Story Behind The Conjuring Franchise

The Conjuring film franchise gives everyone a real scare in the movie theaters. The best way to overcome the fear from a scary movie is to think it’s not real. Although, it’s a different case for the The Conjuring films. They are real. Some were based on real events. 

The main characters of the films are Ed and Lorraine Warren. They are paranormal investigators that examine haunting cases. The Conjuring films are based on the Annabelle, Amityville, Enfield Poltergeist, and the Perron family cases. Ed and Lorraine Warren were actual people in the real world. Edward Warren Miney was born on September 7, 1926. He was a self-taught dermatologist. Lorraine Rita Warren was born on January 31, 1927. She was a clairvoyant and a light trance medium. Ed and Lorraine worked together as husband and wife to investigate the paranormal cases. 

The Details

As a boy, Ed believed to have grown up in a haunted house. He states that doors would open by themselves and unusual lights would appear around the house. At the age of nine, Lorraine began to notice her clairvoyant abilities. She saw auras around people. At first, she thought it was normal. Ed and Lorraine met in 1944 at the age of 16. It was at a movie theater, where Ed worked as an usher. After they started dating, Ed went off to fight World War II. He enlisted in the Navy at the age of 17. The Navy deployed Ed for four months. Later, the Navy sent him back home because his ship almost sunk. He almost died in icy waters. In 1945, Ed and Lorraine got married. He returned back to the war. In 1950, they had a daughter named Judy.

As a married couple, both needed to make a living. Therefore, they were going to be artists. Although, Ed found a newspaper about haunted houses. As a result, they chose to investigate houses for paranormal activity. The Warrens couldn’t just knock on the door. Firstly, they researched the houses. Secondly, they gained entry by painting a picture of the house. Lastly, they knocked on the door, offering the painting. Then, they would start a conversation with the homeowners and discover information about the haunted house. Eventually, it became a career.

However, when it came to paranormal activity, the Warrens never just took a case right away. Ed would investigate it first to see if there is paranormal activity occurring. More importantly, he would rule out the logical and physical explanation of things before moving forward with a case.

The Investigation

In 1952, the Warrens founded the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR). It was a ghost hunting group in New England. In addition to this, when investigating paranormal activity, the Warrens would use regular people such as doctors, police officers, and college students to investigate the hauntings. Throughout their whole career, they state to have investigated over 10,000 paranormal cases. Overall, they wrote many books about their investigations.

The Warrens ghost cases were adapted into films and books. The most notable adaptation would be The Conjuring universe and the Amityville Horror series. The films Annabelle, The Conjuring, and The Conjuring 2 are based on the Warrens cases.

Ten Years Later

In 1968, two girl roommates claimed a Raggedy Ann doll was being possessed. Supposedly, it was a little girl named Annabelle Higgins. The doll would be in different rooms than where it was originally left in. They found the Raggedy Ann doll sitting with its legs crossed and arms folded. It would stand and lean against a chair. The unusual position was that it was kneeling on its own. On the other hand, it would always fall over when the roommates made it kneel. Also, the doll left messages for the girls on parchment paper. It was unknown where the parchment paper came from. Importantly, the girls didn’t own any.

The Warrens took the doll with them. The Warrens put the doll in their basement. Ed Warren stated that the doll was responsible for one death of a man. The man came to see the doll and challenged it to do its worst. As a result, the doll fulfilled the challenge.

The Conjuring Connection

The Conjuring is based on the Perron family. In 1971, the Perron family moved into a farmhouse. After moving in, they noticed strange things occurring. First, things such as a broo, would go missing. It would move from place to place. Second, the cleaned floors had dirt. Following, the family noticed harmless and angry spirits. The house has a history with death. Many children died by drowning, murder, and suicide. Additionally, Bathsheba Sharman a Satanist woman lived in the house in the 1800s. As a result, the family contacted help. The Warrens conducted a seance where Carolyn Perron, the mother and wife, was possessed and speaking in different languages. Her husband, Roger kicked them out. The family continued to live in the house until 1980. By then, the spirits were gone.

The Conjuring 2 is based on the Enfield Haunting. In 1977, the Hodgson family started to see and hear things. One of the daughters, Janet, claims she saw her dresser slide across the room. They heard knocking everywhere. A police officer saw a chair go across the room by itself. Furthermore, there were toys flying around the room, things got hot when picked up, and folded clothes would fly across the rooms. Also, lights would flicker, furniture would spin or fall over, and coins would appear out of nowhere.

Warrens Success

Other paranormal investigators claimed that the Hodgson children were faking the experiences. The Warrens thought there was a demonic presence with them. The case didn’t continue because the media thought Ed was “exaggerating.” Eventually, the hauntings stopped for the Hodgson family.

The Warrens went famous with their paranormal discoveries. Ed and Lorraine went on to appear on television shows such as The Merv Griffin Show, The Tom Snyder Show, A Haunting, and Scariest Places on Earth. They had college lectures and were speakers to prove that the devil was real. The Warrens have a museum called the Occult Museum in their home in Monroe, Connecticut. The museum is permanently closed. It contains artifacts and haunted objects from the investigations. In 2021, The Conjuring 3 will be released on June 4. The film, also called The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It will be based on the trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson.