Annabelle, a doll that made it to the big screen after its association with assault, death, and inexplicable misfortune in the 1970s, is on its Devils on the Run Tour through America amid great furore.
The three-foot toy was removed from its protective casing at the Warren Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut, against the wishes of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, who confiscated and locked it away 54 years ago.
Highlights
- “This doll should never be moved because it is extremely dangerous and could unleash evil spirits.”
- A young man was killed on his motorcycle after banging on Annabelle’s glass cabinet.
- The doll moved around the house by itself and left messages like “help us” and “help Lou.”
Social media has erupted in response to the news, with users divided on whether or not to take the doll’s reputation seriously.
“They can keep her away from me!! I don't play with things of that nature,” one netizen wrote in response to a Facebook horror enthusiast’s announcement of Annabelle's tour.
A viral TikTok claims that Annabelle went missing while on tour
Image credits: SA Live
Intensifying the chatter was the report that Annabelle had gone missing. At the heart of this rumour was Chrisopherkiely on TikTok.
In a video shared over 219,000 times, he says: “She was on her way to Chicago to continue her world tour and somehow has been misplaced.
“Listen, Lorraine tried to warn you,” he said, referring to the 1970s paranormal investigator. “She said this doll should never be moved because it is extremely dangerous and could unleash evil spirits.”
He then underscored his point by citing the fire that destroyed a section of the 170-year-old Nottoway Plantation Building in White Castle, Louisiana, on May 15.
“Also, ten prisoners escaped around the same time she was there,” the TikTokker added, referring to the Orleans Parish jail break of May 16.
Image credits: Russell McPhedran/Getty Images
One commenter was quick to counter the claim, saying, “She’s not missing [...]. She’s back in the Warren Museum.”
As a nod to this statement, Paranormal Investigator Ryan Buell, who helped bring the doll to San Antonio, posted a video of his own to the platform, saying:
“I just want to put this out there; Anabelle is not missing. Annabelle is back home in the museum, for now.”
The doll was originally owned by a nurse who solicited help after her friend was attacked
According to paranormal investigator Tony Spera, his demonologist in-laws, the Warrens, placed her there in the 1970s after they were called upon by a nurse named Donna who lived in Hartford, Connecticut.
Image credits: Warner Bros.
Spera’s personal website notes that the doll moved around the house by itself, and the nurses found pieces of paper with the messages “help us” and “help Lou” written on them.
Then, one day, Donna found the doll on her bed with what appeared to be blood droplets on the back of its hands and chest.
She and her housemate, Angie, enlisted the help of a medium who is said to have introduced the two of them to the spirit of Annebelle Higgins, who died on the same property years prior at the age of seven.
As the story goes, the medium said Higgins' spirit felt a connection to the two nurses and wanted to stay with them “and be loved.”
The two young women decided to keep the doll—but then things got dark.
One day, Donna’s male friend, Lou, was injured in an attack that left seven bloody claw marks across his chest after investigating a noise in her room.
Paranormal investigators locked the doll into a cabinet, strictly forbidding anyone from letting it out.
Donna determined that the spirit was not that of a little girl but of something evil and vicious, and this time, she took the religious route. She reached out to an Episcopal priest, Father Hegan, who relayed the message to his senior, Father Cooke.
Image credits: Warner Bros.
Cooke got ahold of the Warrens, and with their involvement, Donna and Angie were relieved of their supernatural troubles, which, in turn, pestered the Warrens as they drove the doll home.
Spera writes that their vehicle’s power steering and brakes “stalled” and acted up on sharp curves until Ed made a cross sign over Annabelle in the back seat and doused it with holy water.
Some time later, the doll allegedly triggered a car accident involving exorcist Father Jason Bradford after he picked it up and said, “You're just a ragdoll, Annabelle, you can’t hurt anyone,” and tossed it back onto a chair.
Image credits: Warner Bros.
Image credits: Connecticut Post
Father Jason would contact the Warrens after he left to tell them that he had been in an accident on his way home and that his car had been totaled.
This drove the Warrens to lock Annabelle away in a special wood and glass cabinet, but even then, its mischief did not cease.
Spera writes that a young man came into the museum one day, and when he heard what Ed had to say about the doll, he banged on Annabelle’s cabinet, demanding to be scratched by her, supposedly like she had done to Lou.
On his way home, the young man was killed in a motorcycle accident, and his girlfriend, who was on the bike with him, was hospitalized for a year.
Her account of the tragedy was that they were laughing about the toy when their motorcycle slammed into a tree.
Image credits: Official Ed and Lorraine Warren Channel
Annabelle’s rise to fame started with the 2013 film, The Conjuring
The doll debuted on the big screen with The Conjuring on June 8, 2013, per IMDb. The Movie opened with $41,855,326 and is noted to have generated a lifetime gross of $137,400,141.
Warner Bros. featured the doll in nine more movies and five re-releases, including The Conjuring 2, Anabelle Comes Home, The Nun, and The Curse of La Llorona.
To date, The Conjuring universe has raked in just under $825 Million.
The Devils on the Run Tour will continue to visit places like Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Rock Island, Illinois, and Lexington, Kentucky—and tickets are running out fast, per the New England Society for Psychic Research.
Not everyone is convinced the doll is haunted, but those who are want it to stay as far away as possible
