Is Annabelle Based On A True Story? The Truth Behind The Movie's Disturbing Inspirations

The "Conjuring" cinematic universe introduces audiences to Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), a married pair of demonologists known for their work helping families experiencing hauntings and similar paranormal activity. They're particularly famous for investigating the Amityville Haunting and others like it, including the Enfield poltergeist and the experiences of the Perron family. The horror movie franchise also features different haunted artifacts that came into their possession over the years, perhaps most notably the demonic doll Annabelle.

So far, Annabelle is the only such artifact to receive its own "Conjuring" spin-off film series — one that currently includes 2014's "Annabelle," 2017's "Annabelle: Creation," and 2019's "Annabelle Comes Home." Indeed, the doll has been part of the larger "Conjuring" franchise since the start, having first appeared in 2013's "The Conjuring" before getting her own trilogy. In that movie, she's a cursed toy that goes from bothering two young women to being locked up in a case in the Warrens' home as a way of keeping the wicked spirit inside her at bay.

With the mainline "Conjuring" films being based on cases the actual Warrens were involved with, it's only natural that audiences would wonder if the Annabelle doll was similarly inspired by a true story. Much like you can visit the real version of the house featured in "The Conjuring," you can also check out the real-life doll that inspired Annabelle. Of course, the real Annabelle doesn't look at all like the movie version and has a different backstory to boot.

While the Annabelle doll in the "Conjuring" movies is based on a real doll named Annabelle, there are some dramatic differences between them. The most notable one is that the actual Annabelle is a classic Raggedy Ann doll, not a porcelain one. This change may've partly been made because of the difficulties of securing the rights to the Raggedy Anne toy, but it was also likely an attempt to make Annabelle much creepier and more sinister-looking in "The Conjuring." Other horror films featuring evil dolls, like "Child's Play" and "The Boy," have also gone this route, as porcelain dolls are considered scarier due to their more life-like appearance (like their jointed limbs and blinking eyes).

Though her looks were changed, parts of Annabelle's backstory as presented in the "Conjuring" movies are accurate to the real-life Warrens' accounts. At the end of "Annabelle," a mother sees the doll in a store and decides to buy it for her adult daughter. However, after she gifts it to her, it begins moving around her daughter's home and doing odd things. This mirrors the origin story of the real doll as recounted on the website for the psychic research society the Warrens founded.

The daughter and her roommate supposedly experienced strange activity with the doll, which is when the demonologists stepped in. In the "Conjuring" films, this is depicted when the Warrens take the doll from the women to lock away in their museum at the beginning of "Annabelle Comes Home" (which itself marks the end of both the current "Annabelle" movie series and their timeline).

The 2014 movie "Annabelle" presents the doll's dark history as being rooted in the actions of a cult. In the film, a woman named Annabelle Higgins (Tree O'Toole) and her boyfriend, both of whom are members of said cult, break into Annabelle's estranged parents' house and kill them. While attacking her parents' neighbors, including an expectant mother named Mia (Annabelle Wallis), Annabelle is shown holding the Annabelle doll (which Mia's husband had bought for her) before dying by suicide in their nursery. The implication, of course, is that Annabelle's spirit will now inhabit the doll.

Three years later, the 2017 prequel "Annabelle: Creation" added more context to this scene, revealing that the doll's creator, Samuel (Anthony LaPaglia), and his wife lost their daughter — also named Annabelle (Samara Lee), but who goes by the nickname "Bee" — at seven years old after a car accident. They subsequently lock up their daughter's room until a group of orphans begins to reside in their home and opens it up, finding the doll in Annabelle's closet and effectively releasing a demon hiding behind the spirit of their deceased daughter.

Apparently, both of these films borrow elements from the real doll's origin story. According to the information on the Warrens' website, the daughter who owned the doll eventually had a séance and claimed a spirit named Annabelle Higgins was attached to the toy. She was allegedly a young girl, just like Bee in "Annabelle: Creation," but died in the same building, similar to what happens to Annabelle Higgins in "Annabelle."

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