The Sallie House Haunting: A True Story by Debra Pickman

Author:Debra Pickman [Pickman, Debra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd
Published: 2001-10-01T05:00:00+00:00

thirteen

December 1993

After Sallie’s display with the vase, Tony and I had four days without any ghostly activity. We wondered if Sallie had used an excessive amount of energy in throwing the vase. I had heard that spirits can lie dormant while gathering energy to unleash a powerful blow when needed.

Four days turned into several weeks and the longest bout of inactivity we had yet seen. Was she afraid of getting into trouble, or was it the calm before the storm? Was she upset or angry with us for something we were unaware of? Was she gathering strength for retaliation? Not knowing made the lack of activity worse than the activity itself.

This quiet period continued into the holiday season. We were planning a Christmas party for December 18. We were anticipating more than forty-five guests and as the days passed, I became very anxious. I would rather have Sallie act up before the party than during it, because there would be many strangers in attendance. The paranormal situations we had encountered to date would have been difficult to explain to them.

The house remained quiet, however, and the day finally arrived for the traditional Christmas party we had planned: popcorn balls and brown-paper-wrapped gifts exchanged with loved ones, maintaining a sense of family togetherness and creating memories to last.

The night before the party, we blew up hundreds of sixteen-inch red and white balloons. We filled sixty of them with helium and left them to float about the ceiling of the first floor. At some point prior to the arrival of our guests, we were alarmed to hear a series of loud and intrusive thuds. The sound sent my heart racing up to into the back of my throat. I wondered what Sallie was doing.

Terrified about what I might find, I ran from the kitchen and into the dining room where the noise seemed to have originated. As I rounded the corner I realized the ruckus had come from several balloons fighting for freedom from the blades of the ceiling fan. Although our hearts still raced, we laughed at how quickly we’d assumed it was activity from Sallie.

As our guests arrived, we took their coats to the master bedroom and allowed people to mingle, and indulging in conversation, laughter, drink and food. The children were shown to the back bedroom upstairs, which I had equipped with a television, VCR, several holiday movies, and craft supplies to keep them entertained.

We had planned for a relative to make an appearance as Santa. He was running late, and Taylor drifted to sleep before his arrival. Shortly after 8:00, jingle bells were rung outside the children’s playroom on the second floor and thumps on the roof simulated reindeer hooves. As the children hurried downstairs to meet him, Santa grabbed the sack full of gifts on the front porch and came in the front door.

He made it around the room with a “Ho, ho, ho, and a Merry Christmas” before sitting down in the rocking chair. It wasn’t long before each child had sat on Santa’s lap, posed for a picture, and collected a gift bag.

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