The Sallie House: An Infamous Haunted House
A photo of the infamous Sallie House. Photo: US Ghost Adventures
The Sallie House in Atchison, Kansas has a dark history of death and sorrow. Many claim to have experienced paranormal activity while in the house including receiving unexplained injuries and having objects melt for no reason.
The History of the Sallie House
A map of Atchison, Kansas where the Sallie House is located. Image: Wikipedia
The Sallie house is located at 508 N. 2nd Street, Atchison, Kansas.
Built in the mid-1800s, the Sallie House was commissioned by the Finney family and served as a residence for Dr. Charles Finney who utilized the lower floor as a medical office, with a designated room for examination and surgery.
The family occupied the upper floor until they eventually moved out due to insufficient space.
This historic house was listed for sale on Zillow at a price of $1 million in February 2016, later reducing to $499,000 in August of the same year, and eventually being removed from the market in November 2017. It seems likely the Sallie House’s reputation had something to do with this.
The Story of Sallie
The floor plan of the Sallie House. Photo: Astonishing Legends
The Sallie House got its name from the story of a young girl called Sallie who died in the house, according to the legend.
The Sallie House was once the residence of a physician from Atchison, Dr. Charles Finney. One fateful day, Sallie, a three year old girl with intense stomach pain, arrived at the house with her mother, seeking medical assistance.
Believing that Sallie was suffering from appendicitis, the doctor began operating on her without waiting for the anesthesia to take full effect. Sallie let out several pained screams before passing away on the operating table.
There is little evidence to back up the claim that a little girl called Sallie died in the Sallie house. Medical records were not kept as rigorously as they are nowadays. Being a doctor’s surgery however means that the house will have been filled with pain and suffering at various times and no doubt would have been a place where several people died.
Paranormal Encounters in the Sallie House
The Pickman Family’s Experience
The initial account of the haunting at the Sallie House was documented by a young couple named Deborah and Tony Pickman. In 1992, the newlywed couple, anticipating the arrival of their first child, decided to make the house their home on New Year's Eve.
From the exterior, the white brick house with blue trim and a charming little porch seemed like the perfect place to start their new family. The house consisted of two stories and three bedrooms, one of which was converted into a nursery after they moved in.
Initially, they did not observe anything unusual, but gradually, strange occurrences began to take place. Light bulbs flickered and buzzed even when turned off, while the cordless phone intermittently lost and regained power.
After a few months, the Pickmans had almost forgotten about the strange occurrences until the birth of their son Taylor in June.
One evening, after visiting Tony's family, they returned home to find something quite unexpected in the nursery. All the stuffed animals were arranged in a circle on the floor with their hands touching, leading them to assume that Tony's sister-in-law had left the arrangement for them.
When they contacted her, she denied having left any such display, claiming she only went to the nursery to admire the decoration. She also confessed to sensing an eerie draft or cold breeze while in the house. As she climbed the stairs, something unsettling seemed to engulf her, prompting her to pull out her gun for protection.
After returning all the stuffed animals to their original positions and turning off the lights, they proceeded downstairs.
Upon reaching the ground floor, they noticed that the light in the nursery had been turned back on. They went back upstairs to investigate and discovered that one of the teddy bears was now on the floor, which unnerved them.
Despite searching all the rooms in the house, including upstairs, downstairs, and the basement, they were unable to find anything unusual.
They returned the bear to its original position on the chair by the door and turned off the lights. They then went back downstairs and waited to see if anything would happen. After around thirty minutes, Deborah went upstairs to use the bathroom, and to her dismay, she discovered that the teddy bear was on the floor once more in the nursery. Filled with fear, they decided to contact Tony's brother, Larry.
Larry put the Pickman’s in touch with a psychic named Barbara who told them that the spirit was a little girl named Sallie who had died in the house. Barbara told them she meant no harm and not to be afraid of her.
The Pickman’s weren’t convinced and decided to leave the house for the night. On the way out to the car Tony Pickman felt a sharp pain on his back out of nowhere. He didn’t stop to look until later when Deborah lifted up his shirt to reveal 3 long scratch marks.
The Pickmans were terrified and decided to rent another home to live in until they could figure out what was going on in their home.
In 1994 a tv show called “Sightings” came to film the strange activity occurring in the Sallie House. During his interview, he was once again scratched on his stomach. The film crew continued to film him for nine straight minutes as the scratches materialized before their eyes without any apparent cause.
In another terrifying incident, Pickmans recalled not being able to find their TV remote in their rental property. They searched everywhere but were not able to find it. The next time they were in the Sallie house they found their tv remote sitting on the kitchen counter, covered in scorch marks and partially melted.
The Sallie House and Astonishing Legends
The Astonishing Legends team went to the Sallie House to investigate and do some research for their paranormal podcast.
While using a DR60 recorder to try and pick up EVPs, the team were astonished with what was picked up. The recording answered the crews questions with an unearthly growling sound. It sounded very aggressive and angry.
Scott, one of the podcast’s hosts was so unnerved by the recording that he claims it has been a milestone in his paranormal journey. Before the Sallie House he was quite skeptical about all things paranormal, but the DR60 recording made him a believer.
If you listen to the Sallie House podcast episodes by Astonishing Legends you might even catch a certain paranormal website writer as one of the listener segues. :)
Have you ever visited the Sallie House in Atchison, Kansas? Let us know in the comments!
If you enjoyed this article you might also be interested in the story of the demon hag of Detroit or how the spirit of Teresita Basa solved her own murder case.
