David L. Sloan
Author • Historian • Paranormal Researcher
For 30 years, exploring the real history, strange stories, and unexplained mysteries of Key West.
1996 Key West Citizen feature
on Sloan’s early Old Island Ghost Tour.
Three Decades Exploring
the Strange Side of Key West
I’ve spent 30 years researching the history, folklore, and unexplained stories of Key West and the Florida Keys.
In 1996, I launched my first ghost tour and began digging into stories that had largely disappeared from public conversation. I tracked down longtime residents, interviewed people connected to the stories, searched old newspapers and archives, and tried to separate what could be documented from what had simply been repeated over the years.
That work eventually grew far beyond walking ghost tours. I’ve written more than 25 books, worked with television and documentary productions, conducted paranormal investigations, and followed research leads from Key West archives to Germany and beyond.
My approach has stayed essentially the same:
Start with the history. Follow the evidence. Leave room for the unexplained.
A Family Connection
to Key West & The Fort
Key West was part of my family story long before I arrived.
My three-times-great-grandfather, David L. Sloan, served in the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, a Union regiment stationed in Key West for much of the Civil War. Members of the regiment helped construct Fort East Martello, the same fort where Robert the Doll is displayed today.
More than a century later, I found my own connection to Key West, Robert, and that very same fort.
It is one of those strange circles of history I could never have planned.
From Ghost Tours To Hands-On Investigations
The Original Ghost Tour
When I launched my first Key West ghost tour in 1996, the island’s ghost stories were rarely discussed openly. Older locals knew many of them, but people were still hesitant to talk about unexplained experiences for fear of sounding strange.
I began tracking down people connected to forgotten stories, conducting firsthand interviews and searching old newspapers and archives. Many of the stories I brought onto the tour had gone largely unspoken for generations.
Key West Ghost Hunt
As ghost tourism grew, outside tour companies began arriving in Key West. I wanted to take the experience somewhere different.
I introduced paranormal equipment and used relationships I had built in the community to get guests inside places normally closed to tours, including the old Masonic Lodge, the former Baptist church, and several reportedly haunted bars.
Guests were no longer just listening to ghost stories. They could investigate the locations for themselves.
Robert the Doll After Dark
Over time, guests kept asking for more access to the actual places behind the stories.
In 2020, the Key West Art & Historical Society invited me to create an after-dark experience inside Robert the Doll’s home at Fort East Martello.
That became the model I continue to follow today: partnering with nonprofit historic sites to give guests extraordinary after-hours access while helping raise money for preservation.
From reviving forgotten stories to opening historic sites after dark, my goal has remained the same: preserve the history, investigate the unexplained, and give people access to places they could never experience on an ordinary tour.
With Robert at the museum during
the early years of my research.
How I Found Robert the Doll
When I first heard about Robert, almost nobody outside Key West knew who he was.
Older locals knew the story, but people didn’t talk much about ghosts back then. Admitting you had seen or experienced something unexplained could still make people think you were strange. Robert certainly wasn’t a tourist attraction. I found him almost by accident.
I went to the Artist House looking for Anne Otto's ghost. I introduced myself to the owner, Darryl Meyers, and said, “I’m here to talk to you about your ghost.”
He said, “Oh, you want to hear about Robert the Doll?”
I told him no. I wanted to hear about Anne.
He looked at me and said, “No. You want to hear about Robert.”
Darryl took me upstairs into the attic and told me Robert’s story. I remember having the strangest sensation up there. Something about it stayed with me.
Later, I went to the museum where they kept Robert. The museum staff brought him out, then left me alone with him.
I saw Robert come alive.
That was the moment everything changed. I decided to find out what made this doll tick.
Following the Evidence
What began as curiosity became nearly three decades of research. I tracked down people connected to Robert and the Otto family, conducted firsthand interviews, searched archives, studied photographs and private correspondence, and followed leads far beyond Key West.
Along the way, I identified Robert as a Steiff doll and traveled to the Steiff factory in Germany to investigate his origins. I uncovered Otto family photographs and correspondence, including images that had gone unnoticed for decades, and found records that forced me to reconsider parts of Robert’s story that were repeated for years.
The deeper I went, the more interesting Robert became.
Some of the legends held up. Some changed completely. And some discoveries created entirely new mysteries.
I’m still researching him.
The attic at the Artist House, where Darryl Meyers first told me the story of Robert the Doll.
Turning The
Stories Into Books
For me, the research never ends when a tour does.
I’ve written more than 25 books exploring Key West history, folklore, true crime, unusual characters, and the paranormal. Many began the same way my ghost tours did: with an old newspaper clipping, a half-remembered story, a photograph, a document, or someone saying, “You should talk to this person.”
I like following those threads until I understand not only what happened, but how the story changed over time and why people still care.
My books have taken me into family archives, government files, private collections, forgotten court records, and countless interviews. Some have helped preserve stories that might otherwise have disappeared. Others have forced me to reconsider things I thought I already knew.
The books let me go deeper than any tour ever could.
Speaking & Events
Over the years, I’ve had the chance to speak about Key West in many different places and for many different reasons.
I’ve presented at paranormal conventions in Las Vegas, Michigan, Florida, and Illinois, usually talking about Robert the Doll, Key West ghosts, and the research behind those stories.
But that’s only part of it. I’ve also spoken about JFK, Key lime pie, Key West history, and some of the stranger characters I’ve come across while researching my books.
I’ve traveled with the Tourist Development Council to promote Key West and the Florida Keys in Boston, Tallahassee, California, Georgia, and Canada, and I regularly speak to travel groups staying at resorts throughout the Keys.
Some talks are serious. Some are strange. Some are just fun. I even helped make the world’s largest Key lime pie.
After 30 years, I still enjoy getting in front of a room and telling people something about Key West they probably haven’t heard before.
That’s really what all of this has always been about: finding the story and telling it well.
Filming for The Curse of Robert the Doll.
On Camera &
Behind the Scenes
Over the years, my research has led to work in television, documentaries, radio, podcasts, and film.
Sometimes I’m in front of the camera. Other times I’m working behind the scenes, helping producers with research, locations, historical background, access, and the people who actually know the stories.
Robert the Doll has been at the center of much of that work. I was heavily involved in The Curse of Robert the Doll and have worked with productions featuring William Shatner, Jack Osbourne, Gordon Ramsay, and others, as well as programs for Travel Channel, History, National Geographic, BBC, and CBS.
My media work goes beyond the paranormal, too. Over the years I’ve been called on for Key West history, unusual characters, food, folklore and some of the stranger stories that don’t fit neatly into any category.
What I enjoy most is helping a production get beyond the story everyone has already heard and find the people, documents and details that make it interesting again.
Good television still starts with a good story.
The Stories Continue
After 30 years, I’m still researching, writing, asking questions, and following stories wherever they lead.
Today, that work continues through Robert the Doll After Dark, America’s Most Haunted Firehouse, UFO Key West, my books, and whatever strange project comes next. I’m fortunate to work with a great team of guides who bring these stories and experiences to life night after night.
If you’re in Key West, I’m often volunteering at the Alex Vega Key West Firehouse Museum on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Stop in, say hello, and ask me something strange.
You can also explore my books online, where I offer autographed and personalized copies, or pick up signed books at the Firehouse Museum.
There are still many stories waiting to be uncovered.