Annabelle Comes Home: The True Story of Annabelle the Haunted Doll

Annabelle the Haunted Doll

Annabelle is a haunted doll who has managed to gain international notoriety, striking fear into the hearts of many. She has been written about, spoken about and depicted in recent Hollywood horror films that have now solidified her reputation for being one of the most feared objects in the world.

But what exactly makes Annabelle, an innocent appearing Raggedy Ann doll, so frightening? The answer to this is not so much the doll, yet what has become demonically attached to it. To understand this fear we need to delve into the origins of Annabelle the doll and peel away the sensationalized layers of Hollywood horror to reveal the true story of Annabelle, which begins with a well-meaning birthday present.

Annabelle True Story

The true story of Annabelle began in the 1970s when an inconspicuous doll was purchased as a birthday present. The doll was gifted to a young nursing student by her mother. The young lady who received this doll kept her within her apartment as a decorative item, often displaying the doll on her bed after making it.

Soon after the doll was brought into the home, her new owner and her roommate started noticing some strange activity. It is said that the doll would move around on its own. This initially started with subtle movements, such as the doll’s legs being crossed. This steadily increased to the point that the doll would be seen in other rooms to where it was earlier left. It was even captured kneeling, which was physically impossible for the doll to later repeat.

In addition to these unexplainable movements, small handwritten notes began to be found around the apartment. These appeared to be written by a child and contained messages such as “Help me.” The strangest part about the presence of these notes was that there were no pencils or parchment paper within the apartment, so it seemed as though they must have been coming from somewhere outside of the home.

Talking to Annabelle

This behavior both concerned and intrigued the two young students who lived alongside the doll. Yet, their concern peaked after blood was discovered on the doll one day. This fresh, wet blood was present on the doll’s hands and 3 distinct blood drops could be seen upon the doll’s chest.

This event led the girl’s to make the decision to contact a medium who could assist them with a seance in their home. This was held in an attempt to uncover whether something paranormal was at play. During this seance, the medium allegedly communicated with the spirit of a young seven-year-old girl named Annabelle Higgins. Annabelle had supposedly been killed and left on the empty field where the apartment complex the young nurses now lived was built upon. Her spirit was allegedly lonely and had been looking for young people who she felt comfortable around to seek acceptance from. Being the caring person she was, the doll’s unsuspecting owner made the grave mistake to invite Annabelle to occupy the doll.

Before this decision is revealed for the mistake it was, Annabelle’s activity was to take a darker turn.

Annabelle Attacks

After Annabelle was invited to occupy the doll and hang around, stranger and more dangerous events began to take place. A close male friend of the young nurse’s was to experience the wrath of Annabelle after visiting and expressing concern over the strange activity associated with the doll.

He claimed to have woken up one night, while sleeping at the apartment, to see the Annabelle doll standing over him. He claimed the doll then reached out towards his neck and commenced strangling him to the point that he passed out. The following morning when he woke up, he could have sworn that this experience was not a dream.

Scared and confused, he continued to spend time at the girl’s apartment until he was again viciously attacked. One night, as he and one of the girl’s were planning an upcoming trip, they heard a disturbance coming from the empty room, where Annabelle was kept. Fearing that an intruder may have entered the apartment, they investigated the room. The room was empty and the only thing that seemed out of place was the Annabelle doll, which appeared to have been thrown onto the floor in a corner.

The man entered the room to investigate further and was stopped dead in his tracks as he approached the cursed doll. He clutched at his chest as his own blood began to seep through his shirt. He lifted his top to reveal 7 large scratches across his chest. These formed the mark of the beast with 3 vertical and four horizontal scratch-like marks having been burnt into his skin.

It seemed apparent that something a little more sinister than a lost, little girl may be haunting Annabelle and this young group of friends became increasingly desperate for answers and help.

Annabelle and the Warrens

Since these troubling events had transpired, the young girls who were living with Annabelle decided to reach out to the church for help. After telling their story, the young women were soon referred to Ed and Lorraine Warren for assistance. The Warrens were renowned demonologists who had extensive knowledge in such matters and had worked on countless similar cases.

They were able to determine that there was likely a negative, demonic energy that had tricked these girls into inviting it into their home by posing as an innocent child’s spirit. It seemed that the entity would have no other motive than to acquire a human host for possession and thus, should be removed from the home.

The Warren’s assisted the young students to have their home blessed and removed the troublesome Annabelle doll. Though, it seemed as though the attached entity followed the doll and caused life-threatening issues for the Warren’s, messing with their car as they drove home. These issues only ceased after Ed doused the doll with holy water.

Even once Annabelle made it to Warren’s home, it continued its diabolical deeds. Continuing to move on its own and terrorize those who were unfortunate enough to come into contact with it.

Where is Annabelle now?

Today, the Annabelle doll resides within the Warren’s Occult Museum in Connecticut. The doll is displayed within a glass case, lined with crosses and protective bible inscriptions. Annabelle, along with the entire Occult Museum, is also regularly blessed by a priest.

Despite all of these precautions, Annabelle has been said to have caused the death of a young man. It is said that this man entered the museum, along with his girlfriend, and challenged the doll against the advice of Ed. After their visit, as they drove away on a motorcycle, this young couple proceeded to continue laughing about Annabelle. The young man driving then unexpectedly lost control of his bike, crashed and then died. Many are of the belief that Annabelle may have somehow caused this crash.

Annabelle Comes Home

The latest film installment in The Conjuring franchise is set to release featuring Annabelle. In the film Annabelle Comes Home the doll is brought by Ed and Lorraine Warren to their haunted artifact room. It is here that the Warren’s young daughter and her babysitters unwittingly release the dark entity within Annabelle, in return being terrorized.

Though these Hollywood adaptions are not completely true to the real story of Annabelle, they do portray the fear that this doll inspired in real people well.

I hope you enjoyed this article. If you are looking for some similar reading, check out this haunted rocking chair with ties to Ed and Lorraine Warren.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Additional Credits

Featured image by imdb.com.