Most people interested in the paranormal are familiar to one degree or another with Ed and Lorraine Warren. I wanted to spend a little time on them here though because what many don’t know is that they’re just as controversial as they are famous.
The extent of my personal experience is that when I was in high school I went and saw the Warrens speak at Boston College and was fascinated. I never met Ed but was fortunate enough to meet Mrs. Warren many years later.
They were (Ed passed away in 2006) spellbinding speakers who told very dark tales while mixing in enough self-deprecating humor to show they were serious, but didn’t take themselves too seriously. Also, Lorraine is a very, very nice woman.
I know those things from my own experience, they are facts. Beyond those things however…
In order to highlight the controversial nature of their fame, I’ll discuss some well known cases and you can decide for yourself what you think.
In 1971 the Warrens claimed that a house in Harrisville, RI was haunted by a witch who had previously killed herself on the property and cursed the land, and that the then current residents, the Perron family, reached out to them for help. This case is the basis for the 2013 movie “The Conjuring”.
While the media’s coverage of the film’s basis in truth could be described as sympathetic, the current owner of the house and numerous investigators have denied there was any basis for stories of witchcraft and mysterious deaths on the property.
Read about the Perron Case here.
The late seventies were a busy time for the Warrens.
Without recapping too much of what everyone already knows I’ll say the saga of the Amityville Horror began in 1974 when Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot and killed his parents and four siblings in a beautiful river front home in Amityville, NY and ended when George and Kathy Lutz, with their three children in tow, left the house in January 1975 after living there approximately a month.
After leaving the house, the Lutz’s contacted Dr. Stephen Kaplan, founder of the Parapsychology Society of Long Island. Dr. Kaplan explained to George Lutz in their initial discussion that while there was no fee for his group’s services, he published his results no matter what they were. In other words if the haunting were a hoax, it would become public knowledge. They promptly cancelled the investigation and into the picture came the Warrens. Read about the so-called Amityville Horror Conspiracy here.
The case known as the Enfield Poltergeist, is the one I find most interesting for many reasons and the Warren’s involvement (or lack thereof) is only one of them.
The Enfield case began in August of 1977, when a single mother called the police to her rented house in Enfield (Great Britain) after two of her four children claimed that furniture was moving and knocking sounds were heard in walls. It was 1979 when the manifestations ended as quickly as they’d begun.
This case was the basis for “The Conjuring 2”, but questions surround the claim that it’s a true story, and more to the point here, the Warren’s role in the case is questionable at best.
Read about The Enfield Poltergeist Case here.
Last but absolutely not least is the case of the Snedeker family’s experiences in their home in Southington, CT.
The story is in 1986 the Snedeker family move into an old home in Southington, Connecticut only to find that it is in reality a converted funeral home. Worse, the undertakers who previously occupied the house committed both necromancy and necrophilia with the corpses leading to “Powerful supernatural forces” being at work.
A book entitled “In a Dark Place” was written about the case by a writer named Joe Garton, and was later rewritten as a script and a movie was released under the title “A Haunting in Connecticut”.
Read about The Southington Case here.
Once you’ve read the history of these cases, and done a little fact checking of your own we’d LOVE to hear what you think!
The extent of my personal experience is that when I was in high school I went and saw the Warrens speak at Boston College and was fascinated. I never met Ed but was fortunate enough to meet Mrs. Warren many years later.
They were (Ed passed away in 2006) spellbinding speakers who told very dark tales while mixing in enough self-deprecating humor to show they were serious, but didn’t take themselves too seriously. Also, Lorraine is a very, very nice woman.
I know those things from my own experience, they are facts. Beyond those things however…
In order to highlight the controversial nature of their fame, I’ll discuss some well known cases and you can decide for yourself what you think.
In 1971 the Warrens claimed that a house in Harrisville, RI was haunted by a witch who had previously killed herself on the property and cursed the land, and that the then current residents, the Perron family, reached out to them for help. This case is the basis for the 2013 movie “The Conjuring”.
While the media’s coverage of the film’s basis in truth could be described as sympathetic, the current owner of the house and numerous investigators have denied there was any basis for stories of witchcraft and mysterious deaths on the property.
Read about the Perron Case here.
The late seventies were a busy time for the Warrens.
Without recapping too much of what everyone already knows I’ll say the saga of the Amityville Horror began in 1974 when Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot and killed his parents and four siblings in a beautiful river front home in Amityville, NY and ended when George and Kathy Lutz, with their three children in tow, left the house in January 1975 after living there approximately a month.
After leaving the house, the Lutz’s contacted Dr. Stephen Kaplan, founder of the Parapsychology Society of Long Island. Dr. Kaplan explained to George Lutz in their initial discussion that while there was no fee for his group’s services, he published his results no matter what they were. In other words if the haunting were a hoax, it would become public knowledge. They promptly cancelled the investigation and into the picture came the Warrens. Read about the so-called Amityville Horror Conspiracy here.
The case known as the Enfield Poltergeist, is the one I find most interesting for many reasons and the Warren’s involvement (or lack thereof) is only one of them.
The Enfield case began in August of 1977, when a single mother called the police to her rented house in Enfield (Great Britain) after two of her four children claimed that furniture was moving and knocking sounds were heard in walls. It was 1979 when the manifestations ended as quickly as they’d begun.
This case was the basis for “The Conjuring 2”, but questions surround the claim that it’s a true story, and more to the point here, the Warren’s role in the case is questionable at best.
Read about The Enfield Poltergeist Case here.
Last but absolutely not least is the case of the Snedeker family’s experiences in their home in Southington, CT.
The story is in 1986 the Snedeker family move into an old home in Southington, Connecticut only to find that it is in reality a converted funeral home. Worse, the undertakers who previously occupied the house committed both necromancy and necrophilia with the corpses leading to “Powerful supernatural forces” being at work.
A book entitled “In a Dark Place” was written about the case by a writer named Joe Garton, and was later rewritten as a script and a movie was released under the title “A Haunting in Connecticut”.
Read about The Southington Case here.
Once you’ve read the history of these cases, and done a little fact checking of your own we’d LOVE to hear what you think!