Annabelle: The Real History Behind Horror Cinema's Scariest Doll

Kara Johnson (0:04)

In the 1970s, a nursing student named Donna purportedly reached out to paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren about a haunted raggedy Ann doll that she owned named Annabelle. Donna claimed that the doll moved on its own and left eerie notes around her apartment that read, help us. Then things escalated. Annabelle seemingly began targeting Donna's friend, Lou. At one point, Lou woke up from a nightmare about the doll, feeling as if he'd actually been strangled. On another occasion, he was approaching Annabelle when he suddenly felt a slash and discovered seven claw marks across his chest. A psychic medium told Donna that the doll had been taken over by the spirit of a seven-year-old girl named Annabelle, but the Warrens believed it was being manipulated by a demon. They decided to take possession of the doll, but the disturbing incidents didn't stop there. According to the Warrens, Annabelle continued to move around their home, sometimes levitating or inexplicably escaping from locked rooms.

After a priest allegedly crashed his car after insulting the doll, the Warrens locked it away in a special box and put it on display in their Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut. A warning on the case read, Positively do not open. Even then, Annabelle's reign of terror continued. It's said that a man once mocked the doll while visiting the museum, banging on the glass and daring Annabelle to hurt him. While riding home on his motorcycle afterward, he struck a tree and died. Skeptics have questioned these accounts, as the only evidence seems to be the word of the Warrens themselves.

Still, Annabelle has continued to capture imaginations for generations, and the doll's story has only become more prominent since it was first featured in the horror movie The Conjuring and its own trio of Annabelle films. The doll remained in the Occult Museum until it closed in 2019, but Annabelle's story didn't end there. In 2025, the doll was part of a traveling showcase of Occult Museum artifacts. After a stop in Pennsylvania, the tour's organizer and host, Dan Rivera, died unexpectedly in his hotel room.

A medical examiner later announced that Rivera had pre-existing cardiac issues, and that Annabelle was not in the room with him at the time of his death. But the incident only added to the chilling legacy of this allegedly demonic doll.

You're listening to History Uncovered, brought to you by the digital publisher, All That's Interesting, where we explore the uncharted corners of the natural world and the world past. I'm All That's Interesting editor, Kara Johnson.

Cleena Fraga (2:19)

I'm All That's Interesting staff writer, Cleena Fraga.

Kara Johnson (2:22)

And today, we're discussing Annabelle, the supposedly haunted doll that was owned by paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren.

Cleena Fraga (2:32)

Da da da da. Spooky.

Kara Johnson (2:35)

The funny part about the story is that it's like all based on the word of the Warrens, who are notoriously frauds. But it's still a fun little story.

Cleena Fraga (2:44)

Did you see the movie?

Kara Johnson (2:46)

I did not. I saw The Conjuring.

Cleena Fraga (2:48)

Yeah, I saw The Conjuring.

Kara Johnson (2:49)

Which this appears in briefly, but I didn't see any of the actual Annabelle movies, I don't think. I don't think I did. I might have. I get them confused with the Chucky movies because-

Cleena Fraga (2:59)

Oh, there's a similarity. Yeah, I have not seen it, but I have familiar with it.

Kara Johnson (3:06)

Yeah, I know the gist, I think. But I didn't know the whole background story of the doll, which is, again, only based on the Warrens' word, but still interesting.

So as the story goes, a woman purchased Annabelle in 1970 for her daughter, Donna, who was a nursing student in Connecticut, and it seemed like a normal Raggedy Ann doll. Donna got it, put it on her bed, in her apartment. She had a roommate named Angie, and they noticed that Annabelle started moving on her own. At first, she would just kind of change positions, like her arm would be in a different place than it was when Donna had left for work that morning. But then she started moving from room to room and even started standing upright on her feet, which I think would be enough to just knock me over dead if I walked into a room to see that.

Cleena Fraga (4:07)

Yeah.

Kara Johnson (4:09)

Donna would leave the doll on the couch and come home from work to find it on her bed with her bedroom door closed. So just kind of, I guess at that point, okay, maybe minus the standing on its feet thing. But otherwise, you could kind of just brush it off as, oh, maybe my roommate moved it and-