Is Sallie House Haunted?

Is Sallie House Haunted?

In this article we will be covering the rather famous haunted property in Atchison, Kansas. Is Sallie House haunted, and if so…what is behind this paranormal force?

Let’s take a closer look…

Dr. Charles Finney

The year was 1906, and a doctor named Dr. Charles Finney was awoken by a loud banging at his front door. He found a young mother outside who was sheltering her desperately ill daughter.

The doctor agreed to examine the child and eventually declared that he had discovered a infected growth on the child’s abdomen…and he needed to operate on her straight away to save her life.

The operation was a complete disaster from start to finish…and the little girl died.

Many people now believe that Finney was nothing more than a sadistic medical professional, who cut up the girl on purpose…others believe that a demon drove his hands through the operation that night.

Either way…the death of the young girl that fateful night became the catalyst of the legend of the ‘Sallie House’.


So the story goes…

Now, many paranormal enthusiasts believe that the young girl named Sallie haunts the property and takes aim on any man that enters the building. She is convinced that she was killed by the doctor through torture, and wants revenge.

The paranormal activity at the Sallie House first became public by the accounts of Tony and Debra Pickman, who lived at the property with their newborn.

At first they claimed that the hauntings were actually centred in their newborn’s bedroom. On many an occasion they would enter the room and find a perfect circle of toy dolls in the middle of the room. These dolls had somehow been taken from a high shelf, and arranged in this pattern.

sallie house atchison kansas

Renae Leiker

The Pickmans decided to bring in a psychic named Renae Leiker to find out what was behind the paranormal activity in their home.

As soon as Leiker pulled up outside the house, she noticed a man sitting in one of the front windows. When she got out of the car the man simply stood up and walked away…but nobody was in the house at the time!

When Leiker finished her investigation she told the Pickmans that there was a demonic energy inside the home and that they should start burning sage to fend it off.

The Pickmans did what they were told, but the ‘entity’ did it’s best to stop them. At one point Tony was thrown onto a bedroom floor, and held down by an invisible force.

The Attacks Escalate…

The paranormal activity went from bad to worse, with unseen hands constantly popping up and scratching the skin of Tony. The Pickman’s had experienced enough and contacted the crew of a 90’s TV ghost show named Sightings.

The crew managed to capture several minutes of strange scratching marks appearing on Tony’s body.

The paranormal team then tried to capture some electric voice phenomenon but the entity took out it’s frustration on Tony further…and began burning his skin.

The family eventually moved out of the property.

Is Sallie House Haunted?

So, was it the ghost of young Sallie that was taking out her rage on poor Tony?

Tony reported seeing two young women spirits in the house. One of them seemed scared of him…the other was fierce and started screaming at him!

Locals to the area now believe that the female spirit that resides in the property is that of Joanna Barnes, who was Finney’s relative that lived next door. She was apparently institutionalised throughout her life.

A famous psychic named Robbie Thomas carried out a further investigation in the house in 2009. During that time he insists that he had contact with two girls named Emily and Anna and a third entity they claimed was ‘The Devil’.



2 comments on “Is Sallie House Haunted?

  1. Reading that just gave me the heebady jeebadies, and I genuinely couldn’t watch the second half of the video! haha I genuinely believe there are entities that aren’t aligned with being good living there, but I feel there’s more to it, like maybe there is an open portal in the house that shouldn’t be there. Do you know how long the family lived there? And if there is anyone living there now? Super interesting case!

    1. Hi Josie!

      Well the open portal is actually a pretty good shout! I’m not really sure who owns the property at the moment or indeed if anyone is actually living inside the house. 

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