Rita Cook - Haunted Dallas

Published by Haunted America

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2011 by Rita Cook

All rights reserved

First published 2011

e-book edition 2012

ISBN 978.1.61423.396.1

Cook, Rita, 1964

Haunted Dallas / Rita Cook ; photographs by Russell W. Dandridge.

p. cm.

print edition ISBN 978-1-60949-201-4

1. Haunted places--Texas--Dallas. I. Title.

BF1472.U6C6625 2011

133.1097642812--dc23

2011031266

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Dedicated to my father, Hilbert Cook, for teaching me what wisdom looks like.

Also, to my mom for showing me the truth.

And, of course, thanks to Russell Dandridge, my best friend and husband.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

AUTHORS NOTE: I asked my longtime friend and psychic here in Dallas to write the foreword for my book because of my deep respect for her and her ability to see and understand what most people consider ghosts but what I agree with are, in her own words, souls offering us messages. While there are many ghost hunters and paranormal folks in Dallas, Mollie is the real thing, and without having known her for the past ten-plus years, there is no telling if I would have ever been able to understand the ghosts in my own life.

I have always been fascinated by the spiritual world. The apparitions that we call ghosts are in reality the souls of our ancestors, friends, etc. that are trying to give us messages either for ourselves or others. If we pay close attention to what we hear, we are able to change the outcome of some situations.

As a young child, I started observing what I thought were sheep flying around in many different colors. I now know that they were ghosts that were there to protect me. Not once do I remember being scared of what I saw or heard, as I never felt threatened by a ghost.

In my house, there have been many times when I will get up in the middle of the night and bump into someone or something that I cant see, but I feel their presence (again, never have I experienced fear of this). I have even had my dog Johnaton (he has been gone over fifteen years) come and wake me, whining like he did when he was here to let him go out. So yes, animal ghosts also exist.

I believe that when we open ourselves to their knowledge, we gain insight into our problems. I have also heard many people say they are afraid of ghosts. Ghosts do not hurt you; they are only there to help you.

Love and Light,

Mollie Cutting

INTRODUCTION AND INFORMATION ABOUT DALLAS

Let me just tell you from the get-go that I am a big believer in ghosts, mainly because the home I grew up in was haunted. It was just an unobtrusive house built in the 1950s that had so many ghosts while I was growing up that it always felt extremely overcrowded. I also used to see the spirits out of the corner of my eye; I never knew what it was really, but it was movement and a certain unexplainable energy. When youre a kid, you dont really think about it, but nevertheless, the ghosts were happy to be there.

I have never been able to actually see ghosts in the flesh (no, I am not the ghost whisperer, and youll likely not find too many people who are). Maybe once, if I was lucky, I have seen a ghost or two; other than that, it has been out of the corner of my eye. However, I can feel them. As you read this book, remember if you do go to these locations searching for ghosts to consider that seeing a ghost might not be your talent. But keep your feelings and your ears and even your nose opensubtle changes will let you know whats going on as well. Also, we arent all living in a television drama like, say, The Ghost Whisperer; it really isnt as easy as they make it lookat least not for most people.

Regarding my house, I will say that I think the ghosts left with my mother when she died several years ago. Even though she was a true God-fearing woman, she was also a true ghost magnet and a believer in ghosts. Now that my brother lives in the house, I have never felt a thing; he is not a ghost magnet, if he even believes at all.

Russell and Rita in her parents home with several orbs in the photo. The house Rita grew up in was haunted.

There are also two stories that convince me that ghosts do exist and that we live among them, which is one of the reasons I decided to write this book. When I was in my twenties, I moved away from Dallas to Chicago and Los Angeles and did not come back for twenty years. During the time I was gone, my mom would often call me and tell me stories about the ghosts that were bumping around in my old home (she and my dad stayed in that large house in Oak Cliff (Dallas) until they both died). Once my mom called me up and said she had seen smoke coming out of her trash can in the bedroom. She smoked, and she said she thought she had accidentally put a lit cigarette in the trash can and it caught something on fire. However, she looked inside the trash can and couldnt find anything on fire. She went back to her business, and again she saw this white, filmy smoke coming out of the trash can. She knew what it was this time, and she called me up to tell me.

I suggested she call a parapsychologist and ask what she might need to do to get rid of all these ghosts in her house. She thought about it and said shed call, why not. The next day, she called me and told me she had spoken to the parapsychologist, and the woman had told her what she needed to do to get rid of the ghosts or spirits. My mom replied simply, You know, theyre not hurting anybody. I think Ill just keep em. That was my mom.

By the way, if you do need to get rid of a ghost, the best thing to do is send it to the light. It might be a lost spirit that hasnt crossed over, and your sending it on its way could be the best thing you have ever done.

Once when I was visiting my parents at my old childhood home during the holidays and was with a friend of mine, we were taking photos. We had just bought a digital camera and had not heard about the orb phenomena yet, but just about all of the photos in the living room near my mom had hundreds of orbs surrounding her. It was eerie. I have never taken photos of that many orbs again in my life, but my husband, who is a photographer, took quite a few images in my childhood home before my mom died, and you could always bet there were one or two orbs hanging around her.

Heres one more story about my house (the address of which, by the way, is not listed in any of my haunted books, as my brother lives there now and he would kill me). In high school, I had a best friend whose father would drop her off in the mornings around 5:00 a.m., and she would ride to school with me. Shed often bring her laundry to do at my house in the morning. In order to get to the laundry room from my bedroom, you had to go downstairs, either taking a left through the living room and kitchen or a right down the hall into the den and the kitchen and then from either direction proceeding through our game room to the laundry room. One morning, my friend went downstairs, and about five minutes later she came running back up into my room looking like she had seen a ghost, which she said she had. She said she heard this really loud breathing and felt something looking at her in the living room. That story still gives me chills when I think of it.