The Sallie House Haunting: A True Story

by Debra Pickman

  Later, having filmed or interviewed in almost every room of the house, everyone but the crew members sat around the dining room table recapping the experiences of the previous forty-eight hours and speculating about what they represented. Tony had stepped into the kitchen to get drinks for everyone but instead came back and whispered something in my ear. I quietly got up and followed him into the kitchen. I looked at the small glass Coke bottle on the windowsill. The bottle held a small rose that Tony had picked for me the day before and the flower looked very strange.

  The edges of each petal were charred black, as was later documented on camera by the crew. Howard examined the flower with a magnifying glass and reported that each petal was singed almost all the way around its outer edge and down toward the base of the rose itself. In his face, I could see the struggle to make sense of what he was seeing.

  “This is impossible.” There was a long pause. “It’s as if each petal was individually burnt and then the rose reassembled.” He shook his head in amazement. “This can’t be duplicated.”

  At some point that afternoon, we took Howard up to the nursery and showed him the corner and items we had designated as Sallie’s. Readings on his equipment of the items and the area showed nothing abnormal. Five or ten minutes later, I was showing him a toy that had often turned itself on and emitted a horrible static-like sound. Although I didn’t know about EVP at the time, I knew in my heart that the noise the toy had made was significant.

  Any interest in the toy quickly faded when I noticed a sudden burst of cool fresh air fly past my face. Everyone was able to be able to feel the environmental change. Howard, once again excited and armed with his equipment, was able to verify each degree of the temperature drop over the course of about ten minutes.

  The entire day had revolved around discussions of experiences past and present. Barbara, Tony, and I talked of some of the things we had experienced during her first visit, especially the lights turning off and on again. The crew spent quite a while reviewing our home video from that day, trying to figure out if anyone could have been responsible for the activity. They found nothing that stood out. We also reviewed photos and raw footage, for the sake of bringing Howard up to speed on the activities of the previous day.

  There was no doubt that Howard was very intrigued with the presentation of such compelling evidence. Coupled with his own experiences in the house, it was certainly more than he anticipated on this investigation. Little did he know that he would experience even more before he left that day.

  Before he left late that afternoon, the crew took the opportunity to film Howard examining Tony’s stomach one last time. Tony had his shirt pulled up to reveal his abdomen, all the while feeling ridiculous as people and cameras zoomed in on his midsection. Howard was viewing the scratches through his magnifying glass. As he reported his thoughts for the sake of the camera, he suddenly stated with surprise, “Look, one’s starting to bleed!”As he continued to examine Tony’s stomach for a few seconds longer he then said, “Look! It’s a nice dark one, too.”

  Some thought that one of the original scratches had begun bleeding again; however, the view through the magnifying glass showed it was a new red welt taking shape. It began about the same height as the others and ran the length of what was already there. The camera continued to roll for about nine minutes while this scratch formed. This raw footage ended up being touted as a ground breaking video, the first known paranormal activity actually caught on camera.

  Howard tried to process the events occurring before his eyes.

  “You raised your shirt, I put the magnifying glass to your stomach to look at the scratches, and one just started to bleed!” Still staring in total amazement he said, “This is the most profound thing I have ever witnessed!” Then looking at the crew, he added, “And you have it on tape.”

  Several weeks later, that same raw footage would be reviewed and examined by world-renowned parapsychologist Kerry Gaynor, lead investigator on the cases that inspired the movies The Entity and Poltergeist. After extensively examining the field-tape, he gave it merit as an intriguing phenomenon and called it frightening. He seemed especially excited by the fact that the camera had not pulled away from the scratches for the entire nine minutes, but cautioned further study and investigation of the phenomenon.

  By 7:00 Saturday night, everyone had packed up and was heading home. The house was finally quiet and we were alone. Tony and I sat on the floor of the nursery with our son, trying to reconnect with him after two days of the constant hustle and bustle of cameras, cables, and strangers taking over our regular schedule and routine.

  We had not been there long before I felt a distinct coldness seemingly snuggle up to my entire right side. An odd sort of delight crept over me. I found it interesting that after the noise and activity of the last two days had finally ended, Sallie still seemed able to make her presence known to me. Even so, I was not quite sure what to think about it. Was it for reassurance, or comfort? Did she feel like a part of our family? Was she tired or just enamored with the fact that she had finally been recognized? The simple act of snuggling seemed to solidify my maternal bond with this precious, lost little spirit.

  Before leaving the next day, Barbara returned to catch up with us privately and without the cameras. She was curious about how our “coming out” on TV was being received and how we were coping. Although some friends and family were upset by our public actions, most did not say anything at all.

  It felt strange to see ourselves on television as we watched the airing of the Sightings segment. Then it sunk in. How many others had seen us, too? We worried about family and friends seeing us and wondered what they would think of us. Had we embarrassed ourselves and the rest of our family?

  We began to see ourselves as we had viewed and ridiculed so many others. We wondered if we had made a mistake by going public. Tony’s experiences with his co-workers the next day seemed to confirm this. Although the show tried to disguise him, everyone who knew Tony had easily recognized him, and it seemed that his worst fears were realized. Watching the television show made everyone aware of our experiences, and that knowledge wasn’t well received by Tony.

  I explained to Barbara that co-workers on Tony’s midnight shift refused to work near him and that someone had written “Devil Boy” in the dust on our car. People would stare and point at us in the local stores, and we received taunting phone calls at all hours of the day and night. Even the local college students ridiculed us as they drove past the house, yelling out ghostly sounds.

  Some people seemed genuinely interested, though, and it felt good to talk to them. Tony and I often laughed at how many of these people seemed to “just be in the neighborhood.” Most of them had never given us the time of day prior to our television appearance.

  Barbara asked if things had been any better in the house since her last visit. She was curious about the fires and Taylor’s interrupted sleep. After quietly conversing with Sallie, she told us that Sallie was happy with how things had been. Sallie liked her toys and her doll, and she still wanted to play with the baby.

  I asked Barbara about the scratches Tony had recently gotten. We’d never really pictured a little seven-year-old girl being responsible for them, and Barbara confirmed our suspicion. Sallie was actually upset by them and the fact that she was being blamed for them. We wondered who else would be responsible for them and asked Barbara to ask Sallie.

  It took Barbara quite a while to get any sort of answer, because Sallie didn’t know either. Barbara struggled for several minutes to get more from her and was finally told that it was a woman who Sallie didn’t know. She also told us that this woman hadn’t been in the house when we moved in; she had been attached to another physical person who had come into our house. Apparently, she liked it at our house and decided to stay. Sallie said she wasn’t nice, and that she did a lot of things that Sallie got blamed for.


  At this point, I told Sallie that we knew a lot of the things that had been happening weren’t her fault. I tried to tell her that we knew she was trying to be a good girl, and we were proud of her. We assured her that she was still welcome to stay with us and that we loved her.

  With all that said and done, Barbara’s curiosity was satisfied. She felt we had been doing well with the situation, but reiterated that we needed to be strong about the rules and that perhaps doing so might help drive this older woman spirit out of the house. She again extended an invitation to call her anytime, gave us each a hug, and said her good-byes. Although we did not know it at the time, it would be the last time we would ever see her‚ÄîBarbara passed away several months later.

  In the days that followed the television crew’s visit, there was no spirit activity. Although we took solace in the temporary quiet, we knew that Sallie would always be back.

  Sightings’ Second Visit

  By the end of the week, Sightings called, requesting a return visit. Apparently, the experiences of the crew on the previous visit had set off quite a buzz in the production office and the show’s host, a skeptic by nature, was very interested as well. They had lined up another paranormal investigator and wanted to come back the following week.

  This caught us off guard. We had not known them to revisit a haunted location in any of the shows we had watched, and the host had never joined the field crew on location or become part of what was presented to the audience. In a way, this made us a little nervous. Was our haunting so unusual that it warranted this special interest? Or did someone feel there was fraud involved and intend to uncover it?

  I reminded myself what I knew of the televised show. They had never aired a show where the case was proven fraudulent; it was not their style and I didn’t think they would change their format. This must mean that there was a significant interest in response to the field experiences of the crew and our own story.

  We spent two days talking, weighing the pros and cons. Tony agreed to allow them back. In a way, he felt compelled to prove that there was no fraud to anyone who questioned our integrity or the honesty of our claims. The next visit was scheduled for Saturday August 6th.

  As the sixth of August approached, Tony became more agitated. His mind whirled with thoughts that he was going to be the sole focus of the visit. He feared that skeptics disguised as people who wanted to help would try to prove he was a fake on national TV.

  He knew the crew and those they brought were hoping to see him attacked and get it on film. He worried about what they would say or think if nothing did happen. He dwelled on what this would do to his and his family’s reputation. He was afraid of embarrassing himself and his family.

  Four days before the crew arrived, we spent most of the day arguing about the impending visit. No matter how hard I tried to convince him that he was being paranoid, he stood firm on his view. He got so angry that he left the house.

  The moment he walked out the door, the baby monitor registered an extremely loud and continuous static that lasted for almost thirty seconds. I went up to the nursery where Taylor was sleeping to see if there was anything in the room that would cause such a noise. There was nothing. Had this been Sallie’s way of acknowledging the fear and unrest between Tony and me? Had she gotten upset by our arguing, like any young child would when his or her parents argue?

  Looking back, I have concluded that the static we I heard was a form of communication, but one we could not understand. I think Sallie was trying with all her energy to add something to the argument. We will never know who the last word supported: Tony or me.

  Tony calmed down enough to return a short time later and we resumed our discussion. This time the conversation was much better, but again the horrible static from the baby monitor rang through the house. Again I checked upstairs where Taylor had been sleeping, but found him fast asleep. Nothing in the room was out of the ordinary.

  Returning to the living room, I told Tony about the same noise I’d heard on the monitor earlier that day. I felt that Sallie didn’t want to see us mad at each other again and when she saw the discussion escalate, she tried to divert our attention to something else. Of course, there was no proof for this, just my intuition.

  Tony usually got home from work shortly after 7:00 a.m. and although he crawled into bed about 8:00, he was usually back up by 10:00 because he didn’t want to miss out on any time with the baby and me. Although I had known him to need very little sleep, the weekends were the worst and I grew concerned that the lack of sleep would catch up with him. I eventually mandated that he stay in bed till at least noon. Whether or not he actually slept wasn’t the issue; I just wanted to be sure he an opportunity to get the rest he needed. I found out later that he would set his alarm for noon, and make himself get up.

  I felt he wasn’t taking the lack of sleep and the possible side effects seriously. We had often discussed the fact that hallucinations were a side effect of sleep deprivation and a real concern, given our situation. We needed to know for sure that what he was seeing and hearing was actually happening and not something his mind was making up.

  On one of these sleepless mornings, he saw the top of our highboy spin a little clockwise and outward on its lower base. He remembers sitting up to turn off the alarm, which had not gone off yet, and trying to focus his sleepy eyes on the dresser as he approached it. Within a few steps, he realized that the upper portion was indeed off-center. He realized he had not been dreaming or hallucinating.

  I saw it differently and felt the side effects of too little sleep had created hallucinations that would explain many of his claims. I questioned it so much that it made him question his own mind and sanity. It is also one of the reasons he did not bring other things to my attention while we lived there.

  It was Saturday morning and the TV crew was to arrive later that morning. Knowing they would need additional room, I moved some things out if the way. One of the items was Sallie’s oil lamp, which I had temporarily moved to the buffet table. I had also taken the opportunity to remind Sallie about the TV people coming back to the house.

  Tony was very anxious and decided to take a drive to help relax a bit. While he was gone, I headed to the kitchen for coffee and was startled when I noticed a small flame in the oil lamp on the buffet table. Only seconds earlier, I had stood in front of the table tucking a few last-minute things into the drawer and the lamp was unlit. It seemed that Sallie was just as anxious as we were.

  It was close to noon before the crew arrived. They set up their equipment and attached wireless microphones to me and Tony. Technical gear and empty equipment cases were lying everywhere.

  It was comforting to have the same crew as before. The only addition was Tim White, the host of Sightings. Tim was excited to talk with us. As the audio person wired me, Tim talked to Tony and then talked to me while Tony was getting wired. Tim was very concerned about the scratches that Tony had received during the last taping and asked to see them. For the most part, the ones on his torso were healing nicely, but the ones on his triceps had caused scarring.

  Tim was captivated by the details of our experiences and eager to find the underlying cause. We sensed that he didn’t really believe our claims and that he thought the mystery would be solved during his visit. He took a logical approach and took advantage of every opportunity to clarify facts and have us reiterate our experiences. I appreciated his healthy skepticism in playing devil’s advocate and the respectful way in which he approached us.

  Going into any type of unusual or unknown situation (let alone a paranormal one), it is necessary to have an open mind so you can see all elements and possibilities, even if they take you beyond your comfort zone. The more unreasonable the claim, the longer it should take to influence you and the harder you should have to work at believing it.

  Throughout the day, I watched Tim’s reactions, and I could see how often
he struggled with his logical self. It was like I could hear his thoughts and see the process by which he drew his conclusions. His mind was being pulled in two different directions; to believe or not to believe.

  Shortly after Tim arrived, a knock at the door revealed ghost investigator Al Rauber, who had been invited to the taping by Sightings. From the moment he walked in, his skepticism was apparent. When we took him on a tour of the house, he had an explanation for every activity and experience we had claimed.

  For instance, he said that fishing wire could have been used to move the bears and that a hair dryer could easily have produced the effect of the wax dripping on the taper candles. They were all ingenious explanations, but ones we had already thought of and tried to duplicate ourselves.

  Part of me wanted to scream, and I could tell that Tony was getting frustrated with what seemed to be accusatory remarks and insinuations of trickery on our part. Why would we subject ourselves to such scrutiny and take the chance of being revealed as frauds on national television?

  For the sake of the camera and the audience, I wish Rauber had taken the time to re-create the effect on the candle. It is truly amazing how easy it is for skeptics to explain away phenomena that they have never experienced or tried to reproduce. As the day stretched on, Tony and I felt increasingly insulted by Rauber’s comments. He was curt, dismissive, and condescending in almost every conversation he had with us and we found it hard to remain congenial.

  He pulled each of us aside separately and said that he felt the other was responsible for generating the poltergeist-like activity in our house. He suggested that one of us had been molested as a child and the trauma had triggered a strong emotion that energized the poltergeist. He recommended that we seek professional help from a psychologist to get through the emotions that were wreaking havoc on our lives. It wasn’t until conversation the next day that we realized Rauber had said the exact same thing to each of us.