Date of Discovery
First discovered to be haunted in 1970.
Name
Annabelle, also referenced as the Annabelle doll.
Physical Description
Despite her being reinvented on screen as a creepy porcelain doll, Annabelle is actually a plain-looking Raggedy Ann doll with the traditional red yarn hair, large black button eyes, and a white dress with blue frill trimmings.
Origin
Annabelle is a particular haunted object, so her manifestation only occurs within the doll in question which originated in the United States. She now resides in The Warren’s Occult Museum, which has been permanently closed.
Mythology and Lore
Annabelle’s story begins in 1970 when a 28-year-old nurse received the Raggedy Ann doll as a gift from her mother. She began to notice the doll changing positions, crossing its legs and arms, lying on its side, and even standing upright, as well as finding parchments on the floor with various messages written on them, such as, “help me, help us, help Lou.” The girls reported seeing the doll begin appearing in completely different rooms and leaking blood.
Visiting guests also reported the doll strangely staring at them, deep scratch wounds, and the feeling of being strangled. They eventually turned to a medium for help, who informed them the spirit was of Annabelle Higgins a seven-year-old who had been found lifeless in the field upon which their apartment complex was built. The girls let Annabelle’s young spirit inhabit the doll, only to find things getting much worse, as she was looking to take a human host.
Lou described one event with the doll, in which he stated that he heard noises within one of the bedrooms. Upon entering the room, he found Annabelle tossed on the floor and as he got closer, he was cut and began to bleed from his chest. Seven distinct claw marks, three vertically and four horizontally were burning his chest. They reported having healed within two full days after said event. The three ended up calling Father Hegan who reached out to Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Warrens’ conclusion was that this was an inhuman spirit rather than a young girl.
Ed and Lorraine took Annabelle with them to be safely kept at their museum of occult objects–both Ed and Lorraine felt the doll’s effects through travel as their car would stall or swerve off the curved roads. Though the Warrens’ only report the doll having killed one man who was said to challenge the doll, main stories have come about from visitors at their museum. One of the more famous stories about this doll is a motorcyclist that visited the Warrens’ museum and touched Annabelle despite the obvious posted warnings around the case. The motorcyclist died in a horrific crash shortly after being asked to leave the museum.
The doll is forever locked in a glass cabinet in the Warrens’ artifact room at their occult museum, with a cross on top of it, the Devil tarot card for protection, and warnings in place to keep visitors out of harm’s way. There are reports that it is regularly blessed by Roman Catholic priest/holy men, but sparse evidence has been provided on the rituals themselves. A few holy men have reportedly experienced car accidents and other weird occurrences after leaving the museum and dealing with the doll. Lorraine Warren now looks after Annabelle as well as the other occult collection to this day, despite the museum’s closure.
Modern Pop-Culture References
Movies
- Annabelle (2014)
- Annabelle: Creation (2017)
- Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
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