The only proof that Carter, Texas, once a town of 80 residents, still exists is the old church building and the historical marker. Rumors of a little girl killed in an Indian raid and an old minister who still paces the church draw ghost enthusiasts from all over North Texas.
Carter was established in 1866 and once had a flour mill, cotton gin, blacksmith shop, school, and a church. It sits in a rural area off Highway 51 in Parker County. The old church still stands and, next to it, a covered meeting area perhaps used for picnics. A dirt road runs in front of the church, sectioning it from a grouping of trees that forms a canopied walkway. Where the walkway led is now anyone’s guess.
Dotting the grounds are granite markers, not unlike gravestones, that describe historic events that happened here.One boasts the site of gun battle between two cattlemen in 1878, leaving one man dead. Another lists the names of “Seven Rugged Riders.” Some of the last skirmishes between white men and the Comanche nation occurred here. Perhaps these seven lost their lives fighting for the land where Carter sits or maybe trying to recapture the little girl said to have been captured by the Comanche.
The voice of a little girl has been captured on tape as EVP. Michelle DePaul of Mystic Ghost took a photograph at Carter that contains three female faces close to the ground. Is this little girl still trying to show herself to us?
Inside the church, if you sit quietly, you will start to hear footsteps evenly pacing the floor from the front to the back of the building. Once, a man wearing a lowrimmed felt hat—Quaker style—was seen in the shadows of the church. Is he the ghost of a minister that refuses to go on, choosing to watch over his house of worship?
We may never know the answers to these questions, but certainly there is ghostly activity to be experienced at Carter. Photographs taken here have revealed bright orbs and unexplainable streaks of light. Video taken at Carter also reveals these streaks of light, darting hither and to, across the field. Investigators with Mystic Ghost have witnessed blue lights appearing in the brush, shadow figures moving amongst the trees, and even felt the heat rising over a spot that might have been an old fire pit directly across from the church. Psychic and Mystic Ghost investigator Wendy Gunderson felt she had contact with a stern man named Lily inside the church itself. Could Lily be the aforementioned dead cattleman?
Carter’s decline as a town began in 1907, though no history research reveals why. Many questions about the town remain unanswered, though maybe the ghosts will one day be able to tell us their story.
Written by — Kira Connally Paranormal Investigator, Mystic Ghost
CARTER GHOSTTOWN
CARTER ROAD
SPRINGTOWN, TEXAS
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SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of Haunted Places -Ghostly Locales from around the World – Compiled & Edited by Jeff Belanger – Copyright 2005 by Jeff Belanger