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.

Haunted Object: A Piano

Mary’s son found an old upright piano through his salvage business. Knowing his mother had always wanted a piano, he had it delivered to her house.

Mary had the instrument placed in her breezeway. She cleaned it up, polished it, and had a man come out and tune it.

The piano quickly became one of her prized possessions. Several years passed without anything unusual occurring. Mary who was in the habit of taking a short afternoon nap started to awaken, to the sound of random notes being played on the piano.

At first, she thought it might be the wind, or maybe mice were in the instrument. But as time passed, she realized these were not the cause.

Every time she walked out onto the porch to figure out what was going on, the sounds would stop.

One afternoon as she watched her granddaughter, she heard the piano’s notes play--with each key that was struck the noise became louder.

As the weeks passed, the piano began to play songs, instead of random notes. Mary now was woken up in the middle of the night to the sounds of the piano playing. This began to occur regularly.

Mary feeling nervous and upset, was relieved when one day, her daughter heard the piano playing. This confirmed in her mind that she was not going crazy.

Other members of her family also heard the piano play. The family concluded the instrument must be haunted.

Because of her mental stress, and the fact the piano’s weight was collapsing her porch floor, Mary sadly decided she must get rid of the instrument.

She had it placed out on the curb with a “free” sign attached to it. An older couple came by and adopted it. Mary sometimes wonders if they too experience the late-night concerts.

A Haunted Doll

Can a single object be haunted or is it just places that are haunted? This is a question that is yet to be answered. The story that follows was told to me several years ago during a chance meeting I had at a professional conference I was attending. Let me preface this story with this statement--I believed the person who told me this story was sincere.

I first encountered a haunted object when a life size doll was given to one of my older sisters. This sister was very ill with scarlet fever and literally missed an entire year of school. 

My father, who traveled a lot for his work brought a special doll home and presented it to my sister to cheer her up. He explained it was a beloved doll of a friends’ daughter who had outgrown it.

My father was quite the storyteller and one of his favorite stories, at this time, was that late one evening when he visited my sister he forgot that the doll he had given her always sat in the window seat facing the room. He spotted it as he entered the room and was startled for a moment forgetting that it was a doll. He retold this story several times to family and friends reliving the moment when he thought an unknown child was in my sisters’ room.

This doll was literally the same height as myself. It was so large that it didn’t lend itself to be handled or played with so it was just displayed. 

Hence during the short time my sister had it in her room it sat on the window seat and was not moved. Typical to dolls at that time this doll’s stiff plastic arms moved up and down, and you could twist its head from side to side.

I was a young child but I was not timid or easily frightened. I first observed that this doll appeared to be changing positions when I would visit my sisters’ bedside before I went to school and then when I returned home. It was subtle things at first. 

The head would be turned or one arm would be down when both were usually outstretched. When I mentioned this to my sister she shrugged and said the doll probably had been bumped.

My bedroom was across the hall from my sisters and several nights in a row I was woken up by the sounds of something stumbling around in my sisters’ room. Finally wondering why my sister was out of bed when she wasn’t supposed to be I entered her room on the third night to find my sister asleep and the doll face down on the floor. 

Scared, the next morning I told what I had heard and seen to my mother and sister but they laughed and stated that the doll most likely had just fallen. It was several weeks later when my mother also started to show concern when the doll started to shift to the other side of the window seat and back. It was shortly after this that the doll was no longer in my sisters’ bedroom; in fact, I never saw the doll again.

As the years past, my parents never mentioned the doll. As a teenager I brought up the subject of the doll one day to my mother, she hesitated and then replied that at that age I must have had an overactive imagination. 

This was a curious response since I still remember the day before the doll disappeared the worry I saw on her face when she admitted to my sister and I that the doll appeared to be moving…