The doll that eventually became known as Annabelle was purchased second hand at a hobby store in 1970 & was given to Donna, a 28-year-old nurse or student nurse by her mother as a birthday present (though other sources indicate that the nurse’s name is Deirdre & she’s 25-years-old). If you’ve seen the movies about Annabelle, you would know she was depicted with a porcelain face with long hair & a horrifyingly evil grin on her face. The actual Annabelle doll is simply a large Raggedy Ann doll with red yarn for hair that stands at about three feet tall. Donna lived with her roommate, Angie (another source refers to the roommate as Lara) & the pair soon began noticing strange happenings in the year that Annabelle had been with them. The strange findings started to happen very slowly & could initially be brushed off. After taking Annabelle home, Donna would make her bed in the morning & place the doll on it, its arms to her side & her legs straight out, but when she came home in the evening, she noticed she would be in a different position. Sometimes her legs would be crossed at the ankles or her arms would be folded in her lap. Finding this suspicious but believing she may have forgotten how she actually left Annabelle, Donna began to test it, purposely crossing its arms & legs only to find that this time, her arms were at her sides, legs straight in front of her body. She might come home to find the doll on the floor instead of the chair where she left her, but could chalk that up to the doll just falling out of the chair.
Soon the movements became larger & couldn’t be explained away. Sometimes the doll would even move rooms; Donna & Angie came home & found Annabelle in a chair by the front door, in a kneeling position. Not only had she not been in that room when they left, they’d been unable to successfully place her in a kneeling position without her falling over. Other times, Annabelle would be on the couch when they left & later found in Donna’s room with the door closed. Next, Annabelle began leaving little notes & messages, written in what appeared to be in the handwriting of a small child with, “Help us” or “Help Lou” written on the notes. Lou was Angie’s fiance (another source refers to him as Cal) & he was very unsettled by the presence of the doll, believing that she was evil or possessed. The notes were written in pencil despite the fact that the girls couldn’t find a single pencil in their apartment. They also noticed they were written on parchment paper, also something not found within the home. It was questioned if someone was possibly breaking in to play a joke on the girls which was something they had also considered. Donna & Angie would leave things by the doors & windows when they left so they would know if someone had come into their apartment while they were out. Never once did they find any signs that someone had come in. Another time during Christmas, they woke to find a chocolate boot on the stereo that none of them had purchased.
One night when the girls came home, Annabelle was sitting on Donna’s bed, they noticed blood on the back of her hand & three drops of blood on her chest. They knew that something was going on with the doll, seeing with their own eyes that she had moved rooms or positions, but they couldn’t understand why. The blood seemed to have been coming from the doll itself & at this point, the girls decided to seek outside help. After four to six weeks of noticing these strange occurrences, the girls contacted a medium & a seance was held. This was how they found out that a little girl had died on their property when she was seven-years-old & her name was Annabelle Higgins. She used to play in the fields long before the apartment buildings stood there & one day, her small body was found lifeless at the location of the now apartment building. Annabelle’s spirit indicated that these were ‘happy times’ for her. The spirit indicated that she could relate to Donna & Angie, saying that everyone else around was grown up & only concerned with their jobs so she felt that they might be better able to understand her. At this point, Annabelle Higgins’ spirit began moving the rag doll; she said she only wanted love & asked if she could stay with them & move into the doll. This is how the doll got the name, Annabelle. As nurses, Donna & Angie agreed to allow this, feeling it was harmless enough & wanted to show compassion for the spirit since they saw suffering in their careers on a frequent basis.
After this, they didn’t necessarily do anything different with the doll but they realized it wasn’t a doll anymore, it was Annabelle. Neither Donna nor Angie had seen the actual spirit or ghost of Annabelle Higgins. They said that at one point, a statue lifted up, went across the room, tumbled in the air & fell to the floor. The statue wasn’t in the direction of Donna or Angie, but they were very scared by this. On another occasion, Angie & Lou were looking at a map in anticipation for a trip Lou was taking when they heard noises coming from Donna’s room. As Lou approached Donna’s closed door, he stood, waiting for things to quiet down. When they did, he opened the door & found Annabelle laying on the floor in the corner. As he walked over to her, he had the sensation of someone standing behind him. When he turned around, no one was there but he suddenly felt tremendous pain in the area of his chest which began to bleed. Suddenly, seven claw-like marks ran down his chest; four were horizontal & three were vertical. The marks felt hot like burns but healed within two days. This was when Donna realized that the spirit was not that innocent & very capable of something more sinister; she contacted an Episcopal priest named Father Hegan, who then contacted his superior, Father Cooke who then got in touch with Ed & Lorraine Warren, husband & wife as well as paranormal investigators..
Annabelle eventually went on to live in the Occult Museum which belonged to Ed & Lorraine within their Monroe, Connecticut home. The Warrens investigated more than 10,000 cases of paranormal activity, often working alongside priests & other clergy because they rely on blessings & sometimes exorcisms to resolve a case. Lorraine indicated that the power of faith had gotten them out of many scary situations because it’s often about fighting the demonic with goodness, using Holy water as a tool. Lorraine said that beginning at age seven or eight, she saw lights or auras around people but kept it to herself out of fear that others would think she was “crazy.” She didn’t want to be different & spent many years praying about her differences. While in school, she had a teacher who was a French nun & in reference to her aura, once told her that her lights were brighter than Mother Superior’s. She was told to go to the chapel & pray about it which would make it go away. She met her husband, Ed, when she was sixteen & didn’t initially confide in him about her abilities. Ed was a self-taught “demonologist” after growing up in a haunted house. He & Lorraine went on to become world-famous paranormal investigators, Lorraine’s career spanning sixty-five years, working around the world in places like Japan, England, Scotland, France & Australia. They charged only for travel expenses with no charges for the actual investigation. They built their empire on books, movie work & lectures about the cases they took part in. In 1952, Ed Warren founded the New England Society of Psychic Research & their investigations often included other professionals such as doctors, nurses, police officers & researchers. They took part in famous cases like Amityville & Annabelle.
According to the Warrens, most unwanted spirits enter through vehicles like Ouija boards, Tarot Cards & psychics. Lorraine also worked alongside her son-in-law, Tony Spera, a paranormal investigator & both she & Spera suggest that parents keep their kids away from these things. They indicated that seven out of ten cases involve a Ouija board. When the Warrens were told of Donna & Angie’s story, they learned that things started to get worse after the spirit asked for permission to inhabit the doll. One day Angie’s fiance Lou suggested they get rid of the doll by burning it or throwing it away. When he laid down to take a nap, the doll was on a couch across from where he lay. The man suddenly woke up & said that he had a dream that Annabelle was at his feet & watched as it slowly made its way up his leg & over his chest until the doll strangled him until he passed out. When he woke, he was convinced that it wasn’t a dream.
As the Warrens got involved, they came to the conclusion that the doll itself was not possessed, instead manipulated by an inhuman presence; a demon that was pretending to be the spirit of a child. They felt that the spirit wasn’t looking to stay attached to the doll, but possess a human host, likely Donna.It’s their belief that the signs of a demonic presence included teleportation with Annabelle moving about the apartment, materialization with the notes left on the parchment paper & the “mark of the beast” with the claw marks that appeared on Lou. The Warrens said that demons do not possess items or things, they possess people.
The Warrens convinced Father Cooke to conduct an exorcism in Donna & Angie’s apartment. It was specifically an “Episcopal blessing” that is positive in nature & rather than expelling evil entities, it focuses on filling the home with the power of the positive & of God. They then took Annabelle from Donna & as they left, Ed commented that they should avoid the highways on their ride home to be safe. They buckled the doll into the back seat of the car Apparently as they drove, the brakes stalled or failed several times, the car swerved, & the engine stalled, resulting in near disastrous crashes. After Holy water was sprinkled on Annabelle, their drive continued without any disruptions. As they moved Annabelle to the Occult Museum in Monroe, they hoped her demonic rage would end.
When they arrived at their home, Annabelle was placed in Ed’s study; the Warrens reported that the doll began to levitate & move about the house. They moved her to a locked office in an outer building & Annabelle still managed to get back into the house. This was when the Warrens made the decision to lock Annabelle up for good & made a special case of glass & wood that was inscribed with the Lord’s Prayer & Saint Michael’s Prayer. Throughout the rest of his living days, Ed also periodically said prayers over the doll’s case to ensure that the sinister spirit would remain locked up. Since relocating her to the case, Annabelle has no longer moved though her spirits have found ways to stray. Posted on the outside of the case is a note written by Ed that reads “Warning, positively do not open.”
A priest was visiting the Warren’s museum & picked Annabelle up, doubting her demonic abilities. Ed warned the priest not to mock her & the young priest laughed in response. As the priest left the museum & drove home, he was involved in a near fatal crash, totaling his new car. He claimed that just before the accident, he saw Annabelle’s face in his rearview mirror. Years later, a man was visiting the museum with his girlfriend & began to knock on the glass of Annabelle’s case while laughing at how silly it was that anyone would believe in her. He taunted her, daring her to put scratches on his body as she was said to have done to Lou. Because of his taunting, Ed asked him to leave the museum & three hours later, as he drove home, he lost control of his motorcycle, crashing headfirst into a tree; he was killed instantly & his girlfriend barely survived & was hospitalized for over a year. His girlfriend claimed that at the time of the accident, they had been talking & laughing about Annabelle. Despite the Warrens sharing these stories throughout the years, they could never be proven; the young priest nor the motorcyclist or his girlfriend had ever been named. Donna & Angie also never came forward with this story, nor Father Cooke or Father Hegan regarding the exorcism. All we have is the Warrens’ words.
In 2014, director & producer, James Wan decided to write the story of Annabelle, using the porcelain faced Annabelle doll as his inspiration. Annabelle was introduced in 2013 when she was briefly mentioned in The Conjuring & proved to be compelling enough to audiences to star in her own movie which has grossed a worldwide total of nearly $300 million against its $6.5 million budget. In the 2019 movie, Annabelle Comes Home, Ed & Lorraine are played by Patrick Wilson & Vera Farmiga. The Annabelle movie doesn’t resemble the true story; in it, the doll is purchased by a man who brings her home, the doll wearing a wedding dress. He gives it to his expecting wife to add to her doll collection & as she nears her pregnancy due date, a pair of Satanic cultists break in & stab the woman in her belly & end up dead in their home. One of the cultists is named Annabelle Higgins & when she dies, some of her blood is splashed on the doll, a drop sinking into its eye. This is when the doll comes to life to wreak havoc. The movie amps up Annabelle’s antics, moving from home to home, attacking families & possessing members of Satanic cults, killing children, posing as a nun & wreaking havoc on the Warrens’ home. In 2017 Annabelle: Creation premiered, grossing over $306 million & in 2019, Annabelle Comes Home grossed $231 million.
Tony Spera, the Warrens’ son-in-law feels that if a person believes in God, they should also believe there is a Devil & that ghosts, devils & demons are very much real. He feels that most people want to focus on the bad involved with ghosts while there are also many beautiful stories. In a video featuring Tony Spera, Lorraine & John, they take viewers on a tour through the Occult Museum & indicate that it’s one of the most haunted spots in the world because of the many items it contains which have had dire effects on people. John warns that it’s not a place you would ever want to be in between 9 pm & 6 am because these are the “psychic hours.” Ed feels that of all the items in his museum, the Annabelle doll is the worst. His story in the video finds some discrepancies from what he writes in his book The Demonologist. He says that the doll was given to the nurse as a Christmas vs. birthday present. He also said that the spirit Annabelle was that of a six-year-old vs. seven-year-old child. He indicates that Annabelle Higgins had died in a car accident outside Donna & Angie’s apartment. These discrepancies might make one question the authenticity of the Warrens’ story.
An investigation by the New England Skeptical Society proved that the artifacts within the Occult Museum were mostly fraudulent & exaggerated. Tony Spera says that this doubt is like playing Russian Roulette; would you take the risk of playing with these potential spirits?
Ed Warren died in 2006 at age 79 & the Occult Museum remained open & run by Lorraine & Tony. Lorraine died April 18, 2019 though the museum ended up closing to the general public in 2014 due to zoning issues not permitting a museum in a residential neighborhood. The popularity of the museum caused issues with patrons parking along the narrow streets, neighbors complaining. The Warrens’ legacy continues with their daughter Judy & her husband Tony Spera. They’re not sure if Annabelle is still possessed though the only person allowed to handle the doll is Daniel Rivera, the Senior Lead Investigator for the New England Society for Paranormal Research (NESPR). When he does, he wears gloves with saint medals in the fingertips. When she is transported to various events which is rare, she’s housed in a specialty made protective box. As items from the museum arrive to their intended destination, a priest is present to bless the items before they leave the car.
Annabelle is not the only case of a haunted doll; Robert the Doll was the inspiration for the Chucky character from Child’s Play. Robert is located in Key West, Florida & the story indicates that Key West painter & author named Robert Eugene Otto received the doll as a gift in 1906 by a Bahamian servant who worked for the Otto family.
The servant was skilled in black magic & voodoo & was said to be unhappy with the family. Young Eugene became very attached to the doll & named it Robert after himself & his parents noticed that he often spoke to the doll. They assumed Eugene was changing his voice to speak for the doll but ultimately, his parents began to suspect that the doll was actually speaking. As years passed, people passing by noticed the doll moving from window to window which the family also saw within the house. Others would claim the doll had a terrifying giggle.
References:
- Google books: The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed & Lorraine Warren
- New Haven Register: Real ‘Annabelle’ story shared by Lorraine Warren at Milford’s Lauralton Hall
- History vs Hollywood: Ed & Lorraine Warren Occult Museum Tour Featuring Annabelle
- CT Insider: ‘Haunted’ Annabelle doll is traveling around CT this Halloween: Here’s what to know
- ati: Inside the real Annabelle doll’s true story of terror
- History vs. Hollywood: Annabelle (2014)
- The Hindustan Times: Demonic possession cries for help: Read the chilling true story behind the Conjuring’s creepy Annabelle doll
- Haunted Rooms: True story of the Annabelle doll – Real Annabelle doll from the Conjuring
