Is “Annabelle” based on a true story? All about the real, allegedly haunted doll

The second movie in the "Conjuring" franchise was inspired by a real Raggedy Ann doll with a disturbing backstory.

<p>Warner Bros. Pictures/courtesy Everett; Travel Channel</p>

Warner Bros. Pictures/courtesy Everett; Travel Channel

If you’ve seen Annabelle, chances are you’ve spent at least one night terrified of a ruffled cover or discarded shirt at the foot of your bed. The 2014 film, which sees the eponymous evil doll causing havoc for all, was hatched from a supporting character in James Wan’s The Conjuring (2013). Annabelle’s debut was so terrifying that she arguably stole the spotlight from much more established ghosts in the franchise’s first entry.

The Conjuring, starring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, dramatized an account of the Perron family haunting, which took place in Rhode Island in 1971. The films are based on truth but largely fictionalized, inspiring curiosity about Annabelle’s real origins.

Though her history is different from what’s explained on screen, The Conjuring and Annabelle are somewhat similar to the doll’s true story. (This is gradually less true as the sequels — 2017’s Annabelle: Creation and 2019’s Annabelle Comes Homegrow increasingly inane).

Ten years after Annabelle made waves with her own feature film, Entertainment Weekly is taking a closer look at the true story behind the iconic doll.

<p>Warner Bros. Pictures/courtesy Everett</p>

Warner Bros. Pictures/courtesy Everett

What is the plot of Annabelle?

Annabelle follows John (Ward Horton) and Mia Form (Annabelle Wallis), a young couple in California expecting their first child. John brings home a porcelain doll for Mia, intending it as a gift for their baby. That very night, in a case of bizarrely complicated scripting, the Forms’ neighbors — the Higgins — are slaughtered by a pair of Manson-lite cult members.

When the Forms telephone the police, they inadvertently alert the cultists and have their own home invaded by the pair. The police arrive just in time and shoot down the scraggly-haired Charlie impersonator. Unfortunately, his young girlfriend slashes her throat in the Forms’ nursery while clutching the brand-new doll.

After news reports identify the female murderer as Annabelle Higgins, the daughter of the ill-fated neighbors, paranormal events begin to occur around the Forms’ home — all of which seem to center around the doll. After the birth of their child, the family bins the toy and moves house, but when they later find it among their possessions, the supernatural occurrences return in more violent fashion.

<p>Warner Bros. Pictures/courtesy Everett</p>

Warner Bros. Pictures/courtesy Everett

Mia does some digging and, with the help of a detective (Eric Ladin) and haunted bookseller Evelyn (Alfre Woodard), discovers that the cult intended to summon a demonic spirit, which latched onto the Forms when Annabelle killed herself in their home. Mia and John determine that the only way to rid themselves of the demon is to make a blood sacrifice, setting the stage for a viscera-splattered climax.

Is Annabelle based on a true story?

As with many of the characters and incidents in the Conjuring universe, Annabelle’s plot is rooted in an element of basic truth before spinning off into increasingly fantastical realms. Like The Conjuring, Annabelle is based on one of the famous cases taken on by paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. Annabelle Higgins was (allegedly) a real person, but the young girl died long before she had a chance to join a Satan-worshiping cult.

There is indeed a real Annabelle doll, though she’s a bit less creepy-looking than her cinematic counterpart. The New Haven Register once risked getting on Annabelle’s bad side by describing her as “a plain-looking, classic Raggedy Ann doll with red yarn for hair.”

<p>Bettmann/Getty</p>

Bettmann/Getty

Despite the cosmetic differences, the doll did have a purportedly evil history. It is said to have waged a campaign of terror against two young women before the Warrens came to their rescue.

Where did the Annabelle doll come from?

According to a presentation given by Lorraine Warren and her son-in-law Tony Spera on the night of Annabelle’s theatrical release, and a case file from the New England Society of Psychic Research (NESPR), which the Warrens founded in 1952, a nurse named Donna received the doll in 1970 as a 28th birthday present from her mother.

Legend has it the young nurse placed the doll beside her bed, only to notice it frequently changed positions. Sometimes its legs would be crossed; other times the doll would be splayed out on its side. Occasionally, it would turn up in a different room from where it was last seen. After this went on for a while, Donna and her roommate, Angie, began finding chilling messages scattered about their apartment. “Help me, help us,” the notes allegedly read. Weirder still, these were scrawled on ripped parchment paper, which the two women did not have in their apartment.

<p>Travel Channel</p>

Travel Channel

At one point, a friend of theirs was reportedly napping on their couch. He woke up feeling as though he was being forcibly strangled and saw that the doll was staring directly at him. When he collected himself, he discovered he had scratch wounds on his body. The doll even seemed to be leaking blood at one point.

The girls then reportedly contacted a medium to perform a seance, which determined that the Raggedy Ann doll was inhabited by the spirit of Annabelle Higgins, a young girl who resided on the property but died at age 7, long before the current apartment block was erected.

Related: Tracking Annabelle's confusing journey through the Conjuring universe

Annabelle expressed feeling comfortable with the roommates and “wanted to stay with them and be loved,” according to the NESPR case file. Perhaps feeling sorry for the spirit, Donna and Angie gave Annabelle “permission to inhabit the doll” and, by extension, their home.

How did Ed and Lorraine Warren come into possession of the Annabelle doll?

After Father Cooke, a priest familiar with the case, tipped off the Warrens, they interceded on the roommate’s behalf and examined Annabelle. They “came to the immediate conclusion that the doll itself was not in fact possessed but manipulated by an inhuman presence,” states NESPR’s case file. “Truly, the spirit was not looking to stay attached to the doll, it was looking to possess a human host.”

The Warrens took possession of the doll that day, and not a moment too soon. “The next stage of the infestation phenomenon would have been complete human possession,” the case file reads. “Had these experiences lasted another two or three more weeks, the spirit would have completely possessed, if not harmed or killed, one or all of the occupants in the house.”

<p>Travel Channel</p>

Travel Channel

Before leaving with the doll, the Warrens reportedly had Father Cooke perform an exorcism on the apartment to rid the spirit of the building, though they still believed the entity resided within the doll. According to the investigators’ account, their car began to swerve erratically on the ride home, prompting Ed to spritz Annabelle with holy water.

Where is the real Annabelle doll today?

After the Warrens took her home, Annabelle lived in a locked box at their Occult Museum in Monroe, Conn., the setup of which is similar to the couple’s crowded memorabilia room in the Conjuring movies.

Tony Spera, the Warrens’ son-in-law who worked closely beside Lorraine after Ed’s death in 2006, confided that, of the couple’s vast collection of supernatural ephemera, the Annabelle doll “is what I’d be most frightened of,” according to the New Haven Register.

Related: Never fear: Real-life Annabelle doll of The Conjuring fame has not escaped from museum

The Warrens, and later Spera, were fond of recounting a macabre (albeit unsubstantiated) tale about a museum guest who spurned their warnings and taunted Annabelle. He was told to leave the museum, and soon after died in a motorcycle accident.

Though the museum officially closed in 2019 due to zoning issues, the artifacts, including Annabelle, are still there to this day.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.