Post by iHorror guest blogger: Tia Marie McCoy
You can learn more about Tia at her Facebook page: www.facebook.com/
Upon watching The Conjuring this week. I wanted to inform everyone of the true events behind the movie and my review of it. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how well they portrayed the characters and how almost accurate the whole movie was compared to the real version. My standards for horror/paranormal movies are pretty high up due to the fact that I am a huge horror fan and paranormal researcher so of course, I am very picky. When I sat down in the theater, I expected some up to date special effects and a movie “loosely” based on true events. Everyone has to admit… Horror movies are nothing like they used to be. I grew up watching The Exorcist, Nightmare on Elm Street, Pet Cemetery, etc and honestly, I have not liked a horror movie in years…until I watched The Conjuring. Yes, there were no crazy special effects and they kept to the true storyline without all the un-needed dramatizations and I think that’s what appealed to me. True stories are always the scariest because people know they are real and documented.
The Conjuring is more like a realistic Exorcist movie with many jumpy moments. There was only one part where I thought maybe I would have to change my pants. It’s a good time and well worth the cost of a movie ticket. Before any of you see it, I would advise studying up on Ed and Lorraine Warren. It gives you a deeper insight to the film in my opinion. They are/were amazing. I say ‘were’ because Ed Warren passed away recently . According to Lorraine, who is a clairvoyant and medium, she has seen him and he still encourages her to continue their work which she still does by doing paranormal tours and visiting locations.
Ed and Lorraine started their work early on in life and in 1952, they founded the New England Society for Psychic Research which is the oldest ghost hunting group in New England. They also opened an Occult Museum which I do believe is the one portrayed in the movie in their home. They are the original ghost hunters; the grandparents to all the ghost hunters we see today; including their nephew, John Zaffis, who has his own show “The Haunted Collector” which he learned from them. They worked as a close-knit team, Ed was the demonologist and Lorraine was the Medium, and together, they investigated over 10,000 locations and wrote numerous books on the subject. And to be honest, I have no idea how they hunted without all the equipment we have today! The Perron Case that is depicted in The Conjuring was The Warren’s “most intense, compelling, disturbing, and significant investigation” throughout their whole careers.
Here’s the TRUE story: Upon moving to their new home in Harrisburg, Rhode Island, the Perrons had no idea of the gruesome history of the place. Apparently, 8 generations of people had lived and died in that house and some decided to stay around awhile longer. Two former residences had hung themselves on the property – One being from the rafters in the barn which they portray as a tree in the movie instead. Those were def not the only 2 haunting the house. According to Andrea Perron, who was one of the 5 young daughters at the time, she recalls that upon moving in, the whole family started seeing spirits; harmless ones at first that were benign and hardly took notice of the family in the house. The first ghosts to actually interact with them were of kind nature: One smelled like flowers and fruit, one would kiss the children goodnight in their beds, and one who constantly swept the kitchen floor (I need one of those!) One of the spirits, a man who had committed suicide in the eaves of the house in the 1800s, would watch over the children. He stood in the same spot everyday and would have a crooked smile like the kids amused him.
Then the more hateful spirits started emerging; making themselves known by moving things on their own, slamming doors shut, whispering hateful obscenities, and the scariest for her was, something slamming itself into the front door at night repeatedly, waking everyone up. The Perrons and every other resident of the property beforehand, saw spirits wandering about daily. Some residents ran off screaming, leaving behind everything including the car. According to Andrea, the numerous entities often had either distinct features or none at all. Some were opaque or mist-like and would communicate telepathically. At times, the children were unable to move, speak, or prohibited of doing anything except listening to what the spirit had to say.
Not depicted in the movie, were the seances the Perrons held in the house. After a seance went wrong where they had awakened and called forth a horrendous presence known as Bathsheba, they decided to call upon the Warrens. Bathsheba considered herself the sole mistress to the house.. She lusted after Roger and coveted the kids. She also tormented the mother with fire daily. The spirit would approach the mother at night and is described as having a gruesome, misshapen face and broken neck. There are many accounts of Bathsheba that are too long to list. Long story short, she was a witch that had sacrificed her baby to the devil via impaling a large needle into the base of the baby’s skull.
Andrea’s descriptions of Bathsheba are disturbing. “Her face had no real features. It looked like a lifeless beehive of vermin was crawling all over it… her head was leaning to one side, her neck was a grayish-blue color and really puffed up, No eyes or Mouth”. There is ALOT more to the story.. the daily torments, smells, encounters, etc. Despite having Ed and Lorraine attempt to dispel the evil spirit, they were unsuccessful. The spirit was too evil and too strong for them. The family stayed in the house for 10 more years before leaving. So as far as the end scenes of the The Conjuring where the mother is under the floor, trying to kill the child, that is not true. The mother did get possessed but the exorcism was not performed inside the house. Also the museum where they held all their haunted items and the AnnaBelle doll, which in reality is a regular old fashioned Raggedy Ann, is actually portrayed down to every corner perfectly.
Despite a few little inconsistencies, I think Hollywood did an amazing job putting this on the big screen! And as of now, I think I’m gonna go see it again. Yes people, it’s that good.
