Here at Top 5 Scary Videos - we strive to provide you all with a healthy, balanced diet
of folk lore, horror cinema, urban legend and paranormal investigation.
If we work on the assumption that no one - absolutely no one - is impervious to critical analysis,
then we can better understand the things that are truly terrifying on this fair planet that
we call Earth.
Since the 1970s - paranormal research has steadily gained mainstream acknowledgement
- and don’t get me wrong, while there is actually some serious science fueling the
study of the supernatural - there are also those that rely primarily on brand building
and fabrication of evidence in order to boost their viewership.
Well then, come on in horror fans - and welcome back to Top 5 Scary Videos.
As always, I’ll be your horror host Jack Finch - as we curiously take a look at the
Top 5 Times Ed and Lorraine Warren Were Exposed.
Roll the clip.
Kicking off at Number 5 - Annabelle
You know the one, she’s everywhere - she’s terrifying, especially in James Wan’s silver
screen depiction - but if we’re being honest - the actual Annabelle, a Raggedy Ann doll
given to a nursing student in the 1970s - isn’t so terrifying at all.
The biggest issue with any of the Warren’s cases is the lack of information provided
by the pair - particularly Ed Warren - who was notorious for withholding information
for analysis.
After declaring that the doll was actually possessed by a demon named Annabelle Higgins
- the Warren’s took the doll back to their museum, putting it on display for safety’s
sake.
This is where the Annabelle mythos was fully fleshed out.
Before his death, Ed would allegedly warn museum visitors that the last man to mock
Anabelle ended up dying in a motorcycle crash - of course, claims that had no substantial
evidence or even names associated to them.
Joseph Laycock - a professor of Religious Studies at Texas State University - makes
an interesting observation to the phenomenon.
At the same time, a similar story emerged - Robert the Doll - you may know it.
And what do these two have in common?
Why were demonic dolls suddenly the latest craze in the 1970s?
Well - it may have something to do with an episode of the Twilight Zone, dubbed “Living
Doll” - which featured a character that intriguingly mirrored the same events of the
Warren’s doll.
What was their name?
Well - Annabelle, of course.
Coming in next at Number 4 - The Snedeker Family
And this one is pretty blatant - which may explain Lorraine Warren’s very public detest
for the cinematic interpretation, A Haunting In Connecticut - which she claimed was historically
inaccurate and embarrassing.
A fair claim to make - IF - she could provide substantial evidence.
If you’re familiar with the Snedeker Family then you’ll know their story - they moved
into a house at a knockout price, conveniently located next to a hospital where their young
son was receiving treatment for cancer.
Of course - it was too good to be true, and the reason why the house was so cheap - was
because it was previously a funeral home, where the morticians were rumoured to have
been caught in acts of necrophilia.
Not so good.
Of course, this meant that the Snedeker home was riddled with demons - enter Ed and Lorraine
Warren.
However - the biggest hole in this case comes from Ed Warren himself.
After their investigation took place, a best selling book was written to detail the events.
A ghost writer was attached to it - a man named Ray Garton, a prestigiously decorated
horror novelist - who describes A Haunting in Connecticut as the low point of his career.
Why?
Well a few years later, Garton told Horror Bound magazine that he’d interviewed all
the family members about their experiences, but soon realised that the family were going
through some very real problems of a more human kind - drug addiction and severe alcoholism.
He found that their accounts of the demonic incidents didn’t quite mesh - none of them
could keep their story straight.
When he approached Ed Warren with this problem, his reply was - Oh, they’re crazy - you’ve
got some of the story, just use what works and make the rest up.
Just make it up and make it scary.
Next up at Number 3 - The Devil Made Me Do It
And it’s pretty hard to deny evidence that has passed through the judicial system.
If you’re familiar with the Devil Made Me Do It case - you’ll know that it involves
a man named Arne Cheyenne Johnson, who was inadvertently possessed by the same demon
that afflicted his 11 year old step-son, David.
Arne was arrested and tried for murdering his landlord, Alan Bono - and in his legal
defence, claimed that the Devil had made him do it.
Of course, it didn’t work - and he was sentenced to 10 to 20 years for first-degree manslaughter.
Now, the Warrens were heavily involved in this case - claiming to have performed three
exorcisms on the young David Glatzel - while a number of priests involved in the case denied
that any of which had taken place.
However - years later in 2007, Carl Glatzel - David’s older brother - sued the Warrens
for unspecified damages - claiming that his family were manipulated by the demonologists
for monetary gain.
He claimed that they’d concocted a phony story in an attempt to get rich and boost
their paranormal fame - exploiting young David’s mental illness in the process.
In his own tell-all book, Alone Through The Valley - which personally, is a bit of a double
standard - he outlined the fact that none of the Warren’s claims had actually happened,
and that the book was a complete fabrication of the events that had actually transpired.
Swinging in at Number 2 - The Enfield Poltergeist
And this one - I will admit, is open to your own interpretation.
It’s interesting then, that perhaps one of the most famous cases that the Warrens
were associated with, The Enfield Poltergeist - was the case that they were most minimally
involved with.
It forms the basis of James Wan’s 2016 film The Conjuring 2 - where the fictional versions
of the Warrens pretty much single handedly deal with the events that transpired in the
August of 1977 in Enfield, a suburb of London.
The story itself was a media sensation - where 11-year old Janet and her 13 year old sister
Peggy were afflicted by the presence of a malevolent poltergeist.
Although the evidence has been notoriously scrutinized - Ed and Lorraine Warren maintained
that their flying visit to London featured some of the most startling paranormal events
that they’d ever seen.
One of which was when Ed swore blind, a claim that he made in his book The Demonologist
- that he saw Janet sound asleep, levitating in mid air.
It’s interesting then - that in all the photographic evidence provided by the Warrens
- both girls are wide awake, and appear to be falling - definitely not levitating.
Perhaps the most damning admission though, is a statement that Janet made in 2011 at
the age of 45, that she and her sister had faked most of the phenomena.
The thing is though - it didn’t matter to the Warrens.
Their involvement with the case propelled them to a legendary status, even though much
of that involvement was superficial at best.
It’s an interesting one - and we’ll likely never know the full extent of the Enfield
Poltergeist.
One thing is for certain though - Ed Warren made up nearly all of his involvement.
And finally - at our Number 1 spot - The Amityville Horror
Perhaps THE most famous Warren case ever - period - and so, the most thoroughly investigated.
And what have those investigations uncovered?
Well - nothing.
Nothing in the sense that there is zero evidence that anything even happened - despite the
claims that Ed and Lorraine staunchly made in their most expansive case to date.
In Stephen King’s book - Danse Macabre - he stated that the true American horror story
was that of the haunted house, a campfire ghost tale spawned from the colonial era - spurred
on by the American dream of creating a new world in a very ancient land.
And so - the Amityville narrative fits exactly with that, and was the fuel that cemented
the Warren’s reputation for decades to come.
But - what did they actually find?
Nothing.
Perhaps the Lutz family did experience something unexplainable - a claim which they have staunchly
backed to this day.
But as far as the Warrens are concerned, all they have is a single TV appearance of a local
New England news affiliate - months after the Lutzes had abandoned their new home in
the middle of the night.
The Warrens decided to stay the night - caught on camera, of course - when the pair claimed
that the house was infested with demonic entities.
Although there was never any evidence for this - the television appearance catapulted
Ed and Lorraine to their lofty heights of fame - and all it took, was a very convincing,
and very American - horror story.
Well - there we have it folks, what do you guys think?
Please, feel free to discuss and speak your mind in the comment section below.
Before we depart though, I’d like to read our some of your greatest comments from the
past few days.
Ezzy Derp says - My husband and I love Twilight Zone.
Could you do a video of the scariest episodes?
Well Ezzy Derp, the two of you have some impeccable taste - and that sounds like a fantastic idea,
I’ll stick it on my to-do list.
Next up - Joe Terrance gaming says - How do you not have a million subs right now, your
content and narration is on point not to mention the accent.
Well Joe Terrance gaming, one million subs?!
That’s a hell of a lot of hype to live up to!
Here’s hoping you’ll stick around if we ever get there, eh?
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As always, I’ve been your host Jack Finch - you’ve been watching Top 5 Scary Videos
- and until next time, you take it easy.