Getty Image
In 2013, The Conjuring launched a horror franchise that eventually spawned a series of movies that revolved around a haunted doll known as Annabelle. That vessel of evil was based on an actual doll that ended up in the collection of the paranormal investigators who inspired those films, and another one who was traveling around America with the real Annabelle recently died unexpectedly during a leg of the tour.
The word “paranormal” was first coined in 1905, although the word that is essentially synonymous with “supernatural” refers to the millennia-old notion of an otherworldly realm humans aren’t capable of fully understanding but can nonetheless encounter and interact with due to the ghosts and other entities that purportedly inhabit it.
The fact that there’s no concrete evidence to prove that realm exists means anyone who claims to be an expert in that particular field is going to be greeted with plenty of skepticism—a reality Ed and Lorraine Warren became very aware of after positioning themselves as two of the world’s foremost paranormal investigators.
The Warrens were frequently accused of being frauds during a career where they examined supposed paranormal occurrences that served as the basis for horror movies including The Amityville Horror and The Haunting in Connecticut. However, most people who are aware of their existence can likely credit The Conjuring franchise for putting them on their radar in the first place.
That universe also includes three movies dedicated to a supposedly possessed doll called Annabelle, and anyone who’s bought into the legend surrounding her will probably only have their suspicions cemented by the latest twist in the saga.
What’s the story behind the actual Annabelle doll?
Ali James/Shopper News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The eponymous doll at the center of the three Annabelle movies is a porcelain figurine with purposefully unnerving features that are a bit of a far cry from the one it was based on: a Raggedy Ann doll that was originally given to a nurse in Connecticut as a Christmas present in 1970.
If the Warrens are to be believed, the doll began to move on its own after it came into her possession, and the nurse decided to consult a medium who claimed the doll said it was inhabited by the spirit of a young girl who had died in a car accident. The couple was eventually given the chance to examine the doll, and they asserted it was actually possessed by a demon that was capable of wounding people with “psychic slashes” that had the ability to draw blood despite the absence of any physical contact.
It may sound a bit farfetched, but the Warrens were able to capitalize on the mythos by taking possession of Annabelle and enclosing her behind glass in a case as a centerpiece of the collection of objects showcased at their Occult Museum in Connecticut.
A paranormal investigator died suddenly while touring with the real Annabelle doll
The Warrens founded the New England Society for Psychic Research in the 1950s, and other ghost hunters have taken up the torch in the wake of their passing (Ed died at the age of 79 in 2006, while Lorraine was 92 when she moved on in 2019).
The chance to see Annabelle in person was one of the main draws for people who bought tickets to the “Devils on the Run” Tour that society launched earlier this year, and Dan Rivera, its lead paranormal investigator, had been tasked with accompanying her on a circuit that ended up in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania last weekend.
Sadly, the Hanover Evening Sun reports the 54-year-old Rivera died “unexpectedly” on Sunday after the tour wrapped up its three-day leg at the Soldiers National Orphanage; the outlet notes paramedics were dispatched to a hotel in Gettysburg to assist with CPR being conducted on someone matching his description that evening.
The society confirmed Rivera’s passing while paying tribute to him in a post on Monday. I’m sure some people will be tempted to draw a connection between his untimely death and the doll he was traveling with at the time, but it should go without saying there’s no evidence to support that claim.