But in these time-tested places, Cindy Ross said, she sees more than the average person—and for the last seven years, she has asked others to explore them with her.
“When you have a lot of history, you have the paranormal,” Ross said.
Ross is a Flower Mound resident who gives regular tours of Old Town Lewisville for those with an interest in the paranormal.
Ross said she believes the area’s streets, buildings and cemetery are filled with ghosts of people who died long ago. Her business, Gateway Ghost Tours, provides tools and guidance for guests interested in learning more about these spirits’ stories.
The tour started as a one-time thing, Ross said. A psychic by profession, she did some historical research on various Old Town attractions and started spreading the word about her first tour a few years ago. When the city caught wind of her efforts, a staff member called her up. She was nervous when she first got the call, she said.
“I’m a psychic; we’re still in the Bible Belt of the country, and some people are still a little judgmental of things,” Ross remembers thinking at the time.
But the city employee she spoke with was actually enthusiastic about putting her tours on the city calendar, she said. The city has promoted her tours in a variety of ways since.
Ross said she works closely with local business owners, several of whom let her groups inside their buildings to get an up-close look at the spirits she claims dwell there.
Using dowsing rods, pendulums and other tools, Ross shows guests on her tours how she searches for signs of these apparitions.
During the pandemic, fewer people have been coming on the tours, Ross said. She has moved to more private tours as a result. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, however, Ross said, she plans to ramp up group tours while keeping the number of each group limited to no more than 10.
The tours are open to anyone who is interested, even skeptics of her psychic methods, Ross said. But the typical tour participant is usually well-versed in the concepts, she said.
“People that take the tour—they’re usually very aware of the energy,” she said.
