It’s October and Halloween is just around the corner. While this means an uptick in pumpkin spice latte consumption for some, most of us creep-show enthusiasts are more excited about binge-watching our favorite Hollywood horror movies. But where did the inspiration behind these films come from? Are these pictures the manifestation of some tortured writers’s nightmares? Perhaps, but there are several flicks out there that got their premise (and even their characters) straight out of the newspapers. Ever hear of the Warrens? Today we will look into the true stories behind these bone-chilling films: A Haunting In Connecticut, The Conjuring, and Annabelle.
A Haunting In Connecticut – Based on “The Snedeker House“
The 2009 movie “A Haunting In Connecticut” is the story of a family who needs to move due to their son’s health. When they occupy their new home, they experience supernatural behavior and discover the home has a sinister past.
AP Photo by Jessica Hill
The inspiration for this tale begins with Allen and Carmen Snedeker, their three sons, daughter, and two nieces. In 1986, the family rented the white duplex home in Southington, Connecticut. Once they moved in, they came to learn that the property used to be a funeral home. Much of the old mortuary equipment was still being stored in the basement. This included a gurney, a coffin hoist, blood draining equipment, and toe tags. This alone would have been creepy enough to want to leave, but things were about to get wild.
It didn’t take long for the Snedekers to report sightings of apparitions. The eldest son was tormented by what family members claimed to be an “evil presence”. While in the house, he suffered violent personality changes and claimed to have horrific visions. Other family members uncovered toe tags in random places and claimed to see lights flickering. The dishes would rattle and the smell of rotting flesh would waft across the room. Allen and Carmen experienced their own terrifying encounters. They reported the demonic spirit that terrorized the house to have sexually assaulted each of them.
When the Snedeker’s finally brought this to their landlord’s attention, the landlord scoffed at their ridiculous claim. She would not allow them to break their lease. Unable to leave, but terrified to stay, Allen and Carmen called the ghost busters. Not the ones you’re thinking, the other ones; husband and wife team Ed and Lorraine Warren.
Ed and Lorraine were self-proclaimed demonoligists who assisted in many famous paranormal investigations. Though their credibility has been scrutinized, thousands of fretful families invited them to provide insight into their cases. The Warrens were so popular that their true life personas appear as characters in multiple horror movies including “A Haunting In Connecticut”.
When Ed and Lorraine visited the Snedeker residence, they concluded that demons possessed the house. They also believed that the former morticians who had once occupied the house had performed inappropriate acts on the bodies in the basement as they were being prepared for their funerals. The spirits of these victims were angry and were responsible for the tricks being played in the house. The Warrens connected the Snedekers with the media and hired novelist Ray Garton to help them tell their story. His novel “In a Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting” came out in 1992, earning a small profit for the tormented family who somehow remained in the house for 2 more years. Once they left, the disturbances stopped and no one who occupied the space since that time has ever reported any issues.
In 2002, the story reappeared in a T.V. documentary and gained another boost in popularity when the 2009 movie “The Haunting in Connecticut” came out in theaters.
The Conjuring – Based on “The Perron Family Haunting“
“The Conjuring” horror movie made its debut in 2013 and centers on demon-hunters Ed and Lorraine Warren and their fight to save a family from an angry presence that has taken over their farmhouse. The true events that influenced this story began with Roger and Carolyn Perron and their 5 daughters moving into an old country home sitting on 200-acres in Harrisville, Rhode Island.
Photo from YouTube
The farmhouse was built in 1736 and was owned by 8 generations of the same family. There were many deaths on the property over the years. Some deaths were murders, some were accidents, and many were small children. One homeowner of note was a woman named Bathsheba Thayer. Thayer had 4 young children, but 3 of them died under suspicious circumstances. The community called Thayer a satanist and rallied against her so vigorously that Thayer eventually committed suicide by hanging herself in her own backyard.
When the Perron family moved in in 1970, they experienced paranormal activity immediately. The children reported that there were spirits playing with them and Carolyn reported receiving otherworldly help with some house chores. If the interactions ended there, I’m sure the Perron family would have been happy to share their space; however, there were other spirits plaguing the house, and they were not as friendly.
The Perrons heard disembodied voices and saw furniture move without human interference. Items would go missing and they even claimed to have seen Thayer’s frightening specter, who would target Carolyn mercilessly. The family suspected that Theyer was jealous of the living mother and wife. Carolyn would often suffer pinches and slaps from the angry spirit. Roger reported Theyer’s ghost had touched his privates several times. Perhaps this was an attempt to reclaim her place as the lead woman in the household.
Image from the 13th floor
In 1974, the Perron family sought help from Ed and Lorraine Warren. This seemed to worsen things, as the longer the Warrens stayed in the home, the more violent Thayer’s ghost became. Once more, Carolyn suffered the brunt of the attacks when Theyer stabbed her with a knitting needle. When Lorraine Warren conducted a seance, Carolyn began speaking a strange language and levitated in her chair, possessed. It took the Warrens hours to get the spirit to leave Mrs. Perron’s body. Once Carolyn felt better, the Perrons asked the Warrens to leave, though the issue remained unresolved.
The family finally sold the house in 1980 and moved to Georgia. Andrea Perron, the eldest of the Perron daughters, authored a 3-volume book on her family’s experiences at the farmhouse. Andrea notes that even after they moved, the ghosts had become so attached to the family that they followed. They continue to haunt them to this day.
Annabelle – Based on an Antique Raggedy-Ann Doll
The 2014 film “Annabelle” is a horror thriller about a couple who experience frightening supernatural occurrences via a vintage doll after satanic cultists invade their home.
The hit Hollywood film got its inspiration from a reportedly haunted Raggedy-Ann doll that belonged to a student nurse. The nurse’s mother found the doll at an antique shop and bought it for her adult daughter in 1968. When the daughter brought it home, she and her roommate noticed the doll seemed to have a mind of its own, changing positions and even moving around to other rooms. A psychic medium told the nurse that it was a deceased girl’s spirit that inhabited doll. The girl was 7-years-old and her name was Annabelle Higgins. The nurse and the roommate accepted the situation for what it was and kept the doll as a conversation piece.
As time passed, Annabelle’s behavior escalated and became menacing. The women would find messages on paper and even found inexplicable blood stains on the doll’s dress. At one point, Annabelle began attacking the roommate’s fiancé. In one instance, the fiancé claims that he woke up to find the doll crawling up his body and that it meant to strangle him. On another occasion, he entered the room where the doll normally stayed and suffered an attack of deep lashes across his stomach. When he scrambled to turn the lights on, he found the doll on the floor by his feet.
Photo by Altor
Once again, the Warrens showed up to investigate. They concluded that it was a demon that inhabited the doll. After performing a cleansing ritual in the nurse and her roommate’s home, they took the cursed doll with them. They added Annabelle to their collection of demonic artifacts in their Occult museum in Monroe, Connecticut, where she now sits in a glass enclosure with warning signs all around her.
Do you have a creepy true story? Leave a comment below to share.
Other Articles About Hauntings:
- Toronto – A Young City With Old Ghosts – Published Jun 1, 2020
- Winchester Mystery House – A Labyrinth For The Dead – Published Mar 1, 2020
- Robert The Doll – Published Jan 1, 2020
- The Cecil Hotel – A Magnet For Murder, Suicide, And Tragedy – Published Jul 1, 2019
Great article! Very creepy background on the inspiration of these movies!
Fantastic article. Extremely creepy, reality to film.
Creepy article!! Dolls in a dark room really creep me out!