The reputation of cute cuddly exorcists Ed and Lorraine Warren has grown outsized in 21st-century pop culture. That’s mainly thanks to the juggernaut Conjuring franchise, loosely based on their lives, with Vera Farmiga playing Lorraine and Patrick Wilson playing Ed. . . Alas, none of that is real.
You guys, my career is nothing if not a grumbling curation of Ed and Lorraine Warren lore. One of my true special interests is the American paranormal industrial complex, and these fuckers are the Koch Brothers of haunted houses. Their fingerprints are on everything, from the rise of possession content and exorcism voyeurism to the actual Satanic Panic. They were so popular that they managed to meld their thoroughly smarmy hustler lives into a wholesome true American Christian Romance with the help of major studios.
Now, don’t get me wrong! I love these movies and I happily follow the Conjuring Universe wherever it leads me. I had an Annabelle doll at my birthday party, mmkay? Like Alison Williams at Vulture, I embrace the camp. Since horror movie season is approaching, and you should definitely put these movies in your queue, here’s a breakdown of both the real life and cinematic worlds of the Warrens.
The Life and Times Of
Ed and Lorraine Warren were the OG Demon Hunters from Connecticut. They had one daughter, Judy, who married a man named Tony Spera. Judy and Tony, as far as I can tell, took up the mantle of demon hunting and run NESPR – the New England Society for Paranormal Research.
NESPR’s chief investigator, Dan Rivera, died while on tour with the Warrens’ most famous artifact, Annabelle the doll. Annabelle’s tour had quote a media moment, and there was a lot of talk about the doll killing Rivera. The autopsy, however, revealed that he died of natural causes.
The Warrens have a sketchy past, which I wrote about in my Annabelle post:
I know we all love the paranormal on this channel, but we need to accept that [the Warrens] were CON PERSONS. CON PEOPLE? Con Elders. They were up to no good. They’ve been involved in some high profile hoaxes, like Amityville, the case behind a Haunting in Connecticut, and the Devil in Connecticut. Ed was accused of being a groomer and a pedophile, with Lorraine enabling his crimes.
But they were also PROLIFIC, and I think it’s helpful to have a guide to their most famous cases, and the movies and documentaries they inspired. So here’s a list, with some context, and some fun sources.
If you haven’t already listened to it, I highly recommend Last Podcast on the Left’s episodes on the Warrens.
Amityville Horror (1975)
Amityville is probably the most famous haunting in America, and it’s also mostly a hoax. Ed and Lorraine got in on the ground level with this one. They were just starting out in the paranormal business, and this got them a lot of headlines. A photo taken by the Warrens became famous, and is now canonically part of the haunting. I wrote about Amityville a few years ago; I think it’s an absolutely fascinating story.
Watch this? Absolutely.
Also check out this absolutely gripping documentary about the haunting: My Amityville Horror.
Poster of the 1979 film
The scarier 2013 documentary
The Conjuring (1):
The Perron Family (1971-1980)
The Warrens approached the Perron family in the late 1970’s and offered to help them with the haunting of their 18th century farmhouse, known as the Arnold Estate. The Perrons reported apparitions, bad smells, weird pain, levitations, and other classical paranormal phenomena. In a video short created by Warner Brothers to promote The Conjuring, family members talk about their experiences and seem pretty convinced. One of the daughters, Andrea, wrote a book.
She and the Warrens blamed the haunting on a former occupant, Bathsheba Sherman, who they accused of being a witch that sacrificed her baby to Satan, hung herself on the property, and laid a curse on the new residents. The allegations against Bathsheba have been completely disproven by modern reporters; she was a pious woman who died of a stroke.
While the Warrens claimed they drove Bathsheba out with a seance (book) or exorcism (movie), Andrea told the media that they moved in 1980 because her mother couldn’t bear to live in a house with the entity anymore.
The farmhouse eventually ended up in the hands of a psychic who opened it up as a paranormal attraction before she started beefing with other ghost hunters and not paying her employees. It’s up for auction now and Matt Rife wants to buy this one too???
Watch this? Hell yes. This is the movie that started it all.
The Conjuring 2 and The Nun:
The Enfield Poltergeist (1977-1979)
Conjuring 2 is based on the true story of the Enfield Haunting, or the Enfield Poltergeist. This is an absolutely FASCINATING story about an entity that terrorized a mom and her 4 daughters in London. The Hodgson family lived in a council house, which is public housing, and they were plagued by all kinds of related problems – poverty, family strife. The ghost caused the girls to levitate, objects to fly across the room, appear and disappear, and to experience assorted other violent phenomena. It seemed to mostly happen around the oldest daughter, Janet. The family called in local press, police, and psychic researchers and there’s a TON of footage of the phenomena and the house.
While Conjuring 2 is rooted in a real family and their experiences, the Warrens were barely involved in that case, according to British investigators who were. Their work in the movie is mostly fictional – that was actually performed by the Society for Psychical Research in London. The real Ed and Lorraine at Enfield were Maurice Grosse and Guy Playfair (has there ever been a more British name than GUY PLAYFAIR??).
The character of The Nun – and her spinoffs – come from this movie but they’re not based on any actual case. The demon nun is a plot device to tie the movies together.
Watch this? YES AND! There are a lot of really interesting treatments of this haunting that you should check out!
On BBC: The Enfield Haunting
On Apple+: The Enfield Poltergeist
On Spotify: American Hysteria – “I was a Teenage Poltergeist”
Conjuring The Devil Made Me Do It (3):
David Glatzel and Arne Johnson (1980)
Sometimes I wonder if these movies are sponsored by the Vatican, because the Catholic imagery gets more and more heavy handed as they go. The director turned it up several notches for this one, going into full exorcism mode. It’s based on a real story that ended in a murder and criminal trial.
Arne Johnson murdered his landlord in 1981, and then claimed he did it because he was possessed by a demon. In fact, he tried to use that defense in court (it was thrown out, you don’t need to be a lawyer to understand why). Johnson’s girlfriend’s brother, David, was the first one to be possessed. The Warrens and the local parish got involved, and performed an exorcism on the boy. Johnson claimed that during the exorcism, the demon went from David to him, and later made him kill.
The Conjuring 3 tracks pretty closely to the facts until it veers off into horror movie territory and blames a witch with a curse. Which, TBF, was a fun add.
Watch this? Yes! It’s fun! If you’re like me, you will have to unclench your buttcheeks over all the Satanic Panic bullshit but it’s worth it.
ALSO CHECK OUT:
Netflix: The Devil on Trial
Conjuring Last Rites (4):
The Smurl Family (1986)
I assume this is the last of the Conjuring series to feature Ed and Lorraine, because it starts out with Ed’s heart problems and ends with a maudlin scene in which their obits are cast over video of them doing a slow dance at their daughter’s wedding. If I know anything about this family and this franchise, though, the kids are being set up to take the crown as demon hunters.
Conjuring 4 is about the Smurl family of Pennsylvania, and the Vatican paid for a platinum sponsorship on this guy. This movie is almost entirely based on Catholic lore, traditions, and stereotypes. The Smurls had a thousand kids and the haunting started on the day of one of their confirmations. YOU WITH ME?
The family reported a light falling through a ceiling, a spirit attacking both the husband and the dog, strange smells, PIG NOISES (could it be Jodi from Amityville? Just asking questions) and assorted ghostly experiences. They sought help first from the Catholic Church, who sent a priest to bless the house, then from the Warrens. Ed and Lorraine were definitely on scene here, and their presence probably helped get attention for the case. Eventually, the public and the media put enough pressure on Cardinal Ratzinger (who went on to become Pope Benedict XVI) that he assigned an exorcism. I guess it is a Catholic story after all, but exactly how pious is it to take credit for someone else’s exorcism?
Watch this? Ehhhhhh only if you want to finish out the series. We saw it in the theater and by the end people were actually laughing. It’s definitely the corniest of the series.
Annabelle + Annabelle Creation
Annabelle is a spin off that is a totally original story. The Warrens themselves aren’t in it, but the idea came from a haunted doll in their collection. You guys know Annabelle! The Raggedy Ann-turned-marinonette-looking-demon-mannequin!
According to the lore, Annabelle is a doll possessed by a demon that the Warrens hold for safekeeping. She recently went on tour and is accused of burning down a plantation and murking her handler. This bitch gets around!
Watch this? Annabelle the movie was pretty lame, but Annabelle Creation is pretty good.
The Nun + The Nun II
The Nun is also a completely fictional spin-off in the Conjuring franchise. After the film came out, the studio tried to massage a story about a Romanian demon into an entity that haunted Lorraine Warren as a child, but this is clearly marketing bullshit.
The character of the Nun is a plot device to tie some of the movies together, including the Perron and Enfield families. One thing I appreciate about this horror universe is that commitment to through lines – even when they don’t make a ton of sense. The Nun movies also continue the theme of Satanic/Devil based horror vanquished by faith.
Haunting in Connecticut:
The Snedeker Family (1987)
HIC is a sleeper in the Conjuring universe! It was made in 2009, before the first Conjuring, but the Warrens worked on this case. Just so we’re all aware of my bias – I LOVE this movie, and it’s one of my favorites, despite its abysmal ratings. I don’t want to spoil anything, but ask me about the box of human eyelids.
The movie is based on the case of the Snedeker family, who rented a home in Connecticut to live in while their teenager was undergoing cancer treatment nearby. The boy saw ghosts and attracted paranormal activity, which doctors attributed to side effects from his treatment or schizophrenia. This tension makes for a GREAT FUCKING MOVIE, btw.
The Warrens were called in and their investigation claimed that the home was previously a funeral parlour where the owner practiced necromancy. The family claim that a three hour long exorcism cleared the house, but the Archdiocese will not corroborate this.
Watch this? THIS IS THE BEST ONE!