Mystery of Annabelle: The Haunted Doll

The real-life inspiration of the movie Conjuring, Annabelle is a rag doll that was, or rather still is, supposed to be possessed by a spirit. Mystery tries to take a closer look at the mystery of Annabelle the haunted doll.

Apart from being the main character in the book The Demonologist, by Ed and Lorraine Warren, Annabelle was also the inspiration for Serena Valentino's comic book Nightmares & Fairy Tales that consists of short horror stories from a rag doll's point of view.

Purchased from an antique shop in the '70s, a rag doll was gifted to Donna by her mother on her birthday. Donna was a graduating nurse living in an apartment with her roommate Angie. After receiving the gift, the doll was totally forgotten for a few days as Donna and her friend were busy with their education.

It was only when bizarre unexplained incidents began occurring that they took notice of it.

So what exactly occurred that led to the girls beginning to suspect of paranormal activity? Here's a detailed narration of the sequence of events in the mysterious case of the haunted doll named Annabelle.

• The doll would move, levitate and position itself in various ways across the apartment.
• The doll left handwritten messages with pencil on parchments; on inspecting, there would be no existence of pencil or parchment available in the apartment.

• It would bleed and kneel on its own without any specific reason.
• Objects around the house would levitate and crash against the walls.

Disturbed and petrified by these occurrences, Donna and her friend called in a psychic medium who convinced them that there was a presence of a spirit of a seven-year-old girl named Annabelle Higgins who had died on the same property, who wanted to befriend them as they were the only ones who understood her.

Overwhelmed by this psychic story, Donna and her friend named the doll 'Annabelle', thus giving the little girl's spirit permission to reside with them; unknowingly they had opened up a portal into another dimension and welcomed an ominous diabolic entity into their house.

Lou, a friend of Donna and Angie, greatly detested the doll, he always felt that the doll had a strange aura around it.

After a few days, he started experiencing repeated nightmares about the doll strangling him to death. One day while alone with the doll, he was attacked viciously and suffered three vertical and four horizontal burning cuts, which healed miraculously after two days. The message was clear, the doll wanted Lou dead.

It was under these circumstances that the girls and Lou contacted famous demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, who investigated the events and came to the conclusion that the doll was not possessed by a spirit but by a demonic entity that actually wanted to claim Donna's soul.

On recommendation from the Warrens, Episcopal priest Father Cooke performed the rite of exorcism of the apartment, clearing the premises from the demonic entity. According to Ed Warren, The Episcopal blessing of the home is a wordy, seven page document that is distinctly positive in nature. 

Rather than specifically expelling evil entities from the dwelling, the emphasis is instead directed toward filling the home with the power of the positive and of God."

Not wanting the diabolic entity to teleport back into the apartment, the Warrens decided to take the doll home with them. On their way home, the hatred of the doll was evident as their car lost control on the road and brakes failed, Ed immediately sprinkled Holy Water on the doll to get the situation under control, preventing a fatal accident.

Even after the Warrens reached their residence, the presence of the doll caused many bizarre and unexplained events. But as the Warrens were aware of the ability of the doll, every time, they found a way to thwart her attempts.

Eventually they decided to enclose the haunted rag doll in a glass coffin-like case with the words Positively Do Not Open printed on it. They displayed it in the world-famous 'Warren Occult Museum', where it remains till today.

Once during Christmas, Donna and her friends found a little chocolate boot on the stereo that, on verification, was presumed to have been presented by the doll.

The doll always had an ominous presence around it, giving it a threatening aura.

At the Warrens' residence, it seemed to have a new 'friend', a black cat, that appeared occasionally. The cat would stalk around Ed's office, taking particular note of the books, notes, and other objects, then return to the doll's side and disappear.

The most malicious incident caused by the doll involved a young couple who, while visiting the museum mocked the doll's existence. The young man pounded on the doll's case and provoked it to rise up and scratch him.

On their way home, they met with an accident, and it was reported that the young man died instantly, while his girlfriend had to be hospitalized for over a year.

To this day, the doll keeps changing its position inside the glass case and produces angry growls terrifying the museum visitors.

Well, there may be many out there who don't believe in haunting and spirits and some who do.

For those who do, a quote from Ed Warren himself seems apt, Spirits don't possess things, spirits possess people. Instead, the spirits simply moved the doll around and gave it the illusion of being alive.". Sinister hauntings like these compel us to think that there can be spirit dimensions which are yet to be explored. 

Do let us know what you feel about this mysterious case through the comments section below.