The Sallie House Haunting: A True Story

About the Author

Debra and Tony Pickman live with their three sons in Atchison, Kansas. Since their experience of living in the Sallie House, they have become paranormal researchers. Debra and Tony have been featured speakers are various paranormal conferences throughout the Midwest. Visit the Sallie House website (www.salliehouse.com) to learn more about their research and investigation into paranormal events.

The Sallie House Haunting: A True Story
© 2010 by Debra Pickman.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

As the purchaser of this e-book, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. The text may not be otherwise reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or recorded on any other storage device in any form or by any means.

Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the author’s copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

First e-book edition © 2010

E-book ISBN: 9780738726786

Book design by Donna Burch

Cover © Konradlew, Ruslan Nassyrov, and Maxim Filipchuk

Cover photograph © Debra Pickman

Cover design by Lisa Novak

Editing by Lucy Vilankulu

Interior photographs provided by the author

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

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Manufactured in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to my husband, who has not only been an integral contributor in writing this book, but also through the worst of days has toughed it out as the object of a little spirit girl’s attention and fascination. I thank him for bearing the brunt of all the physical injuries and afflictions up to and beyond my diary notes which are reflected within these pages.

To confront one’s deepest fears is to show true courage.

Acknowledgments

To my sister Karen. Without her suggestion to keep a journal, many of the details in these pages would have been lost.

To those friends and family who believed us, emotionally supported us, and stood by us through the tormenting ridicule of others.

A special thanks to Shannyn Hall for her consistent endeavors in helping with editing and pre-production requirements.

To all the field representatives, psychics, and support personnel whose commitment, compassion and courage made it all a little easier for us to bear.

And last but not least, a special acknowledgement to psychic Barbara Connor, who reached out to help and guide us when no one else would, and also to our friend Peter James, who through his gentle nature brought us closer to understanding the world we could not see.

Contents

preface

introduction

one
:
Before It All Began

two
:
In the House

three
:
Teddy Bears

four
:
Larry’s Visit

five
:
The Morning After

six
:
Scratches and Reprimands

seven
:
Early Research

eight
:
Barbara’s Visit

nine
:
Aftermath and Photographs

ten
:
Living with Spirit

eleven
:
Tony Sees Sallie

twelve
:
I Am Here

thirteen
:
Holiday Fire

fourteen
:
The Remote

fifteen
:
Reaching Beyond What We Know

sixteen
:
Happy Birthday

seventeen
:
The Industry

eighteen
:
Peter James

nineteen
:
The All-nighter

twenty
:
The Cleansing

twenty-one
:
Tony’s Perspective

epilogue

preface

This work is meant to satisfy the curiosity of those who want to know the details of this haunting, and who want to gain a better understanding of the experiences and the processes that were used to reach the conclusions that have been publically presented. This book is for those who research the paranormal through their own investigative work and experiences. It will challenge what we have been told for years, and confront what we think we know about spirits and the activity they supposedly engage in.

In these pages I offer information about who I am and what has made me the person I am today. It will help identify significant traits needed to properly assess a situation and reasonably draw conclusions from the experiences my husband and I have gone through while living in the house.

From my youth it seems that I’ve always known that there is more than meets the eye; more than God has shown us and more than science has taught us. I am not now, nor have I ever been, exceptionally religious or spiritually attuned. I grew up with a fairly strong Catholic background until the age of sixteen when certain circumstances in my life drove me away from the church. I have since had major conflict with the teachings of the bible and the scientific approach to explaining life and the world around us. I am a “show me proof” type of person and choose to put more credibility in the scientific explanation.

When I was about nine years old, my sister, a few neighbor kids and I came across a Ouija board. We sat out in the front of our house and tried our best to “contact the spirit world.” To our dismay, nothing came through. Since then, I have come to learn more about the disadvantages and damage that can result from using Ouija boards, and have not touched one since.

I also remember a teen slumber party where we attempted a séance. Despite our best (unguided) attempts, we achieved no communication with the spirit world. Had any of us known what we were doing at the time, we might have opened up doors, with dangerous results.

As an adult, I have tried not to allow my interest in the supernatural to become an obsession, at least not in a sense that it takes me away from reality and important things in my life. Except for those childish experiments, I have never been so driven for answers that I have employed any unorthodox method to attain them. I have never used witchcraft, or ritual, voodoo or pagan rites, or called on any power other than my own abilities to research. I believe there is a higher power, and he or she has a plan for us all. In time, we each will know what we need to know and at the time we need to know it.

Although many lose sight of reality, it is extremely important to remain grounded and keep focused in anything you do.

When I was younger my father spent many hours teaching me fundamentals that, in the long run and coupled with common sense, made me the logical and analytical person I am. Many of the simple examples he used were packed with a tremendous amount of knowledge that I did not realize until my later years. One of the most important tools he taught me was to look at things from different perspectives. That no matter what I saw, someone else could see things differently, and that I needed to see things from all vantage points in order to see a situation clearly.

When we realized our house was haunted, I needed answers and began searching for them at the local library, only to find nothing that had any bearing to our case. The decision to write this book came after months and countless hours of research, frustration and confusion.

Although this book is not based solely on scientific methods, I do hope it will serve others as a basis for comparison with their own studies and investigations. In my search for information and a haunting similar to ours I found old, limited information, often based on secondhand accounts. There is definitely a need to investigate, document and analyze these events as they occur. In light of the recent wave of paranormal television, the public is offered a look into the paranormal world from the safety of their living rooms. I hope more individuals and families will be inclined to share their experiences and call in knowledgeable investigators to help them.

One of my greatest concerns is the reliability of information presented on TV shows, books, documentaries and haunted tours; I have witnessed firsthand how facts can be twisted around. Our own story and the events we lived through, have been altered for entertainment or higher ratings. Those taking this creative liberty do not realize that this can confuse, frustrate and even harm those who rely on this information to help them deal with their own experiences.

The only thing most of these new entertainment venues have provided is a new level of paranormal interest from the general public. In recent years, there has also been an explosion of paranormal information via the internet; our own site dedicated to the Sallie House provides historical resources and information to help distinguish fact from fiction. There is more help for people in need than ever before; they just need to weed through it.

There have been very few brave enough to write of their experiences and take the chance of being ridiculed. Some run from their paranormal experiences, few embrace them and strive to learn from them, and this may explain why there are so few books written with detailed accounts. Years ago, Tony and I were those people, worried about what the neighbors would say. Today we are no longer victims of an extreme haunting, but investigators seeking understanding and a way to provide evidence and help to others.

I truly believe this book is one of a kind and will be enjoyed by paranormal enthusiasts looking for factual information, as well as those looking to experience a true haunting through firsthand experiences.

So, for those with the insatiable interest for “factual” ghost encounters, those who desire to learn about the paranormal through their own experiences and those of others, I write for this for you, without fear of what others may think of me.