Joe Nickell The Warrens who or what are the Warrens Ed and Lorraine Warren on the Sally show in 1992. What do they have to do with Nickell His insistence on documented facts led to a heated exchange with Ed and Lorraine Warren on the Sally show in 1992. was Nickell an actor " to describe his work, his evidenced-based investigations of paranormal events has not yet uncovered any miracles, ghosts or monsters. Did he work on the show I don't know.
What did the warrens have to say
What did the warrens have to say
Although Nickell rejects the term "debunker" to describe his work, his evidenced-based investigations of paranormal events has not yet uncovered any miracles, ghosts or monsters. His insistence on documented facts led to a heated exchange with Ed and Lorraine Warren on the Sally show in 1992. Nickell and the Warrens appeared on Sally Jesse Raphael's talk show with the Snedeker family, whose reports of ghosts and demons led to the 1992 book, In A Dark Place, The Story Of A True Haunting by novelist Ray Garton and the 2009 movie, The Haunting in Connecticut. After an on-air threat of violence from Ed Warren, Nickell stated: I've investigated haunted houses for some twenty years. I've not met a house that I thought was haunted; I think the Warrens have not met a house they didn't think was haunted. ...The houses that sincere people report they think are haunted usually follow a certain pattern. This is a hodgepodge of the sort of ghost tale, poltergeist, part demon, part this, part that. We saw a similar pattern with the Amityville Horror, a case that the Warrens thought was genuine. It turned out to be a blatant hoax, concocted over several bottles of wine. Nickell continues to cite the Warrens as an example of exploitative and harmful charlatans. He told Blake Smith, host of the MonsterTalk podcast, The next thing you know, the Warrens have convinced everybody that there were demons involved. Lorraine would go into one of her light trances, which would mean she would just close her eyes and haul off and say something. She would sense some demonic presence. The two of them would talk a good talk about this. You see these poor unsuspecting people who first of all don't know anything about the paranormal and not aware that there are no haunted places, only haunted people, as Robert Baker used to say. When you have someone who's an expert explaining to them that there are these different kinds of spirits and this and that and the other, they don't know any better. They think maybe these people know what they're talking about. It's interesting that in every case of this, these were Catholic families. Ed and Lorraine would show up and convince them that it was really demonic and that they really needed to use their Catholic powers of exorcism and holy water and so forth. They were converted into a demonic book and then they would get a ghost writer. All of the shenanigans would be restyled and exaggerated and spooky elements thrown in. CANNOTANSWER
the Warrens have convinced everybody that there were demons involved.
Joe Nickell (born December 1, 1944) is an American skeptic and investigator of the paranormal.

Nickell is senior research fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and  writes regularly for their journal, the Skeptical Inquirer. He is also an associate dean of the Center for Inquiry Institute. He is the author or editor of over 30 books.

Among his career highlights, Nickell helped expose the James Maybrick "Jack the Ripper Diary" as a hoax. In 2002, Nickell was one of a number of experts asked by scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to evaluate the authenticity of the manuscript of Hannah Crafts' The Bondwoman's Narrative (1853–1860), possibly the first novel by an African-American woman. At the request of document dealer and historian, Seth Keller, Nickell analyzed documentation in the dispute over the authorship of "The Night Before Christmas", ultimately supporting the Clement Clarke Moore claim.

Early life, education and family
Joe Nickell is the son of J. Wendell and Ella (Turner) Nickell, and was born and raised in  West Liberty, Kentucky. His parents indulged his interest in magic and investigation, allowing him to use a room in their house as a crime lab.

He earned a B.A. degree in 1967 from the University of Kentucky.

To avoid the wide draft for the Vietnam War, the following year in 1968, at the age of 24, he moved to Canada. There he began his careers as a magician, card dealer, and private investigator. After President Jimmy Carter granted unconditional pardons to draft dodgers in 1977, Nickell returned to the United States.

He returned to the University of Kentucky for graduate work, earning an M.A. (1982), and Ph.D (1987). His Ph.D is in English, focusing on literary investigation and folklore.

In late 2003, Nickell reconnected with his college girlfriend, Diana G. Harris. He learned he had a daughter by her named Cherette, and two grandsons, Tyner and Chase. Harris had married before but divorced. She and Nickell married April 1, 2006. Harris has since assisted Nickell in his investigative work.

Diane Harris had told Cherette that her biological father was her first husband, but the daughter questioned her lack of resemblance to him. On Cherette's wedding day, one of the guests mentioned that her parents weren't married when she was conceived. Later, based on intuition, Cherette challenged her mother directly about her father and sensed equivocation. After more conversations and a DNA test, Cherette learned that Nickell was her biological father.

Nickell used his daughter's claim that she had made an intuitive search for him as the basis for an article on the unconscious collection and processing of data. In it he concluded:
"Cautions notwithstanding, I must admit to a new appreciation of intuition, without which I would not have known of my wonderful daughter--and two grandsons! It's enough to warm an old skeptic's heart."

Career

Nickell has worked professionally as a stage magician, carnival pitchman, private detective, blackjack dealer, riverboat manager, university instructor, author, and paranormal investigator, and lists more than 1,000 personae on his website. Since the early 1980s, he has researched, written, co-authored, and edited books in many genres. 

He was profiled by The New Yorker writer Burkhard Bilger, who met Nickell during the summer of 2002 at Lily Dale, New York. The investigator had disguised himself to investigate Spiritualist psychics.

Nickell is a recurring guest on the Point of Inquiry podcast and conducts the annual Houdini Seance at the Center for Inquiry every Halloween.
 He is frequently consulted by news and television producers for his skeptical perspective.

Nickell explained his philosophy to Blake Smith of the Skeptic podcast MonsterTalk.

He served as a character consultant to Hilary Swank in her starring role in the horror film The Reaping (2007), in which she plays a paranormal investigator.

Books
Nickell's books can be divided into four main categories—religious, forensic, paranormal, and mysteries. He has also written two books for young readers and two stand-alone books, one on UFOs, one on a regional alcoholic drink, and several additional small press and "contributed to" books.

Miracles and religious artifacts

Nickell has investigated religious artifacts and claimed phenomena. Beginning in 1982 with his book Inquest on the Shroud of Turin: Latest Scientific Findings, Nickell demonstrates his research model of collecting evidence and following that evidence to a sustainable conclusion. He updated the book in 1998 with more recent historical, iconographic, forensic, physical and chemical evidence, with special explanations of the radiocarbon dating process.

In his 1993 book, Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions and Healing Cures, updated in 1998, Nickell analyzes miracles claimed by various religions. For each incident, Nickell reviews the contemporaneous written accounts, explores various natural explanations, explains the cultural environment surrounding the events, and speculates on the motivations of the affected religious community. He concludes that the claimed miracles were either hoaxes or misinterpretations of natural phenomena.

For instance, after studying the weeping St. Irene icon in Queens, New York, Nickell said,

Relics of the Christ (2007, British edition published as The Jesus Relics: From the Holy Grail to the Turin Shroud), focuses on the Christian tradition of relics. Speaking with D.J. Grothe on the Point of Inquiry podcast, Nickell proposed that veneration of relics had become a new idolatry; that is, worship of an actual deity within the relics in form of an entity that moves its eyes, weeps, bleeds, and walks. He said that although no icon in history has ever been proven authentic, in the sense of displaying such attributes, he approaches each case with a suspension of disbelief: "I'm interested in the evidence because I want us to know what the truth is ... I urge skeptics ... not to be as closed-minded as the other side is ridiculously open-minded."

In 2008, Prometheus Books published John Calvin's Treatise on Relics with an introduction by Nickell. He wrote a brief biography of Calvin and uses references from his own 2007 Relics book.

In his The Science of Miracles: Investigating the Incredible (2013), Nickell applied his investigative technique to 57 reported miracles. From the Virgin Mary's face appearing on a grilled cheese sandwich, to the Cross's regeneration after pieces were removed, to the structural deficiencies of the Loretto Chapel staircase, Nickell's describes fact and myth are presented with clarity and respect. The book was criticized in the New York Journal of Books for research limited to non-Biblical sources.

Forensic investigations

Nickell's first book in the authentication genre was Pen, Ink, and Evidence: A study of Writing and Writing Materials for the Penman, Collector, and Document Detective, described as a definitive work for researchers and practitioners. Mary Hood of the Georgia Review praised Nickell's scholarship:

In Camera Clues: A Handbook for Photographic Investigation, Nickell begins with the history of photography. He presents methods of dating photographs, from the physical characteristics of the work, to the subject and contents of the photo. He explains how old photographs can be faked and how those fakes can be detected. He also describes identification of persons and places in old photos and the use of photography by law enforcement. He explains various trick photography techniques, including ghost and spirit photography. These have become even more elaborate with the use of computer images or digital camera technology.

Detecting Forgery: Forensic Investigation of Documents (1996) presents an overview of a document expert's work. He says that forged documents are often revealed by the forgers' ignorance of or inability to re-create historic typefaces, inks, papers, pens, watermarks, signatures, and historic styles. Nickell explains forgeries of Daniel Boone's musket, Mark Hofmann's Mormon papers, and the Vinland Map.

According to Publishers Weekly, Crime Science: Methods of Forensic Detection (1998) provided extensive basic information, with brief case studies.

In Real or Fake: Studies in Authentication (2009), Nickell drew on his early work related to technical aspects of paper, ink, typefaces, pens, and other keys to determining authenticity of paper documents. New material details the step-by-step investigations of specific cases: the purported diary of Jack the Ripper (fake), The Bondwoman's Narrative (date authenticated, author unknown), Lincoln's Lost Gettysburg Address (fake), and An Outlaw's Scribblings (fake).

Paranormal investigations

Secrets of the Supernatural:  Investigating the World's Occult Mysteries was Nickell's first book of his paranormal investigation genre. He and his collaborator, John F. Fisher, look for the answers to the Crystal Skulls, spontaneous human combustion, the Mackenzie House, and lesser known mysteries. On a Point of Inquiry podcast years later, Nickell explained that the same mysteries are reported over and over again because, "For each new generation, they have to re-learn that there is controversy ... Each new generation hears these for the first time ... It's an endless process in which you have to be willing to speak to the next crop of people."

Missing Pieces: How to Investigate Ghosts, UFOs, Psychics, and Other Mysteries, written by Nickell and Robert A. Baker, is a handbook that combines the practical techniques of investigating the paranormal with a description of the psychology of believers. Nickell often quoted Baker, "... there are no haunted places, only haunted people."

Mysterious Realms: Probing Paranormal, Historical, and Forensic Enigmas, written by Nickell and Fisher, analyzes 10 frequently reported mysteries, including the Kennedy assassination, Kentucky's Gray Lady ghost, and UFO cover-up conspiracy theories.

Nickell asked several researchers to investigate claims of psychic detectives. He collected their reports in Psychic Sleuths: ESP and Sensational Cases. None of the reports credits the psychics with factually supported insights. Nickell concludes that these individuals were either self-deluded or frauds. They used other psychological techniques to gain information, such as cold reading in discussions with police detectives, or retrofitting.

In Entities: Angels, Spirits, Demons, and Other Alien Beings, Nickell shows the development of ghost stories since the 17th century, and how they have been influenced by changing technology and communication methods. The faked Cottingley Fairies photographs, for example, became possible only when cameras became available to the general public.

The Outer Edge: Classic Investigations of the Paranormal is a collection of articles edited by Nickell, Barry Karr and Tom Genoni. It features Nickell and John F. Fischer's 1987 article, "Incredible Cremations: Investigating Spontaneous Combustion Deaths," along with essays by Martin Gardner, Ray Hyman, Susan Blackmore, and James Randi.

Adventures in Paranormal Investigation is a more detailed work than many of Nickell's. He ranges from dowsing to Frankenstein to healing spas. He includes an essay about learning that he had an adult daughter and accepting that she attributed her search for him to "intuition".

The first half of CSI Paranormal is a handbook on how to investigate paranormal claims. Nickell discusses his investigative strategy to:
Investigate on site
Check details of an account
Research precedents
Carefully examine physical evidence
Analyze development of a phenomenon
Assess a claim with a controlled test or experiment
Consider an innovative analysis
Attempt to recreate the "impossible"
Go undercover to investigate
In the second half of the book, Nickell shows how this strategy has been used to evaluate the claims of the Giant Ell, the Roswell UFO, the grilled cheese Madonna, and John Edward.

In The Science of Ghosts (2012), Nickell relates several archetype ghost stories—the girl in the snow, Elvis, phantom soldiers, and haunted lighthouses, castles, ships, and theaters. By tracking the development of these stories over the years, he demonstrates that the stories are not evidence of spirits, but evidence of the effects an appropriate setting can have on susceptible witnesses. He includes an analysis of 21st-century paranormal investigators, particularly Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson of the Syfy Channel's Ghost Hunters. He compares their investigations of the Myrtles Plantation, the Winchester Mystery House and the St. Augustine Lighthouse with his own.

Mysteries

Ambrose Bierce Is Missing And Other Historical Mysteries was Nickell's 1992 foray presenting historical investigations to the reading public. In the introduction, he uses the legal concepts of "a preponderance of the evidence" and "clear and compelling evidence" as standards by which hypotheses explaining mysteries should be objectively measured. Subjectively wishing an explanation is true can lead to imposing a hypothesis on the data instead of using data to test a hypothesis (the scientific method). Nickell's 2005 update of Ambrose Bierce, Unsolved History: Investigating Mysteries of the Past, is the same text with the addition of two books to its "Recommended Works".

Real-Life X-Files and its sequel, The Mystery Chronicle are a series of short essays on the histories, expanding mythologies, and likely causes of several dozen mysteries. In some cases, Nickell re-creates the legends, demonstrating that no special powers are needed to duplicate the effects. In others, he answers common lore with facts uncovered in his research. In 1982, Nickell and five of his relatives created a 440 foot long condor in a field in Kentucky by plotting coordinates of points on a drawing, a technique Nickell believes could have been used to create the Nazca Lines in Peru. "That is, on the small drawing we would measure along the center line from one end (the bird's beak) to a point on the line directly opposite the point to be plotted (say a wing tip). Then we would measure the distance from the center line to the desired point. A given number of units on the small drawing would require the same number of units—larger units—on the large drawing." In the case of West Virginia's Mothman, Nickell interviewed witnesses and conducted on-site experiments to find the most likely explanation for the original sightings. This investigation found that the mis-identification of an owl—most likely a Barred owl—was the most likely explanation.

Harry Eager of the Maui News calls Secrets of Sideshows "... virtually an encyclopedia of that nearly extinct form of entertainment."  He faults Nickell for downplaying the brutality and grim fakery of the shows, especially what he calls "prettying" the geeks.

Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World's Most Elusive Creatures is a collaboration of Nickell and Ben Radford. Author Ed Grabianowski summarizes one of the many possible explanations for lake monster sightings,

The research for Tracking the Man-Beasts: Sasquatch, Vampires, Zombies, and More took Nickell to many locations of reported monster sightings—the Pacific Northwest for Bigfoot, Australia for the Yowie, Austria for werewolves, New England for vampires, Argentina for the Chupacabra, West Virginia for aliens, and Louisiana for the swamp creatures. Nickell traces the monsters' iconography from first reports to latest sightings, concluding that the tales reflect the evolution of their cultural environment, not any basis in fact. A quote from his guide in the Louisiana swamps provides insight into the genesis of the tales, "... frightening tales could sometimes have been concocted to keep outsiders away—to safeguard prime hunting territory or even possibly to help protect moonshine stills. Charbonnet also suggested that such stories served in a bogyman fashion, frightening children so they would keep away from dangerous areas."

Young readers

In 1989, Nickell wrote his first book for young readers, The Magic Detectives: Join Them in Solving Strange Mysteries, engaging children by presenting paranormal stories in the form of mysteries with clues embedded in the narrative. The solutions, printed upside down, follow each story. The book also contains teachers' guides for additional assignments and recommended readings.

The 1991 Wonder Workers! How They Perform the Impossible was summarized by P.J. Rooks as, "... a 200-year, biographical tour of some of the more famous shenanigans and side show splendors of both sincere and charlatan magicians ... {that} guides readers on a fascinating exposé of magical history that leaves us, at the end of every page, thinking, "A-ha! I was wondering how they did that!"

UFOs
In 1997, Nickell, with Kendrick Frazier and Barry Karr, published The UFO Invasion, an anthology of UFO articles written for the Skeptical Inquirer covering the topic from history and abductions to Roswell and crop circles. The editors included six of Nickell's articles in the book. Nickell explained the physiology of alien abduction stories, "People claiming to be abducted by aliens is such an astonishing thing that you think they have either be crazy or lying, and in fact they may be perfectly sane and normal. ... They probably were having these powerful waking dreams. ... In this state, they tend to see bizarre imagery. ... The other kind of experience is hypnosis. ... Hypnosis is the yellow brick road to fantasy land."

Other investigations

The Shroud of Turin
 The Shroud of Turin, claimed to be the burial cloth of Jesus miraculously imprinted with the image of his crucified body, is one of Christianity's most famous icons. The Roman Catholic Church, in possession of the Shroud since 1983, has allowed several public viewings and encourages devotions to the image, but takes no official position on the icon's authenticity. Nickell and others contend the Shroud is a 14th-century painting on linen, verified through radiocarbon dating. One of Nickell's many objections to the Shroud's authenticity is the proportions of the figure's face and body. Both are consistent with the proportions used by Gothic artists of the period and are not those of an actual person. Experts on both sides of the controversy have tried to duplicate the Shroud using medieval and modern methods. Claimants to the Shroud's authenticity believe the image could have been produced at the moment of resurrection by radiation, electrical discharge, or ultraviolet radiation; Nickell created a credible shroud using the bas relief method and contends that forgers had equivalent materials available during the 14th century.

The Warrens
Although Nickell rejects the term "debunker" to describe his work, his evidenced-based investigations of paranormal events have not yet uncovered any miracles, ghosts or monsters. His insistence on documented facts led to a heated exchange with Ed and Lorraine Warren on the Sally show in 1992. Nickell and the Warrens appeared on Sally Jesse Raphael's talk show with the Snedeker family, whose reports of ghosts and demons led to the 1992 book, In A Dark Place, The Story Of A True Haunting by novelist Ray Garton and the 2009 movie, The Haunting in Connecticut. After an on-air threat of violence from Ed Warren, Nickell stated:

Nickell continues to cite the Warrens as an example of exploitative and harmful charlatans. He told Blake Smith, host of the MonsterTalk podcast,

Aliens

Nickell proposes that alien encounters are the result of misinterpreted natural phenomena, hoaxes, or a fantasy prone personality. To explain the evolving nature of alien sightings, Nickell told the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast team,

Magazine articles and website blogs
Nickel has written the "Investigative Files" column for the Skeptical Inquirer (SI) magazine since 1995 and contributes frequently to the Center for Inquiry website. The articles reflect the range of Nickell's interests and investigative skills, including spontaneous human combustion, ghost photographs, reincarnation, voodoo, Bigfoot, quack medicine, Elvis, psychic frauds, and phrenology. In his SI article about the Bell Witch Poltergeist, Nickell analyzed the content of the alleged Bell Manuscript for anachronistic references and word use, comparing the writing styles of Richard Williams Bell, the reported original author, and M.V. Ingram, the reporter who expanded on the story 50 years later. Nickell concludes, "Given all of these similarities between the texts, in addition to the other evidence, I have little hesitation in concluding that Ingram was the author of 'Bell'".

Nickell's writing for the Center for Inquiry (CfI) includes "Nickell-odeon Reviews", written with an emphasis on the facts behind the scripts. Nickell adds credibility to the plot of the Charles Dickens movie, The Invisible Woman. "Although not mentioned in the movie, posthumous confirmation of the affair came from Dickens' letters. Although many had been destroyed by his family, some merely had offending passages inked out. But that cloak of invisibility was ineffective: Dickens scholars turned to forensics, using infrared photography to read the obscured portions. These contained references to "Nelly" and confirmed the persistent rumors."

Awards
Nickell received the 2004 Isaac Asimov Award from the American Humanist Association and was a co-recipient of the 2005 and the 2012 Robert P. Balles Prize in Critical Thinking, awarded by CSICOP, now called CSI. In 2000 was presented with the Distinguished Skeptic award from CSI.

He was also presented an award for promotion of science in popular media at the 3rd Annual Independent Investigative Group IIG Awards, held on May 18, 2009.

In October 2011 asteroid 31451 (1999 CE10) was named JoeNickell in his honor by its discoverer James E. McGaha.

Major works
 Inquest on the Shroud of Turin: Latest Scientific Findings (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1983). Revised edition, 1998.
 Secrets of the Supernatural: Investigating the World's Occult Mysteries (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1988, 1991; with John F. Fischer).
 The Magic Detectives: Join Them in Solving Strange Mysteries (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1989).
 Pen, Ink, and Evidence: A Study of Writing and Writing Materials for the Penman, Collector, and Document Detective (Oak Knoll Books: New Castle, DE; 1990, 2000, 2003).
 Wonder-Workers! How They Perform the Impossible (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1991).
 Unsolved History: Investigating Mysteries of the Past originally published as Ambrose Bierce is Missing and Other Historical Mysteries (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 1992, 2005).
 Missing Pieces: How to Investigate Ghosts, UFOs, Psychics, and Other Mysteries (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1992; with Robert A. Baker).
 Mysterious Realms: Probing Paranormal, Historical, and Forensic Enigmas (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1992; with John F. Fischer).
 Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions and Healing Cures (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1993, 1998).
 Psychic Sleuths: ESP and Sensational Cases (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1994).
 Camera Clues: A Handbook for Photographic Investigation (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 1994, 2005).
 Entities: Angels, Spirits, Demons, and Other Alien Beings (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1995).
 Detecting Forgery: Forensic Investigation of Documents (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 1996, 2005).
 The Outer Edge: Classic Investigations of the Paranormal (CSICOP: Amherst, NY; 1996, co-edited with Barry Karr and Tom Genoni).
 The UFO Invasion: The Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government Coverups (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1997; co-edited with Kendrick Frazier and Barry Karr).
 Crime Science: Methods of Forensic Detection (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 1999; with co-author John F. Fischer).
 Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2001).
 The Kentucky Mint Julep (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2003).
 Investigating the Paranormal (Barnes & Noble Books: New York; 2004).
 The Mystery Chronicles: More Real-Life X-Files(University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2004).
 Secrets of the Sideshows (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2005).
Cronache del Misterio (Newton Compton editori: Rome, Italy; 2006).
 Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World's Most Elusive Creatures, (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2006; with co-author Benjamin Radford).
 Relics of the Christ(University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2007).
 Adventures in Paranormal Investigation (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2007).
 Tracking The Man-Beasts: Sasquatch, Vampires, Zombies, and More (Prometheus Books: Amhurst, NY; 2011).
 Real or Fake: Studies in Authentication (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2009).
 CSI Paranormal, (Inquiry Press): Amherst, NY; 2012.
 The Science of Ghosts (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 2012).
 The Science of Miracles: Investigating the Incredible(Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 2-13).

References

External links

Skepticon 4, Undercover! Paranormal Investigations by Joe Nickell November 30, 2011 on YouTube, 38 minutes.
Dragon*Con 9 Joe Nickell and Graham Watkins Discuss Cryptozoology September 15, 2009 on YouTube, 64 minutes.
Darwin Week 2012 Investigating the Paranormal by Joe Nickell February 19, 2012 on YouTube, 76 minutes.

1944 births
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American writers
American historians
American humanists
American magicians
American male bloggers
American bloggers
American male non-fiction writers
American skeptics
American social commentators
Critics of alternative medicine
Critics of conspiracy theories
Critics of parapsychology
Cultural critics
Historians of magic
Jack the Ripper
Living people
People from West Liberty, Kentucky
Researchers of the Shroud of Turin
Social critics
Trope theorists
University of Kentucky alumni
Writers about religion and science
20th-century American male writers
Annabelle is an allegedly haunted Raggedy Ann doll, housed in the (now closed) occult museum of the paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. Annabelle was moved there after supposed hauntings in 1970. A character based on the doll is one of the antagonists that appears in the Conjuring Universe.

Background 
According to the Warrens, a student nurse was given the doll in 1970. They said that the doll behaved strangely, and that a psychic medium told the student that the doll was inhabited by the spirit of a deceased girl named "Annabelle". The student and her roommate tried to accept and nurture the spirit-possessed doll, but the doll reportedly exhibited malicious and frightening behavior. It was at this point that the Warrens say they were first contacted, moving the doll to their museum after pronouncing it demonically possessed. The doll remained in a glass box at The Warrens' Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut until the museum's closing.

Texas State University assistant professor of religious studies Joseph Laycock says most skeptics have dismissed the Warrens' museum as "full of off-the-shelf Halloween junk, dolls and toys, books you could buy at any bookstore". Laycock calls the Annabelle legend an "interesting case study in the relationship between pop culture and paranormal folklore" and speculates that the demonic doll trope popularized by films such as Child's Play, Dolly Dearest, and The Conjuring likely emerged from early legends surrounding Robert the Doll, as well as from a Twilight Zone episode released five years prior to the Warrens' story, entitled "Living Doll", in which the character of the mother is named Annabelle. Laycock suggests that "the idea of demonically possessed dolls allows modern demonologists to find supernatural evil in the most banal and domestic of places."

Commenting on publicity for the Warrens' occult museum coinciding with the film release of The Conjuring, science writer Sharon A. Hill said that many of the myths and legends surrounding the Warrens have "seemingly been of their own doing" and that many people may have difficulty "separating the Warrens from their Hollywood portrayal". Hill criticized sensational press coverage of the Warrens' occult museum and its Annabelle doll. She said, "Like real-life Ed Warren, real-life Annabelle is actually far less impressive." Of the supernatural claims made about Annabelle by Ed Warren, Hill said, "We have nothing but Ed's word for this, and also for the history and origins of the objects in the museum."

The doll was also described in Gerald Brittle's 1980 biography of the Warrens, The Demonologist.

Character 
The Warrens' story of the doll served as inspiration for the Annabelle doll character depicted in The Conjuring Universe, a film series that includes the following: Annabelle (2014), Annabelle: Creation (2017), and Annabelle Comes Home (2019). The producers did not use the likeness of Raggedy Ann, partially due to potential trademark issues and partially to make the doll's appearance more unsettling for a horror film; its appearance has been described as a "terrifying porcelain doll that is disfigured and immediately menacing". The character additionally makes brief appearances in James Wan The Conjuring 2 (2016) and Michael Chaves's The Curse of La Llorona (2019) and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021), as well as in the DC Extended Universe films Aquaman (2018) and Shazam! (2019), respectively directed by Wan and Annabelle: Creation director David F. Sandberg.

See also 
Robert (doll)

References 

1970s toys
Haunted dolls
1970 introductions
Connecticut folklore
Supernatural legends
The Conjuring Universe Edward Warren Miney (September 7, 1926 – August 23, 2006) and Lorraine Rita Warren ( Moran; January 31, 1927 – April 18, 2019) were American paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent cases of alleged hauntings. Edward was a self-taught and self-professed demonologist, author, and lecturer. Lorraine professed to be clairvoyant and a light trance medium who worked closely with her husband.

In 1952, the Warrens founded the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR), the oldest ghost hunting group in New England. They authored many books about the paranormal and about their private investigations into various reports of paranormal activity. They claimed to have investigated well over 10,000 cases during their career. The Warrens were among the first investigators in the Amityville haunting. According to the Warrens, the official website of the NESPR, Viviglam Magazine and several other sources, the NESPR uses a variety of individuals, including medical doctors, researchers, police officers, nurses, college students, and members of the clergy in its investigations.

Stories of ghost hauntings popularized by the Warrens have been adapted as or have indirectly inspired dozens of films, television series, and documentaries, including several films in the Amityville Horror series and the films in The Conjuring Universe.

Skeptics Perry DeAngelis and Steven Novella investigated the Warrens' evidence and described it as "blarney". Skeptical investigators Joe Nickell and Benjamin Radford concluded that the better known hauntings, Amityville and the Snedeker family haunting, did not happen and had been invented.

Notable investigations

Annabelle

According to the Warrens, in the year 1968, two roommates claimed their Raggedy Ann doll was possessed by the spirit of a young girl named Annabelle Higgins. The Warrens took the doll, telling the roommates it was "being manipulated by an inhuman presence", and put it on display at the family's "Occult Museum". The legend of the doll inspired several films in the Conjuring Universe and is a motif in many others.

Perron family 
In 1971, the Warrens claimed that the Harrisville, Rhode Island home of the Perron family was haunted by a witch who lived there in the early 19th century. According to the Warrens, Bathsheba Sherman cursed the land so that whoever lived there somehow died a terrible death. The story is the subject of the 2013 film The Conjuring. Lorraine Warren was a consultant to the production and appeared in a cameo role in the film. A reporter for USA Today covered the film's supposed factual grounding.

Amityville

The Warrens are best known for their involvement in the 1975 Amityville Horror in which New York couple George and Kathy Lutz claimed that their house was haunted by a violent, demonic presence so intense that it eventually drove them out of their home. The Amityville Horror Conspiracy authors Stephen and Roxanne Kaplan characterized the case as a "hoax". Lorraine Warren told a reporter for The Express-Times newspaper that the Amityville Horror was not a hoax. The reported haunting was the basis for the 1977 book The Amityville Horror and adapted into the 1979 and 2005 films of the same name, while also serving as inspiration for the film series that followed. The Warrens' version of events is partially adapted and portrayed in the opening sequence of The Conjuring 2 (2016).  According to Benjamin Radford, the story was "refuted by eyewitnesses, investigations and forensic evidence". In 1979, lawyer William Weber stated that he, Jay Anson, and the occupants "invented" the horror story "over many bottles of wine".

Enfield poltergeist

In 1977, the Warrens investigated claims that a family in the North London suburb of Enfield was haunted by poltergeist activity. While a number of independent observers dismissed the incident as a hoax carried out by "attention-hungry" children, the Warrens were convinced that it was a case of "demonic possession". The story was the inspiration for The Conjuring 2, although critics say the Warrens were involved "to a far lesser degree than portrayed in the movie" and in fact had shown up to the scene uninvited and been refused admittance to the home.

Guy Lyon Playfair, a parapsychologist who investigated the Enfield case alongside Maurice Grosse, also says the film greatly exaggerated the Warrens’ role in the investigation. He stated in 2016 that they "turned up once" and that Ed Warren told Playfair "[the Warrens] could make a lot of money [...] out of [the case]." He corroborated the claim that the Warrens were "not invited" to the Enfield house and that "Nobody [...] in the family had ever heard of him until [Ed Warren] turned up".

Arne Johnson

In 1981, Arne Cheyenne Johnson was accused of killing his landlord, Alan Bono. Ed and Lorraine Warren had been called prior to the killing to deal with the alleged demonic possession of the younger brother of Johnson's fiancée. The Warrens subsequently claimed that Johnson was also possessed. At trial, Johnson attempted to plead Not Guilty by Reason of Demonic Possession, but was unsuccessful with his plea. This story serves as the inspiration for The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021). The case was described in the 1983 book The Devil in Connecticut by Gerald Brittle.

Snedeker house
In 1986, Ed and Lorraine Warren arrived and proclaimed the Snedeker house, a former funeral home, to be infested with demons. The case was featured in the 1993 book In a Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting. A TV film that later became part of the Discovery Channel series A Haunting was produced in 2002. The Haunting in Connecticut, a film very loosely based on the Warrens' version of events and directed by Peter Cornwell, was released in 2009. Horror author Ray Garton, who wrote an account of the alleged haunting of the Snedeker family in Southington, Connecticut, later called into question the veracity of the accounts contained in his book, saying, "The family involved, which was going through some serious problems like alcoholism and drug addiction, could not keep their story straight, and I became very frustrated; it's hard writing a non-fiction book when all the people involved are telling you different stories". To paranormal investigator Benjamin Radford, Garton said of Lorraine, "'If she told me the sun would come up tomorrow morning, I'd get a second opinion'".

Smurl family

Pennsylvania residents Jack and Janet Smurl reported their home was disturbed by numerous supernatural phenomena, including sounds, smells and apparitions. The Warrens became involved and claimed that the Smurl home was occupied by four spirits and also a demon that allegedly sexually assaulted Jack and Janet. The Smurls' version of their story was the subject of a 1986 paperback titled The Haunted and television film of the same name directed by Robert Mandel.

Union Cemetery

Ed Warren's book Graveyard: True Hauntings from an Old New England Cemetery (St Martins Press, 1992) features a "White Lady" ghost which haunts Union Cemetery. He claimed to have “captured her essence” on film.

Other activities
The Warrens were responsible for training several self-described demonologists, including Dave Considine and their nephew John Zaffis.

Personal life
Ed and Lorraine Warren were members of the Roman Catholic Church. They married in 1945.  On January 11, 1946, Lorraine gave birth to their daughter named Judy Warren.

The Warrens held that demonic forces are likely to possess those who lack faith.

Criticism
According to a 1997 interview with the Connecticut Post, Steve Novella and Perry DeAngelis investigated the Warrens for the New England Skeptical Society (NESS). They found the couple to be pleasant people, but their claims of demons and ghosts to be "at best, as tellers of meaningless ghost stories, and at worst, dangerous frauds." They took the $13 tour and looked at all the evidence the Warrens had for spirits and ghosts. They watched the videos and looked at the best evidence the Warrens had. Their conclusion: “It's all blarney." They found common errors with flash photography and nothing evil in the artifacts the Warrens had collected. "They have... a ton of fish stories about evidence that got away... They're not doing good scientific investigation; they have a predetermined conclusion which they adhere to, literally and religiously," according to Novella. Lorraine Warren said that the problem with Perry and Steve is that "they don't base anything on a God". Novella responded, "It takes work to do solid, critical thinking, to actually employ your intellectual faculties and come to a conclusion that actually reflects reality ... That's what scientists do every day, and that's what skeptics advocate".

In an article for The Sydney Morning Herald that examined whether supernatural films are really based on true events, that investigation was used as evidence to the contrary. As Novella is quoted, "They [the Warrens] claim to have scientific evidence which does indeed prove the existence of ghosts, which sounds like a testable claim into which we can sink our investigative teeth. What we found was a very nice couple, some genuinely sincere people, but absolutely no compelling evidence..." While it was made clear that neither DeAngelis nor Novella thought the Warrens would intentionally cause harm to anyone, they did caution that claims like the Warrens' served to reinforce delusions and confuse the public about legitimate scientific methodology.

Occult Museum 
In addition to investigations, Lorraine ran The Warrens' Occult Museum (now closed) in the back of her house in Monroe, Connecticut, with the help of her son-in-law, Tony Spera. The museum displayed many claimed haunted objects and artifacts from around the world. Many of the artifacts from their most famous investigations were featured.

Bibliography

 Ghost Hunters: True Stories From the World's Most Famous Demonologists by Ed Warren (St. Martin's Press, 1989) 
 Ghost Tracks by Cheryl A. Wicks with Ed and Lorraine Warren (AuthorHouse, 2004) 
 Graveyard: True Hauntings from an Old New England Cemetery by Ed Warren (St Martins Press, 1992) 
 The Haunted: The True Story of One Family's Nightmare by Robert Curran with Jack Smurl and Janet Smurl and Ed and Lorraine Warren (St. Martin's Press, 1988) 
 Satan's Harvest by Michael Lasalandra and Mark Merenda with Maurice and Nancy Theriault and Ed and Lorraine Warren (Dell, 1990) 
 Werewolf: A True Story of Demonic Possession by Ed Warren (St. Martin's Press, 1991)

Featured in
 Deliver Us From Evil: Taken from the files of Ed and Lorraine Warren, by J. F. Sawyer (Phillips Publishing Company, 1973) 
 The Amityville Horror, a True Story by Jay Anson (Prentice Hall, 1977) 
 The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren by Gerald Brittle (Berkley Books, 1980) 
 The Devil in Connecticut by Gerald Brittle (Bantam Books, 1983) 
 In A Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting by Ray Garton (Villard, 1992) 
 True Haunting of Borley Rectory: Seekers of the Supernatural presents Conversations of Ed & Lorraine Warren: The original Ghostbusters 
 Satan's Harvest 
 The Warren Case Files

Media appearances
 Lorraine was featured in several episodes of the Discovery series A Haunting, in which she discusses some of the cases the pair worked on as paranormal investigators.
 Lorraine also appeared on Paranormal State, where she acted as a guest investigator.
 Both Ed and Lorraine have appeared on Scariest Places on Earth.
 Lorraine has a cameo appearance in the 2013 film The Conjuring, where she is also credited as a consultant.
 Lorraine appears in the 2012 documentary film My Amityville Horror, where she reunites with Daniel Lutz, whose family was allegedly plagued by supernatural happenings in 1975. Ed and Lorraine Warren originally visited the house after the Lutz family fled the house after 28 days of occupancy.

Film adaptations
Over the years, several films and series have been released that are based in part or in full on the paranormal investigations or events that the Warrens are said to have witnessed and described. Films that are partly based on their story are the films from The Amityville Horror series, including The Amityville Horror (1979) and The Amityville Horror (2005). In 1991, a two-hour made-for-TV film based on the Smurl haunting, titled The Haunted, was released by 20th Century Fox. Written by Robert Curran, Jack Smurl, Janet Smurl, Ed Warren and Lorraine Warren, the film starred Jeffrey DeMunn as Jack Smurl and Sally Kirkland as Janet Smurl. The 2009 film The Haunting in Connecticut was loosely based on the 1986 Snedeker haunting investigated by the Warrens.

The Conjuring Universe

The Warrens' case files serve as the basis for The Conjuring Universe series of horror films.

The 2013 film The Conjuring, directed by James Wan, spotlights a Warren case and stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren. Its 2014 follow-up, Annabelle, a supernatural psychological horror film directed by John R. Leonetti, is both a prequel to and spin-off of The Conjuring and was inspired by a story of the Annabelle doll. It stars Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, and Alfre Woodard. The Conjuring Universe's next film was 2016's The Conjuring 2, a sequel to The Conjuring, directed by Wan, and with Farmiga and Wilson reprising their roles as Lorraine and Ed, respectively. It is based on the Enfield Poltergeist case. 2017 saw the release of another prequel, Annabelle: Creation, telling the origin story of the Annabelle doll. Farmiga and Wilson briefly appeared as Ed and Lorraine in the 2018 spin-off film The Nun, focusing on the character of Valak in its "Demon Nun" form, who was the villain from The Conjuring 2. The two reprised their roles again in Annabelle Comes Home, the sequel to Annabelle, and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.

References

External links
 The New England Society For Psychic Research
 Article Detailing the Recent Danbury Court Case
 Hunting the Ghost Hunters: An Investigation of Ed and Lorraine Warren – Perry DeAngelis and Steven Novella
 The Demonologist Page on the Warrens – contains brief biographical information
 
 
 JREF reprint of Ray Garton letter – Ray Garton Letter refuting the Warrens
 
 
 Ed Warren and Lorraine Warren at WorldCat
 

Married couples
Paranormal investigators
Writers from Bridgeport, Connecticut
The Amityville Horror
People from Monroe, Connecticut