Sallie House is said to be one of the most haunted places in America, and the story you’re about to read may make you reconsider all the strange things that happen at night. Some believe that the force present inside the house is demonic. Despite the fact that there were no tragedies inside the Sallie house, spirits made a name for themselves.
It is believed that in human presence, demons will allegedly present themselves in the form of a human. The reason for this is that they require energy and souls to feed, and they do so by appearing in the form of children, which is why you will be reading about a little girl named Sallie throughout this article.
History of Sallie House
The history of the Sallie House does not reveal any tragic event that could be the source of the hauntings.
Michael Finney built the house in 1867, and four deaths have occurred due to natural causes since then. Michael Finney died in 1872, Richard Edwin Fenny died in 1874, Charles James Kathrens (Father of Kate Finney) died in 1874, and Anges Finney died in 1939.
The Finney family lived there until 1947, and the house has since been owned and rented by a variety of people.
The Pickman’s Sallie House
When Tony and Debra Pickman rented the house in 1992, they began to notice small acts of haunting, which eventually turned into sleepless nights.
Debra wrote a book about it: Sallie House Haunting: A True Story by Debra Pickman. According to the book, the incidents could have been dismissed as faulty wiring and pranks, such as lights flickering and dimming themselves and the dog in the house standing and crying or barking for several minutes outside the bedroom, which later became a nursery.
The haunting soon became more pervasive, and their newborn baby would wake up every hour. This incident was described by Debra as “as if someone was playing with him.”
Their neighbors would question why they had the nursery room lights on all night with the baby sleeping; this surprised Debra, who always turned the lights off.
When Debra, Tony, and her sister Karen went to the nursery room on July 14, 1993, they found all the toy animals lying in a circle in the middle of the room, thinking it was a prank by one of them, so they packed the animals back, turned off the lights, and went downstairs.
When they returned to check on their newborn baby, they discovered that not only was the light on, but one of her toys had fallen to the ground.
They didn’t waste any time after that, packing their belongings and leaving the house to stay with Tony’s parents.
As they were leaving Tony felt a sharp sting in his back and when lifted his shirt to look they discovered scratches on his back. Tony felt a sharp sting in his back as they were leaving, and when they lifted his shirt to look, they discovered scratches on his back.
This continued and became truly terrifying when a scratch appeared while the video was being recorded. This piqued the interest of the media, and the “Sightings” crew paid a visit to the house and filmed an episode there.
This incident led Pickman to a psychic who sensed the presence of a woman named Sallie. The crew set their cameras to look for any paranormal activity, and they began interviewing Debra with clear instructions to move the camera if anything unusual occurred.
While Debra was being interviewed, Tony was sitting in the chair with his daughter, away from the cameras. Suddenly, Tony began screaming, and when they went to check on him, they discovered scratches on his arm.
Tony was horrified by the experience, but he couldn’t do anything about it. When he was being interviewed, he noticed he was being scratched, and when he removed his shirt to inspect it, he discovered he had scratches on his chest, and after some time, scratches on his back.
Their pictures on the wall would turn upside down, the vacuum cleaner would turn on and off again, the television would turn on after they had turned it off, and music-playing toys would turn on by themselves.
How Sallie house was named after Sallie’s sketch
They stayed because Debra wanted to know why this was happening to Tony. After a few months, Tony went to get a glass of orange juice from the kitchen and when he turned around he saw a little girl standing in the early 1900s clothing standing, he sketched the girl for Debra to tell her what he saw.
Although a resident mentioned that his 5-year-old daughter had a friend named Sallie, and when he scolded her, she would say, “I didn’t do it, Sallie did it” or “Sallie told me to do it.”
When the Pickman family relocated in 1994, he showed his drawing to his daughter, who claimed she was her childhood friend, about 11 years later.
The fire would start on its own in the nursery room, and Tony would constantly complain about hearing someone scratching through the wall as if an animal was digging its way out.
He later admitted that there was a time in the house when he couldn’t think of anything positive and wanted to slit Debra’s throat.
You may be wondering why they are still living here. Debra herself stated that even her relatives and people watching on television have asked her why she is still living here. Because they are curious, and as soon as they find out the answer, they will leave. Debra responded.
The basement of Sallie House
The basement has to be the strangest part of the Sallie house; it has a pentagram on the floor that Les Smith, the house owner, discovered after the Pickmans moved out. The basement is thought to be a gateway for demonic entities. Visitors report hearing footsteps from the basement when no one is present.
Psychic Peter James visit Sallie House
Peter James was scheduled to visit Sallie’s house without knowing what was going on inside; however, before even entering the house, he notices a small girl on the upstairs window. Similarly, he discussed the deaths and previous residents, one of whom was a doctor.
The presence was strongly felt in two locations in the house, one of which was a bedroom and the other was a nursery room, according to Peter.
He felt Sallie’s presence and tried talking to her, but he couldn’t figure out why Sallie was haunting Tony Pickman and how to make her leave. He also believed that this house was a portal for spirits and that it was home to more than one spirit.
However, there is no factual evidence to back up Peter’s claim that he saw Sallie on the stairs.
New residents of Sallie house
When new residents moved to the Sallie House they did not report anything and neither did Tony and Debra after they moved out in 1994, and believed that no such thing happened here.
Who was Sallie?
When researching about the previous residents, there used to be women named Sallie living nearby. So what was she doing in that house?
Sallie Isabel Hall was a 34-year-old back woman who gave birth to 14 children in 1905 at the house owned by Dr. Charles C. Finney. Unfortunately, ten of her children died at birth, with only three girls and one boy surviving. Dr. Charles C. Finney later relocated to two houses in the same neighborhood.
According to legend, she forgave the doctor but continued to attack males inside the house.
Conclusion
You might be wondering why all of the incidents were linked to Tony and no one else, why not anyone else? Perhaps Tony reminded her of something, or perhaps she or something was attempting to possess Tony. On the other hand, why hadn’t anyone else noticed her? or how certain can we be that Sallie is a young girl and not an evil entity?
Tony, interestingly, had a skin disease. Dermatographism is a harmless skin condition in which a person can scratch his body and nothing appears at the time, but scars appear 10- 15 minutes later. However, this condition does not include bleeding, as Tony Pickman experienced.
So Sallie attempted to communicate with people by assuming the form of a child? And she is attempting to protect the household from adults, as evidenced by Debra’s Christmas photos, which show something blurry near the newborn baby. Tony hasn’t been nice to his child, or Sallie has had problems with someone who looks like Tony or Is it the house that is haunted, similar to Winchester Mystery House.
