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According to legend, Annabelle it would be one possessed doll which, over the years, would cause the death of several people – inspiring, among other things, numerous horror films. Maybe many of you think it’s a fantasy story, but in reality Annabelle really exists, even if she looks a little different than what we all have in mind. But how did this doll become so famous? And is she really a possessed doll? To understand this we need to take a step back and first tell the story of Ed and Lorraine Warren.
The story of Ed and Lorrain Warren, the most famous demologists
Born respectively in 1926 and in 1927 to Bridgeport, in the state of Connecticut, Ed and Lorraine Warren went down in history as the most famous demologists and paranormal experts in the world.
Him, And, he was a veteran of World War II. Instead, she Lorraine, she was a clairvoyant, that is, a person who claims to have extrasensory powers which, in this case, would have allowed her to sense the presence of spirits and demons. This couple has dedicated themselves for more than forty years to researching the paranormal, solving – according to them – tens of thousands of cases and publishing numerous books about their findings. Consider that in 1952 they also also founded the NESPR, that is, the New England Society for Psychical Researchwhose goal is to investigate and document supernatural and demonic activity around the world.
Precisely this aura of mystery has made them famous luminaries in this field, so much so that they have inspired an entire series of films, that of The Conjuring. But what does all this have to do with Annabelle? Well this was theirs first case famous, the one that catapulted them onto the front pages of all the local newspapers. And it all started with a phone call.
The Legend of Annabelle
On the other end of the receiver was the priest of Hartford, a small community in Connecticut. He called them because two girls he knew, Deirdre Bernard And Lara Cliftonthey were terrified of a doll that would not only be able to move from room to room on its own, but that one night would physically attack Cal Randell, Lara’s boyfriend. Once they received the call, the Warrens jumped in the car and went to the boys to find out more. Here they discover that the doll it was given to the girl a month and a half earlier by her mother, who had found it in a second-hand shop, and from then on she apparently started moving, changing rooms and even leaving messages, inside which was written “help us” or “it helps Cal”.
The two girls were scared, and therefore decided to call a medium, that is, a person capable of communicating with others spirits, so as to understand what that presence wanted from them. The medium said that was the spirit of Annabelle Higgins, a little girl who had died centuries before in that place and who, since then, had been wandering in search of someone who could love her.
Here we already have the first problems: the names of the protagonists are taken from the book The Demonologistwhich is an official collection of their major cases. However, if we go to consult their official website, the characters have completely different names: the two girls are called Donna and Angie, while the boy is called Lou. Also regarding Annabelle Higgins I tried to do some research to see if there was any information about her online. In reality, even consulting specialized sites, registers and period documents, I have not found anyone who corresponds to his description. So, as far as we know, Annabelle Higgins – probably – it never existed.
The two girls, taken pity on the spirit, agree to the possession, allowing the spirit to live inside their doll. One evening, however, Annabelle, as the puppet was nicknamed, tried to strangle Cal, leaving a gash on his chest with a kind of hook – a gash which, in half a day, miraculously healed. At that moment, however, no one took a photo of the wound and therefore we have no way of verifying that it really happened. In any case, the three boys, panicked, called the priest, who in turn called…the Warrens.
The Warrens’ paranormal theory
Once the Warrens arrived they heard the whole story and immediately understood what it was about. The doll, in reality, was not possessed. The girls were dealing with a inhuman, that is, a particular type of demon… which however does not infest objects. Those who are possessed are the kids! That is, they would have fallen into the demon’s deception, in fact by allowing the spirit to stay in the doll, they actually allowed him to possess them.
To solve this problem, the Warrens call in an exorcist Father Everett, who began to bless all his tenants and each of the rooms. The process is told in the book, and is described as a ritual that requires about 5 minutes for each room during which a 7 page document. This would have allowed the girls and the house to finally be free from the evil one.
Here we come to the end of the story. The Warrens they took the doll into custody and they took it to their home, placing it in a shrine. Among other things, they say that during the journey to take her home their car skidded several times, risking sending them off-road. In fact, in the following years there was a legend about a motorcyclist visiting theirs house museum that, after touching Annabelle, he would have crashed on the way back, losing his life.
At this point a question arises… Is the story of the Warrens and Annabelle true?
Were the Warrens crooks?
As we have seen, there is no evidence of all their actions. Certain, Annabelle still exists as a dolland it is preserved in a display case in their house museum – so you can go and visit it, so to speak – but there is not a shred of proof of its alleged curse. And the same goes for all their cases, since their evidence cannot be verified by external sources. The only type of evidence that is sometimes made public is the photographs, which often show strange white halos passed off as ghosts but which, in most cases, can be traced back to human artefacts – both voluntary and involuntary.
To all this we must also add another element related to theirs credibility. Some of their most famous cases, in fact, were later denied by the people themselves. One above all that of Amityville, when the Lutz family called them to get rid of a demonic possession of their home. A few years later William Weber, the lawyer of the family involved, declared that he had invented the story together with the Lutzes in order to write a successful book and earn something, accusing the Warrens of being complicit in this scam.
In light of everything we have seen, it is therefore very probable, indeed, I dare say certain, that Annabelle is nothing more than a very normal doll around which an incredible – and profitable – horror story has been sewn to perfection.
