The conjuring: The true story behind it all

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Released in 2013, The Conjuring has gone down in history as one of the scariest horror films in cinematic history. While its claims of being based on a true life haunting have been debated, the actual family the movie took inspiration from experienced a true life horror of their own.

The Perron Family Haunting
In January of 1971, the Perron family moved into a secluded, 14-bedroom farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island. The family was made up of Carolyn and Roger Perron and their 5 daughters. Almost immediately after moving in though, strange things started happening.

  • It started small, brooms and other small items would go missing, or they would seemingly move on their own and appear later in different spots around the house.
  • Small piles of dirt would appear on freshly cleaned floors
  • The girls reported seeing and encountering apparitions and hearing mysterious voices. Some were friendly but most came across as angry and restless.
  • The family would often hear mysterious knocks and scratches from doors. And the smell of rotting flesh or eggs would appear around the house with no known source. 
  • The house was also become incredibly cold at times. 

Carolyn however, seemed to get the worst of it. She would often wake up with unknown bruises and scratches across her body. Carolyn eventually went on to investigate the history of the farmhouse. Finding it had been built in the 1700's and had been in the same family for over 8 generations. Many members of this, however had come to gruesome and tragic ends. Several children had drowned in a creek nearby, one was murdered, and a few were hung in the house.

But the most terrifying revelation was the story of Bathsheba Sherman. According to the research Carolyn had done, Bathsheba had lived in the farmhouse in the 1800’s and had a very dark reputation. She had been accused of witchcraft and was supposedly behind the death of an infant (possibly her own). She had also hung herself in the attic of the house after drowning a child in a well. 

The family fully believed that Bathsheba was the one behind the haunting. Carolyn believed that the spirit still perceived itself as the mistress of the house and saw Carolyn as competition.

After a few months after moving in, the family eventually reached out to some paranormal investigators. This group included a physic medium and they claimed to have witnessed a number of phenomena. Including furniture and objects moving on their own, unexplained knocks and strange odors. They also claimed the house was infested with multiple spirits. 

However, other groups who investigated afterwards would claim to have found no evidence of a haunting. Roger Perron also reportedly had never experienced anything in the house either and would reprimand his daughters for speaking about their experiences too. The family continued to reach out to multiple groups and eventually this case made its way to Ed and Lorraine Warren. 

The Warrens play crucial roles in this story, as they were the ones to make this case famous. The Warrens were famed paranormal investigators and while investigating the house, they also claimed to have experienced similar paranormal encounters than the family. Including the witnessing the misty figure of a woman appearing in front of them and seeing objects move on their own.

As part of the investigation, the Warren's would lead a séance in the house. During this Carolyn was supposedly possessed by Bathsheba and spoke in tongues until Robert put a stop to it. (There was no exorcism performed like the one in the movie)

Even after this, the Perron Family would remain in the house until 1980. 

As with any supposedly true haunting, there has been a lot of skepticism over the Perron Family's claims. 

The Warrens have long since been the target of criticism and while the films portrayed them as gentle soft spoken spiritualists, the documentary, the devil on trial, has portrayed them as money hungry swindlers. Roger and Carolyn would also go on to divorce shortly after moving in 1980. With Roger denouncing any paranormal claims. It also didn't help that that the haunting seemingly stopped right after the family moved out.

As for the research that Carolyn had done, it was apparently shoddy at best. It mostly involved gathering stories and rumors from locals about the land. There is also very little evidence to support any of the supposed deaths that had occurred on the property. 

Gerry and Norma Sutcliffe, who moved into the house in 1987 also reported no strange activity. Their biggest problem being trespassers and vandals following the release of the Conjuring. 
The next claims of paranormal activity only occurred after 2019 when the Sutcliffe's moved out and were likely fueled by the movies 
Location: Harrisville, Burrillville, RI 02830, USA

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