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70 The Conjuring: Ghosts? Poltergeist? Demons?

The Conjuring: Ghosts?

Poltergeist? Demons?

by Joe Nickell
Skeptical Inquirer

The 2013 scary movie The Conjuring was very
loosely based on the story of Roger and Carolyn
Perron and their five daughters who moved into
a “haunted” Rhode Island farmhouse in January
1971. There, hysteria soon reigned, the flames of thought she knew who the culprit was, she communication was “telepathic” (I: 454; II: 95–
which were fanned by the infamous paranormal pounced on the boy, pummeling him and 97). The “baby” at home, April watched “as her
“investigators” Ed and Lorraine Warren. Now breaking his nose. About three years later she sisters begged for the same type of attention she
the Perrons’ oldest daughter Andrea is at work was dismissed from a confirmation class when received all day, every day” (I: 1). When she did
on a trilogy on the case called House of she had an “altercation” with the priest, go to school, her behavior landed her from time
Darkness House of Light (Perron 2011, 2013). challenging him about masturbation and to time
homosexuality (I: 7–8, 260–261). Andrea in “parochial purgatory”—detention.
Dramatis Personae sometimes saw “shadows” and heard voices (I: Then there were Ed and Lorraine
192–193). Warren—the demon-hunting duo—who visited
The Perrons—he of French Catholic descent, Nancy, the second daughter, was a “nine- the home a few times. They were not sought out
she part Cherokee—married in 1957. In short year-old spitfire,” explains Andrea (I: 25). When by the Perrons, as The Conjuring portrays, but
order they had five children. (Writes Andrea, spirits began to appear to the new residents, simply showed up there one day. That it was on
“It’s a Catholic thing” [I: 446].) Andrea says of her sister, “Competitive in every a night “just prior to Halloween” (II: 258) is
Roger Perron’s work took him on long way, Nancy had to claim credit for the first typical of the Warrens. Seeking publicity, their
road trips, a fact that harmed his marriage (he official sighting” (I: 213). A girlfriend once modus operandi was to arrive at a “haunted”
and his wife eventually divorced) and kept him accused her of faking poltergeist-type house that they soon transformed into a
largely a stranger to his children. He was occurrences in her presence, but friendship “demonic” one, in keeping with their own
skeptical of most of the occult phenomena prevailed as the girl reconsidered (I: 484–485). medieval-style Catholic beliefs. Again and again
reported by the six others. Andrea Perron (I: 112, Odd things happened to Nancy. For example, they were attracted to the homes of Catholics:
195) characterizes the situation as her mother’s once becoming lost on the way home by taking the Lutzes at Amityville, New York; the Smurls
integrity “being overtly challenged by disbelief, an unfamiliar trail, she encountered an at West Pittston, Pennsylvania; the Snedekers at
as though her opinion was entirely irrelevant, apparitional “family” (I: 131). She and a Southington, Connecticut. Coauthors of the
her recounting of events fraudulent.” The girls girlfriend played with a Ouija board, Warrens’ books have since indicated they were
were “squarely in her camp.” (Roger eventually whereupon, she said, “The spirits talk to us encouraged to fabricate elements to make the
seemed to acquiesce, possibly to promote through it” (II: 293). books “scary,” and at least one such writer has
domestic harmony—something I have observed Christine (or Chrissy), Andrea insists, effectively repudiated the book he wrote. I
on occasion in my fieldwork.) “developed supernatural skills acquired only appeared with the Warrens on Sally Jesse
Carolyn Perron was highly impulsive. through the use of a sixth sense” (I: 121). On one Raphael for a pre-Halloween 1992 promotion of
When she saw an ad for a colonial farmhouse at occasion, “something wicked,” says Andrea, their book with the Snedekers, and found Ed
Harrisville, Rhode Island, she viewed the “had rudely awakened Christine in the middle of Warren a belligerent, manipulative character
property and—without consulting Roger—made the night.” For months at a time, however, (Nickell 2012, 281–286).
a down payment, even though they were Chrissy would sleep undisturbed by “the
strapped for cash. Effectively a lapsed Catholic, presence” (I: 392–393). Ghosts
Carolyn became something of a New Ager. She The fourth child, Cynthia (or Cindy),
“felt” and “sensed” various “presences” (e.g., I: “attracted supernatural activity unlike any of her Ghostly apparitions and pranks reportedly
59, 63, 108), practiced dowsing for water (I: siblings,” and, Perron adds, had assailed the Perrons from the outset, sparing
146–147, 153), saw apparitions, and—once— “passive/aggressive tendencies” (I: 431, 438). only the father, Roger. I read accounts of many
seemed “possessed” (I: 156–159, 185; II: 355– She reported multiple apparitional experiences of their apparitional experiences with an old
363, 393). After one experience she developed a (I: 73–74, 223; II: 69, 164); the receipt of familiarity. Such reports represent a common
neck pain for which a doctor could find no “telepathic messages” (II: 2); an invisible entity phenomenon well known to psychologists and
physical basis (I: 355). She had fainting spells, coming to her aid (I: 314–315); and entering skeptical investigators. Consider an early
typically in front of the fireplace and in Roger’s “another realm of the house, another dimension” experience in the house when Carolyn was abed:
presence, and he would rush to save her from the (I: 434). Her bed, she claimed, vibrated at times she saw her dresser erupting in flames! Trying to
fire (I: 249, 278, 279). and, when she was thirteen, “levitated,” or at react she found herself “paralyzed”—able only
Like mother like daughter. “Each of the least rocked wildly once, while she screamed to watch the blaze and the sparks it shot off.
girls developed a real emotional attachment to incessantly—although the rest of the family Subsequently, however, she found not a singe to
the spirits in the house,” Andrea says casually (I: downstairs heard none of this (I: 435). confirm what she had seemingly seen (I: 156–
454), April, the youngest child, was only five, 159).
“while bonding between dimensions.” a preschooler, when the Perrons moved into the
Andrea (or Annie) was the Perrons’ first old farmhouse. April had what most people (Continued on Page 71)
child, born in 1958. No wallflower, when their would call an imaginary friend. “Oliver”
previous house was vandalized and Andrea became her frequent “playmate,” and their