A ghastly break-away in time for Halloween.

By Maggie FitzRoy
Shorelines Staff Writer

Poor Alena Smith. Her final resting place, the Pinewood Cemetery in Daytona Beach , was once meant to be her homestead. Her father, wealthy businessman John Smith, planned to give her the 4 1/2-acre plot near the sea as a wedding gift -- as soon as she met the man of her

But Alena never met such a man. She died young, of smallpox, in 1877 and became the first resident of Pinewood. Many say they've seen her ghost roaming the graveyard grounds, dressed in a white wedding gown and veil.

As I peered through the bars of the cemetery's tall black fence, at the tombstones that covered the hilly terrain, I hoped to catch a glimpse of Alena. Or any of the ghosts that tour guide Dusty Smith was telling us about on the Haunts of the World's Most Famous Beach Ghost Tour.

"The stories you hear tonight are documented, true hauntings. There are several points along our route where you might hear foot steps behind us," Smith said. "Please turn around to be sure it's not a real person before you scream."

At this time of the year, I was in the mood for a ghost tour. When I learned that Smith is a certified ghost hunter and paranormal researcher, I signed on for her tour. I know there are such tours in St. Augustine , closer to home, but the fact that she gives ghost tours in a city known for its sun, sand, motorcycles and sexy race cars intrigued me. Daytona Beach doesn't exactly attract tourists who are looking for historic places -- haunted or otherwise.

I arrived just in time for Smith's 90-minute tour, which starts at 7:30 p.m. most nights of the year in a gas station parking lot across Main Street from the cemetery.

I joined about a dozen other people who were gathering around her.

"You'll know me, I'll be the one holding a lantern," she'd told me over the phone when I made reservations. Smith, who wears a long black dress for the occasion, structures her tour around the cemetery, where many of the city's finest citizens are buried.

Pinewood is the fourth most active paranormal cemetery in Florida , said Smith, who helped conduct a survey in 1998 to determine which of the state's cemeteries are active and why.

Smith is a member of the International Ghost Hunters Society, an organization with 17,500 members in 88 countries. She earned her paranormal research certificate from Flamel College , a school in Sacramento , Calif. , which offers an non-traditional curriculum with instruction in the esoteric arts.

Smith said she spent eight years researching the city's history and three years inside the cemetery searching for evidence of ghosts. She owns about $20,000 worth of ghost-hunting equipment -- including cameras, video cameras, motion detectors, thermometers and electromagnetic-field detectors.

While she didn't bring any of those items along with her on the tour, she did bring a ghost guide's most important tool -- the ability to tell a good story.

"Keep your noses in tune," she told us as we set out, because some spirits trail odors. Male ghosts often smell of pipe smoke, females of lavender. And one of the ghosts on the tour "has taken to pinching ladies on the derriere," she said. Watch out.

Fellow tour participant Darla Van Alphen, who was standing next to me, said she believed in ghosts. She brought her husband, Fred, on the tour to celebrate his 45th birthday. They'd been to ghost tours in Key West , Savannah and New Orleans .

"If you believe in angels, you believe in ghosts," she said. "We just like taking walking tours and this is a good way to get out in the evening."

As we stood near the cemetery's main entrance, Smith began with a history of the place and Alena's story. By age 12, Alena had her wedding dress planned in detail, down to the last button. Because she never got to wear it, folklore has it that she's jealous of living brides.

Smith once asked one of her researchers don a bridal gown and traipse through the grounds after dark to see if it was true. The researcher was enveloped by a thick white mist.

"Alena!" yelled a fellow tourist as we proceeded.

We circled the cemetery, strolling along the sidewalk that surrounds it; stopping every few feet for another tale.

Through the years, homeless people and mischievous teenagers have vandalized the graveyard, making some of the residents plenty mad, Smith said. In recent years, since the Gothic-looking fence was installed, the property has been more secure at night. But Smith said hauntings pick up when final resting places have been disturbed.

Cost of the tour: $8 per person; free for children under age 6 and police, fire, and military personnel Directions from the Beaches: Interstate 95 south to U.S. 92, which is International Speedway Boulevard . Proceed east, cross a bridge to beach. The second light is Peninsula Drive , go left to the corner of Main Street and Peninsula . Tours start from the Kangaroo convenience store. Reservations are necessary. Call Dusty Smith at (386) 253-6034.

She told us about Capt. Bill McCoy, a rum runner during Prohibition whose reputation originated the term "the real McCoy." His rum was popular because he never watered it down like his competition did. His career ended the day he fired a cannon at the Coast Guard. Smith said it can't be proven that he is buried at Pinewood, but some of his relatives are. Some people believe he visits.

Bikers who used to live across the street often complained to police that they were disturbed by loud sounds of drunken laughter, breaking glass and old-style saloon songs, Smith said. "Sometimes they'd hear someone shout, 'Is this the real McCoy?'"

She told the story of Charles Burgoyne, philanthropist and former mayor of Daytona Beach , who died in unexpectedly in 1916. His wife, Mary, started wearing long black mourning dresses. Every day, until the day she died, she walked through town to Pinewood, carrying flowers to place on his grave.

"Charles' spirit has never been seen," Smith said. "But Mary's spirit is very active in Daytona."

And when the time was right, she told us about the derriere-pinching ghost, a young man who was murdered in a house that once stood across the street. As we stood in front of that property, now an empty field, I stayed alert for a pinch that never came.

Fellow tourist Peter Willey of New Hampshire may have captured his picture. He aimed his camera into the darkness and clicked. Smith encourages people to take pictures because sometimes ghosts appear on developed prints.

I was disappointed to learn we'd never actually go into the cemetery that night because it closes at dusk. But that's probably just as well. It was plenty spooky from the outside.

And while we never saw any apparitions, Smith's stories were fun, told with just the right amount of seriousness and humor to believe they could be true. By the time we'd circled the block, we were back where we started.

I asked Smith if she was busier than usual this time of year. She is, but said she stays busy year round. She's passionate about helping the dead, donating part of her proceeds to preservation, restoration and research of historic cemeteries around the city.

Smith gives tours seven days a week except during bike weeks and major holidays, including Halloween.

"I don't give tours on Halloween out of respect for the dead," she said. "It's their night to howl."