Day 26: The Real Annabelle
Annabelle is housed at the occult museum originally owned by Ed and Lorraine Warren. She is in a box with a warning for guests not to touch. Unassuming to look at Annabelle has a dark history.
Annabelle is a Raggedy Ann doll who was purchased as a gift by the mother of a student nurse in 1970 for her, Donna's, 28th birthday. Donna was very happy with the gift and took it back to the apartment she shared with her friend, Angie. At first everything was fine, Annabelle was like an accessory in the house. After time though, Donna and Angie noticed that Annabelle seemed to move around the room of her own accord. Donna would seat Annabelle in the living room before she left in the morning and return to find her in the bedroom with the door closed. The two women started finding parchment paper around their house which had written on it "Help me". One day, Angie's boyfriend, Lou, was alone in the house. There are two stories about what happened, one is that he heard noises coming from Donna's bedroom like someone breaking in and upon investigating found nothing but Annabelle who was face down on the floor. The other story is that Lou awoke from a nap to find himself being attacked by the doll. Suddenly, he felt a searing pain in his chest and found bloody claw marks on it. Two days later the marks vanished. Worried about Lou's traumatic experience and the other odd things happening around the doll, Donna and Angie asked for help from a medium. The medium held a séance and discovered that the doll was inhabited by the spirit of seven year old Annabelle Higgins, a girl whose body had been discovered on the site the apartment building had been built on during construction. The medium claimed the spirit was benevolent and just wanted to be loved. Felling bad for the girl Donna and Angie gave her permission to stay in the doll.
Eventually, the girls wanted Annabelle's spirit to leave and asked for help from a priest. He contacted his superior who contacted the Warrens. The Warrens believed that the girls were making a big mistake in feeling sympathy for the doll. They believed that it was actually a demonic spirit looking for a human host. They believed spirits attached themselves to and possessed people, not objects. Demonic entities however did possess objects in the hope of finding a human host. The Warrens identified the events as evidence of demonic possession and asked the priest who contacted them to perform an exorcism outside of the apartment building and then took Annabelle into their possession to house in their occult museum.
The Warrens immediately experienced paranormal activity with Annabelle, the brakes on their car experienced problems as they drove home, Ed pulled out holy water and doused the doll, at which point the problems with the brakes disappeared. At home the doll would move about and even when put outside the house would return. The Warrens believed they needed to lock Annabelle up. A special box was made and inscribed with the Lord's Prayer and St Michael's Prayer. Ed would periodically say a binding spell over the case to make sure Annabelle, and the spirit, stayed inside.
Annabelle may not have moved but the spirit seems to still be around. A priest examined Annabelle and discounted her demonic power. When Ed warned the priest not to mock her he laughed. On his way home he was involved in a near fatal car crash that totalled his new car. He claimed to have seen Annabelle in his rear-view mirror just before the crash. Years later, another visitor tapped on the glass and laughed at how people could be scared by it. On his way home he lost control of his motorbike and crashed. He was killed instantly and his girlfriend barely survived. She claimed they had both been laughing about Annabelle just before the crash.
None of the people in the story of Annabelle told by the Warrens have ever been identified, nor have any of them come forward with their story. It may be that Annabelle is nothing more than a normal Raggedy Ann doll. It may be that she is possessed. no-one has been willing to let her out to test the theory. Whether or not the stories are true, Annabelle has remained in her glass box for many years and will likely never be removed. I personally, do not want to tempt fate or mess with things I don't understand, so I don't think I'll try anything with Annabelle and I really hope she doesn't mind me writing about her. As far as I know, she had no problem with the film. I haven't researched this however so feel free to correct me either in the comments or via The Darkside Facebook page. Either way, Annabelle has become famous. A Raggedy Ann doll with a dark history...makes me rethink my desire to have one.
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