Already famous for their paranormal
investigation on the notorious Amityville case, Ed and Lorraine Warren
were asked for their expertise once more. Two twenty-something’s were
being haunted by a demonic doll. Sound strange? Not for the Warren’s.
Now over forty years later the story of Annabelle – the cursed demonic
doll has been brought to the big screen in James Wan’s ‘The Conjuring’. We look at the real story behind the Hollywood blockbuster.
THE DEMON DOLL
In 1970, Donna a student nurse received an antique Raggedy Ann doll (image on the left shows the Raggedy Ann doll held by Lorraine Warren) from her mother as a birthday present. Taking the doll back to her small apartment which she shared with her room-mate she placed the doll on her bed and thought no more about it until a few days later. At first both woman noted that the doll had started to creep them out, but shortly after they began to notice that the doll had begun to change it’s position and eventually to move to different rooms from which it had been left while the were out.
At times Donna and her room-mate Angie
would find the doll sitting crossed legged on the couch with its arms
folded, other times it was found upright, standing on its feet, leaning
against a chair in the dining room. Several times Donna, placing the
doll on the couch before leaving for work, would return home to find the
doll back in her room on the bed with the door closed.
The doll not only moved but could write
too. About a month into their experiences Donna and Angie began to find penciled messages on parchment paper that read “Help Us”. The hand
writing looked to belong to that of a small child.
ANNABELLE HIGGINS
Knowing that they must do something
about the sinister doll, the room-mates contacted a medium who conducted
a séance. Through the medium, Donna and Angie were contacted by
Annabelle Higgins who told them her story. Annabelle was a young girl
who had lived near to where the apartments were built. She was only
seven years old when her lifeless body was found in the field upon which
the apartment complex now stood.
Annabelle told the women that she felt
comfort and safe with them and wanted to stay with them and be loved.
Feeling compassion for Annabelle and her story Donna gave her permission
to inhibit the doll and stay with them. They were to soon find out
however, that Annabelle was not what she seemed to be.
A mutual friend of the room-mates, Lou
had never been fond of the doll and had warned Donna to get rid of it.
One night his warnings came true. Waking from a deep sleep, Lou found to
his horror that he was completely paralyzed. Upon looking down at his
feet he saw the doll, Annabelle. It began to slowly glide up his leg,
moved over his chest and then stopped. Within seconds the doll was
strangling him. Paralyzed and gasping for breath Lou, at the point of
asphyxiation, blacked out. Lou awoke the next morning, certain it wasn’t
a dream.
The next terrifying encounter he
experienced occurred when he and Angie were alone in the flat preparing
for a road trip the next day. Hearing rustling noises from Donna’s room,
Lou quietly made his way to the bedroom door. He waited for the noises
to stop before entering and turning on the light. The room was empty
except for Annabelle whom was tossed on the floor in the corner. Lou
searched the room for anything out of place. But as he got close to the
doll he got the distinct impression that somebody was behind him.
Spinning around he was quick to realize that nobody else was there. Then
in flash he found himself grabbing for his chest, doubled over, cut and
bleeding. His shirt was stained with blood and upon opening his shirt
there on his chest was what looked to be 7 distinct claw marks, three
vertically and four horizontally, all were hot like burns. These
scratches healed almost immediately, half gone the next day, fully gone
by day two.
THE INVESTIGATION
Finally willing to believe that the spirit was not that of a young girl, Donna contacted a priest named Father Cooke who immediately contacted the Warrens. Ed and Lorraine Warren were already well known for their paranormal investigation into the notorious Amityville case. After speaking to the room-mates, Ed and Lorraine came to the conclusion that the doll itself was not in fact possessed but manipulated by an inhuman presence. Spirits do not possess inanimate objects like houses or toys, they posses people. An inhuman spirit can attach itself to a place or object and this is what occurred. This spirit manipulated the doll and created the illusion of it being alive in order to get recognition. The inhuman presence was not looking to stay attached to the doll, it was looking to posses a human host.
It first began moving the doll around
the apartment by means of teleportation to arouse the occupants
curiosity in hopes that they would give it recognition. By bringing a
medium into the apartment to communicate with it, the inhuman demonic
spirit was then able to communicate and prey on the girls emotional
vulnerabilities by pretending to be a harmless, lost young girl with
which during the séance, was then allowed permission from Donna to haunt
the doll and in turn, the apartment.
The Warrens believed that the next stage
of the demonic infestation phenomenon would have been complete human
possession. Had these experiences lasted another 2 or 3 more weeks the
spirit would have completely possessed, if not harmed or killed one or
all of the occupants in the house.
At the conclusion of the investigation
the Warrens felt it appropriate to have a recitation of an exorcism
blessing by Father Cooke to cleanse the apartment. At Donna’s request,
and as a further precaution against the phenomena ever occurring in the
home again, the Warrens took the big rag doll along with them when they
left. They had a special case built for Annabelle inside the Occult
Museum, where she resides to this day (see image above left).
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