USA/Visit Florida, and have won the Florida’s Favorite Award for 2003, 2004, 2005 & 2006. Proceeds from these tours benefit the preservation and restoration of the adopted cemeteries.

Dusty is also the author of several Chap Books and books on CD-Rom whose proceeds also benefit the cemetery projects. They are all available through her desktop publishing company, Raven’s Loch Publishing House™. She has authored books on the paranormal including “Ghost Hunting 101: A Guide for the Beginner”, “Confessions of a Central Florida Ghost Hunter”, “Haunting Tales from Central Florida”, and her latest work, “Dread & the Dead Filled the Dunnam House”, (published by Publish America), which is the story of a true haunting in Deltona Florida.  This story was also filmed for an episode on the series, “A Haunting” on The Discovery Channel which aired in the fall of 2006, (9-28-06) and is titled, “A Haunting in Florida” (the production company is also in talks with Dusty about another episode for this series).

She has authored several books on paganism as well. “Wicca 101”, “Making Magickal Incense”, “Interpreting Your Dreams”, “The Burning Times”, and several others.  Also books on cemetery reference material such as, “Voices from the Cities of the Dead” and “Unlocking the Secrets of Secret Societies”, she has more than thirty titles to her credit and is always working on more. 

She also owns, Sacred Raven a metaphysical supply company that makes magickal supplies for those in the pagan community.