Image: http://www.paperdroids.com/2013/07/24/film-review-the-conjuring/

Information: http://www.blumhouse.com/2016/10/05/meet-the-perron-family-the-real-story-behind-the-conjuring/

The story of Conjuring takes many forms. It ranges from people coming out of the paintings to haunt the family to just being a rumor. The real story all starts with shuffling noises and moving objects.

The family of Perron consists of Roger and his wife Carolyn with their five daughters, Andrea, Christine, Nancy, April, and Cynthia around the time of 1736 in the place of Rhode Island.  From the day the family moved into the house, they began to notice several bizarre occurrences. The Perrons heard strange voices in the middle of the night and furniture was moving on its own. It wasn’t surprising considering that the house had been the home to several generations of families. For the most part, the spirits were harmless, but there was one ghost who didn’t appreciate having the family.

Born in 1812, Bathsheba Thayer was the mother of four children, three of whom died at a very young age. Folks in the town began making assumptions about the infants’ death. Some of the people even believed she was sacrificing her children to the devil. After several unexplained encounters with this not-so-friendly ghost, the Perron’s were convinced that Bathsheba was haunting their new home.

Most of the Perron family had encountered Bathsheba at one time or another, but it seemed to focus a lot of its attention on Carolyn. Not only would it issue verbal warnings fairly regularly, Bathsheba likes to show up in “person” just to make sure she was really getting her message across. Bathsheba also made it apparent that she had a thing for Roger. She was extremely jealous and wanted Carolyn out of the house because at one point appearing in the middle of the night she appeared to her and screaming,  “Get out. Get out.” Bathsheba took great pleasure in tormenting Carolyn by slapping and pinching her on many occasions. The Perron’s quickly asked help of Ed and Lorraine Warren, the original owners of the Annabelle doll.  After an extensive investigation, it became apparent that the spirit of Bathsheba, not satisfied with ordinary haunting, had actually possessed the body of Carolyn.

Unlike the film, this possession did not have a happy ending. The presence of the Warren’s only aggravated Bathsheba, as she became more violent. In the end, the Perron family asked that the Warren’s to leave immediately. Once the Warrens were gone, Bathsheba left the body of Carolyn but continued to be a pain around the house. Unfortunately, financial constraints would keep the Perron’s in their home for the next ten years. In 1980, the Perrons were finally able to sell their home and move away to Georgia. Years later, one of the daughters, Andrea, wrote a book, which retold her story of the frightening years in their Rhode Island home.

The home itself still stands and has had many new residents, all of whom have had some kind of encounter with the spirits who still reside there like the Amityville House.

This is story is very interesting to me because a.) the house is still there and the investigator (Lorraine Warren) is still alive and b.) the spirit only attacked one person (Carolyn) and the story is almost like the Amityville story. Instead, the dad gets possessed.

Have you ever heard of a Oujia board? Ever thought what it was? The Oujia board helps people connect with their dead loved ones or just the dead in general. It is a board (obviously) that has letters, numbers, and a triangular piece of wood called a planchette. The contributors move the planchette with their fingers and spell out words to try to talk to the dead. There are numerous reporting of paranormal beings talking to the participants. Religious beings say that this board is demonic and try not to use this piece of wood. Others say it’s harmless and it’s a good experience for non-believers. My mother said to never use it because it can draw me further away from God, but it’s a harmless piece of plank, what could it possibly do to me?

“The rise of the lunatic asylum and its gradual transformation into, and eventual replacement by, the modern psychiatric hospital, explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry.” In simpler terms, the brain of a lunatic is probably so scary, you won’t sleep for days. Which is why people made insane asylums, to keep these maniacs in their place, but sometimes things don’t turn out as planned. Topeka, Kansas State Hospital, was designed by John G. Haskell to treat and care for the mentally ill. Though this sounds like a regular hospital, people often abuse and neglect patients. There is a story about a patient who was in straps for so long, their skin started growing on top of the straps. The building was closed down on May 17, 1997 because of one of the patients killed a working nurse there. I would have ran out the building yelling “GOT TO BLAST,” and it would have haunted me for days.