HORICON, Wis. -- The bunk beds have been buried and the Tallman family home is up for sale, apparitions and all.
Deborah Tallman, her husband, Allen, and their two young daughters and son fled the home last month. Strange and frightening things were happening, and they'd had enough.
The problems began six months ago, when the Tallmans bought a second-hand set of bunk beds for $100 -- the ones they buried last weekend.
'The beds were buried Saturday in a landfill where nobody will ever build,' Deborah Tallman said. 'They took them out there and plowed them under.'
Allen Tallman said frightening things occurred after the arrival of the bunk beds in the room shared by the two girls, ages 1 and 2 - such as the foggy apparition that threatened him, saying, 'You're dead.'
The Tallmans bought the house with a low-interest Farmers Home Administration loan. Now they have turned the house over to the agency for sale.
George Berger, chief of the state FmHA rural housing program, said final details would be worked out Friday to take the home. He said the couple will sign over the title and relinquish all equity in the house.
Berger said under normal circumstances, his agency requires borrowers to 'test the market' before it accepts title to homes. But exceptions are allowed and one is being made in this case.
The Tallmanns bought the home in November 1986. The 4-year-old house has an estimated market value of $50,400. Deborah Tallmann said the family probably would lose about $3,000 in the deal, but was glad to get rid of the home.
The Tallmans said they saw strange glowing shapes and heard voices, that an apparation of an old woman appeared to their son, a clock radio kept changing stations by itself, and a chair and a suitcase moved by themselves.
Tallman said around Christmastime, after challenging the 'entity' to leave his family alone and pick on him, he saw flames coming from the overhead door of his garage. A voice said, 'Come here,' and two eyes appeared in the windows of the garage door. He said he looked again and there was no fire.
In early January a gassy apparition rose out of the floor of the girls' bedroom while Tallman was waiting for the younger child to fall asleep. He said the apparition told him, 'You're dead,' then was gone.
Tallman said he and his wife may buy a home in Beaver Dam.
'I think it's going to be a long time before things get back to normal,' Deborah Tallman said. 'I still cannot sit at home at night and not be afraid of the dark.'