The Terrifying True Tale Of The Real Annabelle Doll And What Her Reign Of Terror Looked Like
Most people were first introduced to the spine-chillingly creepy doll named Annabelle after the supernatural horror film, Annabelle, premiered in 2014.
And like the movie depicted, Annabelle still sits imprisoned in a glass case to this very day. The doll is kept at Ed and Lorraine Warren’s original Occult Museum located in Monroe, Connecticut– where visitors are greeted with a cautionary sign.
“Warning, positively do not open,” reads a sign just below the display.
However, the terrifying marionette-like doll from the films is not what the true Annabelle really looks like. Instead, she resembles most other Raggedy Ann dolls created during the mid-20th century.
But, apparently, beneath her red string hair and unsuspecting smile, there rests an evil that began terrorizing its first owner all the way back in 1970.
And ever since then, Annabelle has been blamed for numerous violent attacks, demonic possession, and two near-death experiences.
Annabelle’s Dark Past
Renowned demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren eventually took custody of the Annabelle doll after she was claimed to be wreaking havoc for about thirty years. But Annabelle’s reign of terror reportedly began in 1970, right after the doll was produced.
According to the Warrens, the doll was first given to a young twenty-eight-year-old nurse named Donna as a birthday gift.
phanuchat – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purpose only, not the actual person
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Donna reportedly loved the present and excitedly brought it back to her apartment, which she shared with another nurse, Angie.
And at first, the doll was a charming accessory. Donna placed Annabelle on her sofa in the living room, where visitors could be greeted by the doll’s smiling expression.
However, it did not take long for both Donna and Angie to notice that Annabelle had the ability to move throughout the room on her own.
For example, Donna would always sit the doll on her living room sofa before heading out for work in the morning. But, by the afternoon, Annabelle would be in her bedroom. What’s even more frightening is that the door would be shut behind her.
Then, the roommates began finding notes all throughout the apartment that read, “Help Me.” And according to them, these messages were penned on parchment paper– a stationary item neither of the girls even kept in their apartment.
And finally, Angie’s boyfriend, Lou, also had a freaky encounter with the doll one afternoon. While the girls were out, Lou apparently heard a ruckus in Donna’s room and thought someone had broken in.
After he went to inspect the premises, though, he found no sign of forced entry. Instead, he simply found the Annabelle doll lying on the ground face down.
And at that moment, Lou claimed to feel a sudden burning pain in his chest. When he lifted up his shirt, he saw bleeding claw marks running across that allegedly disappeared without a trace just two days later.
Lou’s encounter with the doll understandably freaked Donna and Angie out. So, they invited a medium to their apartment in hopes of solving their supernatural situation.
A seance was conducted by the medium, and the women were told that the doll was inhabited by the spirit of Annabelle Higgins, a deceased seven-year-old girl. And strangely enough, the girl’s body had been recovered years earlier on the same land where their apartment building was constructed.
Nonetheless, the medium also claimed that the girl’s spirit was simply benevolent and yearned to be loved. So, Donna and Angie felt bad and allowed the spirit to remain permanently within the Annabelle doll.
Ed And Lorraine Warren
Eventually, though, Donna and Angie would come to regret that decision. And in an effort to get the Annabelle doll’s spirit out of their home, they reached out to Father Hegan– an Episcopal priest.
The priest eventually called upon his superior, Father Cooke, who finally reached out to the demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren.
And once the couple heard about the case, they believed that Donna and Angie’s biggest mistake was giving the doll any of their sympathies. In fact, they completely disagreed that the spirit was benevolent. Instead, Ed and Lorraine claimed the spirit was demonic and searching for a human host.
“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 said.
“This spirit manipulated the doll and created the illusion of it being alive in order to get recognition. Truly, the spirit was not looking to stay attached to this doll. It was looking to possess a human host.”
Moreover, much of Donna and Angie’s experiences with the doll correlated with demonic possession. For example, the doll moving about the apartment symbolized teleportation; meanwhile, the “Help Me” notes on parchment paper were materialization. And finally, Lou’s chest marks were known as “the mark of the beast.”
In turn, the Warrens immediately decided that an exorcism of the apartment needed to be performed by Father Cooke. And following that, the couple took the doll to their Occult Museum in hopes of storing her away and ending her demonic taunting forever.
Annabelle’s Continued Haunting
Even though Annabelle was taken into the possession of experienced demonologists, though, the doll continued to wreak havoc on the couple.
And the first paranormal event occurred just minutes after Ed and Lorraine took Annabelle from the apartment.
Following the apartment’s exorcism, they strapped the doll into their car’s backseat before deciding their travel route home. The couple opted to avoid the highway in case the demonic spirit had some sort of accident-causing ability.
Nonetheless, the back roads still proved to be a treacherous drive home– because, according to Lorraine, their car’s brakes stalled or failed numerous times. And the constant occurrence caused the couple to nearly crash more than once.
However, after Ed reportedly pulled over and doused Annabelle with holy water, their brakes never had another issue for the rest of the drive.
Then, after arriving home, the pair placed Annabelle in Ed’s study. But, she did not stay put. Instead, they claim the doll levitated and traveled throughout the house even after being placed in a locked office.
So, finally, the demonologists decided that the demonic doll needed to be locked up for good.
They had a custom-made wood and glass case constructed for the doll, which was also inscribed with Saint Michael’s Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer. And after being locked up, Ed would periodically perform a binding prayer over the case to make sure the doll, and its evil spirit, remained inside.
And ever since being sequestered away, the Annabelle doll has remained safely in her glass case in Connecticut. Nonetheless, some believe that the evil spirit within has still found other means of escaping.
In fact, a priest once visited the Occult Museum and even picked up the Annabelle doll. Then, he proceeded to laugh about the theories of evil and discounted the doll possessing any demonic abilities.
After the priest left the museum, though, he was in a severe car crash that nearly took his life and totaled his brand-new car. And apparently, he claimed to see the doll in the rearview mirror right before the accident.
Then, years later, another instance appeared to prove Ed and Lorraine’s beliefs that the doll had evil powers which could exit the case.
One afternoon, a boyfriend and girlfriend visited the Occult Museum, and the man apparently rapped on the glass case. Then, he laughed and claimed people were ridiculous for believing in such a tale.
On his way home, though, he, too, suffered an accident. However, he lost control of his motorcycle and actually died on impact after crashing headfirst into a tree. His girlfriend did survive but later claimed they had been laughing about the doll just before the accident.
Annabelle’s Legacy
Donna and Angie never came forward to share their original experiences with the Annabelle doll firsthand. Neither did Father Cooke or Father Hegan since no other mention of the exorcism has ever been discussed.
And finally, the two instances of people mocking the Annabelle spirit and paying the price have never been corroborated.
However, Ed and Lorraine claimed that each part of the story was undoubtedly true. And, over the years, many people believed it.
The haunting tale of Annabelle even went on to inspire the director and producer James Wan to create an insanely lucrative movie series based on the creepy doll.
The first, entitled simply Annabelle, debuted in 2014 and introduced the horrific story to the world. Then, Annabelle: Creation premiered in 2017, and, most recently, Annabelle Comes Home came out in 2019.
And while there are many differences between the original accounts shared by Ed and Lorraine Warren and the movies, one thing remains certain: the thrill viewers feel while watching the films proves that the tales of Annabelle will remain cemented in American horror folklore for years to come.
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