The True Story of Annabelle

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Carolina Troxel

Annabelle is a raggedy ann doll that is being held in Ed and Lorraine Warren’s occult museum. The doll was given to two college students, Donna and Angie, by Donna’s mother in 1971 as a graduation gift. In the beginning, they would notice small details such as the doll moving around the house when no one was even home. The girls ignored it thinking they might have just forgotten they moved her themselves. The doll would make small movements such as falling off the chair or moving positions. The doll then started writing on paper and leaving notes throughout the house with notes like “Help us” or “Help Lou”. 

The notes made sense which frightened the college students because Donna and Angie had a friend named Lou who was at the apartment often. One day while Angie and Lou were spending time in the apartment. They heard loud noises coming from Donna’s room when she wasn’t home. Lou went to check because they thought it was an intruder but it was Annabelle who was sitting in the chair in the corner. Lou got sharp pains in his chest. Lou then noticed he had deep claw marks on his chest. After a day the marks fully healed and there was no trace of them after 3 days. 

This was the occurrence that caused them to call for help from the Warrens. A priest and the Warrens were called to the apartment, but before the two girls called the Warrens, they called a medium. The medium told them the doll was haunted by a 7-year-old girl who had been found deceased in the field where their apartment complex was built. Annabelle was very fond of the doll and attached to it. Donna and Angie felt bad for the little girl and were very loving to the doll. 

When the Warrens and the priest arrived they discovered that Annabelle’s main goal was to possess Donna’s soul. They also learned that Annabelle was in fact not a 7-year-old girl as the medium had told them. She was a demon. The Warrens then let Donna and Angie know that demons don’t possess items or things, they possess people. The priest performed an exorcism on the apartment.

The Warrens decided that it would be safest for everyone to take Annabelle with them. They drove home on the backroads, scared that Annabelle would cause trouble on the main road. They were right because Annabelle caused them to have car issues the whole way home. Annabelle caused their brakes to fail, power steering to fail, and the engine to stall. Ed successfully calmed the problems long enough to get back to their house by putting holy water on the doll. Ed put the doll on his desk for a little while thinking nothing would happen. She decided to show what she was really capable of and was seen levitating above Ed’s desk on multiple occasions. The activity slowed down for a little while, and after having no activity for quite some time, the Warrens began finding her around their house. They decided to call a priest but the priest didn’t take them seriously. This led to the priest being in a car accident on his way home. He was badly injured but survived. The Warrens built a case to keep her in so she couldn’t move around their house or cause any harm to others. To this day Annabelle is a well-known horror icon that can be viewed at Ed and Lorraine Warren’s Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut.