Today we’d like to introduce you to David Sloan.
Hi David, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m originally from Pennsylvania. My kindergarten teacher told us stories about her ghost each morning at the start of class –– a Native American spirit who lived behind her walls and threw her cat down the stairs. On the last day of class, she showed us a photo of the spirit and I was hooked. Ghosts became a fascination.
I moved to Florida in 1988 to pursue a degree in Hospitality Management at FIU. After graduation, I managed cruise ships for several years. On a trip to Scotland, I came across a ghost tour and was blown away to see that people made a living telling ghost stories. Ghost tours were not a thing in the United States at the time.
There were only a couple of them in the entire country. I quit my corporate job when I returned and moved to Key West to launch a ghost tour. The spirits took over from there.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
People laughed when I told them I was starting a ghost tour. You could see the pity on their faces. The usual comment was, “Oh, that’s a cute idea.” I slept on my friend’s kitchen floor for a couple of weeks and had a hell of a time finding anyone willing to talk about ghosts.
I packed my bags to leave town, but something intervened. I got lost and couldn’t find my way off the island. After thirty minutes I was fuming. A man in a suit appeared in my passenger seat and said, “Go back to the library.” “I don’t know where the fucking library is!” I yelled. Then the man disappeared. The fact that a ghost was giving me directions never even crossed my mind.
I looked up to see a “library parking only” sign and pulled into the waiting spot. This lead to an encounter with a Key West historian who provided a slew of information on historical hauntings and it changed the course of my life. The business didn’t take off right away. I spent all of my savings and almost went out of business several times. As the business started to grow, people paid attention.
Tour guides stole my scripts and sold them to people launching competing tours; several collaborations soured; a divorce threatened to shut the company down; and the people who used to say “That’s a cute idea.” were replaced with people saying, “I had that idea before you. I just never did anything with it.”
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I make my living as an author, publisher, and ghost hunter.
Through that, I’ve become an unofficial ambassador for Key West and the Florida Keys. The Florida Keys Bucket List and New Key West Bucket List are my bestsellers. They are packed with offbeat adventures and local advice that gives visitors an understanding of the islands before they even arrive.
I’m also an expert on Key lime pie. Not just the preparation, but the history behind Key West’s native dessert. I’ve authored The Key West Key Lime Pie Cookbook, and Key Lime Pie: An Intriguing History of Key West’s Native Dessert.
I love tracing legends back to their origins and digging through archives. I’ve solved some of Key West’s biggest mysteries, including the identity of Key lime pie’s mysterious creator, the true origins of Key West’s notoriously haunted Robert the Doll, and the truth about what happened to Key West’s fire chief Joseph “Bum” Farto when he disappeared after a cocaine trafficking conviction.
But that’s what I do during the day. I’m a bit of a ghost freak. I’ve published several books about hauntings in Key West and I’m a panelist and researched Scared & Alone. At night I run ghost hunts in an old Civil War fort that is home to the world’s most haunted doll.
Last year, I discovered that my great, great, great grandfather’s Civil War regiment helped build the fort. He was Corporal David Livingston Sloan of the Pennsylvania 47th Volunteers. Key West was under Union control during the war. I’m named after him. I’m David Livingston Sloan IV.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I don’t like to credit anything to good luck, as it implies a passive role. I’m a big fan of good fortune though, and I’ve been blessed with a lot of it.
I feel like I’m always being guided to incredible experiences, opportunities, and encounters, but they’re not going to happen if I spend the day in bed. What would happen if I were lucky. Instead, I get up and go out knowing that the world has some great things in store.
I try to keep myself open to whatever it presents. Good fortune often presents itself. I wish I could take credit for some of the great things I’ve accomplished, but some other force figured all of that out. I try to keep an eye out for the direction it wants me to go.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dls4productions.com
- Instagram: @davidLsloan
- Facebook: @floridakeys
