ED and Lorraine Warren
Ed and Lorraine Warren have been, for the last fifty years, one of the most prominent couple of psychic investigators; the first is a well-known demonologist, while Lorraine is a trance medium. Their work is heavily based on religious belief, as the forces that they fight are, as stated by themselves, working against the will of God. As of today, Lorraine only works in certain areas and does not participate into active on-site investigations, and Ed has, sadly, passed away in 2006. On the plus side, if you need it, you might get a chance to have a consult from their son-in-law, who had been working with the Warrens for over thirty years.
But what directed the two into this unusual field of expertise? For Ed, it was his own experience as a child, growing up into a haunted house. His father never believed him about his sightings, but once Ed saw superhuman entities as a child, he made it his goal to prove their existence as an adult. As for Lorraine, she was quite the skeptic, but once married to Ed, he would quite literally drag her into checking all the presumably hunted houses and locations in general. That is how she discovered her medium abilities.
Because of its art formation, he was able to enter and visit all these houses, and through his paintings they survived and prospered into the celebrities and professionals they became. As Ed himself explained, during one of the many lectures he held, he couldn´t see ghosts. His wife can, seen as she is a medium, but for him to believe that a house was actually haunted, a scientific process had to take place. At the same time, though, the couple used mediums and clairvoyants for their investigations, and usually much more than one. That´s not all. As their process is scientific and spiritual, it is also religious: the people that they worked with the most, were members of the clergy. The process was as following: the mediums were taken and brought to the house, without having any information about the case, the location, the presence to detect, or anything related to it. If all of them gave the same information – that they saw a certain ghost in the same room, wearing something specific or of a certain gender/age- then the Warrens knew something was actually going on. At that point, to get rid of the evil spirit, ghost or whatnot, the house was blessed by one or more priests, and if that still was not enough, a mass took place. If not even that sufficed, it was time for exorcisms.
The couple of investigators even managed to win a case, in a court of law, proving the existence of ghosts. As already mentioned, the Warrens have never hidden their strongly catholic influence and beliefs, but claimed to be working for – and in accordance to- any religion. Others, the usual skeptics, claim that the couple was instead working ONLY for people of their same religion, and that Ed had, more than once, made antisemitic comments, claiming that theirs was the only true religion.
Personal beliefs aside, many sources online will claim that the couple was nothing but a scam, basing their discoveries and beliefs on nothing but their words, without anyone ever seeing all those convincing evidences they claimed to have access to. Conveniently, the two became rich out of movies, books, articles and scalper about their cases and discoveries. They have been sued and proven wrong many times by researchers of the occult, journalists, witnesses and collaborators, but for those who choose to believe their wonderful – and scary- adventures, we have laid out some of their most impressing cases.
- The Amitiville Case
This is probably the couple´s most famous case, that sees the Lutz family as its protagonists. The story starts as many other ghost ones: a happy family moves into a new house, unaware of the despicable events that took place there. In this case, the family is the Lutzs, and the haunted location is a suburban, Dutch Colonial house in Amityville, Long Island, in 1975. The family should have probably got more informed about the house, since only one year before the family´s move in, the residence had seen a mass murder by the hands of Ronald DeFeo, Jr., who killed six members of his own family. The Lutzs only resisted in this house for 28 days, during which they reported seeing, feeling and hearing evil voices, swarms of flies, family members levitating, inexplicable noises, and supernatural entities. When the Warrens were brought in, they came to the conclusion that the house was in fact haunted, and cleansed it – not before taking pictures of the ghosts, including one of a boy with glowing eyes. In an interview, years later, Lorrain confessed that this case was a very traumatic experience. Luckily enough, a hit movie that any horror passionate has seen, came out of it: The Conjuring.
- Annabelle the Doll
The second story we want to share with you, is more about a thing than a place: an innocuous – but not really – raggedy doll. This had been purchased in an antique store (thing that probably no one will ever do again) and given to the buyer´s daughter, a college student. Her and her roommate started noticing weird situations concerning the doll, that would change her position, or even room. That finally escalated into threatening notes, blood, and even a few cases of violence. Apparently, dear Annabelle, the vicious doll, particularly disliked one of the roommate´s fiancé, who woke up one day to find the doll strangling him, or walked into a darkened room feeling scratches all over his stomach. Once he turned on the light, guess who was lying on the floor right next to him? Dear Annabelle. Obviously, everyone was extremely scared – I even wonder how they got to that point and didn´t cry for help before- and that is where our heroes come into place. The Warrens took the doll, and stored it behind a security glass, and under a crucifix, in their museum. Apparently, Ed also claimed that the last person who made fun of the doll died in unforeseen and inexplicable circumstances. Spooky.
- The Southend Werewolf
One of the most curious cases of the Warrens, and of anyone else, really, involves a supposed werewolf!
The story took place in Essex, England. There, Bill Ramsey was seemingly possessed by a demon that manifested as a wolf. Apparently, his life was normal and happy, until one day, when he was still a kid, he felt an unnatural cold overtake his body, and he was invaded by a tremendous and uncontrollable rage, almost animal-like. Nothing happened for many years after the episode, until he got married. It was in these days that he started having nightmares, cold sweats, and panting like an animal in his sleep. The man became violent, both to his friends and during his occupation. Many times, he was also forced to visit the hospital, showing rage symptoms, inhuman strength, growling and hands curled like claws: every item on the list of werewolf’s traits checked. And then again, the Warrens came. Ed stated that Ramsey had asked to be locked up somewhere safe, so that he couldn´t harm himself or others. A successful exorcism took place, and Ramsey started to get better.
So, where does the truth stand? Some will say that the Warrens were a fraud, who took advantage of other people´s pain in order to make money out of movies, books, and fame in general. But if you have felt some weird entities, experienced supernatural events, or have encountered in any of these problems, then you might disagree. In fact, you may actually think that the work that these people have done, should be even more recognised, as there must be nothing as bad as not feeling safe in your own house, especially because of something so scary as a demoniac entity. As their son in law, Tony Spera, stated, the Warrens undoubtedly believed in ghosts, spirits and demons, and all they wanted was to help people deal with them in the best way possible. They would be available at any hour of day and night to spring to anyone´s aid, wherever they were needed. Often, no one else was available for these people, and as one might imagine, saying that you were seeing ghosts would have encouraged most of the people to recommend you to a psychiatrist. But not them.
We choose to believe that Ed, Lorrain and Tony were, and still are, superheroes of the misunderstood possessed and haunted; and if not, they brought apparent peace to people who needed it.
Author Letizia
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