Haunting Hunting
Discovery Channel peeks inside 'wierd' Deltona home

By Audrey Parente
Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- When things got "weird" at the Dunnam house in Deltona, with apparitions, voices and moving objects, Edd and Beth Dunnam questioned their sanity.
They were embarrassed to talk about what they saw: "A guy sitting on the bed with his head in his arms," Edd Dunnam said. "For months I tried to find out why there were cold spots in the house, always in the same place, where you could see your breath," he said. The Dunnams' story recently captured the interest of filmmakers for the Discovery Channel series "A Haunting." Filming began here over the weekend for an hour-long episode to air about June. Several years ago, when the incidents happened, Dunnam involved a Daytona Beach Paranormal Research Group headed by Doris "Dusty" Smith of Holly Hill in an investigation. What Smith said she found was "a dangerous and frightening situation which drove this family from their home." The investigation also led Smith to write a book, "Dread and the Dead Filled the Dunnam House," printed by Publish America. Liz Douglass of New Dominion Pictures, headquartered in Virginia Beach, Va., said by phone that her "researchers found the story," and did some of their own research. Finally, this weekend, New Dominion sent a crew here "to conduct on-camera interviews." The production company shot the first six episodes of "A Haunting," which are currently rerunning on Discovery Channel. A new series of 20 shows begins airing in March, Douglass said. "We do the re-enactment at our studio in Virginia Beach," she said, "but we like to get video of the area to intersperse throughout the show, including Deltona neighborhoods -- just to give a feel for the community." On Saturday, Ray Dean Mize, director, and Michael Bratkowski, cameraman, both from Los Angeles, interviewed the Dunnams, who now live in Orlando, and traveled through West Volusia filming "establishing shots," such as Deltona Streets, lakes, swamps and the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand.

On Sunday, the crew, including Andrew Carter, a freelance soundman from Lake Mary, set up in a private home in Daytona Beach to interview Smith. House lights were doused, a skylight was covered and a sheet was draped on one wall. Green and blue gel background lights were lit and the director pored over notes, then peered at a video display only he and the cameraman could see. Red-haired, green-eyed Smith, dressed in red velvet, was asked to re-powder her face from the cameraman's makeup kit. The camera rolled, and the tale was told about how Smith's crew went out to document what was going on and "cleanse the location," Smith said. "We cleansed and cleansed and cleansed, but whatever was there did not want to leave," she said, so the Dunnam's moved out. In a phone interview, Edd Dunnam said he was renting a house on Hancock Drive in Deltona where it all happened. "It was a really nice house, with a lake across the street, but one morning I woke up and smelled smoke," Dunnam said. "I thought there was a fire, so I went running out of the master bedroom toward the children's rooms." The 1-year-old was asleep in one room. Two older boys shared another room, but they were not home at the time, he said. Smoke smelled like it was coming from the boys' room, so he opened the door. "There was a guy, sitting on the bed, with his head in his arms, and you could see through him," Dunnam recalled. "He disappeared, but there was a big cold spot and I could see my breath. Later it all escalated, from voices to moaning." Of the experience, he said: "Who knows, but my eyes are now opened, and I look at life a little deeper."

audrey.parent @news-jrnl.com