The Story That Inspired The Annabelle Movies

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The true story of “Annabelle”

It all started when Deirdre received a gift from her mother for her birthday, a “Raggedy Ann” rag doll with red threads as hair and a red triangular nose. Deirdre was a nurse and lived in an apartment with her friend Lara, who had the same profession. These girls never imagined that this innocent doll was hiding a dark secret, which was soon to be discover.

The nightmare began with small unusual happenings. Whenever the girls arrived at their home, they found Raggedy Ann in a different position from the one they left her, she usually liked to cross her legs; then she started to move from one place to another, she was always in Deirdre’s bed but she would appear in other places in the house like in a chair, a sofa or any corner. The doll would also left messages written on a scroll: “Help us” and “help Cal”, Cal was a friend of the girls.

After these paranormal manifestations, the nurses decided to call a medium, who was able to contact the spirit of the doll, who called herself Annabelle Higgins. Annabelle, a seven-year-old girl who died on the property before the apartments were built, the area used to be a field where Annabelle was very happy. Annabelle let them know that all she wanted was to be loved and asked them if she could stay and move through the doll. The girls accepted because, as a nurse, one of their main traits was compassion in the face of others’ pain.

Annabelle left them a chocolate boot at Christmas as a thank-you gift; they were delighted to be able to look after the little girl’s spirit.

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Cal often visited the apartment, he never thought Annabelle was adorable instead he saw her as a voodoo doll and Annabelle in return made him have constant nightmares. One night Lara and Cal were alone, when suddenly they heard a noise as if someone had broken into Deirdre’s room at about 11 o’clock. Cal waited until the noise was gone to open the room’s and when he turned on the light, it seemed like nothing everything was okay… until he saw Annabelle lying in a corner. Cal walked towards Annabelle and when he was about to grab her, he felt that someone was behind him. When he turned around there was no one, but something of an invisible nature had cut his chest, his whole shirt was full of blood and when he took it off, they noticed that his wound had the mark of a claw.

The nurses contacted a priest from their church but due to his lack of knowledge in demonology, he decided to talk to the paranormal investigators: The Warren. The Warren said that just moving out of the apartment wouldn’t help them, since it was not that easy to get rid of Annabelle or rather the evil entity. They also mentioned that the spirit of Annabelle Higgins never reached the doll, it was an inhuman entity, a malevolent spirit that used Annabelle’s name as a mask and a dark entity who moved Annabelle as a puppet to simulate that she was possessed. That’s right, it was a demon.

Although an exorcism in the apartment was enough to free the women from that demon, the doll was never really fully released, because the demon was deeply attached to it.

On the way back, the Warrens took Annabelle for the safety of the nurses. However, on their way back there was a malfunction with the car’s brakes and the Warren were on the verge of a fatal accident, but the holy water helped calm the anger concentrated in the doll. Edward placed Annabelle on a rocking chair in his office and during the night, it would levitate. Lorraine says a cat had a connection with the doll, bringing objects from the Warrens collection, as the doll pleased.

A priest, friend of the Warrens went to visit Annabelle and even though they warned him the doll could be dangerous, when the man saw it, he grabbed her in a rough manner and said: “You are a rag doll Annabelle, you can’t hurt anyone” and then threw her against the wall. The dawn had already arrived, and the father was returning to his destiny, he was moving in a lonely road feeling nervous because of the contact with Annabelle and the warnings of the Warren. Suddenly when he saw the rear-view mirror, his eyes collided with Annabelle’s. Indeed, Anabelle was there to provoke a terrible accident to the priest, he lost control of the car and turned over, but fortunately he managed to survive.

Another of the cases in which Annabelle has managed to hurt people, is the one of a boy who went to visit the Warren Museum, the girlfriend affirmed that he made jokes about the “Raggedy Ann”, unfortunately that gave a tragic destiny to the young man. When going back of the museum, the couple had a fatal accident in motorcycle, she was left alive, but he did not manage to survive.

Today Annabelle is locked up in a glass box at the Warren Museum of the Occult and every week a priest goes to bless her.

Lorraine Warren with Annabelle