Every city and town has ghost stories and urban legends.  Follow the trail and learn about 5 of Williamsport’s.

Stop 4:          Nellie Tallman: The Mysterious Falling Girl

                        Taber Museum

                        858 West Fourth Street

Nellie Tallman was born to parents John and Louisa in 1867 and her story is known throughout Williamsport. This stereotypical family lived on Market Street. John Tallman became notorious for his feverish desires to create art after looking for a leisure hobby to fill his free time. In particular, he took a liking to creating portraitures. To fulfill his creative desires and produce pieces worthy of praise, John felt he needed to practice his craft, and what better subject to practice on than his very own daughter. As a result, John decided he would sit Nellie down to create a masterpiece highlighting her youthful beauty and carefree nature. As it turned out, however, the piece would become more of a memorial than a praise.

To paint his daughter, Nellie would be forced to sit upon a stool for many hours upon end without moving. This would not be an easy feat to achieve as children are notorious for their restlessness and inability to stay attentive for prolonged periods. Despite the improbability of Nellie sitting still for hours, John chose to overlook this fact and continued to paint his daughter. While the first half of the painting went according to plan, tragedy struck as John plastered the canvas with pigment. Nellie, in her restlessness, fell off the stool, hitting her head on the ground beneath of her. Without the ease of access of medical support and inefficiency of historic transportation, Nellie was unable to receive medical attention fast enough and passed away from her injury.

With his daughter now passed, John was determined to finish the painting to remember and honor her. When complete, the family hung the portrait on the wall, but this is not where the story ends. John and Louisa Tallman could not get the painting to stay on the wall no matter how hard they tried. The painting would always end up on the ground, as if it had been knocked off the wall. Frustrated by this, the Tallman’s stuck the painting in storage until the house would eventually be sold.

Once the painting was rediscovered years after the house was sold, it was donated to the Tabor Museum to be displayed. In a continuation of mysteriousness, the painting fell from the wall at the museum as well. It is believed that the painting is haunted by the young girl, who either blames her father for her death or is showing her playful youthfulness that was unphased by her death.