'Annabelle' Doll - Like many horror movies, "Annabelle" is based on a true story. Yet, this is one case where the real story is crazier and scarier than the fiction one.
"Annabelle" is now at the Warren Ocult Museum. Before it got there, though, the doll resided in a house of a nurse student.
The doll was not of porcelain, like it appears in the movie, but a Raggedy Ann. The decision of porcelain was related to the fact that the material produces an unsettlement and uncomfortable feeling by the mere look of it.
A Raggedy Ann, on the other hand, looks harmless. Most dolls tend to be of the fabric and are welcoming, in a way.
Anyway, "Annabelle" was bought in 1970 at a second-hand shop, according to the Daily Star, by a mother for her daughter Donna. Donna would turn 28 soon and apparently, was a big fan of Raggedy Ann dolls.
It was stated before, Donna was a nursing student. She lived with a roommate in an apartment and as a matter of fact, her roommate was the first one to notice something odd in the doll.
Both women, Donna and Angie, her roommate, noticed soon that the doll moved from one room to another without any sort of help. Nobody moved her and she simply appeared in different places.
"Several times Donna, placing the doll on the couch before leaving for work, would return home to find the doll back in her room on the bed with the door closed," the Warrens, a couple who are lead paranormal investigators, shared and International Business Times noted.
After that, things got a turn for the worse when messages were also written and left through the apartment. Apparently, the doll left a message that said "Help Us" once and the hand-writing looked like the one of a child.
One day, Donna saw that the doll had stains of blood in her chest and on her hands. The roommates, positively frightened by this instance, called a medium.
Said medium discovered that the doll was inhabited by Annabelle Higgins, a 7 year-old girl who passed away in the property.
The last straw came with Lou, a friend of the girls, who stayed in the apartment and disliked the doll from the beginning. He fell asleep and had a nightmare he was being choked. When he woke up, there were marks left.
Lou came back to the apartment the next day and heard strange noises coming from Donna's room. He thought someone broke in, but soon enough, he felt a presence behind him and left the place with "7 distinct claw marks" on his chest.
The same "claw marks" disappeared immediately after. Donna believed after this event that the doll was "evil." Donna contacted a priest and later on, the Warrens.
The Warrens determined that "Annabelle" was not possessed but rather manipulated by an inhuman spirit, which shammed Donna and Angie to believe it was a 7 year-old girl, but truly wanted to posses and human body.
The Warrens called a priest to have the apartment exorcised and the doll left with them to Connecticut. While with the Warrens, the doll apparently "levitated" and appeared in different places as well.
In the Warren Ocult Museum, "Annabelle" has a warning sign with it that says, "WARNING, POSITIVELY DO NOT OPEN." A Couple decided not to take it seriously and touched the doll. Later on, the man died in a motorbike accident and the girlfriend was hospitalized for a year.
After being released in theaters on Oct. 3, "Annabelle" had different reactions. In France, they banned it in some places because young people behaved violently at a screening, The Guardian noted.
"Watch your back tonight..." was posted in Annabelle's Twitter. After knowing all of this, I am not sure who won't.