The Tallman House Ghost

This is a story that was highlighted on the television series, Unsolved Mysteries. The Tallman House Ghost is one of the best-known stories this series aired. It is also considered the most frightening.

It is about a family that lived in the small farming community of Horicon, Wisconsin.

Tallman House

The Tallman’s, Debbie and Alan moved into a one-story home with their children in 1986.

They were excited about owning their own home.

But strange things began to happen to the family once they bought a bunk bed, at a second-hand store.

Tallman bunk bed.

The couple came to believe what happened next was somehow connected to this wooden bunk bed.

They experienced nine months of terror and fear.

Their children had never been sick, even with colds, but mysteriously as soon as this bed was brought into the home—their children, two daughters, and a son, became seriously ill—for no apparent reason.

A clock radio near their son, Danny’s bed began to have a mind of its own. It would turn off and on and switch channels without assistance.

At first, when Danny told his parents about this, they did not believe him. But then strange things began to happen to Alan.

Painting the basement one day, he left his work to eat dinner. When he returned, he found his paintbrush had been turned upside down. The bristles were now sticking up out of the paint gallon.

One depiction of the dark figure.

Their youngest daughter, while sleeping in the lower bunk was startled awake, several times by a dark figure, staring at her, that was surrounded by a red glow.

Several weeks later her brother, Danny, saw the same figure.

The family had their pastor, Wayne Dobratz visit the home, and he told the couple he sensed “something evil” was haunting them.

After this, the whole family began to hear doors slam shut violently. They also heard strange voices.

The children’s visions continued, and Danny, became so frightened, he told his parents he wanted to move.

Allan now frustrated and angry told the entity to leave his children alone, that he was willing to fight it if necessary.

After this, the dark entity focused upon him. Returning home late one night from work, he heard an odd howling sound that evolved into a voice calling, “come here.”

He followed this voice around the house, but nothing was there.

Depiction of garage burning.

When he returned to the garage, it was on fire, so he ran into the house to retrieve a fire extinguisher. But when he returned, everything was calm. There was no damage or sign that anything had burned.

When Alan re-entered the house, he went to retrieve his metal lunch pail, which he had set down earlier, but the entity yanked it from his hands and threw it across the room.

Alan began to sleep in his daughter’s room to provide protection and comfort. One night a fog rose from the floor and surrounded him. He then heard a voice say, “You’re dead.”

Debby called the family pastor, once more. She explained Alan was distraught. Dobratz felt the Tallman’s home had a “Demonic presence.”

Their pastor didn't find any evidence they were fabricating the incidents.

Several weeks later, Alan working late, asked a male relative to stay with his family. This man, a skeptic, did not believe what the Tallman’s had told him about the haunting.

That night he changed his mind.

The same dark figure, glowing red appeared, in the children’s room and screamed. Debby told this relative, who was now in shock, to gather up the children, they were leaving.

The Tallman’s shortly after this had the bunk bed destroyed. This worked, but despite the activity settling down, they moved to a different town. 

Here is the Unsolved Mysteries episode that originally aired in October of 1988, it is the second case highlighted--beginning at the 16:33 minute mark and ending at 28:30. 

I write about another favorite Unsolved Mystery episode entitled, The Tatum Haunting, here.

The Tatum Haunting

The story of this haunting first aired in October of 1988 on the television show Unsolved Mysteries. 

I remember it distinctly because of a statement James Tatum made when he was interviewed about the haunting he and his wife, Katherine had experienced in their new 2-story home outside Atlanta, Georgia.

James Tatum was a retired army officer who appeared visibly upset as he stated, “If that bell rings again, I won’t answer it.”

The bell he referred to was a little angel bell his wife kept upstairs. James was an early riser, he would go downstairs to the living room, drink coffee and read the newspaper as his wife still slept. 

When Katherine awoke, she could not always get his attention by calling out his name, so she rang this little bell if she needed her husband’s assistance.

One morning James heard the bell ring, so he headed upstairs, but Katherine was still in bed asleep. Later the couple joked that it must be the “ghost.” 

This was half in jest and half serious for Katherine had experienced several odd things in their home in the previous months.

A few days later the bell rang again, but Katherine was asleep. The couple decided to instate a code where James would only respond to the signal if he heard 3 rings.

The ghost heard their bargain for James was summoned upstairs yet again to find Katherine asleep. He found the bell in their guest bedroom sitting in its usual place on a table. As James left the room, he heard the 3 rings once more.

James then emotionally told Katherine, “That he wasn’t going to answer that bell ever again.” After this, the bell remained silent.

The Tatums

For months Katherine had been the ghost's primary target until James' encounters with the bell. 

A year after they moved into their home in Marietta she was up at 2:00 a.m. using the restroom when she saw a man pass by the door. She assumed it was James and called out, but he didn’t respond.

She followed this figure in the dark as it headed toward the staircase. She called out again--no response. 

She returned to the master bedroom to find James in bed. She told him what she had seen, he grabbed his gun and searched the house but everything was locked and he saw no one.

Later, Katherine remembered that the figure wore a long coat and floppy hat that was drawn down over his face. She also realized what she had seen was a ghost. James at first didn’t know what to make of her experience.

This ghost continued to tease and scare Katherine. 

One afternoon James who was doing on an odd job upstairs left his drill propped against a wall and went down to watch T.V. Katherine heard this drill being turned on and off repeatedly and wondered what James was doing. But she discovered James was downstairs.

One afternoon as she watched T.V. in the bedroom she heard a popping sound in the middle of the room, she turned the set off so she could hear. She got up and discovered a field of static electricity in the middle of the room. She then moved back into a corner at which point this field followed her and popped right near her face.

The ghost also moved items in the master bedroom as Katherine lay in bed reading. 

James kept a small wooden bowl near the closet where he put the loose change from his pocket. One afternoon, Katherine heard coins dropping so she looked up expecting to see James. Instead, she saw the coins dropping one by one into the bowl from an unseen hand.

Another time the ghost moved a tray that held a glass of water and TUMS that was kept by the bed. Katherine heard the wafers drop one by one down onto the plate and then the whole thing hit the floor.

One evening as Katherine bent down to slip a casserole into the microwave she felt two hands tug at the hem of her shirt. She looked up only to see James through a window outside.

After the bell incident Katherine checked into the history of the land their new house sat upon. She discovered that a Civil War battle--The battle of Kolb’s Farm-- was fought in June of 1864 near their subdivision. I write about the Kolb's farm haunting here.

Battle of Kolb's Farm

Other homeowners in the Tatum's subdivision have also experienced hauntings.

In October of 2007 a male resident out for a drive one night with his teenage son spotted a horse and a Union cavalry officer in his car headlights.* 

The father quickly braked, and the horse passed right in front of their car. The two males watched in awe as the figure moved across the road and right through a fence--the horse and rider then just faded away.

* They were crossing the Kennesaw Mountain where a much bloodier battle occurred right after the Kolb Farm skirmish.

Santa Fe: The Ghost of Julia Staab

Living in New Mexico, I have heard about Julia Staab’s ghost for many years. Her husband Abraham Staab made his fortune supplying goods to the U.S Army during the Civil War. He then moved to Santa Fe and was a very successful merchant. 

Abraham in a search for a Jewish wife, arranged for Julia to leave her home in Germany and come to New Mexico territory in the 1870s. 

In 1882 he had an elegant three-story brick mansion--in the French Second Empire style-built on Palace Avenue in Santa Fe for his wife.

The couple was very happy at first. They had seven children and Julia enjoyed showing off her beautiful European furnished home. The mansion’s third story ballroom became the center for Santa Fe’s social elite. It is stated Julia loved her home so much that she remained even after death.

Julia’s life changed with the birth of her eighth child. This baby died shortly afterward, and Julia fell into a deep depression. It was around this same time she discovered Abraham was having an affair. 

With this added stress it is said her hair turned white overnight. She suffered through several miscarriages and finally descended into madness. 

She spent her last remaining years in her bedchamber. She died in 1896 of an apparent suicide. Her surviving children all grew up in the mansion. Their father Abraham died in 1913. The third-floor ballroom burnt down around 1919.

In the 1930s, the Nason family bought the home and the six-acre surrounding estate with the intention of turning it into a hotel. They built a series of Revival-style adobe casitas around the existing Staab mansion and carriage house. 

The original entrance, to the 19th-century mansion, can be seen off the lobby to the right near the hotel’s restaurant. As people walk up the staircase there is a sense of otherworldliness in the area. 

The second-floor guestrooms--originally the Staab family bedrooms still have many of their original furnishings. Julia’s large bedroom is now a favorite guestroom, #256.

The Nason’s called their new hotel La Posada, which in Spanish means “inn” or “resting place.” Their hotel quickly became a popular gathering place for Santa Fe’s art colony. 

It was during the 1970s that Julia’s ghost first began to appear to guests and employees at the hotel.

Her misty apparition wearing black was first seen in the hotel’s lobby and on the staircase that leads to the second floor. 

One compelling encounter occurred when the hotel’s furnace went out. Employees tried to enter this room but the door became mysteriously jammed shut. The phone rang in the hotel lobby from Julia’s bedchamber --no one was staying in this room at the time. A woman’s voice stated:

“This is my house. Why isn’t the furnace working? I’ll get it fixed.”

Ten minutes later the furnace room door was open and it was working. 

Julia’s ghost is often encountered in her bedchamber. While alive, she loved to take long baths. Guests that have stayed in her room report hearing the bathtub running in the middle of the night. 

Many guests have heard Julia’ voice and heavy breathing in the room as well. 

One couple checked out early because the husband saw Julia's ghost at the foot of the bed. 

A hotel employee who was giving a tour of the second floor, knocked on Julia’s bedchamber door forgetting that no guest was staying in the room at that time. He was surprised to hear a woman’s voice state, “Don’t come in, I am dressing.” He quickly moved the group along.

After the hotel was renovated in the 1990s, Julia’s ghost was seen in many other areas of the hotel.

A bartender setting up for service saw Julia’s ghost quietly sitting nearby. He and other witnesses that night saw several glasses fly off the bar. 

One experienced waiter kept dropping his tray of drinks. He told the bartender later that something kept hitting his tray out of his hands. 

A female guest using the downstairs restroom placed her purse on the counter upright. Within seconds all of her make-up flew out of her purse and scattered across the floor.

Two of the cleaning staff also encountered Julia’s ghost. A maid cleaning a male guest restroom spotted Julia’s image in a mirror staring at her. When she turned around no one was there. 

A janitor mopping a floor looked up and saw Julia's brown eyes staring intently at him. He was so unnerved he quit. 

Several of the kitchen staff report pots and pans fly off their hooks and the lights in the room often flicker. The sink taps often turn on and off, the plumbing has been checked but no apparent reason has been discovered.

Today the Posada de Santa Fe Resort and Spa is one of the cities finest hotels. Elegant gardens and fountains surround the building. It is located just two blocks east of the historic Santa Fe Plaza.

The following is a segment that Unsolved Mysteries did about Julia Staab's ghost.