The Annabelle Doll

Most horror enthusiasts know of the super creepy Annabelle doll in the Conjuring universe, which was so frighteningly lucrative that it landed three spinoff films: Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, and Annabelle Comes Home. The real Annabelle doll was an innocent-looking rag doll that for years sat in the Warrens' now-closed Occult Museum [5]. The story begins in 1970 when a mother bought the doll at a hobby shop for her daughter, a nurse [6]. Things got weird fast when the doll levitated and moved around [7]. People were convinced that it tried to strangle them by means of dreams and necklaces.

The Warrens came in and determined that the toy was possessed by an inhuman demonic spirit, locking it up in their museum with ritualistic prayers [8] soon after. We'll be sticking with our mass-produced Barbies, thanks.

The Perron Family

The case of the Perron Family [9] became the basis for the James Wan film that started it all: 2013's The Conjuring. In 1971, Roger and Carolyn Perron [10] had moved into an 18th-century Rhode Island farmhouse with their five daughters. They claimed that spirits from eight generations of one family [11] lived in the house, including a tall woman whose head was "like a sack of cobwebs with little tendrils of hair hanging out. [12]"

In 1973, the demonologists dropped by to help the Perrons investigate the house. According to Andrea Perron, one of the daughters, there was a scary seance [13] in which her mother spoke in a strange language and started levitating in a chair. The Perrons lived in the house for seven more years.

The Amityville Horror House

The demonologists became a household name for the supernatural after their involvement in the infamous Amityville house. The scary elements of this story really began in 1974, when 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo Jr., one of the children of the DeFeo family, murdered his two parents and four siblings in their sleep [14]. The house was empty for a year, but George and Kathy Lutz eventually bought the house for a very cheap price of $80,000 [15]. The couple and the children only stayed for 28 days after seeing slime ooze from a wall and a red-eyed pig creature among other disturbances. In addition to these occurrences [16], George saw his wife levitating and said that he woke up at 3:15 am every day, the time when DeFeo killed his family. The Warrens came in and determined that there were psychic troubles even before the notorious murders [17].

The house became the stuff of horror pop culture, most notably portrayed in the 1979 and 2005 films The Amityville Horror based on Jay Anson's 1977 book on the case. (Yes, the latter film is the one with an especially hot Ryan Reynolds [18].) We see it mentioned briefly in The Conjuring 2. But did the Amityville haunting really happen? Back in 1979, lawyer William Weber (DeFeo's attorney) apparently claimed that he and the couple made the story up [19] over lots of wine.

The Enfield Poltergeist

The basis for The Conjuring 2, the Enfield haunting started when single mother Peggy Hodgson moved her four daughters into a new home [20] in Enfield, London in 1977. Strange occurrences took place in their new abode, including levitating objects, moving furniture, and strange noises. Janet, one of the daughters, entered a trance where she spoke in a low, gruff voice, assuming the identity of a former resident [21] who lived and died in the house. The Warrens were interested in the case and paid the home a visit. While they weren't as involved as the film suggests, the demonologists publicly stated that they believed there was something supernatural going on. Janet later admitted that she and her sisters faked about "two percent [22]" of the events.

The Trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson

"The Devil Made Me Do It" case is the popularised name for the truly strange trial of 19-year-old Arne Cheyenne Johnson, who was convicted of first-degree manslaughter for killing his landlord [23] in 1981. The most bizarre part was the defence that he used in court: demonic possession. Apparently, a demon from 11-year-old David Glatzel's body took host in Johnson (the fiancé of David's sister Debbie), according to witnesses of Glatzel's exorcism. The Glatzel family had moved into a new rental home in Brookfield, Connecticut when David started saying that an old man would steal his soul. David had night terrors and unexplained cuts and bruises in addition to bizarre behaviour. That's when the Warrens got involved [24] and determined that there was a malevolent spirit present.

The demonic possession defence didn't stick in court, but Johnson only served five years of a sentence of up to 20 [25]. The incident inspired a TV movie on NBC called The Demon Murder Case and Gerald Brittle's book, The Devil in Connecticut — the latter was written with Lorraine Warren's help. The Glatzels received a portion of the book proceeds but later sued the publisher [26] because of how its publication affected their family. Carl, David Glatzel's brother, said that the story was a hoax [27] conjured by the Warrens to exploit the family. The Conjuring 3 [28] will explore this case further.

Snekeder House

Again, the story here starts when a family moves into a new place, this time the Snedeker House, a former funeral home [29]. When settling into their new residence in 1986, the Snedeker family (Allen, Carmen, and their children) discovered all sorts of disturbing funeral paraphernalia in the basement, including toe tags, coffin hoisters, and blood drains. Not long after, the spooky stuff [30] started with sexual attacks (slaps and gropes), spirit appearances, and unsettling personality changes in the oldest child, who was afflicted with Hodgkin's disease and schizophrenia.

The Snedeker House became the basis for the film The Haunting in Connecticut [31]. The Warrens stopped by the home and said that it was possessed. However, Ray Garton, the horror author hired by the Warrens to write about the house, noted conflicting reports [32] between the family members. Still, he said that he was asked to hype up the story in the book, In a Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting, which he wrote with the Warrens.