If you were to see the real Annabelle doll today, you might not sense anything amiss at first. She’s a classic Raggedy Ann doll with red yarn hair and a sweet half-smile stitched on her face. Annabelle now sits sealed inside a wooden glass-front case, upon which the Lord’s Prayer and Saint Michael’s Prayer are inscribed. Beneath the case lies a boldly worded sign: “Warning: Positively do not open.”. This warning isn’t there for aesthetics – it’s there because of the doll’s disturbing reputation.
To the casual visitor, Annabelle’s cheerful grin and button eyes look perfectly ordinary, even nostalgic. But according to those who have encountered her, this doll is anything but ordinary. Since her first alleged haunting in 1970, Annabelle has been accused of wreaking supernatural havoc – demonic possession, physical attacks, and at least two near-death experiences have all been attributed to this “evil” doll. Her infamy even inspired a hit horror film series (though the movie version, with its porcelain features, is quite different from the humble rag doll locked in the case).
So what happened back in 1970 to put Annabelle on the map as one of the world’s most haunted dolls? How did a child’s toy become the center of a terrifying true tale? Let’s rewind to where it all began – with a thoughtful gift and a series of unexplained events that would escalate beyond anything the recipient could have imagined.
A Nurse’s Birthday Gift and Unexplained Occurrences
Our story begins in 1970. A young woman named Donna (identified in some sources as “Deirdre”) was turning 28 and training to be a nurse. For her birthday, Donna’s mother bought her a present that seemed, at the time, both thoughtful and utterly ordinary – a large Raggedy Ann doll. Donna was delighted with the cute, classic doll and brought it back to the apartment in Hartford, Connecticut that she shared with her roommate, Angie, who was also a nurse.
At first, Annabelle (as the doll would come to be known) was a benign decoration. Donna would keep the doll propped up on the sofa in their living room, adding a bit of whimsical charm to the place. But it wasn’t long before the two roommates began to notice things that made them question their own eyes. The doll didn’t always stay where they left her. In fact, Donna would swear that she had left Annabelle sitting on the living room couch, yet on several occasions she’d come home from work to find the doll in Donna’s bedroom instead – with the door mysteriously closed. No one else had been home.
Then things grew stranger. The women started discovering handwritten messages around the apartment, scrawled on what looked like old parchment paper. The notes bore pleas like “Help Me” – as if written by a distressed child. This was puzzling and creepy for a couple of reasons. For one, the handwriting looked as though it could have come from a small child. And perhaps more unsettling: neither Donna nor Angie kept any parchment paper in the apartment. Where was this paper coming from? Who (or what) was writing these cries for help?
As you might imagine, the bizarre occurrences left the two young nurses rattled. They felt like they were living in a real-life ghost story – and in a sense, they were. Still, at this point the disturbances were mild enough that Donna and Angie weren’t sure what to do. They tried to rationalize them: Perhaps one of them had moved the doll and forgotten? Perhaps the notes were someone’s idea of a prank? But those guesses couldn’t explain everything. And soon, events took a turn from weird to actively dangerous.
One afternoon, Donna’s friend Lou (sometimes described as Angie’s boyfriend) was taking a nap in the apartment while Donna was out. By this time, both Donna and Angie had grown increasingly uneasy with the doll, and Lou had been vocal about thinking they should get rid of Annabelle. As the story goes, Lou was asleep when he was abruptly jarred awake by a terrifying experience. He later said it felt like someone was in the room with him. He heard rustling sounds coming from Donna’s bedroom, as if an intruder had broken in. Lou got up and went to investigate. The room was empty – except for Annabelle, who was lying on the floor face-down in the corner.
As he approached the doll, Lou suddenly felt a searing pain in his chest. Looking down, he discovered bloody claw marks slashed across his chest – roughly seven distinct scratches, as he later described it. The wounds were hot and burned, as if inflicted by invisible claws. Everyone present was stunned. Strangely, the claw-like scratches healed very quickly, vanishing entirely in just a couple of days. But the message was clear: something was very wrong in that apartment, and it seemed to be centered on the doll.
This violent incident was the final straw. What had been a series of unsettling pranks was now physical harm. Donna and Angie could no longer pretend that Annabelle’s antics were just in their imaginations. They needed help – and they needed it fast.
The Séance and the Spirit of “Annabelle”
With nowhere else to turn, Donna and Angie decided to consult a professional medium for answers. They invited a local psychic medium to their apartment, hoping she could shed light on the bizarre happenings. As they all gathered, the medium began a séance – attempting to communicate with whatever spirit might have been inhabiting the doll or the apartment.
During the séance, the medium made contact (or at least, claimed to) with an otherworldly presence. She informed the young women that the doll was inhabited by the spirit of a deceased girl named Annabelle Higgins. According to the medium, Annabelle Higgins was a seven-year-old girl (some versions say she was six) who had lived long ago on the property before the apartment complex was built. The story went that Annabelle Higgins had died tragically on that site. If true, this might explain the childish handwriting on the “Help Me” notes. The medium conveyed that Annabelle’s spirit had lingered and found refuge in the doll.
Crucially, the medium described Annabelle’s spirit as benevolent – a lost, lonely little girl with no evil intentions. She was drawn to Donna and Angie, the medium said, because she admired them and wanted to stay with them, feeling safe and cared for. Through the medium, the spirit “asked” for permission to reside in the doll and live with the young women.
Donna and Angie were both compassionate people – they were training to be nurses, after all. The idea of a lonely child’s ghost inhabiting the doll tugged at their hearts. By this point, they were also desperate for an explanation for the strange events. Believing they might now understand what was happening, the roommates agreed to let the spirit stay. In their minds, they weren’t dealing with a demon or a malevolent ghost; they thought they had a sort of unusual but innocent “guest” – the spirit of little Annabelle. They even started referring to the Raggedy Ann doll by the name “Annabelle” from then on.
For a short while, this seemed to bring a sense of relief. At least now Donna and Angie thought they knew what was going on: a little ghost just looking for love. Unfortunately, their act of kindness may have been exactly the opening that the entity was looking for. According to the account that would later be given to paranormal investigators, the worst was yet to come. The disturbances not only continued, but began to escalate. Donna later said that it felt like whatever was in the doll had been lying in wait, and inviting the “spirit” to stay signaled permission for a darker presence to step forward.
By now, the increasingly frightened women felt out of their depth. This was no longer a sweet story of a ghost girl – it was something unpredictable and threatening. So in a final bid for help, they reached out to a priest, hoping for a more authoritative intervention.
Enter Ed and Lorraine Warren
Donna’s next call was to an Episcopal priest, known as Father Hegan, in the hope that he could help rid them of this entity. Father Hegan listened to Donna and Angie’s story and, deeming it a matter beyond his parish expertise, he contacted a higher authority: Father Cooke, his superior. Father Cooke, after hearing the details, in turn reached out to a pair of people who were becoming quite famous for dealing with these kinds of phenomena – Ed and Lorraine Warren.
Ed and Lorraine Warren were a husband-and-wife team of paranormal investigators (Ed, a demonologist, and Lorraine, a self-described clairvoyant) who had investigated many high-profile hauntings. By 1970, the Warrens had already established the New England Society for Psychic Research and were known for cases like the Amityville Horror. When Father Cooke explained the situation, Ed and Lorraine agreed to take on the case of the Annabelle doll. They arrived at Donna and Angie’s apartment eager to investigate and help.
The Warrens immediately began interviewing the two young women and Lou, and assessing the doll. It didn’t take long for Ed and Lorraine to conclude that something far more sinister than a ghost was attached to Annabelle. In fact, the Warrens believed no human child’s spirit was in that doll at all. “As far as Ed and Lorraine Warren were concerned,” the real trouble began the moment Donna and Angie welcomed the entity in and began treating the doll with sympathy. This kindness, they warned, had been misguided – because according to the Warrens, the entity inside Annabelle wasn’t a lost little girl at all, but something inhuman in disguise.
After studying the case, the Warrens came to a dramatic conclusion: Annabelle was not haunted by a ghost, but was infested by a demon. The “Annabelle Higgins” story, they said, was a **lie – a trick to earn the homeowners’ trust. In their view, no mere spirit can possess a doll, at least not in the way a soul possesses a living body. Instead, Ed Warren explained that an inhuman demonic spirit can attach itself to an object, creating the illusion of it being alive, with the ultimate goal of possessing a human host. As the Warrens’ official case report put it: “Spirits do not possess inanimate objects like houses or toys; they possess people. An inhuman spirit can attach itself to a place or object – and this is what occurred in the Annabelle case. This spirit manipulated the doll and created the illusion of it being alive in order to get recognition. Truly, the spirit was not looking to stay attached to the doll; it was looking to possess a human host.”
In other words, the Warrens believed the doll itself was not “haunted” by a child, but rather being manipulated by a demon that preyed on the empathy of its owners. By pretending to be the ghost of little Annabelle, the entity managed to get Donna and Angie to grant it permission to stay – a critical step, according to demonological lore, in manifesting stronger activity.
Once on the case, Ed and Lorraine took action quickly. Signs of demonic activity were, in their view, abundantly clear. They noted several classic hallmarks of a demonic infestation in the apartment, including:
- Teleportation – the doll seemingly moving from place to place on its own (such as being left in one room and appearing in another).
- Materialization – the mysterious appearance of objects, like the handwritten notes on parchment paper that materialized out of nowhere.
- The “Mark of the Beast” – the inexplicable claw-like scratches on Lou’s chest, seen as a demonic attack (the beastly three-toed claw marks being a mocking inversion of the Holy Trinity, according to lore).
All these occurrences lined up with the Warrens’ knowledge of demonic cases. Convinced of the urgency, the Warrens decided the best course was to get the demon away from Donna and Angie as soon as possible.
First, Father Cooke performed a blessing and exorcism of the apartment to cleanse the home. This ritual was meant to cast out any lingering evil from the residence itself. Then the Warrens took possession of the Raggedy Ann doll. Donna, Angie, and Lou were more than ready to hand Annabelle over to the Warrens’ care at this point. The Warrens promised the young women that they would take Annabelle with them and secure it, so it could do no further harm. In Ed Warren’s words, they were removing “Annabelle’s* pernicious influence” from the girls’ lives.
Ed and Lorraine left the apartment with the doll in their arms, believing they had successfully quelled the immediate danger. They had no idea that Annabelle’s frightening saga was about to continue – this time, in the Warrens’ own home.
“Demonic Detour” – Annabelle on the Road and at Home
After leaving Donna and Angie’s apartment, Ed and Lorraine Warren carefully placed Annabelle in the back seat of their car. It was a relief to have the doll out of the girls’ apartment, but the Warrens were very cautious with their new charge. As a precaution, Ed chose to avoid the high-speed highways on their drive home. He later said this was because he feared the doll might try to cause an accident if provoked – better to take the back roads and drive slow.
Sure enough, even on the back roads, trouble found them. While Ed was driving, Lorraine reported that the car began stalling and the brakes failed multiple times, leading to several near-crashes as they attempted to bring the car under control. It seemed as if some invisible force was interfering with the vehicle – a terrifying prospect when you’re on the road. Ed immediately pulled over, reached into his bag, and took out a small vial of Holy Water. According to Lorraine, Ed doused the doll sitting in the back seat with Holy Water, and the disturbance abruptly stopped. The remainder of the journey home was uneventful; Annabelle, it appeared, had been temporarily subdued.
Once home in Monroe, Connecticut, the Warrens weren’t about to take any chances. Ed placed the doll in his personal office for the time being. But Annabelle did not stay put for long. At first, the Warrens reported that the doll would levitate and even change rooms within their house. Remember, this is after the apartment exorcism, so whatever attachment was with the doll had come along. On at least one occasion, Ed locked Annabelle in the outer office (a small building separate from the main house). To his astonishment, Annabelle somehow ended up back inside the house later, as if she had passed through solid walls or teleported through doors. These incidents confirmed to the Warrens that Annabelle was still a serious threat in their home.
Their solution was to effectively quarantine the doll. Ed and Lorraine had a special case built just for Annabelle – a sort of supernatural holding cell. They commissioned a glass-and-wood display case and had it specially blessed. They even carved protective prayers into the wood of the cabinet: the Lord’s Prayer and the St. Michael prayer were inscribed around its frame. In addition, Ed regularly recited a binding prayer over the case to reinforce the containment of whatever evil was attached to the doll. Once Annabelle was locked in, the case was nailed shut and never intended to be opened again, except by the Warrens under very controlled circumstances.
From that point on, Annabelle remained in the Warrens’ Occult Museum, a room in their house devoted to housing haunted and cursed objects from their cases. In the years that followed, Annabelle’s physical doll form reportedly never moved again on its own as long as she stayed in the locked case. It seemed the prayers and precautions were working to keep the entity at bay – at least to a point. However, just because Annabelle wasn’t moving didn’t mean the evil attached to her was dormant. If the Warrens are to be believed, the demonic presence tied to the doll found other ways to lash out.
The Warrens have claimed several terrifying incidents over the years involving Annabelle, even while she was safely locked behind glass. One such story involves a Catholic priest who visited the Warrens’ home. The priest, upon seeing Annabelle in her case, made the mistake of dismissively picking the doll up or otherwise showing disrespect toward her. Ed Warren instantly admonished him, warning the priest not to mock a demonic force. The priest, however, confidently declared something to the effect of, “You’re just a doll, you can’t hurt anyone,” and flippantly tossed Annabelle back into her chair. Lorraine recounted that on the priest’s drive back home that day, he experienced a brake failure and a serious near-fatal crash, which completely totaled his car. The priest survived, but he was shaken. He claimed that just before the wreck, he saw the image of Annabelle’s doll face in his rearview mirror— as if the doll (or what inhabited it) had latched onto him to deliver a warning.
Another often-told tale of Annabelle’s wrath concerns a visitor to the museum, a young man who came with his girlfriend on a motorcycle. According to Ed Warren, during the tour, the young man started laughing at Annabelle, scoffing at how people could be so superstitious. To prove he wasn’t afraid, he banged on the glass of her case, daring her to scratch him like she had scratched Lou. Ed immediately intervened, strongly reprimanding the man and escorting the couple out, saying it was time for them to go. The pair got on their motorcycle and rode off. Tragically, they never made it home. Only minutes down the road, the couple were apparently struck by an accident. The young man lost control of the motorcycle and crashed head-on into a tree. He was killed instantly, and his girlfriend was injured but survived. The girlfriend later reported that at the exact moment of the accident, they had indeed been joking about the Annabelle doll – the memory of their mockery is the last thing she recalls just before the crash.
Over the years, Ed and Lorraine Warren often recounted these stories as stark warnings to anyone who would doubt Annabelle’s alleged powers. The dramatic nature of these tales certainly added to Annabelle’s mystique and fear factor. It must be noted, however, that these incidents have never been independently verified by outside sources. We only have the Warrens’ word (and in the motorcycle case, the surviving girlfriend’s word) that these events happened as described. There are no police reports naming a doll as the cause of a crash, of course. This leads some people to be skeptical, suspecting that such stories may have grown in the telling. Indeed, skeptics have investigated the Warrens’ museum and claims – for instance, the New England Skeptical Society once concluded that many of the Warrens’ artifacts (Annabelle included) were surrounded by “embellished” legends and unverifiable stories. Nonetheless, the lack of hard evidence hasn’t stopped Annabelle’s legend from growing. The Warrens’ chilling anecdotes have become an enduring part of the doll’s lore, serving as cautionary tales: Don’t challenge the doll, don’t mock it, and above all, never open that case.
Where Is Annabelle Now?
So, what became of Annabelle, the Raggedy Ann with a purported demon attached? Ed and Lorraine Warren’s Occult Museum, located in the quiet town of Monroe, Connecticut, became Annabelle’s home from the moment the Warrens took her in. For decades she remained there on display, “safely” locked in her prayer-inscribed case, as one of the prime attractions in the Warrens’ collection of haunted objects. The museum itself, which was housed in the Warren family’s own home, featured everything from possessed dolls to cursed artifacts the pair had collected during their investigations. Visitors could take a guided tour (for a donation) and hear the stories behind each item – with Annabelle’s case typically being the show-stopper of the tour.
However, the museum is no longer open to the public. In 2019, the Warrens’ Occult Museum was forced to close its doors, at least temporarily, due to zoning issues and local regulations. After Lorraine Warren passed away in 2019 (Ed had passed in 2006), the care of Annabelle and the other haunted relics fell to the Warrens’ son-in-law, Tony Spera, who is himself a paranormal researcher. Spera now acts as the curator and guardian of Annabelle. Even though the museum is closed, Annabelle has not gone anywhere – she remains in the Warrens’ private collection, still sealed in her case. In fact, Tony Spera has reassured the public on this point. In August 2020, rumors wildly spread on social media that Annabelle had “escaped” her enclosure and gone missing (a rumor likely sparked by hoaxes or misinterpretations of an interview). Spera quickly put those rumors to rest by posting a video of himself standing next to the very-much-contained Annabelle inside the museum. In the video, with the famous doll by his side, he says plainly: “Annabelle is here, in all her infamous glory. She never left the museum.”. In a half-joking tone he added that if she had left, “I’d be concerned, because she’s nothing to play with.”. In other words, Annabelle is still on lockdown, and according to her caretakers, that’s exactly how it must remain.
Even with the museum closed, Annabelle occasionally makes special appearances – under very controlled conditions. In recent years, Spera and the New England Society for Psychic Research have allowed the doll to travel for limited paranormal events and exhibits. For example, in May 2025 the doll was brought to the old Moundsville Penitentiary in West Virginia as part of a event called the “Devils on the Run” tour, where select items from the Warrens’ Occult Museum collection are shown to the public. Videos of Annabelle being transported (in a locked container) and unveiled at that haunted prison went viral on TikTok, racking up millions of views. Similar events have been held or scheduled in places like New Orleans, Gettysburg, San Antonio, and elsewhere – essentially a traveling roadshow for Annabelle and other notorious Warren artifacts. These appearances are handled with extreme caution: Annabelle is typically escorted by a team, kept in her case, and never directly touched by the public. It’s as much about spectacle as it is about safety, and attendees are constantly reminded of the Warren family’s belief: that Annabelle’s curse is real and must be treated with respect.
Today, over 50 years since Donna first received that doll, Annabelle remains an object of ongoing fascination and fear. She has become a fixture in the paranormal world – a doll that simply sits quietly, but whose story continues to spook people around the globe. The sign on her case still reads “Positively Do Not Open”, and those who watch over her continue to heed that warning. Whether you’re skeptical or a true believer, there’s no denying that the legend of Annabelle has taken on a life of its own. From a humble Raggedy Ann doll, she has become an icon of haunted lore – the doll that waits behind glass, drawing the curious and the brave to wonder what she might be waiting for.
As for Donna, Angie, and Lou – the people who first faced Annabelle’s terror – they wisely never took the doll back. They were rid of the nightmare, thanks to the Warrens’ intervention, and presumably went on with their lives, likely never expecting that their eerie tale would become so famous. Ed and Lorraine Warren, for their part, would often cite the Annabelle case as a prime example of why one should never take such disturbances lightly. In lectures, Ed would hold up Annabelle’s story as proof that even the most innocent-looking items could harbor dark forces, and he urged people to be cautious of the supernatural.
So, if you ever find yourself face-to-face with the real Annabelle doll – perhaps at one of those paranormal events – what should you do? The safe answer: look, but do not touch. Don’t taunt her, don’t try to open that case, and certainly don’t take her lightly. The people closest to this case assert that these precautions are no joke. As Tony Spera analogized, messing with Annabelle is like playing Russian roulette – maybe nothing will happen, but if you’re wrong, the consequences could be deadly. With a risk like that, why chance it?
And with that, we conclude our chilling tale of Annabelle. A doll given in kindness, that purportedly unleashed something terrifying; a case that brought renowned demonologists to the rescue; and an artifact that now spends its days locked up, forever waiting behind a warning sign. Annabelle’s story is a reminder that sometimes truth is stranger – and spookier – than fiction.