The Tallman Bunk Beds
When I was a kid, my father made bunk beds for my sister and me. It was the best! I am the oldest, so of course, I got the top bunk. The entire end of it was a ladder, but as I got older, I just grabbed onto the side and flung myself right up. However…wooden slats can only take so much, and one day a couple of them broke and I went ass-first into the bed. There I was, feet in the air, yelling for help. The little bitch was too busy laughing and left me there! The bed was broken, yes – but luckily not haunted. Apparently the same can’t be said about the Tallman Bunk Beds of Wisconsin.
In 1987, Debbie and Allen Tallman of Horicon, Wisconsin bought bunk beds from a second-hand store. It turned out to be a very bad idea. Things started going wrong right away. The children started getting sick, something they claim almost never happens (I’m calling bullshit on that one). The girls would wake up screaming about an ugly old woman in their room. They said that she had long black hair and glowed like fire. Their youngest daughter said that she saw a witch by her bed and that the room was on fire.
Then the doors in the house started to open and close randomly. A rocking chair started rocking on its own. Their son said that his radio would suddenly start changing stations. And one day he said that he saw an old lady standing at his bedroom door. There are also stories of a paintbrush that Mr. Tallman left in a can of paint being turned upside down when he was out of the room.
The obvious next step should have been to get rid of the beds. But nope! As with all cases, the parents just called a priest, They got the standard “I feel a demonic presence”, he blessed the house and hightailed it out of there. And he told them to go to church more regularly. (shocker) Did it work? It never does.
The kids were so scared that they didn’t want to be in the house anymore. So instead, Mr. Tallman decided it would be smart to tell whatever it was to pick on him instead. (Raise your hands if you know where this is going)
Whatever it was had no problem fucking with dad too. One night, he came home and heard what sounded like wind howling behind the house. It wasn’t a windy day. He heard a voice that said “Come here”…and he did. There was no one there. When he went back out front he said that the garage was glowing orange like there was a fire. He went to get an extinguisher, but when he got back, the fire was gone. Then he claimed that red eyes were looking through the window. He said that when he went back inside and picked up his lunchbox, something grabbed it out of his hands and threw it across the room.
Instead of having his daughters sleep in another room, he decided to sleep in their room on the floor. He was laying in bed that same night and says that he saw fog coming up through the floor. The fog turned into flames and there were green eyes looking at him from the fire. Then it said “You’re dead” and disappeared. One of their relatives came to spend the night and claimed that they saw a figure in the children’s bedroom at bedtime.
The story spread, the rumor mill kicked in, and the media heard about it. Before you know it people are saying that “they heard” that blood dripped from the ceiling and that there was a portal to hell in there. My favorite rumor is that the snowblower cleared the driveway by itself. Best rumor ever!! The town sheriff believed their story. In the hopes of stopping the rumors, he had the Tallmans tell their story to the press. It didn’t work.
The Tallmans threw away the bunk beds (finally) and sold the house. Before the new owners moved in, they allowed the Unsolved Mysteries crew to film an episode. Nothing supernatural happened during filming. People say that it’s one of the scariest episodes of the show. At the time of this writing, there have been no reports of hauntings from the current residents.
I know what you’re thinking – this is basically Amityville all over again. I’m right there with you. There has been a slew of theories about what happened: a carbon monoxide leak, marsh gas, trying to get out of the mortgage, and of course, a demon.
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Tallman_House