Are you a horror connoisseur looking to make your life spookier? Are you road-tripping through the middle of the Mid-West and need a haunting pit stop? Do you need a terrifying place to take your next adventure? Do not fret. We have you covered with the haunting abode known as the Sallie House.
In Atchison, Kansas, this house is said to the most haunted town in the state. Sallie's House received its name after a heartbreaking story of a young girl with appendicitis. But what happened to the little girl, and why is the house so haunted? Let us take a dive into the story of the paranormal activity in this tiny Kansas town.
History of Atchison, Kansas
First, let's talk about the haunted activity of Atchison. This town is located an hour northwest of Kansas City, Missouri/Kansas. It has been an attraction for paranormal hunters, brave tourists, and ghost-hunting extraordinaires. Since westward migration in the latter part of the 1800s, the town was a center for transportation and became a railroad hub.
Since the inception of these stately homes in the 19th century, bizarre happenings have occurred, and Atchison has been known for its ghostly sightings and paranormal stories. The town thrives on its seasonal haunted events, especially during the fall season. The most famous in this haunted heartland is the heartland ghost herself: the ghost of Sallie House.
The Sallie House Haunting
The most famous haunted house of all is Sallie's House, where people pay to visit for the day, and the most daring of the guests even stay overnight. The home belonged to Atchison physician Dr. Charles Finney, who had his office downstairs and his house upstairs.
One day, the story goes that a fearful mother knocked on Charles Finney's door about her 6-year-old daughter named Sallie, who was suffering severe abdominal pain. After arriving at the family's new home, the doctor quickly diagnosed Sallie with appendicitis.
Frantic that the organ would not be removed in time for the girl to live, the doctor began the surgery before the anesthesia was fully working. Her screams immediately ceased, and the girl died on the operating table. This true story has since gripped visitors and residents alike. It brings hundreds of interested people to Atchison every year to see the heartbreaking ghost story for themselves.
A Haunting by Sallie
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Sallie's House hauntings took hold of the public when a young couple (Tony and Debra Pickman) rented the home in 1993. Their dog seemed to growl at seamlessly nothing, but things began to quickly take a turn for the worse.
Gruesome attacks on the husband started, fires broke out randomly, and objects would move when the man came close to them. Tony Pickman had personal attacks against him, heard unexplained voices, had burnt finger marks from candles that somehow lit themselves, and felt random cold spots in the house.
Since then, the Kansas Paranormal Group began investigating the unexplained mysteries happening at 508 North Second Street. The paranormal investigators discovered that Sallie was not the only ghost in the home. Still, there was a middle-aged woman who seemed to be more angry and violent than Sallie.
Visit the Sallie House in Atchison
If you are a first-time seeker of ghost adventures, Sallie House is not for the faint of heart. However, this home has been featured on multiple TV shows and networks, including the Travel Channel, A&E, The Discovery Channel, and the Syfy Channel. YouTube is also rife with amateur paranormal investigations of the Sallie House.
But don't fret if you don't have a television. Sallie House is open to the public for visitors and ghost hunters to discover the home for themselves. There are two ways to visit the Sallie House: self-guided tours and overnight stays. The self-guided tours are one hour long and cost $18/person. If you feel extra brave, you can stay the night at the haunted home starting at $125/person.
All attendees must be 18 years or older. Every guest must sign a waiver in case of personal injury (although nothing serious has happened since the Pickmans lived there in 1993). There's no waiver, however, to become a paranormal witness at the Sallie House!
Editor's note: This article was originally published on July 8, 2021.
