Ed and Lorraine Warren facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ed and Lorraine Warren
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Lorraine (left) and Ed Warren (right)
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| Occupation |
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| Organization | New England Society for Psychic Research |
| Ed Warren | |
| Born |
Edward Warren
September 7, 1926 Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.
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| Died | August 23, 2006 (aged 79) Monroe, Connecticut, U.S.
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| Spouse(s) |
Lorraine Warren
(m. 1945) |
| Children | 1 |
| Lorraine Warren | |
| Born |
Lorraine Rita Moran
January 31, 1927 Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.
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| Died | April 18, 2019 (aged 92) Monroe, Connecticut, U.S.
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| Spouse(s) |
Ed Warren
(m. 1945; died 2006) |
| Children | 1 |
Edward Warren Miney (born September 7, 1926 – died August 23, 2006) and Lorraine Rita Warren (born January 31, 1927 – died April 18, 2019) were American paranormal investigators and authors. They were known for their investigations into alleged hauntings. Edward studied and called himself a demonologist, writer, and speaker. Lorraine said she could see things beyond normal sight (a clairvoyant) and could communicate with spirits (a light trance medium). She worked closely with her husband.
In 1952, the Warrens started the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR). This was the oldest group in New England dedicated to investigating ghosts. They wrote many books about strange events and their own investigations into reports of paranormal activity. They claimed to have looked into over 10,000 cases during their careers. The Warrens were among the first to investigate the famous Amityville haunting. The NESPR website says their team included doctors, researchers, police officers, nurses, college students, and religious leaders.
Many stories about ghost hauntings, made popular by the Warrens, have inspired films, TV shows, and documentaries. These include movies from the Amityville Horror series and the films in The Conjuring Universe. However, some people, called skeptics, like Perry DeAngelis and Steven Novella, looked at the Warrens' evidence. They described it as "blarney," meaning nonsense. Other skeptical investigators, Joe Nickell and Benjamin Radford, concluded that well-known hauntings, like Amityville and the Snedeker family haunting, were made up.
Contents
Famous Investigations
Annabelle the Doll
The Warrens said that in 1968, two roommates believed their Raggedy Ann doll was possessed by the spirit of a young girl named Annabelle Higgins. The Warrens took the doll. They told the roommates it was "being controlled by an evil presence." They then put it on display at their family's "Occult Museum." The story of this doll has inspired several films in the Conjuring Universe. It is also a common theme in many other movies.
The Perron Family Case
In 1971, the Warrens claimed that the Perron family's home in Harrisville, Rhode Island was haunted. They said it was haunted by a witch who had lived there in the early 1800s. According to the Warrens, this witch, Bathsheba Sherman, cursed the land. She supposedly made sure that anyone who lived there would die a terrible death. This story is the subject of the 2013 film The Conjuring. Lorraine Warren helped with the movie and even appeared in a small role.
The Amityville Horror
The Warrens are very well known for their involvement in the 1975 Amityville Horror case. A New York couple, George and Kathy Lutz, claimed their house was haunted by a violent, demonic presence. They said it was so strong that it eventually forced them to leave their home. Authors Stephen and Roxanne Kaplan, who wrote The Amityville Horror Conspiracy, called the case a "hoax." However, Lorraine Warren told a newspaper that the Amityville Horror was not a hoax. The reported haunting led to the 1977 book The Amityville Horror. This book was made into films in 1979 and 2005. It also inspired a film series. The Warrens' version of events is partly shown in the opening of The Conjuring 2 (2016). However, Benjamin Radford stated that the story was "proven false by witnesses, investigations, and evidence." In 1979, a lawyer named William Weber said that he, Jay Anson, and the people living in the house "invented" the horror story "over many bottles of wine."
The Enfield Poltergeist
In 1977, the Warrens investigated claims that a family in Enfield, North London, was experiencing poltergeist activity. A poltergeist is a ghost that makes noises and moves objects. Many independent observers thought the incident was a trick played by children seeking attention. However, the Warrens were sure it was a case of "demonic possession." This story inspired The Conjuring 2. Critics say the Warrens were much less involved than the movie shows. They actually arrived without being invited and were not allowed into the home.
Guy Lyon Playfair, a paranormal researcher who investigated the Enfield case, also said the film greatly exaggerated the Warrens' role. He stated in 2016 that they "showed up once." He also said Ed Warren told him they "could make a lot of money [...] out of [the case]." Playfair confirmed that the Warrens were "not invited" to the Enfield house. He added that "Nobody [...] in the family had ever heard of him until [Ed Warren] turned up."
The Arne Johnson Case
In 1981, Arne Cheyenne Johnson was accused of killing his landlord, Alan Bono. Before the killing, Ed and Lorraine Warren had been called to help with the alleged demonic possession of Johnson's fiancée's younger brother. The Warrens later claimed that Johnson was also possessed. At his trial, Johnson tried to argue that he was Not Guilty because of Demonic Possession. However, his plea was not successful. This story inspired the film The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021). The case was also described in the 1983 book The Devil in Connecticut by Gerald Brittle.
The Snedeker House
In 1986, Ed and Lorraine Warren arrived at the Snedeker house. They declared that this former funeral home was filled with demons. The case was featured in the 1993 book In a Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting. A TV film, which later became part of the Discovery Channel series A Haunting, was made in 2002. The Haunting in Connecticut, a film based on the Warrens' version of events, was released in 2009.
The Smurl Family Case
Jack and Janet Smurl, who lived in Pennsylvania, reported that their home was disturbed by many strange events. These included sounds, smells, and ghostly figures. The Smurls' story was the subject of a 1986 book called The Haunted. It also inspired a television film of the same name in 1991.
Union Cemetery
Ed Warren's book Graveyard: True Hauntings from an Old New England Cemetery (1992) talks about a "White Lady" ghost. This ghost supposedly haunts Union Cemetery. He claimed to have "captured her essence" on film.
Other Activities
The Warrens trained several people who also called themselves demonologists. These included Dave Considine and their nephew John Zaffis.
Personal Life
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Ed and Lorraine Warren were members of the Roman Catholic Church. They got married in 1945. On January 11, 1946, Lorraine gave birth to their daughter, Judy Warren. The Warrens believed that evil forces were more likely to possess people who did not have strong faith.
Ed Warren passed away on August 23, 2006. Lorraine Warren passed away on April 18, 2019. They were both buried at Stepney Cemetery in Monroe, Connecticut.
Criticism and Different Views
In a 1997 interview, Steve Novella and Perry DeAngelis investigated the Warrens for the New England Skeptical Society (NESS). They found the couple to be nice people. However, they described the Warrens' claims of demons and ghosts as "at best, meaningless ghost stories, and at worst, dangerous frauds." They took a tour and looked at all the evidence the Warrens had for spirits and ghosts. They watched videos and examined the best evidence the Warrens presented. Their conclusion was that "It's all blarney," meaning it was all nonsense. They found common errors with flash photography and nothing evil in the objects the Warrens had collected. Novella stated, "They have... a ton of fish stories about evidence that got away... They're not doing good scientific investigation; they have a predetermined conclusion which they stick to, literally and religiously." Lorraine Warren responded that the problem with Perry and Steve was that "they don't base anything on a God." Novella replied, "It takes work to do solid, critical thinking... That's what scientists do every day, and that's what skeptics support."
An article in The Sydney Morning Herald looked at whether supernatural films are truly based on real events. This investigation was used as proof that they are not. Novella was quoted saying, "They [the Warrens] claim to have scientific evidence which does indeed prove the existence of ghosts, which sounds like a testable claim... What we found was a very nice couple, some genuinely sincere people, but absolutely no compelling evidence..." While it was clear that neither DeAngelis nor Novella thought the Warrens would intentionally harm anyone, they warned that claims like the Warrens' could strengthen false beliefs and confuse the public about real scientific methods.
The Occult Museum
Besides their investigations, Lorraine ran the Warrens' Occult Museum. It was located in the back of her house in Monroe, Connecticut, and is now closed. Her son-in-law, Tony Spera, helped her with it. The museum displayed many objects and artifacts from around the world that were claimed to be haunted. Many items from their most famous investigations were shown there. The Museum is currently owned by Judy Warren and Tony Spera.
Media Appearances
- Lorraine appeared in several episodes of the Discovery series A Haunting. In these episodes, she talked about some of the cases she and Ed worked on as paranormal investigators.
- Lorraine also appeared on Paranormal State, where she was a guest investigator.
- Both Ed and Lorraine appeared on Scariest Places on Earth.
- Lorraine had a small role in the 2013 film The Conjuring. She was also a consultant for the movie.
- Lorraine appeared in the 2012 documentary film My Amityville Horror. In it, she met Daniel Lutz again. His family was supposedly troubled by supernatural events in 1975. Ed and Lorraine Warren had visited the house after the Lutz family fled it after 28 days.
Film Adaptations
Over the years, several films and TV series have been made. They are partly or fully based on the paranormal investigations or events that the Warrens claimed to have seen and described. Films partly based on their stories include those from The Amityville Horror series, such as The Amityville Horror (1979) and The Amityville Horror (2005). In 1991, a two-hour made-for-TV film based on the Smurl haunting, called The Haunted, was released. The 2009 film The Haunting in Connecticut was loosely based on the 1986 Snedeker haunting, which the Warrens investigated.
The Conjuring Universe Films
The Warrens' case files are the basis for The Conjuring Universe series of horror films.
The 2013 film The Conjuring, directed by James Wan, focuses on a Warren case. It stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren. Its 2014 follow-up, Annabelle, is a horror film that is both a prequel and a spin-off of The Conjuring. It was inspired by a story about the Annabelle doll. The next film in The Conjuring Universe was 2016's The Conjuring 2, a sequel to The Conjuring. It was also directed by Wan, with Farmiga and Wilson playing Lorraine and Ed again. This film is based on the Enfield Poltergeist case. In 2017, another prequel, Annabelle: Creation, was released. It tells the origin story of the Annabelle doll. Farmiga and Wilson briefly appeared as Ed and Lorraine in the 2018 spin-off film The Nun. This film focuses on the character of Valak, who was the villain from The Conjuring 2. The two actors played their roles again in Annabelle Comes Home, the sequel to Annabelle, and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.
See also
In Spanish: Ed y Lorraine Warren para niños
