Ed and Lorraine Warren
| Ed Warren | |
|---|---|
| Born | Edward Warren Miney September 7, 1926 Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Monroe, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Occupation | Paranormal investigator, painter, author |
| Organization | New England Society for Psychic Research |
| Website | warrens |
| Lorraine Warren | |
|---|---|
| File:Lorraine Warren.jpg
Warren speaking at the 2013 WonderCon
|
|
| Born | Lorraine Rita Moran January 31, 1927 Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Occupation | Paranormal investigator, author |
| Organization | New England Society for Psychic Research |
| Website | warrens |
Edward "Ed" Warren Miney (September 7, 1926 – August 23, 2006) and Lorraine Rita Warren (née Moran, born January 31, 1927) were American paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent cases of haunting. Edward was a World War II United States Navy veteran and former police officer who became a self-taught demonologist, author, and lecturer. His wife Lorraine is a professed clairvoyant and a light trance medium who worked closely with her husband.
In 1952, the Warrens founded the New England Society for Psychic Research, the oldest ghost hunting group in New England.[1] They are the authors of numerous books about the paranormal and about their private investigations into various reports of paranormal activity. They claimed to have investigated over 10,000 cases during their career. The Warrens were among the very first investigators in the controversial Amityville haunting. According to the Warrens, the N.E.S.P.R. utilizes a variety of individuals, including medical doctors, researchers, police officers, nurses, college students and members of the clergy in its investigations.[2]
The Warrens were responsible for training several demonologists including Dave Considine, Lou Gentile, and their nephew John Zaffis. In addition to investigations, Lorraine runs The Warren's Occult Museum in the back of her house in Monroe, Connecticut with the help of her son-in-law, Tony Spera.[3]
Contents
Notable investigations
Amityville
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The Warrens are best known for their involvement in 1976, in the Amityville Horror case in which New York couple George and Kathy Lutz claimed that their house was haunted by a violent, demonic presence so intense that it eventually drove them out of their home. The Amityville Horror Conspiracy authors Stephen and Roxanne Kaplan characterized the case as a "hoax".[4] Lorraine Warren told a reporter for The Express-Times newspaper that the Amityville Horror was not a hoax. The reported haunting was the basis for the 1977 book The Amityville Horror and 1979 and 2005 movies of the same name.
Demon murder
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In 1981, Arne Johnson was accused of killing his landlord, Alan Bono. Ed and Lorraine Warren had been called prior to the killing to deal with the alleged demonic possession of the younger brother of Johnson's fiancée. The Warrens subsequently claimed that Johnson was also possessed. At trial, Johnson attempted to plead Not Guilty by Reason of Demonic Possession, but was unsuccessful with his plea.[5] The case was described in the 1983 book The Devil in Connecticut by Gerald Brittle.
Werewolf
In 1991, the Warrens book Werewolf: The True Story of Demonic Possession was published in which they claim to have exorcised a "werewolf demon."
Annabelle
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According to the Warrens, in 1970, two roommates claimed their Raggedy Ann doll was possessed by the spirit of a young girl named Annabelle Higgins. The Warrens took the doll, telling the roommates it was "being manipulated by an inhuman presence", and put it on display at the family's "Occult Museum". The 2014 film Annabelle directed by John R. Leonetti is loosely based on the story.[6]
Smurl family
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Pennsylvania residents Jack and Janet Smurl reported their home was disturbed by various supernatural phenomena, including sounds, smells and apparitions. The Warrens became involved and claimed that the Smurl home was occupied by three minor spirits and also a demon that allegedly sexually assaulted Jack and Janet Smurl. The Smurls' version of their story was the subject of a 1986 paperback titled The Haunted and a 1991 made-for-TV movie of the same name directed by Robert Mandel.
Perron family
In 1971, the Warrens claimed that the Harrisville, Rhode Island, home of the Perron family was haunted by a witch who lived there in the early 19th century. According to the Warrens, Bathsheba Sherman cursed the land so that whoever lived there somehow died. The story is the subject of the 2013 film, The Conjuring. Lorraine Warren was a consultant to the production and appeared in a cameo role in the film. A reporter for USA Today covered the film's supposed grounding in facts sympathetically.[3][7]
The current owner of the home has collected her own research and that of several investigators with whom she has worked refuting the stories of witchcraft and tragic deaths at the home.[8]
Union Cemetery
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The Warrens believed that the cemetery was haunted by a "white lady" ghost.
The Haunting in Connecticut
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In 1986, Ed and Lorraine Warren arrived and proclaimed the Snedeker house, a former funeral home, to be infested with demons. The case was featured in the 1992 book In a Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting. A TV movie that later became part of the Discovery Channel series A Haunting was produced in 2002 and a film very loosely based on the events, directed by Peter Cornwell, was released in 2009.
The Enfield Poltergeist
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In 1977, Ed and Lorraine Warren visited a home in Enfield, England that was allegedly haunted by a poltergeist. This case was awarded a lot of media coverage at the time and is considered to be a hoax by many. The case was featured in a 2015 Sky Atlantic series The Enfield Haunting starring Timothy Spall. It will also be the subject of the 2016 sequel to James Wan's The Conjuring.
Criticisms
The Warrens' most famous case, the Amityville Horror, has been questioned by critics. According to Benjamin Radford, the story was "refuted by eyewitnesses, investigations and forensic evidence".[9] In 1979, lawyer William Weber reportedly stated that he, Jay Anson and the occupants "invented" the horror story "over many bottles of wine".[10]
Horror author Ray Garton, who wrote an account of the alleged haunting of the Snedeker family in Southington, Connecticut, later called into question the veracity of the accounts contained in his book, saying: "The family involved, which was going through some serious problems like alcoholism and drug addiction, could not keep their story straight, and I became very frustrated; it's hard writing a non-fiction book when all the people involved are telling you different stories."[11]
Bibliography
Ed and Lorraine Warren have written and are featured in a number of non-fiction books, including:
Written by
- Ghost Hunters: True Stories From the World's Most Famous Demonologists by Ed Warren (St. Martin's Press, 1989) ISBN 0-312-03353-2
- Ghost Tracks by Cheryl A. Wicks with Ed and Lorraine Warren (AuthorHouse, 2004) ISBN 1-4184-6767-7
- Graveyard: True Hauntings from an Old New England Cemetery by Ed Warren (St Martins Press, 1992) ISBN 0-312-08202-9
- The Haunted: The True Story of One Family's Nightmare by Robert Curran with Jack Smurl and Janet Smurl and Ed and Lorraine Warren (St. Martin's Press, 1988) ISBN 0-312-01440-6
- Satan's Harvest by Michael Lasalandra and Mark Merenda with Maurice and Nancy Theriault and Ed and Lorraine Warren (Dell, 1990) ISBN 0-440-20589-1
- Werewolf: A True Story of Demonic Possession by Ed Warren (St. Martin's Press, 1991) ISBN 0-312-06493-4
Featured in
- Deliver Us From Evil: Taken from the files of Ed and Lorraine Warren, by J. F. Saywer (Phillips Publishing Company, PO Box 141, Westfield, Mass, 01085; Copyright 1973 by J. F Sawyer)
- The Amityville Horror, a True Story by Jay Anson (Prentice Hall, 1977)
- The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren by Gerald Brittle (Berkley Books, 1980)
- The Devil in Connecticut by Gerald Brittle (Bantam Books, 1983) ISBN 0-553-23714-4
- In A Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting by Ray Garton (Villard, 1992) ISBN 0-394-58902-5
- True Haunting of Borley Rectory: Seekers of the Supernatural presents Conversations of Ed & Lorraine Warren - The original Ghostbusters
- Satan's Harvest
Media appearances
- Lorraine was featured in several episodes of the Discovery series A Haunting, in which she discusses some of the cases the pair worked on as paranormal investigators.[12]
- Lorraine also appeared on Paranormal State, where she acted as a guest investigator.[13]
- Both Ed and Lorraine have appeared on Scariest Places on Earth.
- Lorraine has a cameo appearance in the 2013 film The Conjuring, where she is also credited as a consultant.
- Lorraine is visited during the 2012 documentary film My Amityville Horror, where she reunites with Daniel Lutz, whose family was plagued by supernatural happenings in 1975. Ed and Lorraine Warren originally visited the house after the Lutz family fled the house after 28 days of occupancy.
Film adaptations
In 1991, a two-hour made for TV movie based on the Smurl haunting, entitled The Haunted, was released by 20th Century Fox. Written by Robert Curran, Jack Smurl, Janet Smurl, Ed Warren and Lorraine Warren, the film starred Jeffrey DeMunn as Jack Smurl and Sally Kirkland as Janet Smurl.[14]
The 2009 film The Haunting in Connecticut was loosely based on the 1986 Snedeker haunting investigated by the Warrens.[15]
The 2013 film The Conjuring was directed by James Wan. Based on a Warren case, it stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren.[16]
The 2014 film Annabelle is a supernatural psychological horror film directed by John R. Leonetti. It is both a prequel to and spin-off of The Conjuring and was inspired by a story of a possessed doll named Annabelle. It stars Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, and Alfre Woodard.
References
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- ↑ http://www.warrens.net/
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- ↑ [1] Norma Sutcliffe, he Coring & eron Stry: The Current Owner Speaks Out, YouTube, April 14, 2014.
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- ↑ Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). A Haunting at IMDb
- ↑ Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Paranormal State at IMDb
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External links
- The New England Society For Psychic Research
- Article Detailing the Recent Danbury Court Case
- Hunting the Ghost Hunters: An Investigation of Ed and Lorraine Warren – Perry DeAngelis and Steven Novella
- The Demonologist Page on the Warrens – contains brief biographical information
- Ed Warren at the Internet Movie Database
- Lorraine Warren at the Internet Movie Database
- JREF reprint of Ray Garton letter – Ray Garton Letter refuting the Warrens
- Ed Warren at Library of Congress Authorities, with 5 catalog records
- Lorraine Warren at Library of Congress Authorities, with 3 catalog records
- Ed Warren and Lorraine Warren at WorldCat
