The Conjuring film franchise features a doll named Annabelle possessed by a demonic spirit.
But did you know the doll is real? Keep watching to find out how a Raggedy Ann
doll was blamed for a grisly real-life motorcycle accident.
In 1970, a 28-year-old nursing student named Donna was in for a surprise when her
mother decided to do something different for her birthday and give her a doll.
It was picked up from a hobby store, according to Tony Spera, Ed and Lorraine
Warrens' son-in-law and a paranormal investigator himself. The doll was an
antique Raggedy Ann that hardly looks like the doll in The Conjuring and Annabelle,
which is much more unnerving with its piercing eyes, red lips, and creepy facial expressions.
Donna had a roommate named Angie who was rather pleased with the gift,
so she decided to keep the doll in her bedroom and call her Annabelle. But just a few days later,
the seemingly innocent-looking doll started to frighten Donna and Angie as
it did some rather out-of-the-ordinary things. Its location would change,
and it would be found with its arms and legs in different positions than how it had been left.
As reported by Glamour in 2014, there were also apparently strange messages left around
the apartment after Annabelle arrived, all written on parchment paper that didn't belong
to either Donna or Angie. The notes seemed to be cries for help and were usually written
in what seemed like a child's handwriting, saying things like "Help Us." And one time,
Donna even discovered what appeared to be blood drops on the doll's hands and chest.
As recounted by Tony Spera, a friend of Donna's named Lou had openly expressed his distrust of
the doll. He found it evil and didn't want his friend to keep it. But Donna didn't take
him seriously until he described waking up one night and seeing Annabelle at his feet.
He claimed that the doll tried to choke him, and he passed out as a result.
The next morning, he told Donna and Angie what happened, and then he allegedly had
another close call with the doll that same day. Upon hearing odd sounds from the bedroom,
he went to search for an intruder but realized that there was only Annabelle in the room.
He looked for signs of forced entry but found none. But as he got close to the doll,
he felt like somebody was behind him. As Tony Spera described it,
"Spinning around he was quick to realize that nobody else was there. Then,
in a flash, he found himself grabbing for his chest, doubled over, cut, and bleeding."
Lou had received several scratches to his chest, and although they bled initially, they then healed
oddly quick. These incidents left Donna shaken, so she decided to reach out to a priest for help.
That priest reached out to another priest for advice, and they eventually decided
that the best course of action was to contact paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.
After Donna found blood on the doll, she and Angie then approached a medium.
The group organized a séance to seek answers, and Donna was told that there
was a seven-year-old's spirit in the doll's body. As Tony Spera recounted,
"Annabelle was a young girl that resided on the property before the apartments were built,
they were 'happy times.' She was a young girl of only seven years old when her
lifeless body was found in the field upon which the apartment complex now stands."
Donna and Angie believed this story and communicated further through the medium. They were
told that the lonely girl's spirit felt comforted and safe around Donna and Angie, so she asked for
permission to remain. Donna was moved by this and reportedly told Annabelle's spirit that she
could continue staying with them. But despite the séance, the girls' troubles didn't end. Instead,
the creepy incidents continued, which made Donna wonder about the true nature of the spirit.
Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren were asked for their take on the case after
Lou was attacked. Over the course of their careers, they collectively spent almost 50
years intervening whenever there were reports of demonic involvement as they took up as many as
3,000 cases. Donna now believed that the spirit was likely in fact demonic and not an innocent
child. The Warrens spoke extensively to everyone involved in the case. They initially believed
that the doll was simply being used to manipulate them and wasn't possessed.
As their interest was piqued by what was happening, Ed and Lorraine became
actively involved in the pursuit of a solution to Donna's troubles. After examining Annabelle,
they believed that the truth was far more sinister than they'd previously thought,
as they determined that the doll wasn't controlled by a tiny girl's spirit at all. Tony Spera wrote,
"Spirits do not possess inanimate objects like houses or toys, they possess people. An inhuman
spirit can attach itself to a place or object and this is what occurred in the Annabelle case."
The Warrens were convinced that Donna was dealing with a sinister demonic presence
that had ulterior motives and wanted attention from Donna and her friends. They believed that
it was looking to possess a human host and that if it had been allowed to continue on for even just
a few more weeks, it would've probably hurt or killed Donna and Angie or possessed one of them.
According to Tony Spera, the spirit was in its infestation stage at that point and used
an earlier opportunity with the medium to win the girls over and make them feel sympathetic toward
Annabelle. This apparently gave the spirit more power and control over the situation.
After being allowed by Donna and Angie to stay with them,
the spirit began to do more disturbing things, such as attacking Lou and creating
a sinister presence in the apartment. The Warrens reckoned that human possession was
definitely next on the spirit's agenda and that they'd caught this demon just in time.
"Not today, Satan."
The Warrens decided that it was important to arrange for an exorcism after determining
that a demonic spirit was at work. They asked an Episcopal priest named Father
Cooke to perform the ritual and oversee the proceedings. According to Ed Warren,
"The Episcopal blessing of the home is a wordy, seven page document that is distinctly positive
in nature. Rather than specifically expelling evil entities from the dwelling, the emphasis
is instead directed toward filling the home with the power of the positive and of God."
Father Cooke initially wasn't keen on performing the exorcism, but he ultimately agreed to carry
out the lengthy ceremony. The Warrens hoped that after the cleansing ritual the evil spirit would
leave Donna's house for good. But things didn't go exactly as planned. The exorcism
apparently was not a complete success, as the eerie events continued to occur.
Donna asked the Warrens to take Annabelle with them, which they agreed to do.
On the way home, they realized that things weren't exactly normal as they struggled to
stay on the road. In fact, they nearly crashed due to the brakes and power steering failing.
They also reportedly experienced several near-accidents, with the car's components
betraying them at every curve in the road. Ed decided to stop and intervene by sprinkling holy
water on Annabelle and making the sign of the cross over her. The Warrens were then able to
get home without any further mishaps. But that wasn't the end of it. As Tony Spera recounted,
"When the Warrens were away and had the doll locked up in the outer office building,
they would often return to find it sitting comfortably upstairs in Ed's easy chair when they
opened the main front door. The doll also showed a hatred for clergymen who came to the house."
According to the Warrens, on one occasion a Catholic exorcist named
Father Jason Bradford was rude to Annabelle. He reportedly told her,
"You're just a ragdoll, Annabelle, you can't hurt anyone."
The Warrens then warned Father Bradfod to be cautious on his way back home. Sure enough,
he reportedly almost died in a road accident that day when his brakes suddenly stopped working.
Ed and Lorraine Warren eventually decided to get a custom-built case for Annabelle as
they found her a spot in their occult museum in Monroe, Connecticut. This was done after they
observed that the doll frequently broke free from locks at their home when left to its own devices.
After putting Annabelle in the glass case, they discovered that she finally seemed to stay put.
Annabelle's story eventually became popular, which of course led to The
Conjuring and its sequels and spin-offs. Even though the movies' events were mostly fiction,
the Warrens were still happy about the message that was being delivered to cinemagoers. It was
their hope that people would simply believe. As Tony Spera told the New Haven Register in 2014,
"Everyone in the audience who believes in God must also believe there's a Devil.
Ghosts, devils, demons are real."
"There's a lot of people that don't believe."
The Warrens often warned that it was important to censor oneself around Annabelle and not mock or
ridicule her in any way. Indeed, unsettling incidents have reportedly occurred due to
visitors testing the doll. One museum visitor was even reportedly killed because he mocked
Annabelle. As recounted by Tony Spera, after hearing Ed Warren's account of the doll,
the visitor banged and insisted that if Annabelle could scratch people,
then he wanted to be scratched as well. Ed then told him that he needed to leave.
After the man and his girlfriend departed, they got on their motorcycle and were heading
back home when they crashed straight into a tree. The man died on the spot,
and his girlfriend spent a year in the hospital while recuperating from her injuries.
When she was asked about what happened, she reportedly claimed that they were
laughing about Annabelle when they lost control of the motorcycle.
In August 2020, rumors started floating around the internet that Annabelle had escaped from her
museum home. Tony Spera issued a video statement to put all the rumors to rest, as he explained,
"Annabelle's alive — well, I shouldn't say alive — Annabelle's here,
in all her infamous glory. She never left the museum. I have high-tech security here.
If she had left the museum I'd instantly know if something happened, or somebody
broke in [...] But Annabelle's here, she didn't go anywhere."
Spera also made time to crack a joke, as he noted,
"She didn't take a trip. She didn't fly first class
and she didn't go out to visit her boyfriend."
He also urged people not to worry and to stop speculating, as he insisted,
"I appreciate all the concern. I'd be concerned if Annabelle really
did leave because she's nothing to play with."
While Lorraine and Ed Warren have both passed away, their legacy remains very much alive,
with their son-in-law Tony Spera taking over responsibility of diving deeper into the
world of the inexplicable and paranormal. Annabelle is currently in his possession.
In 2014, Lorraine was asked in an interview with Yahoo! about why she chose to keep
Annabelle despite knowing that the doll was possibly a threat. So she explained,
"It would be quite careless on my part to get rid of it. As explained in The Conjuring,
getting rid of the doll would only get rid of the vessel, not the evil that resides
within the doll. At least as it sits, we know where it resides. It isn't out into the world
causing harm to others. We have a Catholic priest who performs a binding prayer around
the doll which acts as a blockade. The evil can't penetrate the holy prayers that bind it."
"You see things and experience things. It's more comfortable now."
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