Paranormalnews.com
The Sallie House
Written By: Todd Bates, Haunted Voices
Posted: 6/13/2006

In the heartland of America there is a quiet little town called
Atchison, Kansas. This small town is tucked away into a small valley off
the banks of the Missouri river. By looking at this small town, you
would never think twice about it being extremely haunted by a mysterious
past. One area that stands out from all the rest is nicknamed the
"Sallie House". This small 2 story colonial style home looks to be a
perfect starter home for a small family, but in reality, this house is
not as empty as it appears to be.
In August of 2004, I had the honor of investigating this known haunt in
Atchison with Haunted Times Magazine owner Chris Moon. Upon our arrival
to the house I stepped out of the vehicle and immediately sensed an
overwhelming feeling emitting from the small house. I knew right then
that it was not going to be a normal investigation, and I was correct.
Haunted Voices returned to the house in February of 2005. I felt
compelled to return to the house, although I still could not tell you
why, it was a feeling that couldn't just be ignored.

The Haunted Voices Investigation team was accompanied by Debra and Tony
Pickman who had lived in the house in the early 90's and experienced
some strange and horrific phenomena while living there. Tony was
repeatedly scratched by an unknown entity. Both Debra and Tony
experienced objects moving as well as items catching on fire before
their eyes. It was an honor to have them with us for the investigation
and I was quite shocked when Debra asked me if Tony could join us. Tony
has not been inside of this home for over 10 years, in fear that he
might be attacked once again. I hesitated for a few minutes and thought
to myself, "Would this be safe for him?", "What if something goes
terribly wrong?" After talking to Deb and advising her that it would not
be a good idea, we decided to let him try to re-enter the home that had
haunted him for several years. He chose to enter the house against our
recommendations and took full responsibility for his actions.

Tony arrived at the house in the early evening hours and was eager to
get started. You really have to get to know Tony before you can judge
him at all. Tony is one of the most interesting and talented individuals
I have ever known. He is a very private person and is somewhat shy when
it comes to meeting new people, but this didn't stop him from
confronting his violent past. Before entering the house with him we all
stood on the front porch and joined hands in prayer asking for guidance
and protection for us all. It wasn't until later that Michael Chappell
(our video operator) captured one of the most disturbing pieces of
evidence that I have ever seen.

Tony entered the home with Deb and I very close by him and began his
visit. He made his way to the kitchen and stopped for a few seconds to
take in his surroundings, noting all of the changes that had been made
while reminiscing out loud with us. We then made our way through the
dining and living rooms where he stopped once again and told us how
their furniture and things were placed in the house when they lived
there. Deb told us the story of the stuffed animal catching fire as well
as some other paranormal instances that took place in the house. It was
time to make our way upstairs, which happens to be what Tony had feared
the most. He led the way upstairs, stopping every once awhile to take in
the surroundings and our first stop was the nursery. While in the
nursery, Tony seemed very calm and was recalling past events that took
place there when their youngest son was an infant.

He saw for the first time, all of the stuffed animals and dolls that
were collected over the years and placed on the window sills as a
tribute or perhaps just a toy for little "Sallie" to play with. There
was quite a collection of them ranging from stuffed teddy bears to very
nice collection of small dolls. We soon left the nursery and preceded to
the master bedroom which is located at the front of the home. While in
the master bedroom, stories and experiences were shared and Michael kept
the camera going to capture as much of the event as possible. Tony began
looking around the area and made his way to a small closet; Tony still
had a very uneasy feeling of that area and refused to enter it. We all
kept a very close eye on him while he toured the home and we could all
tell that his moods seemed to change from room to room. When we started
in the kitchen he seemed very happy and eager to see the rest of the
home, but as we all made our way upstairs his moods had changed to
sadness and confusion.

We stayed in the master bedroom and talked for a couple of minutes and
while we were talking, Tony stood against the door frame and was very
guarded of himself, looking out into the hallway every once in awhile,
like he heard or saw something out there. We finished our conversation
in the master bedroom and decided to go into the last bedroom. With Deb
and Tony leading the way we made our way there. While walking, Michael
had stated to me that the camcorder was acting very strange and I
advised him that they have done that in the past with our cameras. We
stepped out into the hallway and noticed Deb and Tony standing in front
of the restroom talking and pointing out some of the changes that had
been made since they had been there last. At that time Deb had noticed
something on Tony's arm; it was a cut on his right forearm, and a very
deep one at that. I then stated, "That's it" and took Tony out side and
away from the situation.

Michael had captured this whole incident on film and we cannot thank him
enough for his excellent work in a very stressful situation such as
that. While outside we addressed his wound and found I to be about 2 ½
inches long and deep enough to require stitches. Tony said that he
didn't even feel it and was just as surprised as we were. This was one
of the worst injuries that he has received while being inside the home
and it was very emotional for all of us to witness. My wife Kris and I
had become very close with Deb and Tony and to see him in a situation
like that was very upsetting. My wife burst into tears of both anger and
sadness and just couldn't understand why they were doing this to him. We
were able to stop the bleeding on Tony's wound and put a few bandages on
it from our first aid kit. I had checked Tony for other marks or
scratches and he was untouched other then his right forearm. Tony
insisted that we go back into the house and at this time I was in total
disagreement but granted him his wishes on one condition; that he would
sit in the dinning room and be closely monitored by us. He agreed and we
proceeded to the dining room, where he stayed for most of the
investigation.

We kept two cameras on Tony and while they were recording Deb had notice
several cold spots or sensations by his legs and feet. My wife Kris and
our researcher/investigator Pam (who is also my mother in law) went
upstairs to place motion detectors as well as video cameras in the area.
We had placed a video camera in the nursery to hopefully capture an
anomaly or EVP from the nursery area and across the hall to the 3rd
bedroom. We had also placed two motion detectors in the area. One was
covering the nursery and adjoining hallway and the other monitored the
stairs.
After arming the units, we went back downstairs to find Tony sitting
comfortably in the chair with Deb right beside him. My wife and a few
others from the group had gone outside for a break. We had a total of 3
video cameras monitoring the house, one was upstairs and two were
downstairs covering Tony from different angles as well as the kitchen
and living room areas. While they were on break Michael and I went to
the kitchen area and began to go over some of our evidence, I know the
following may sound like a hoax or staged event but I assure you that it
is not.

While Tony was sitting still he said he felt something under him in the
chair, he leaned up a bit and grabbed the object and it was a remote
control, their remote control. The object had been missing in their
current house for several weeks and suddenly it appeared in the house
they no longer lived in. The remote looked as if someone had taken it in
both their right and left hand and twisted it in opposite ways. It was
hot and you could smell the plastic burning, I then held the remote up
to my ear and could hear a crackling sound as the plastic cooled. This
was just amazing and you could see the remote just melting from the
inside out.
Photos were taken of the evidence and we placed it in an area where it
would not be touched and our team members closely monitored it. A
similar situation happed to Deb on our last investigation, where her
camera that was inside of her purse had melted. This was not a battery
problem because the unit was turned off and the burn took place on the
opposite side of the battery storage area. Michael and I were in the
kitchen going over our EVR (Electronic Voice Recording) while Kris, Pam,
and Julie were taking photos around the kitchen, living room, and dining
room. Deb was in the kitchen with us and Tony was very curious about EVP
so he had asked to come into the kitchen with us to go over the
evidence.
Tony came into the kitchen and listened to a couple of EVP (Electronic
Voice Phenomena) that we had captured and was just amazed by them. Tony
was being very guarded and not leaving himself out in the open very
long. He soon backed up and stood against the basement door and was
still being very closely monitored by our team member Pam Preston who
was also taking numerous photos of him. We began to talk about a photo
that was captured at the foot of the basement stairs of a demon/dog like
creature. After about 5 minutes or so I had discover yet another EVP we
had captured and was working with it on the laptop. During this time
Tony stated that something was pulling at him from behind the door. Tony
felt this and decided to come up for a closer look to get away from that
area and that is when Juli noticed his right leg was bleeding on the
calf area.

Now keep in mind that Pam had her eyes on him the whole time and it
would be very hard for him to cause these injuries to himself without
being noticed. These scratches on Tony's leg were not near as bad as the
one he received upstairs about 2 hours earlier, but they were bad enough
to bleed. We took photos of the scratches and surrounding area and
noticed yet another scratch located on Tony's forehead. This wound was
superficial and did not bleed but you could notice it very easily.
Tony's visit was not a pleasurable one but it did give him some closure
on the situation. He relayed to us that he would never return to the
house again for future investigations.

Deb and Tony left about 20 minutes after that incident and we stayed
long enough to finish analyzing our evidence for that night and then we
packed up our equipment and went back to the hotel for a much needed
rest and debriefing. We awoke the next morning and loaded up our
vehicles for the long trip back to Illinois but wanted to check in on
Deb and Tony before we left. We arrived at their house and while inside
we talked about the situation last night and Deb had showed me a very
disturbing piece of evidence she had noticed. Tony came from the kitchen
and Deb had asked him to show me his leg where the scratches were made
by an unknown source and I could not believe my eyes, there was a very
large bruise of a hand covering the scratches. This could not have been
done by Tony or Deb because the hand was too big to be Deb's and due to
the angle of the hand print, there is no way Tony could have self
inflicted this. We left soon after seeing this and we were all ready to
come home to the peace and quiet. The aftermath of visiting this house
will change me for the rest of my life and has opened my eyes to even
more of the paranormal and just how mysterious it can truly be.