Editor’s note: This content originally appeared in a 2020 e-newsletter.
Photographer Kathleen Wilke’s Lady of the Lake series captures the ethereal beauty of White Rock’s cherished ghost story. The model is former Woodrow Wilson High School student Katie Shank.
A couple cruising White Rock Lake stopped for a girl walking alone on the road. Barefoot, she was wearing a white dress and sopping wet. She asked them for a ride to an address in Oak Cliff, the earliest accounts say. When they arrived, they found the girl had disappeared but the seat still wet. “My daughter drowned two years ago,” says the man who answers the door of the house. The Lady of the Lake is Dallas’ own legendary ghost. White Rock Lake is one of the most haunted bodies of water in the world, according to Reader’s Digest. (More)
THE BACK STORY
The ancient pagan ritual of taking your kids to the “pumpkin patch” is showcased in this 1975 news story.
Speaking of horror: This interview with a carnival ride operator at the State Fair of Texas from 1975 made us LOL. It turns out the Super Loops ride, just being packed up for a stint in El Paso, hadn’t been free from injuries.
Consumer safety reporting was part of the job for reporters in the ’70s. Check out this story about lawn darts.
THE GODFATHER OF PSYCHEDELIC ROCK
Celebrate the end of spooky season with the ghost of Roky Erickson. The Dallas-born godfather of psychedelic rock died in 2019 at age 71. His band, the 13th Floor Elevators, formed in Austin in 1965 and broke up four years later. Schizophrenia, substance abuse and personal tragedy marked Erickson’s life, but his music career had a 14-year rebirth up to the end of his life. A 19-year-old Erickson and the Elevators “performed” their hit “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” on American Bandstand on Halloween 1966. But five months before that, the band played for real on Dallas’ own teen dance show, Sump’n Else, which was hosted by Ron Chapman and broadcast live from a soundproof storefront at NorthPark Center. (More)
