The true story of the ‘Annabelle’ doll curse
With the recent news that paranormal investigator Dan Rivera has died while showcasing the supposedly possessed Annabelle doll as part of his ‘Devils on the Run Tour’, those fascinated by the creepy toy are now convinced more than ever of her supernatural powers.
Several decades after Annabelle apparently began her reign of terror over those who graced her presence, she became the inspiration for the popular movie of the same name. As part of the Conjuring franchise, the doll has appeared in various movies, becoming a modern-day horror icon. She’s the 21st-century equivalent of Chucky, who appeared in the much more entertaining Child’s Play franchise, which began in the 1980s and helped to kickstart a creepy doll obsession in the horror genre.
Chucky might not have been the first demonic doll to hit the silver screen, but he is arguably the most iconic, paving the way for Annabelle to emerge and threaten to take his crown. With her cunning personality, supposedly imbued with unholy powers despite her small stature, the toy is able to maim and murder, even targeting children. Annabelle isn’t a great film, but the interest in creepy doll media has allowed it to become a worldwide sensation, made even more appealing because of its roots in real life.
Watching a horror movie ‘based on true events’ always makes for a scarier and more exhilarating ride, forcing us to come to terms with the fact that we really can’t trust anything or anyone, even a doll – something we typically associate with childhood and innocence. While Annabelle is very far-fetched, with director James Wan and writer Gary Dauberman going to extremes to make the doll as terrifying as possible, the stories that surround the real Annabelle aren’t exactly tame, either.
Whether you believe the claims is another story, although it’s certainly a strange coincidence that Rivera was found unresponsive in his hotel room while touring the possessed doll, which is meant to stay locked up in a wooden box inscribed with the Lord’s Prayer.
Why is the ‘Annabelle’ doll cursed?
The story goes that in 1970, the doll was given to a woman named Donna as a birthday gift. Before long, the Raggedy Ann started to move around, with Donna and her housemate Angie arriving home from work to find that the doll had changed positions or rooms. When Angie’s boyfriend, Lou, found the doll face down, he was soon hit with pains and what looked like claw marks across his chest. There were even notes that read ‘Help me’ written on paper across the apartment, although neither Donna nor Angie owned the kind of paper that the doll had supposedly written on.
With the involvement of several priests and a medium, the women were told that the doll was haunted by the presence of a seven-year-old girl named Annabelle, although when paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren found out about the terrifying toy, they were quick to claim that the doll was actually possessed by a demonic force, not a child.
The Warrens would soon become known for their involvement in the Amityville hauntings, and their Occult Museum made them widely known as experts in the so-called supernatural. Of course, Annabelle would make the perfect addition to their museum, so after an exorcism, they took the doll away with them, although her presence in the car proved dangerous. The brakes kept going, and Lorraine and Ed nearly crashed the car, leaving the latter with no choice but to cover the doll in Holy Water. They subsequently returned home safely.
The couple ultimately decided to keep the doll locked away in their museum, but when people visited Annabelle, it seemed as though she worked her demonic magic on those who didn’t take her seriously. In one instance, a priest was allegedly involved in a serious car accident after driving home from laughing at Annabelle, while another visitor was killed by his motorcycle after poking fun at the doll.
These stories might be true, but there’s no way of knowing if Lorraine and Ed simply fabricated the tales as a way to get people interested in the mysterious and potentially haunted doll. Whether they’re real or not, it worked, because the pair became the fictionalised stars of several movies, their piece of haunted memorabilia one of the most iconic horror villains of recent years.
Perhaps you believe in the possibility of haunted toys – just like Robert the doll, who inspired the 2015 movie Robert – or maybe you think it’s all codswallop, but you can’t deny that Annabelle apparently striking again isn’t a strange coincidence. Sadly, it won’t be surprising if it’s announced that a new Annabelle sequel about her on-tour antics is already in the works.
