The Sallie House Haunting: A True Story [Paperback]

Debra Lyn Pickman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2010

This is the firsthand account of what Tony and Debra Pickman and their newborn son Taylor experienced in the now notorious Sallie House, from the day they moved in to the turn-of-the-century haunted house until they finally fled in terror. The story of the Sallie House and the fire-starting ghost girl who haunted it has sparked endless rumors and theories of murder, cover-ups, racism, and abuse. But the Pickmans know the real story because they lived it—and barely made it out alive.

Now, for the first time, Tony and Debra reveal untold stories from their ordeal. They describe Sallie’s seemingly protective fascination with their baby, and tell what it was like to live with menacing entities that scratched, bit, and terrorized their family. Along with historical research, the Pickmans share personal photographs and journal entries from their time spent living in the nightmare house that still haunts them today.  

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Debra Pickman (Atchison, Kansas) lived in the Sallie House with her family over a year. In addition to attracting paranormal investigators and psychics, the home has been featured on television shows Sightings, Unexplained Mysteries, and A Haunting, and was the subject of a Showtime movie called Haunted Heartland. For more information, visit www.thesalliehouse.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (August 8, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 073872128X
• ISBN-13: 978-0738721286
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #243,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Added to my collection, August 29, 2010

By 

churchwriter "Terry" (Williamsburg, VA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Sallie House Haunting: A True Story (Paperback)

I collect true ghost stories. This is a good one to add. Several years ago I had the TV program that featured the house and this book helps to add things that you just can't squeeze into a limited televsion show. It is a quick read and certainly held my attention. I applaud the family for staying in the house as long as they did. They are braver than I would be under the same circumstances, especially the actual physical attacks.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Boring Badly Edited Haunting, October 3, 2010

By 

Boraborajen - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sallie House Haunting: A True Story (Paperback)

I was excited to pick up this book after having seen it on TV a while back. The book is not written by a famous author, so I was willing to concede several badly written lines, but I had to draw the line at the editing. I don't think anyone bothered to read it before they sent it out. It has so many typos it actually makes it hard to read. Some of the sentences are so poorly written I had to read them several times to try to figure out what she was saying. Trying to finish the book, but it has not kept my attention and every extra "the" that's not been edited out is another nail in its coffin.

Bottom line: I don't recommend reading this book. Sorry. Wish I could. I gave it two stars because I think the author gave it her best and she obviously had to go it alone.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you like "this happened to me" ghost stories, you'll like this..., August 7, 2010

By 

K. Brand (U.S.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Sallie House Haunting: A True Story (Paperback)

I do, and I did. This book is a relatively well written and engrossing account of a haunting experienced by Tony and Debra Pickman and their baby son Taylor after moving into a very old rental house (I vaguely recalled seeing their story depicted on the old "Sightings" TV show).

Debra Pickman, whose first person account this is, has reconstructed in this book the events she and her family and friends experienced in "the Sallie House" from a journal she says she kept at the time. It certainly is a detailed account. Shortly after moving in, Mrs. Pickman began to suspect that the strange activity she'd begun noticing in her new home (which seemed to interact with her newborn son) was caused by a young child. Mrs. Pickman recounts many seemingly paranormal events -- some fairly typical and some truly eerie -- that occurred and grew in intensity, and how in response she began to bond with "Sallie," the supposed little girl spirit she (with some evidence provided by a psychic she consulted) came to suspect was behind them. Based on this activity and Sallie's own "response" to her, Mrs. Pickman developed maternal feelings for the spirit haunting her home, and began to provide it with growing attention and even gifts.

This dynamic wasn't as benign as it may sound, however. Mr. Pickman was not as comfortable with the idea of sharing his home with a spirit as Mrs. Pickman. And little Sallie had some potentially very dangerous ways of throwing tantrums and seeking attention, such as lighting candles and other household items not necessarily meant to be set on fire. Plus, there was a newborn baby in the house whose sleeping patterns were quite disturbed at first, apparently by the spirit. Although Mrs. Pickman believed that Sallie would not hurt the baby and perhaps was even saving him from SIDS by repeatedly waking him during the night, that was only a supposition. There were also several pets (cats and a dog) who were disturbed by the haunting.

Frankly, I came to be shocked by Mrs. Pickman's rather blithe dismissal of all the turmoil caused by Sallie; she truly seemed to be in denial. It almost seemed like Stockholm Syndrome type behavior. Fortunately, she did eventually question her own behavior and whether she were somehow being "brainwashed." But not before evidence grew that Sallie was not the only unseen force in their home. Mr. Pickman had some very scary experiences with at least one other spirit in the house, and was the victim of some terrifying physical attacks, including some powerful phenomena at work witnessed by a coworker. These attacks, in the form of spontaneous scratches forming on his skin, were also witnessed in the Pickman home by "Sightings" personnel each of the three times they were there to document their story.

After having been a fairly gripping read, the story kind of peters out toward the end. The family accepted the offer of a psychic to cleanse the house (which sent at least two adult spirits to the light but spared Sallie), but it didn't fully "take." The stepped-up attacks on Mr. Pickman, and Mrs. Pickman's realization that her marriage was on the line with their continued occupation of the house, finally seemed to break Sallie's spell on her. There is really no description in this book of Mrs. Pickman actually taking her leave of Sallie when the family moved out -- something I was quite curious about.

Mrs. Pickman's belated recognition that Sallie may not have been what she seemed was one thing, but I was a little surprised at the end by the leap then made from the possibility a spirit practicing deception, to the likelihood that demonic forces were actually in the Sallie House. At the end of the book, Mr. Pickman briefly describes some of his experiences in the house, and they were truly chilling; honestly, I wish Mr. Pickman would write his own account of his stay in the Sallie House because his wife was hardly aware of what he endured (both due to his own fear of revealing it to her, and from her preoccupation with Sallie). But in fearing that the house was under demonic possession, he makes a comparison between his experiences with the Amityville haunting without seeming to be aware that the latter haunting has been debunked.

At any rate, if you've gotten this far in my rambling review, please take the above of a recommendation of a book that will have you eagerly turning the pages. If anyone at Llewellyn, the publishing company, is reading this review -- shame on you for not performing more rigorous copy editing on this book!