Overview of Media Coverage

Shortly after my son's birth in June of 1996, we had so much unexplained activity in the house that we called on a friend of the family, who was a previous resident of the community. She was a psychic who had since been living in California, but was scheduled for a visit with her local family. Her name was Barbara Conner, and she graciously spent about an hour and a half with us in an attempt to help us understand what was happening in our house. It was during this interview that we first learned of the name Sallie.

In the latter part of 1996, Sightings contacted us with interest about our claim and spent many months bringing in an array of investigators, psychics and paranormal professionals. Although the process was interesting and often gave us hope in resolving the experiences we'd been having, the case was left open and inconclusive.

With each rerun of the Sightings episodes, interest grew among the communities close to Atchison. KQ2 News group, out of Saint Joseph, Missouri interviewed us and aired a small piece about our experience.

On October 27, 2002, Showtime aired a two-hour movie they had been working on for almost two years prior. The Heartland Ghost depicted our story quite well in regards to the detail of events that took place, however, without a full understanding of the haunt Hollywood had to take liberty with the story line. We cannot confirm the story line about the African-American woman and the affair, and there was never a large fire that ran us out of the house.

What followed was the Travel Channel's Haunted Town on April 25, 2003, which covered many areas of Atchison and the claims of the hauntings within it. I will leave it said that this was not one of our favorite media coverage's, as we don't give much credibility to some of the participants.

It wasn't much later, November 2, 2003, when we were contacted by a new show named Unexplained Mysteries, which depicted a slightly updated version of the Sightings investigations; complete with old footage and new interviews.

As a result of the interest of shown in the haunted history of the town, Atchison Chamber of Commerce embarked on an interesting idea. Their Haunted Trolley Tour has been a great success. What began as a month long (October) single trolley tour that made its way around the town and told stories of specific location along the way has grown into a two month, two trolley tour. Tickets are often hard to come by, unless you have been able to purchase them in advance. Space continues to be limited, and the demand remains high.

In the last year or so, Channel 4 News out of Kansas City has been to the house as well. The newscaster assigned to the story has been enthusiastic and has had a few unexpected experiences of his own.

In 2004, an investigative team from Ghost Hunter Magazine which later became Haunted Times Magazine published three articles in their online magazine. The articles, although not always consistent with the beliefs of others, are very interesting and written from the perspective of Christopher Moon, who remains adamant in his experiences.

Late in 2004, Kansas Paranormal Group began widespread research into the Sallie House haunting. This small, but tremendously dedicated group continues to be the most active participant in returning to the house for answers. It is this group that has graciously accepted an extensive role in this site, and we are extremely fortunate and proud to have them along.

Haunted Voices, a website dedicated to the teaching, learning and research of EVP (electric voice phenomenon) began to investigate the house in February of 2005. They have dedicated much time and research to the case through three investigations.

Unexplained Mysteries aired a segment in 2007 updating viewers on our story by recapping the many events reported by the Sightings teams and visiting us and our family. This was to insure viewers that we moved on and thrived even after the crazy events we endured.

As of this writing, Discovery Channel aired a media segment of their newest series A Haunting. Sallie's House, premiered on August 17th of 2006, depicting this location and the experiences we and others had within its walls. Although we had anticipated this television presentation as being the closest to the actual experiences, the story told did not depict details of the story as well as we had hoped. In addition, as with so many other shows, again it was more of a recap of events when we lived in the house.

The biography channel aired a program called My Ghost Story in 2009 in which they sought out people with first hand experiences and showcased them in a montage sort of presentation. Due to the popularity of the first show, Tony and I were flown out to Los Angeles for an interview for their second show. The taping was in April 2009 and the show aired June the same year. This interview revealed details of the haunting that had never before been presented.

Still it seems that the best oppurtunity to get the facts of this haunting has been through the Pickman radio interviews. Through them callers can ask questions as well as submit queries through online forums. Radio interviews have included APSR Paranormal Radio, the Paranormal Underground, WCAN radio hosted by the Rhode Island Demonic Disturbances Association (RIDDIA), and Western New York Paranormal radio (WNYParanormal) to name a few.

Be sure to check out out radio archive pages.

To date, and with the exception of the radio interviews and a few websites furnishing the results of their own investigations, there is very little in the media representing the research, theories or experiences of individuals or groups within the last eight years.

With this website, we hope to change what is available to the public and continue to offer an invitation to all who have experienced the house.


Atchison Featured as Haunted Town 2-16-10

The series Destination USA will feature the town’s eeriest sites while showing Haunted Town. The Travel Channel’s Website, www.travelchannel.com, lists Atchison as “a pleasant town of Victorian houses and leafy streets and the birthplace of Amelia Earhart. But behind the quite facades, ghosts of all sorts are said to frolic....the crew ventured to many places in Atchison including a house on North Second Street, where a little girl named Sallie is suppose to hate men and lurks in the halls waiting to scratch their eyes out.

view the entire article here

7/17/12  Unearthly Encounter's, Mckenzie and Beth chat with Tony and Debra

A fantastic 2 hour show detailing experiences beyonds what most radio shows are able to touch on. From moving into the house, living there and the effects and experiences the Pickmans had afterwards.

click here to listen

5/13/12  Kat Lang of Paranormal Crossfire visited with Tony and Debra for a GREAT show

A fantastic 2 hour show full of awesome questions and conversation relating to little known aspects of the Sallie House haunting. This show definately rates among the most inforomational and ultimately the most enjoyable show we've done over the years.

click here to listen

Discovery Channel
A Haunting

The Sallie House episode of A Haunting will air on (Thursday) August 17th, 2006 9CST/8EST. Be sure to check your local listings. Also available in 6 parts on Youtube right here. (opens in a separate window)

The interviews for this show were taped about 18 months prior and it was originally scheduled to air in April of 2005. It was however, postponed several times. Considering the extensive interviews of several individuals, and the final show anxiously awaited for the factual representation we expected, creative direction did not allow the show to meet expectations.

October 2007 - Halloween

Mix 93.3 broadcasts live from the Sallie house and listeners hear that staff members have become overwhelmingly sick. Live reports also note several moments of equipment failures, unexplained physical activty, and strange experiences during their visit and live broadcast.