92: The Sallie House
Gina (00:52)
Welcome to I Scream You Scream, your weekly scoop of the most chilling histories, mysteries, and paranormal perplexities. My name is Gina.
Kathryn (01:01)
And I'm Kathryn
Gina (01:02)
And this month we have been telling outrageous stories. Well, we have enjoyed outrageous ice cream. If you already know us, welcome back. If you want to see more from us each month, go on over and join us on Patreon. Link is in the show notes. Today's episode is sponsored by Clo Bare Money Coach. If you're ready to start investing, but you're not really sure how to get started, visit getlazynow.com. Until then, grab a spoon and let's dig in. Something
extremely unfortunate happened to me while I was downstairs getting my ice cream and I have to tell you about it.
Kathryn (01:34)
my god, what?
Gina (01:35)
Tom found his big surprise anniversary gift 'cause your girl left it on the counter like a dumbass.
Kathryn (01:41)
NOOOO
Gina (01:44)
Yep, I went downstairs and I was getting ice care, but he was like, by the way, like what's this box? Cause he's been out all day. And I did
Kathryn (01:51)
Yeah.
Gina (01:51)
the like like grabbed it from him and was like, did you look inside? And he was like, Yeah. Like it was a random box on our counter. Of course I looked inside and I was like,
Kathryn (01:59)
my god.
Gina (02:00)
okay. And I'd like sad Charlie Brown walked my way upstairs. I'm so upset.
It's
Kathryn (02:06)
Wait.
Gina (02:06)
so it's completely my fault.
Kathryn (02:09)
I have like really conflicting emotions right now because I feel really sad and upset for you, but also Tom is living my dream right now. I'm such a present snooper. Ooh.
Gina (02:20)
I am too.
I am kind of jealous that he found it because I've never found
Kathryn (02:23)
Yeah.
Gina (02:23)
one of his presents for me ever.
Kathryn (02:25)
I have never found a present of Phil's, but I've been able to figure most of them out.
Gina (02:31)
Mm.
Kathryn (02:31)
I'm saying this because he doesn't listen to the podcast. He would be really upset
Gina (02:34)
Ha ha ha.
Kathryn (02:35)
if he knew that. Don't tell him anyone.
Gina (02:37)
Tom doesn't
give me hints anymore because he knows I'll get it. Mm-hmm.
Kathryn (02:40)
No, neither will Phil. Yeah, same. He
he gets upset if I like try to like genuinely will be like, Stop, please. Yeah. I know.
Gina (02:47)
Yeah, same with Tom. And then I feel really bad but I physically can't stop
myself from guessing. I love the game of guessing.
Kathryn (02:53)
Yeah.
I think the closest I've come to actually physically quote finding a present is one time that he lit he was keeping it at his parents' house so I wouldn't find it. But he had a picture of it on his phone right next to I don't remember what he was showing me, but he was showing me pictures of something that he had taken.
right after taking pictures of the pre it was when he got me that mirror. He when he got me the mirror that's in our bedroom. And
Gina (03:20)
I remember that
Kathryn (03:22)
he was showing me pictures of something else. I don't like I wasn't going through his phone or anything. Like he was showing me these photos and he was swiping through. And all of a sudden he swipes to through to a mirror pic. And I was like, what the hell is that? Because he is not a mirror pic guy. He does not take pictures of anything, let alone himself.
And so I was like, what is that? And he immediately just he just goes and swipes away and like throws his phone. And I was like, what was that? Because now he's being suspicious. I'm like, what in the hell is that? and I genuinely didn't figure it out. I was just confused why he was taking mirror pics at his mom's house. Like, I was like, that is so unlike you. Like, are you okay?
And then, yeah.
Gina (04:05)
my god, I would love if Phil became a mirror pic guy.
Kathryn (04:09)
my God, he's so not Well, and part of why I was confused when I was that's like
Really bad mirror selfie. Like it's not even it's hardly even of you. It's just like of the mirror and it's because the photo was of the mirror. I think I don't know who it was like he was taking a picture of it to send to like his sisters or something like that. Was it you?
Gina (04:27)
He said he sent it to me. Yeah,
I have a d the only time Phil and I text is when we're
Kathryn (04:31)
So funny.
Gina (04:32)
talking about gifts for you or your engagement ring.
Kathryn (04:34)
Yeah. See, yeah.
Tom and I Tom's and my communication increases significantly in November and December for the same reason. Yeah. That was a great present though. And it wasn't
Gina (04:46)
Yep, yep. that's so funny.
Kathryn (04:49)
technically ruined. Like I I was just confused why he I was like, are you like going through something? Like, whatever it is, I support it. Like you're very cute. Take pictures of yourself.
Gina (04:59)
Ha ha.
Kathryn (04:59)
Like, feel yourself. That's great.
But turns out it was not that. He was just texting you, apparently. He did it to himself. That's
Gina (05:06)
and the fact that he did it to himself too me and Phil, we both did it to ourselves. Ugh.
Kathryn (05:10)
a thing. I like, I want be so clear. This was not a snooping situation. Like
Gina (05:14)
Yeah.
Kathryn (05:15)
at all. I wasn't even trying. And that was like the closest I've gotten to actually figuring it out.
Gina (05:22)
Anyway,
Kathryn (05:21)
Anyway
Gina (05:22)
I'm glad I have ice cream today because I need it emotionally.
Kathryn (05:27)
I sort of have ice cream today.
Gina (05:30)
Ha ha.
Kathryn (05:30)
I have a little mini ice cream dove bar that Phil purchased a long time ago, and I hid one at the bottom of the freezer in case one day I didn't have ice cream and needed something for this podcast. And that day has come. So now I'm eating it.
Gina (05:45)
That's genius. that is so smart.
I mean, and it is outrageous because I think this is the first popsicle esque thing we've had on the podcast.
Kathryn (05:55)
I think so too.
It's just a little like fun size candy bar, ice cream bar thing.
Yeah, it's good. It's just vanilla with caramel and then dipped in chocolate.
It's one of those things where the box says seventy calories. So you're like, sweet, I get all this ice cream for seventy calories and then you open it up and it's like two bites. It's just regular ice cream, just smaller.
Gina (06:18)
Yeah, all the like low calorie stuff they sell at the store looks a lot better on the box when it's blown up to ten times the size that it actually is.
Kathryn (06:22)
Mm-hmm.
Alright, so I think we have to rate.
Gina (06:27)
I think so too. I can't believe the end of August has come so quickly. I'm happy to go
Kathryn (06:31)
I know.
Gina (06:31)
first. I'm giving this a five.
Kathryn (06:35)
Hey, this is the first five in a long time.
Gina (06:38)
I'm
so excited about it. It's strawberry ice cream with balsamic is so good. I'm really I'm excited about it. Like there's no bits and normally I'm a bits person, but it's
Kathryn (06:48)
Mm-hmm.
Gina (06:48)
a five even without the bits because I like the combination so much.
Kathryn (06:51)
I'm gonna have to try that. And for anyone who's curious and wants to try it too, there is a recipe for it over on our Patreon. So
Gina (07:00)
Mm-hmm.
Kathryn (07:00)
go check that out. I haven't tried it yet, but maybe I'll make some. Maybe I'll eat it for next month. Who knows?
Gina (07:06)
Ooh, go for it. What about you? What's your rating?
Kathryn (07:11)
Honestly, I don't even know how to rate this month. I
Let's see, I had a dove chocolate bar this month or this week. I had coffee last week. And I don't even remember what was my outrageous ice cream. yeah, the
Gina (07:26)
It was the combination.
Kathryn (07:28)
the cookie caramel ice cream with cherry mixed in. That was a five. But I feel
Gina (07:36)
Hell yeah.
Kathryn (07:37)
weird rating it a five since I only did that for half the weeks. So
Ice cream five, my performance two. So let's say three and a half.
Gina (07:50)
I think your performance was a five because you weren't beholden to the law. You did whatever you wanted and that is outrageous.
Kathryn (07:56)
It was outrageous.
I did yes, I did stick to the theme, you're right.
Gina (07:59)
You
embodied the theme, yeah. Well should we talk about what we're doing next month?
Kathryn (08:03)
Yes.
Okay, cinnamon and I will do it, right? Cinnamon. Man, that was your cue to meow. That would have been so cute. She was meowing so much earlier. That's the one time she doesn't do it. You're such a butthead. Okay. So next month we are going to be telling stories about axe murderers.
Gina (08:24)
So chill.
Kathryn (08:25)
I don't know why we did this. Whole month of axe murderers. and we're gonna be eating
Praline. Praline ice cream.
And that's it. So I probably won't be doing strawberry balsamic
Gina (08:36)
Ha
Kathryn (08:38)
for next month. I'll do that a different time. yeah. Praline. I don't want to do that. Yeah. So
Gina (08:40)
Yeah. Y you could try doing strawberry, balsalmic, praline. That might not be good though. Mm. That's fair.
Kathryn (08:48)
yeah, axe murders while we eat praline ice cream. Please join us and let us know if you do, because we would love to hear your experience about it. I've never had praline ice cream.
What's praline
Gina (09:00)
You're not
Kathryn (09:01)
again? We talked about this at length in New Orleans and I think why we chose this flavor.
Gina (09:06)
It
depe okay, so here's something I learned. It depends on where in the world you are. Praline can mean different things. Because when we were in New Orleans,
I feel like we tried some and it was I'm not I'm gonna butcher this explanation, but it was more of like a candy, like it wasn't quite crunchy, but it was almost kinda like cooked powdered sugar. I don't really know how to describe what the texture of it was. It was good, it was very sweet. But then when I brought those pralines back for you.
When Tom and I were on our trip. Not
Kathryn (09:37)
Not the same thing.
Gina (09:38)
the same thing at all. It's just like a chocolate filled with things. So it depends.
Kathryn (09:42)
Well
Yeah. Okay. So I'm trying I'm like I vaguely remember learning this when we were in New Orleans together, but I think we were intoxicated, so I had to refresh my memory on like 'cause
Gina (09:51)
Yeah.
Kathryn (09:54)
I always thought the praline was I don't remember what we discussed, but like whatever I thought it was, it was the opposite. I always thought praline was like the flavor of a thing, but it turns out it's like the combination of the things. Is that right or is that wrong? I don't remember.
Gina (10:08)
Mm-hmm. That
sounds right to me, I think.
Kathryn (10:12)
But it like can't but that's whatever. Anyway we're having that. Whatever that is, that's what we're having. We'll
Gina (10:14)
So that's what we're having, whatever that is.
Kathryn (10:20)
figure it out along the way. This is definitely gonna be another month where I think we're gonna show up with very different things. Because I've never seen praline ice cream. It seems like something we'll
Gina (10:29)
Me neither.
Kathryn (10:30)
all have to like cobble together. Do you have you are you planning on making your ice cream?
Gina (10:34)
think I I might have to. Unless I wanna get real
Kathryn (10:37)
Yeah.
Gina (10:38)
avant garde with it.
Kathryn (10:39)
Maybe I'll actually use
Gina (10:40)
Who knows?
Kathryn (10:40)
my ice cream maker again.
Gina (10:42)
Ooh.
I do I have so many ideas for ice creams.
Kathryn (10:46)
Yeah, I went into this podcast being like, I'm gonna use my ice cream maker once a month and now I'm barely
Gina (10:52)
Mm.
Kathryn (10:52)
even eating actual ice cream. I gotta get back to it.
Gina (10:57)
Well listen, I
mean I think we can all agree we're here for the stories.
Kathryn (11:00)
Yes. And that's a good thing
Gina (11:01)
Speaking of
Kathryn (11:03)
because I have one for you today. How lucky are you? Okay.
Gina (11:04)
I was hoping you would.
Kathryn (11:09)
So today we're talking about the Sallie House in Atchison I think it's pronounced Acheson. I've never said it out
Gina (11:17)
Huh?
Kathryn (11:17)
loud. I've only ever heard it. I think it's Acheson. It's either Acheson or Acheson. Nah, I think it's Acheson. Okay.
Gina (11:24)
Yeah.
Kathryn (11:25)
I just literally am realizing I've never said that word out loud before.
Gina (11:28)
Hehehehehe
Kathryn (11:31)
Okay. We're talking about the Sallie House. and there are a million different ways to start slash tell this story. I'm gonna start with Tony and Deborah and how they lived in what would become known as one of the most haunted and evil houses in.
All of America.
Tony and Debora were a young couple in Atchison, Kansas, who were married in November of 1992. And they were described by friends and family as very practical, down to earth.
People with no particular interest in anything strange or unusual or weird. They were just your normal, average young couples starting their lives together. Deborah was pregnant with the couple's first child in 19 at the end of 1992. So shortly after getting married, they started looking for a cute little starter home where they could raise their children together.
After hunting around for a short time, the Pickman decide to rent a small Victorian home at 508 North 2nd Street in Atchison, Kansas. And it was built in the late 1800s, and the house appears to just be your average little historic residence. Like it's not, I say Victorian because of the style, but it's not, it's not like a Queen Anne. Like it's just a cute little Victorian style. I think it's like a two or three bedroom.
Kind of unassuming home in a casual, nice neighborhood. Nothing crazy, nothing out of the ordinary, just a modest little house. So they move in right around the new year, just in time to ring in 1993 in their new home, waiting for their new baby, new marriage. Like we're we're starting, we're hitting the ground running. Things are great. Immediately after moving in, literally within like a week or two, the couple starts to notice strange things.
happening around the house. Classic haunted house stuff. Lights flickering with seemingly no explanation. they'd have relatively new appliances and electronics malfunction and glitch out and you know turn on unannounced and turn off randomly and you know they would think it was broken and then all of a sudden it would start working again.
Cold spots would appear randomly, kind of out of nowhere, and particularly not necessarily even near windows. And it wasn't a draft. It there was no breeze or anything. They would just be standing there and all of a sudden it would get very, very cold. doors would open and close on their own, just like all at once, all this shit started happening, just kind of out of nowhere. But it was all stuff that you could explain away. You know, they're new to this house.
They're learning how it operates. You and I have both experienced that. Most people experience that when they move new places, particularly in an old old home. you know, maybe it f seems weird to them that there would be a cold spot here and, you know, where they wouldn't expect there to be a draft, but maybe it's just they haven't learned that there's a crack in the wall or whatever, you know, like there are all of these things happening
Gina (14:44)
Mm.
Kathryn (14:45)
that it could very simply just be they're not used to this house.
yet. and like I said, it is an old home for the middle of the Midwest. So very possible that this little rental home just doesn't have the electric up to date. So all of these things have very logical explanations that they were easily able to just explain away.
and honestly, at the end of the day, anytime anything strange happens, you can always just blame pregnancy. Like, truly. because weird things were happening to Deborah in particular. And they kind of just blamed pregnancy brain for a while.
For example, the they thought the keys were over here on this counter. They went missing for several hours and then they appeared over here. It's like, okay, well, she could have just forgotten that she had in her hand the whole time, you know?
Gina (15:35)
Mm, mm.
Kathryn (15:35)
so they kind of explained it away that way for a while.
But by mid-spring, things really started to escalate.
Now items wouldn't just disappear and reappear. People are starting to hear things and potentially see things as well. They started to hear knocking sounds from inside the walls. They heard what they thought were footsteps elsewhere throughout the house when no one was around.
as time went on, it got further and further away from pregnancy brain, quote unquote, and more to okay, we're used to this house now. We're used to the sounds, we're used to the way things are and the way things feel, and things still feel weird and out of the ordinary, you know, like we should be settled by now. This house should be settled with us in it by now, and strange things just continued to keep happening.
all of this stuff continues happening throughout her pregnancy. And then eventually, I think around like early summer, Deborah gives birth to their son. And up until this point, I think it was mostly Tony. I could be wrong about this, but I think it was mostly Tony who was concerned about the things happening. They both were kind of explaining things away and finding excuses for stuff.
But I think he was the one that was like, I really think something is wrong here. I think it's more than just the house settling. And she was the one who was like, no, no, it'll be normal. Like we're all just sleep deprived and going crazy because of the baby and all this stuff. We're still assuming that we're all just like getting used to the house and we're newlyweds. We have a new baby, all this stuff. There's a lot going on. So we're kind of writing off the weird stuff until again, shortly after the baby was born.
Now we can't really blame pregnancy brain. Not that being a new mom is any less stressful, but it's different. You know, there
Gina (17:26)
Mm.
Kathryn (17:27)
it's a different type of stress and different type of vibe. And now they're kind of slowly starting to realize maybe it never was pregnancy brain or just the house settling at all. Now that the baby is here, they start noticing that all of the strange things that they've
been experiencing are now concentrated in the baby's nursery and or wherever the baby is in the house. Yeah.
Gina (17:54)
Dude, this is giving
incidents around the house vibes.
Kathryn (17:57)
my god, it so is, yes.
Gina (17:59)
Ooh.
Kathryn (17:59)
You know what's so funny about that? I am I'm familiar with this story. I'm f I've never been to this house. I'm but I've seen it. It's on numerous like paranormal shows, and I've seen so many pictures. More on all that later. But like I know what this house looks like. And even still, as I was writing this, I was imagining my house.
And that's very similar to what we were talking about with incidents around
Gina (18:24)
Yeah.
Kathryn (18:25)
the house.
So like I said, it's no longer pregnancy brain, but it is maybe postpartum sleep depression or whatever you want to say it. That is until she starts to notice that the stuffed animals in her son's room start moving.
Yeah. So it's literally like, this bunny was over on this shelf. And then when she comes back to put him down for a nap or whatever, it's now on this shelf and she could have sworn it was over on that one. And then
Gina (18:52)
that's
creepy.
Kathryn (18:53)
Yes. And especially with a stuffed animal, it's like those are kind of inherently creepy because you kind of personify a stuffed animal.
Gina (19:01)
Mm.
Kathryn (19:02)
You know, especially as a child, it's like this is my best friend, you know, like there's something inherently creepy about that, like
Gina (19:10)
Yeah.
Kathryn (19:10)
a humanoid type looking thing or whatever.
Gina (19:13)
Like five nights at Freddy's or whatever that is. Creepy, yeah.
Kathryn (19:16)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Gina (19:18)
Is he okay, sorry. Is the baby the baby is still a newborn, right? This is fresh after okay, okay, got it. Okay.
Kathryn (19:22)
Brand new. Yes. Yeah. Brand, brand new.
Mm-hmm. Cause she was just newly,
I think she was newly pregnant when they moved it, or like they had just recently found out when they started hunting for this house. So she was pregnant for a while in this house, and then in the whatever that would be, late spring or early summer is when she had him. Yeah. So he's brain spanking new. at this point, stuffies and toys and all of this are starting to move around. Things have clearly escalated to a point where,
They are no longer able or willing to ignore that these things have been actually happening since they moved in and this is real and something strange actually is going on. But now there's baby involved, and that makes things inherently more serious. So they decide to contact a psychic to see if they can get some answers. So they call in a psychic named Barbara Connor, I believe was her last name, and
Barbara comes to the house, and after taking a look around, spending some time with the house, and just trying to get the vibe and understand the energy, et cetera, et cetera, she tells them that she senses what she believes to be the spirit of a young girl that she identifies as Sallie. Barbara tells the couple that she believes Sallie died.
suddenly, somehow, and is confused about what's going on. She's confused about where she is, what's happening, where her family is, et cetera, et cetera. And the reason she has decided to stay close to the baby is because, you know, to a fellow child, that's a very comforting thing. You know, like, I don't know who these grown-ups are, but like, I'm gonna stay near you because like you're a baby, I'm a kid, we got a lot in common. Let's
Gina (21:17)
Mm-hmm.
Kathryn (21:17)
Stick together, you know.
And this is really validating for Tony and Deborah because it very much matches the experiences that they have had since having the baby. It's very clear that whoever this is or whatever this is does want to be close to the baby. That has been their experience thus far. This immediately tugs at Deborah's heartstrings instead of being terrified.
Like learning that this is a little girl and she's just trying to snuggle up with this baby and play with his toys and all that, suddenly it's not really a scary situation anymore. It's just a lost little girl who needs a family and needs a friend. So Deborah starts leaving things out for Sallie to play with.
Deborah's completely emotionally invested in Sallie at this point and she wants to know more. She wants to understand this little girl and why she's here and what's happening. So she starts looking into the house.
And its history, and ends up finding former residents that she reached out, that she reaches out to to see if she can get any additional information. And one of the former renters did state that while they lived there, they would often experience things moving around, particularly concentrated in the room that the Pickmans nursery was in. So now they're wondering: like, okay, could this have been her room when she
was here or something like that because it doesn't seem to just be the baby. It seems to be this room as well. The people that they were talking to, these former tenants, also said that their daughter while living there had an imaginary friend that she called Sallie. Yeah.
Gina (23:02)
Ooh ooh, okay.
Kathryn (23:05)
Yes. So I will say immediately a lot of people contest this story.
because apparently before the Pickman lived there, it was owned and occupied by a woman who lived there for decades and claimed to never had have had any experiences whatsoever. It was just her family home and it was just normal. Everything was fine. But based on what I could find, I'm I'm not
Positive about this. There's a lot of kind of conflicting opinions and stuff on this, but it does appear like there were a few years like of a gap between this woman living in this house and when the Pickman moved in, because the Pickman were just renting. So before they lived there, there could there were other tenants in this house. So it could just be like within those few years, other people lived there. And these are the ones that.
shared their
Gina (24:01)
Mm-hmm.
Kathryn (24:02)
experiences. It just it is the time frame is a little bit tight. So some people say, this couldn't have happened because of XYZ. Others say technically there is time for this to have been the case. So this is their story. This it seems to me like it is possible that this could be true. But spoiler alert, there's not a lot of documented proof on anything in this story. So just like we kind
Gina (24:27)
Mm.
Kathryn (24:28)
of have only
People's opinions and their own experiences to go off of. So that's what I'm going off of here. So Deborah's digging in, going hard, getting answers to all these strange things that have been happening. And it's around this time that Tony.
Starts to experience Sallie a lot more than he had been previously.
One day he apparently walked into the kitchen and there standing by the table was a little girl. Like he saw her with his own eyes. And he was so freaked out by this that he was just stunned frozen. He literally says, she was so solid and so real. I thought a little girl had somehow made her way into my house. You know, like he was thinking it was a neighborhood kid or something that's like looking for a snack or something.
Gina (25:14)
Mm, mm.
Kathryn (25:15)
I don't know.
It was the 90s, so that's not an outrageous thing. Like, you kind of
Gina (25:18)
Yeah.
Kathryn (25:20)
did just stumble into people's houses. Little weird
Gina (25:22)
Yeah.
Kathryn (25:23)
that, like, that usually happened with whatever kid you stumbled upon at the park to hang out with. So it's a little weird that she would have just been in there, but it makes sense that he would assume this was just your average little girl. Yeah.
Gina (25:36)
Yeah. Espe 'cause you said that they're it
was like a family neighborhood, wasn't it? Like it was like a suburb.
Kathryn (25:40)
Yeah.
Gina (25:40)
Yeah.
Kathryn (25:41)
Yeah, you you there were children being raised on this block. So yeah,
Gina (25:44)
Mm.
Kathryn (25:45)
it's perfectly possible that a kid could have just made their way in.
However, just
Gina (25:51)
Ha ha.
Kathryn (25:51)
as quick just as quickly as he saw her, she was gone. So she was not a normal, solid little child. She appeared to be a spirit or a ghost or something not of this world. And he
he was just kind of stunned frozen like what the fuck was that? He was just so caught off guard. but he real as soon as he like came to and realized what happened, he grabbed a pencil and some paper and sketched who he had saw. He drew like a portrait of it. And it was so detailed and so specific that apparently I
as the story goes, the little girl who previously lived in the home and had the imaginary friend named Sallie did say that she recognized the picture and claimed that it was her quote-unquote imaginary friend.
the former tenant's experience combined with everything the psychic had to say.
Plus just their own experiences. This all felt extremely validating to the Pickman because they were like, okay, this feels like we're getting answers. It feels like we're we're like getting to the bottom of who has been in our house this whole time. They're thinking, Great, we figured it out. We're haunted by a little girl, moving on. Shortly after this connection is made, like literally immediately as they're figuring all this out the activity in the house starts.
significantly increases, but not in a good way, and particularly not toward twony. Particularly not toward Tony. He seems to be, I don't even want to say he seems to be, he is kind of the brunt of the negative experiences in the home. He starts getting scratched. He starts noticing bite marks on him. he was pushed down the stairs multiple times. And
If that's not enough, multiple unexplainable fires start erupting randomly all over the house.
Gina (28:50)
I'm sorry, what?
Kathryn (28:52)
Yeah. Yeah. Just randomly.
Gina (28:55)
Like
like all over the house. So not just kitchen fire is not just the toilet paper caught fire because of the candle in there. Like
Kathryn (29:03)
Yeah, there was one I I'm I'm trying to think of the timeline of it, but there was one I think that popped up just randomly on one of the steps on the stairs. Yeah. Yeah.
Gina (29:12)
What? my god.
Kathryn (29:14)
Just like just like a little flame bubble out of nowhere.
Deborah
sees these things and she experiences Tony experiencing them,
Her reaction to it is very like Sallie is this little girl who needs a mother. She doesn't know that, being mean to Tony is wrong. So we have to teach her that it's not okay to start random fires in the house.
Gina (29:40)
God.
Kathryn (29:41)
Yeah, so she gets it's like whenever Tony gets hurt, like if Tony gets a new scratch or a bite mark or, you know, a candle starts flaming a little too high, she'll just be like,
Now Sallie, we don't bite in this house. Now Sallie, put that candle out right this minute or you know, it's early to bed with you. Like she's very just like raising this child ghost. I don't know how else to say it. That's like pretty
Gina (30:05)
Yeah.
Kathryn (30:05)
much the vibe.
Gina (30:06)
I mean I kinda I I do and I don't get it, you know what I mean?
Kathryn (30:10)
Yeah.
like I I'm curious what she has said, you know, I didn't ever get any evil or demonic or, you know, negative entity vibes from her. she just describes it as feeling very motherly toward her. And I I accept that as enough of an explanation, but I still have questions. Like I wanna know.
what exactly that felt like. You know, as some as someone who's not a
Gina (30:35)
Mm.
Kathryn (30:36)
mom, I'm like, I'm I'm so cu I need more detail. And I know that there's not more detail and that's okay. But I'm just like, man, if there's random ass fires like blowing up in my home, I would not just be like, okay, Sallie, no dessert for you tonight. Like I'd be like, what the fuck? You know, I don't know. I don't know.
Gina (30:54)
Yeah, I think that's
why I do a don't get it, is because if it was me I'd be out of there so fast. But I've also never been
Kathryn (30:57)
Yeah. Yeah.
Gina (31:00)
in a situation where I have to teach the k a kid the difference between right and wrong.
Kathryn (31:04)
and that's that's such a unique feeling because I have, but from a nanny standpoint, and that's very different
Gina (31:11)
Mm, you have an out.
Kathryn (31:12)
from a mother. Exactly. That's a very different experience as being a mother.
And the children that I was nanning were alive and flesh and blood. So like I still don't have that experience. and
Gina (31:26)
Yeah. Okay, okay.
Kathryn (31:29)
it is worth noting, this is all happening happening.
very quickly. I mean, we're still they moved in around New Year's. We're still in summer of the following year. So this is
Gina (31:41)
wow.
Kathryn (31:42)
six, seven months in. They've not been here a full year by the time we are where we are in this story.
Gina (31:48)
Okay.
Kathryn (31:49)
So she's like raising this little ghost girl. And the scratches and pushing and fires and all of this don't really stop. And they at this point have started confiding in, you know, friends. They've had they have friends who have experienced things in this house. There was a situation, I don't remember what it was. It may have been like their housewarming or like everyone came over to see the baby or something, where
Close friends and family and, you know, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, all of that experienced the moving stuffed animals to the point where I don't remember who it was. I'm sorry, I'm getting like there's a lot of people involved in this, but it was some family member came to stay with them, partially from a I'm gonna help you take care of the baby, but partially from a like shit's cuckoo crazy over there,
Either they're losing their minds and thinking there's a haunting going on, or there actually is a haunting going on. Either way, they need an extra set of hands. So there's people
Gina (32:47)
Mm, mm, yeah.
Kathryn (32:48)
experiencing this with them. and then plus the psychic knows what's going on. And so people are talking. Word kind of starts to spread. predominantly from the psychic who came and checked out the house, because I think
The friends and family were all kind of keeping it a little close to the chest So word spreads and this uniquely haunted house and the story thereof got the attention of a paranormal show called Sightings.
So Sightings started as a one-off TV special about UFOs and eventually grew into a weekly show about people's experiences with the paranormal, extraterrestrial stuff, et cetera, et cetera. It was very successful, ran all through the 90s. And the Pickman, when they were approached by the show to talk about their haunted house, they were really hesitant about it. They weren't sure if they wanted to invite people into
this story. They didn't want people thinking they were crazy. all they knew, they could have just had it all wrong. And like really this is still just postpartum stuff and they're going crazy actually. In which case they still don't want people to know. Like it just
Gina (34:00)
Mm.
Kathryn (34:01)
there was a lot of feelings and a lot of thoughts about it. And
Deborah between the two of them was a lot more willing to have people come in. She kind of interpreted getting other people involved as an opportunity to get help. You know, she thought that maybe if we televise this, someone watching might have answers or, you know, see a clue that we are missing or whatever. Tony was just like, fuck that. Like, people are gonna think we're
Gina (34:28)
Mm.
Kathryn (34:29)
nuts. I do not want my home televised.
I don't want people to know this is happening, whether it really is happening or not, or you know, if we're crazy or whatever, this is no one's business. This is our home. I don't want this to happen. So they start arguing. Like this is they openly say, like, this caused a huge rift in our relationship at the time because we both wanted answers so badly and had kind of a different idea of the best way to get these answers.
So things are super tense until eventually they slash Deborah decide to invite the crew in. I think it was
Gina (35:06)
Mm.
Kathryn (35:10)
like a and I have no opinion on this whatsoever. I think it was like a like, listen, I just had this baby. All of this is happening and like I'm we're gonna figure this out and this is how we're gonna do it. End of discussion.
Gina (35:24)
Mm.
Kathryn (35:24)
regardless of how we got here, the crew comes in and the living room becomes, a film studio. Everything's in just mass chaos.
And if anyone knows anything about hauntings, high emotions and big stresses can escalate that and cause even more strange experiences to happen.
The way this show works is the same as any other paranormal show you've ever seen. They just come in, they televise this paranormal investigation. I think they were there for like one or two nights. I don't know, it was like an overnight situation. And they just televise the investigation in hopes of capturing evidence, which they do in this show. Yes. So while filming.
scratch marks appear on Tony's arm, And the investigators are shook. They are like, What the fuck? I I think this is me speculating. I do think that it may have been astonishing because like
Maybe not all of the episodes were always on the up and up, and they were like astonished to find real evidence instead of evidence that maybe wasn't super legit. I don't know. You didn't hear from me, you just came from my mouth. Anyway, so they're like, what the hell? This is wild and crazy. It's like big news. They take it back to whatever producer back.
At headquarters. don't know how filming these shows work. They take it back to the head honcho. He's like, Yeah, right. These guys are liars. I don't believe them for a second. We're going back in. They come back for a second time to like film another. I think it was supposed to be either a follow-up episode or they were just trying to get more footage for this initial episode.
episode airs, people see this evidence on their televisions for themselves, and people just start going nuts. They are like, my god.
That is super legit evidence. It's so clear. Like, we cannot believe it. This house is super duper haunted. As with every show like this that aired in the 90s, seeing this type of thing, this house was immediately deemed demonic or satanic or evil or whatever. Any ghost that would do something like this is clearly no good. This house.
Immediately gets a reputation as being possessed and being one of the most evil houses in the entire country. It's a portal to hell. It's not safe. Everyone run and hide. So yeah.
Gina (38:07)
God, that poor family.
Kathryn (38:11)
so things were tense and it was weird. Things kept happening throughout this whole time. Like things never slowed down. They just kept ramping up.
But it was just more of the same, you know, like more fires, more scratches, more this, more that, whatever. So the Pickman ended up moving the following year. So I think it was like they moved in at the very tail end of 92, lived there through 93, and I believe either moved out at the very end of 93 or early 94. So they were either not even there a full year or they left after like that initial lease type thing.
things just got out of hand. They were they were having so many experiences and the emotional toll it was taking on them and the strain it was on their like that it had on their family was just so much. They were like, Fuck this, we're out of here.
So this house is nationally known. People are paying attention at this point. And, lot of people have a lot of questions. Why is this house so evil? How did it get this way? Like, who is Sallie? What does she want? Blah, blah, blah. Who like just all those questions like that? And that.
leads us to the legend of Dr. Finney. And right off the bat, I have to say Dr. Finney was a real man who really did live in that house in the early 1900s. That is documented proof. But beyond that, nothing else I'm about to tell you is documented.
As the legend goes, one day a frantic mother comes pounding on the door of this doctor's home with her young daughter named Sallie. And Sallie was absolutely writhing in pain. And Dr. Finney determined that she was suffering from a severe case of appendicitis and needed to be operated on immediately.
Dr. Finney started operating on her right there in the home. And it is said that he moved so quickly. The anesthesia that he was using didn't have time to take. And Sallie sadly died during the procedure. And because of the lack of anesthesia, it is said that she felt everything that was going on.
Because she was in so much pain and also because she's just a little girl, she didn't understand that Dr. Finney was trying to help her. He was trying to save her. So all she knew was the last thing she saw, and the last thing that she experienced was this severe pain at the hands of this man while she was being operated on. And that led to the story of Sallie, the man-hating ghost.
And that is how people explained that she was like why she was so aggressive toward Tony.
Gina (40:54)
Okay.
Kathryn (40:54)
And not anyone else.
Gina (40:57)
Wow, that's heavy. Jesus.
Kathryn (40:59)
Yeah. Yeah.
And like I said, I do wanna just remind everyone, this story is just a rumor. There is absolutely no documentation of this whatsoever. I think I remember reading that is a headstone in town with the name Sallie, but it like timeline-wise and just story-wise, it literally can't it just can't.
factually cannot be this little girl and this couldn't have possibly happened. This Sallie lived to like the ripe old age of whatever the hell. You know, it's just that
Gina (41:28)
Mm, mm.
Kathryn (41:29)
just it's not a true story.
But as far as the town is concerned, and as far as the story of the house is concerned, that is the explanation that we have, and that is the lore that surrounds this house, and that's the story that people go with. I will say another piece of what I would s consider proof that this didn't happen is people say that Dr. Finney practic like his medical practice was in the home.
And the way the house is set up, that that literally cannot be possible. Unless he operated on people right there on the kitchen table, like there is genuinely no space for that to have been the case. even if they did show up at his place of residence and he had a clinic elsewhere in town, the town is small enough that they would have made it in time for him to like get her to the clinic and
you know, operate he wouldn't just do it on his family's like living room couch or whatever. You know, like that just
Gina (42:25)
Mm.
Kathryn (42:26)
it it's just one of those stories that absolutely nothing adds up and there's more evidence that it's not true than it is. But again, like I said, that doesn't matter because the story still persists to this day. And it has become the thing to explain the experience that the Pickmans were having.
And I will say, just as far as the Pickmans are concerned, even though they left the house, the house kind of never left them. It became a huge part of their identity. And it actually inspired both of them to become paranormal investigators, which they do to this day. They're like
Gina (43:00)
wow.
Kathryn (43:01)
in the community and out doing things. They've fully immersed themselves in the paranormal world. They talk openly about their experiences and their
Perspective is they want to help people who have experienced similar things or are going through similar situations. Because they continued sharing their story at the house, they ha kind of helped the house become and stay as famous as it is.
Tourism to Atchison significantly increased, which is really saying something because there's really not a whole lot of reasons to visit this town other than s this story essentially.
and and on that note, everything I just said might lead us to why the story about Dr. Finney and Sally's death became so popular in the first place. Because there are claims. I I didn't find proof of this, but like I said previously, there's no concrete proof of any of this. So we're all we're just throwing all of it out on the table and people can believe whatever they want. I don't care.
There are claims that the mayor at the time is the one who either started or at least perpetuated the myth of the Dr. Finney operation in hopes that it would encourage people to become like intrigued by the house, thus improving tourism to Acheson and increasing economic development throughout the town.
Gina (44:31)
Feels like an episode of Widow's Bay. my god.
Kathryn (44:35)
my
god, it so does. Wait, yeah, it it does. It's like Midwest Widows Bay. that's funny. Yeah. Yeah.
Gina (44:40)
Yeah. that's
wild.
Kathryn (44:45)
I I was surprised by that because I had never that's like I learned that recently and I thought that was an interesting tidbin because there always every time I've heard this story, there always seemed to be a gap between the Pickman story and then the Sallie, the actual Sallie story. And I could never find the connection. But that honestly makes sense. Like I I I choose to believe that.
For no reason whatsoever. I just feel like that makes the most sense to me. and further proof of that is the fact that the house is currently owned by the city, specifically the Visit Atchison Tourism Organization. And they do paranormal investigations and ghost tours at the house. Like you can stay there. That's a very, very, very popular location for investigators to stay. And
the city employs investigators to lead people on paranormal investigations in the house. many investigators who work for this organization, who work at the house, have come forward in recent years to say that they do not believe it's demonic or evil in any way. They those rumors are.
just rumors. they do agree that it has a very heavy, heavy as in like thick energy. Like there is a lot of energy there. It's one of those places where no two people seem to have the same experience there. one person could, communicate significantly with one entity, another person could have a totally different experience. Like vibes are not the same to any two people.
There are a couple things that the house is quote unquote known for. Like there's something with the stairs. A lot of people experience disorientation, dizziness, the feeling of getting pushed down the stairs. But it's never really the same two experiences each time. It's like one person will experience random dizziness and it's not malicious or evil or anything. And then another person will be like.
straight up I feel possessed and this is not good and therefore I fell down the stairs. So it kind of just depends. It feels like there might be a lot of activity and a lot of different sources of haunting in this place. I really don't know where to put this in this episode, but this feels like a really great opportunity to say it does have an alarming mold problem.
Gina (47:13)
Okay.
Kathryn (47:16)
And significant and dangerous foundational issues. So as far as the mold is concerned, There is a podcast called Beyond the Human that the hosts are two of the paranormal investigators who used to work at the Sallie House.
And they did an episode on this, and I highly recommend going and checking it out. It was really insightful. I got a lot of my the information I'm talking about now, I got mostly from them. And I don't remember how exactly they phrased it. Like I said, go listen to the episode for yourself. But the way they said it is the mold that was collected and tested, the results were so alarming. It was like the mold had mold on it. Like it was like
Gina (47:59)
Mm.
Kathryn (47:59)
just
Off the charts molding, and there were types of mold there that like didn't even make sense for the area. It was just so it was such an aggressive mold result that so many people blame the haunting on just people's reaction to the mold, which is 100% valid, and why I won't go to the Hotel Cecil or any of these other super aggressively haunted places because I don't want to have the mold situation.
But other people are like, maybe that mold is a result of it being so haunted and evil. And like that, it's almost like people are using it as proof both ways. Like it's proof that the hauntings aren't real and it's proof that it is so evil. There really isn't a lot of in-between. I kind of land on the in between because I'm like, that's just gross and I don't want to deal with mold at all. So I don't even want to like look into it any further because I'm like, once you mention mold, I'm just I'm out.
Gina (48:56)
Ha ha ha.
Kathryn (48:58)
So all of this is to say while the Pickmans were living in the house, Deborah was keeping extensive journals that entire year and documenting every single thing that happened to them, which she turned into a book in 2010. It's called The Sallie House Haunting: a True Story. And
That book has been my main source of information for this episode. And honestly, the outrageous part of this story for me came from that book itself, more so than the story the book is about. Because the way this story is told, I don't think I've ever had a reading experience like this one. Like the way she describes her love for this grow, I almost said gross.
The way she describes her love for this ghost was just so. I mentioned this earlier in the episode, but was just so baffling to me, but not in a bad way. I'm not like talking shit or anything. It's just such a unique and wild experience. And her experience and the way she details her experiences at this house vary so greatly from Tony's that it's almost it's truly, it's not funny, but like it's funny.
She writes this entire book about the whole experience from her perspective. And then at the very end, there's a little afterword that's literally titled, it's called like Tony's perspective or something really straightforward like that. And he is just like, I fucking hated that house. I did not get a single night's sleep the entire time we were there. It is evil. It is demonic. Sallie isn't real. I think it was a demon tricking my wife. Like he was just like.
Gina (50:41)
My
gosh.
Kathryn (50:42)
had such a different experience than she did. And she mentions that in in the book, that part of their decision to leave is she came to realize or was told that a lot of times really evil entities will try to trick you and make you think that they are safe and good and, you know, not an evil entity, I guess like more ben benevolent than they actually are.
But they're really just trying to trick you so that they can like get a hold of you and like do evil things. that also kind of became part of the story, especially later when it came out that or not it came out, but like when pe more people were experiencing this house and having such different experiences. One of the theories is it is.
an evil entity or several evil entities that are just being whatever they need to be in order to get what they want from the people who go into this house.
this book is just wild. Like I I had a great time reading it. It was one of the strangest haunting books I've ever read in my life. I do highly recommend it. But it was just so interesting.
their differing experiences and the way they each talked about this house at the time was just so different. And it's always so interesting to me when two people can have such different experiences. Especially like they were they weren't two tot they are two totally different people, but like they're a couple. They're a family. You know, it's different when people
Gina (52:12)
Mm.
Kathryn (52:13)
on a ghost tour who don't even know each other and know nothing.
About anything they're getting into have totally different experiences. That makes sense to me. But like for him to be so adamantly like, whatever was in this house was not good, and like it almost tricked my wife I just latched onto it. And that's the thing that I can't stop thinking about.
And it was very clear to me that this house just had a huge effect on their lives. And I don't know. It's kind of a mystery. It's still people can't really agree on whether this house is evil or if
It's just your average haunted house and people have turned it into something it's not for tourist reasons. I think it's just one of those houses that you have to kinda go see for yourself. But I kinda don't want to because I don't like mold.
Gina (53:00)
I think that's that's a very fair reason to not I don't know if I would want to go there. I certainly wouldn't want to stay there. Because you said you could you can stay the night there, didn't you?
Kathryn (53:07)
Yeah, I don't know. I I don't know if it's like a you can just like rent it as an Airbnb and do whatever you want. I think it's you can do an overnight investigation and
Gina (53:17)
Okay.
Kathryn (53:18)
then, like whatever time so and so from the city comes and lets you back out or whatever. I don't know. I
Gina (53:24)
Okay.
Kathryn (53:25)
don't know the details of it. I've never looked into going because I don't think I want.
Gina (53:29)
Yeah. Yeah, fair. That's really interesting that they had that they both had such different experiences, but also that they were both so caught up in their experience doesn't feel like the right phrase, but they're they were both so like entrenched in their own experiences
Kathryn (53:44)
Mm-hmm.
Gina (53:44)
that there doesn't seem to be like any overlap between the two of them, except for what physically
Kathryn (53:49)
Yeah.
Gina (53:50)
happened in the house. That's really interesting. Did was there
Kathryn (53:53)
Yeah.
Gina (53:53)
has there ever been have people noticed that
The people in the house with negative experiences, do they tend to be men? Because my mind, I'm still getting stuck on like the Sallie
Kathryn (54:04)
Yeah.
Gina (54:04)
is a man hater thing.
Kathryn (54:06)
Yeah, I I think that that has been th a thing long term.
Gina (54:11)
Okay.
Kathryn (54:11)
And I think that it is a well see, and that's even hard to answer because
even if that is true, is it because we know the story of her being a man hater? So
Gina (54:20)
Mm.
Kathryn (54:20)
now everyone who comes in to investigate who's a man has a negative experience and the non-men don't? It's like I d like which came first. We don't know. But I
Gina (54:30)
Yeah.
Kathryn (54:30)
do the story is yes, men who go in to the house have significantly more negative experiences than women.
Gina (54:40)
Okay, and I guess you're right. It gets back to what we talked about. I think it was in the Roff House episode about you get what you put into the situation. So if you go in expecting
Kathryn (54:49)
yeah.
Gina (54:49)
something to happen, it probably will. Yeah, yeah, I get that. Okay. Yeah. I kinda
Kathryn (54:52)
Yeah, you like get what you give, for sure. Yeah.
Gina (54:57)
I kinda hope it's a demonic entity that was trying to trick people.
Kathryn (55:03)
yeah.
Gina (55:04)
Cause I I feel like if it was
Little girl Sallie, like if that story is true, I th I find that really sad that she had someone in the house who was trying to like love her and maybe she didn't
Kathryn (55:16)
Mm-hmm.
Gina (55:16)
know how to use her ghost powers and she didn't mean to set the stairs on fire. She was trying to give him a hug or something. I don't know. And then now
Kathryn (55:23)
Mm-hmm.
Gina (55:24)
it's like a tourist thing. I don't know. I feel like
Kathryn (55:27)
That is something, yeah, I don't know if it's explicitly stated in the book, but that is something that Deborah, I think, touches on, at least mildly. And that was why she had so much empathy for her. The excuses, quote unquote, that she made for her was, you know, she's just a little girl, she doesn't know, blah, blah, blah. Like that that's very much the opinion that she had on the situation. I
I don't think it's a little girl who died in the house. I think that it is either a trickster spirit or just or it c I think it is possible that it is a portal of some sort and there's just all these different people in and out, and maybe some of them are trying to trick you into thinking that it's a sweet little girl. Or do I'm
Thinking that they're just like, old, grandpa from down the street is like, ha ha, watch this, you know, and like tries to make people think that it's a demon house.
Gina (56:20)
Yeah.
Kathryn (56:21)
But I don't know. I don't think it's actually a little girl named Sallie. And I don't know if I believe it's demonic, but I do think that there's very likely more than one entity. And one thing I didn't mention that is like a huge part of this story.
By the time they left, one of the theories was it could be a little girl, but also negative entities. There were some things that happened that like got her to start thinking that maybe it was a little more demonic. I don't remember what it was. It was stuff they caught on camera. It was like they saw a
like black orbs or something like a weird black inky orb situation. Which and that could be anything. I it there it's a whole rabbit hole. But they did start thinking, like, what if this is something that's trying to trick us? But also she still got the good vibes from the little girl. So they didn't know that's where I'm like, I do think that there's probably more than one someone, whatever it is, or whoever they are at this place. But it's just hard to tell because
we talk about this all the time. If I was a ghost, I would fuck with people so hard. Like, whatever house
Gina (57:30)
Mm-hmm. For sure.
Kathryn (57:32)
I'm haunting is definitely gonna get a demonic reputation because, like, why not? How much could possibly be going on on the other side to like not have time for like stuff like that, you know?
Gina (57:44)
Dude, if I get access to poltergeist powers, imagine not using them. Come on, just a little bit. Yeah, okay, I do feel that. yeah. Yeah. Whatever is
Kathryn (57:48)
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Especially once the place has that reputation, like why would you not? Yeah.
Gina (57:57)
or whatever things are in that place, they're just sitting back and laughing. They're loving it.
Kathryn (58:02)
One hundred
percent yeah, evil or otherwise. It's like again, how could you not? Yeah. So here you have it.
Gina (58:04)
Yeah. How very outrageous. Simply outrageous.
Kathryn (58:14)
So n now that we have decided that the Sallie House may or may not be demonic but is definitely haunted, do you have something po moi?
Gina (58:24)
I
do, I do, in fact. And it's also kind of a little maybe demonic, maybe a little bit trickstery. So
Kathryn (58:31)
Okay.
Gina (58:31)
yeah, we were on the same wavelength with that one. It is a Reddit story, because I feel like it's been a while since I've done one of those.
Kathryn (58:35)
Ooh, yeah.
Gina (58:37)
And it is titled My Girlfriend Came Home From a Trip She Never Took.
Kathryn (58:43)
god okay.
Gina (58:46)
Yes.
It's from user Donovan221. So Donovan, I hope you're okay wherever you are. Actually, I don't think this is a true story. I think I actually got this from
Kathryn (58:54)
Yeah. Okay.
Gina (58:57)
like the scary stories subreddit, so I'm the 90% sure this is fiction, but still.
Kathryn (59:02)
no, those are always so much scarier.
Gina (59:04)
It is pretty creepy. Okay, and I shall read it to you, commencing now. I thought she was just acting weird at first. For some clarification, my girlfriend had been planning a trip to California for the last four months. Normally I would have gone with her, but it was for her grandmother's birthday. She was old, and this could have quite possibly been my girlfriend's last chance to take a trip with her. She had spent those four months meticulously planning as she always did.
And the week before the trip, she must have had at least five full bags packed for her week-long venture.
She was always the planning type, mapping things out, going over every possibility. It was one of the things I admired about her. She hated when things didn't go the way they were supposed to. That's why, on the day of her trip, when I woke up to find her still lying in bed with me long after her early morning flight, I almost panicked. I shook her awake frantically and her eyes slowly rolled open. She groggily asked why I was waking her.
And when I told her the time, she didn't react how I expected her to. Instead of panicking herself or even calling her mom to let her know that she missed the flight, she simply rolled back over and shut her eyes again. yeah, she groaned. The flight. Honestly, it should be okay. Be okay, I responded, bit flabbergasted. Don't you think you should at least call and let them know?
She grumbled a lazy no, no, everything should be fine before she began snoring. Something else that was completely new for her. I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't force her, I was just shocked, I guess. I just thought that maybe she had already talked to her mom and grandma. Maybe something had come up and she forgot to tell me. I just went to work like everything was normal. When I came back, she was still at home. But she looked absent.
I found her sitting on the couch, staring at a black TV screen. When I greeted her, she snapped out of it. Honey, I'm so glad you're home, she chirped. Tell me everything that happened at work today. We spent the whole night chatting, but it was like her mind was somewhere else. I would catch her drifting off into outer space. She thought too long about her responses. Her speech pattern was slower than normal, even though her face was one of excitement as we talked.
I figured that something must have happened with her grandmother, so I asked her, Hun, did anything happen to make you not want to go on your trip? She stared at me for a while. Her smile disappeared. Her face was blank, but only for a split second before lighting up again. No, not that I know of, she responded cheerily. Why do you ask? Just wondering, I replied cautiously. The next few days were weird.
She never seemed to want to leave the house. I mean, not that I could blame her, she had already taken off work for the trip, but I figured she'd at least want to go to the park or something. It was one of our favorite things to do together. She also wasn't eating much. Every night I would cook for us, but she kept insisting she wasn't hungry. Must have been a lie, though, because on some of those nights, long after we'd gone to bed, I'd find her in the kitchen completely surrounded by food.
Cereal boxes would be ripped open with their contents scattered across the floor, granola bar wrappers, spilled milk, raw rice and beans, it was concerning, to say the least. By the end of the week, something hit me that I hadn't caught before. It was like a dim light bulb lit up over my head, and I approached her timidly. Honey, I inquired carefully. Yes, sweet boy of mine. I love that response. Haha
Kathryn (1:02:57)
I
know, me too.
Gina (1:02:59)
she replied lovingly, sitting on the edge of our bed staring at a wall. I gulped a bit. Whatever happened to your bags? Did you unpack them? I haven't seen your toothbrush or shampoo or anything anywhere. She didn't respond. She just kept staring, like the wall was the TV. Finally she slowly turned around and her hollow eyes met mine. Honey, she whispered gleefully.
You know that's none of your business. She didn't seem mad, but she refused to talk to me for the next two days. She didn't even want to sleep in the same bed as me. Of course, I'd have felt wrong making her sleep on the couch, so I just let her have the bed while I wallowed in my own confusion. It wasn't until the night before she was supposed to return from the trip that she let me sleep with her again, and even then she slept with her back toward me.
I woke up in the middle of the night to a ruckus coming from the kitchen. I stepped out of my room and noticed that the kitchen light was on. It sounded like an animal was loose in there, like it was in the process of devouring something. Growls, the wet sound of chewing, but as I approached the sounds suddenly stopped. I froze in my tracks, and for a few seconds I debated whether or not I should continue before ultimately deciding to keep going.
Only when I took that last step, I heard my girlfriend's voice. It was angrier than I've ever heard her, more hostile, like she was trying to send a message. Go back to bed, she screamed. The house was silent for a moment. I argued with myself internally about whether or not to listen or check on her. I decided to listen, and the moment I began making my way back to the bedroom, the noises started up again.
I don't know how long I lay there, staring up at the ceiling, trying to tell myself that everything was normal before falling back asleep, but I know that I woke up alone the next morning. The bathroom was empty. The halls were empty. The house was empty. I kept calling out and received no response. But when I entered the kitchen, that's when the panic really set in. There was blood everywhere. Not from my girlfriend.
But from the raw meat scattered across the floor. Chicken,
steak, pork, everything. Everything had been completely eaten. I thought back to the night before, and my heart started to pound. I felt dizzy. I felt like I was losing it. I tried to take a seat to calm myself, but before I could, the front door opened. Honey, my girlfriend sang, I'm home. Can you help me with these bags? I've got so much to tell you.
And that's the end of the story. Isn't
Kathryn (1:05:53)
my god.
Gina (1:05:55)
that creepy?
Kathryn (1:05:56)
What the fuck?
Gina (1:05:59)
Yeah, isn't that horrible?
Kathryn (1:06:01)
Yeah, that's terrible.
Gina (1:06:04)
so creepy. There was a reason I wanted to read that one to you, but I can't remember what it was.
Kathryn (1:06:12)
Just to like traumatize all of us, maybe. Yeah, that's ugh okay.
Gina (1:06:14)
Yeah. No, I d I just thought you'd like it. I don't know. Yeah, no, it yeah, s
super freaked me out. How outrageous, right? Anyway, if you have a story that you'd like to hear as our scary on top, you can send it to iscreamyouscreampod@gmail.com.
Also, please, if you could leave us a rating or a review wherever you listen to podcasts, that really, really helps us out. And of course, we would be more than happy to welcome you into our esteemed Patreon. It's super fun and cool. Link is in
Kathryn (1:06:47)
Ha ha ha.
Gina (1:06:47)
the show notes. but yeah, until next time, little spoons, keep it cool.
Kathryn (1:06:54)
And keep it creepy.
