Sallie lay awake on the operating table as the doctor began to cut into her. The anesthesia had not yet taken effect, but the doctor was anxious, eager to remove her appendix before it burst. Her screams could be heard throughout the house until her body went limp and they suddenly stopped. Sallie was dead, and no one would have imagined what would happen next. The house is now known as the Sallie House.
The house known as the Sallie House is located at 508 N. Second Street in Atchinson, Kansas. It was built in the mid-1800’s, and became home to a physician – Dr. Charles Finney. Dr. Finney kept an office and examination rooms in the front of the house, while he and his family lived upstairs.
Though there is no exact record of what happened to Sallie, or if Sallie ever really existed, there is the legend.
One day a frantic mother, carrying her 6-year-old daughter, Sallie, arrived at Dr. Finney’s office. The poor little girl had collapsed from severe abdominal pain, and the doctor was quick to diagnose appendicitis. Her state led him to believe her appendix would soon burst, and he had to operate immediately.
He gave Sallie anesthesia, but didn’t wait for it to take effect. With his scalpel in hand, he began to cut, and the girl screamed in agony. It wasn’t long before her entire body went limp and pale, and her screams stopped. Sallie had died on the operating table. The exact cause of death is unknown, though many believe the doctor wasn’t fast enough and her appendix burst.
Since then, the house has changed hands numerous times, and up until the mid-1990’s, remained relatively quiet. Sure, there were picture frames that had been turned upside down. Ghost sightings and strange noises, but nothing harmful or threatening.
However, in 1993, when Tony and Debra Pickman purchased the home, strange things began to happen.
The couple was expecting their first child, and quickly set up a nursery for the new baby upstairs. That particular room became the primary focus of the ghostly activity. Neighbors would ask why they left the nursery lights on all night – except they had not done so.
They would enter the room to find dolls and stuffed toys removed from shelves and set out in a perfect circle on the floor. They could hear strange noises from the room, even when no one was in there. Even more interesting, any electronics brought into, or near, the room seemed to shut off without notice.
Outside of the nursery, Tony became a target. During their first year in the home, on Halloween night, Tony returned home after work. While he was in the kitchen getting a drink, he spotted a little girl standing there, staring at him. Startled, he dropped his glass, which shattered on the floor, and the girl disappeared.
Tony raced upstairs and told his wife, “I saw her, I saw her.”
The family dog began to growl at seemingly nothing, and the activity became more prominent.
As the activity in the nursery continued, and became more frequent, they moved their baby to another room. The activity was not just more frequent, but also took on a more violent nature.
The couple reached out to the producer of the TV show, “Sightings.” Their paranormal investigation crew went to the house, and they noticed an alarming amount of activity. By this time, they were beginning to believe that Sallie wasn’t just a ghost, but rather a demonic presence, taking the form of a little girl.
Since then, some have theorized that the ghost of Sallie is indeed in the house, but that there is also a malevolent spirit of an older, middle-age, woman present. It is speculated that the woman was Sallie’s mother, and after the death of Sallie, she attacked the doctor, resulting in her death. While Sallie is a peaceful spirit, only wanting to play, her mother is angry, and attacks any man she comes into contact with.
That theory is furthered by the fact that only men have been the target of vicious attacks.
After the paranormal investigation had concluded, the spirit, or demon, was enraged. Fires began to pop up around the house, with no apparent cause. The area that had once been Dr. Finney’s operating area would grow cold.
As for Tony – scratches began appearing on his arms and chest. One night he dreamed that he was being pulled from his bed. When he awoke, he had burn marks on his arm – shaped like fingers.
The couple tried to appease the spirit of Sallie. They even bought her gifts and toys. But, one day, when he was walking by the stairs, Tony was lifted off the ground and pushed. It was then that he knew they had to get out. After 2 years of trying to coexist, the Pickman family moved out.
Elijah Buchholz, a paranormal investigator, has returned to the house numerous times. “Every time we’ve come, it’s gotten progressively more intense, what we feel it’s more dangerous,” he said.
Tim Wood, director of LiveSciFi.tv has said, “This place is infested with demonic activity.It’s not a place that I would tell a lot of people to come to.”
Tim Wood has been to the Sallie House several times. “It is by far the most creepiest place I’ve ever been to and the most active,” Wood said. He, and his crew, report that Sallie’s room, where toys move around, and the basement, where people report being attacked, are the scariest places in the house.
“The energy down there is super negative, we’ve been attacked down there,” Wood said.
The Sallie House has been investigated numerous times over the years, from Ghost Adventures to Sam and Colby. Buzzfeed Unsolved even visited twice. Everyone wants to know – just who is Sallie, and what will give her peace?
Today, the Sallie House is open for haunted tours. You can schedule your visit – even an overnight stay at visitatchinson.com.
If the Sallie House is the most haunted house in America, then the Stanley Hotel is definitely the most haunted hotel in America.
