The people behind the massively successful horror film "The Conjuring" followed up with an "Annabelle" spinoff horror film, that delved into the history of the creepy doll featured briefly in the first film. What you might not know is that Annabelle actually exists, and you can visit her yourself. Be prepared though, the real Annabelle doesn't look quite as creepy in real life, but wait till you hear her story...
While many of the cases the Warrens worked on, like Amityville, were later outed as hoaxes, their ability to tell an excellent scary story can't be denied, and one of the creepiest of all had to do with a Raggedy Anne doll that they nicknamed Annabelle.
As the Warren's tell it, the antique doll was purchased from a hobby shop in the 70's as a birthday gift to a girl named Donna. Donna was in college, and shared a small apartment with her roommate, and Annabelle quickly became a beloved piece of decoration.. until the two girls began to notice the doll moving on its own.
According to the Warrens' Case Files:
"The spirit or in this case an inhuman demonic spirit, was essentially in the infestation stage of the phenomenon. It first began moving the doll around the apartment by means of teleportation to arouse the occupants curiosity in hopes that they would give it recognition.Then predictably the mistake of bringing a medium into the apartment to communicate with it. The inhuman spirit now able to communicate through the medium, preyed on the girls emotional vulnerabilities by pretending to be a rather harmless, lost young girl with which during the seance, was allowed permission from Donna to haunt the apartment. Insofar as demonic is a negative spirit, it then set about causing patently negative phenomena to occur; it aroused fear through the weird movements of that doll, it brought about the materialization of disturbing handwritten notes, the symbolic drops of blood on the doll, and ultimately it even attacked Lou leaving behind the symbolic mark of the beast. The next stage of the infestation phenomenon would have been complete human possession. Had these experiences lasted another 2 or 3 more weeks the spirit would have completely possessed, if not harmed or killed one or all of the occupants in the house.
At the conclusion of the investigation the Warrens felt it appropriate to have a recitation of an exorcism blessing by Father Cooke to cleanse the apartment. "The Episcopal blessing of the home is a wordy, seven page document that is distinctly positive in nature. Rather than specifically expelling evil entities from the dwelling, the emphasis is instead directed toward filling the home with the power of the positive and of God." (Ed Warren). At Donna’s request, and as a further precaution against the phenomena ever occurring in the home again, the Warrens took the big rag doll along with them when they left." - Read more: http://www.warrens.net/Annabelle.html