What you should know about the real Annabelle doll
Annabelle. One of the most famous dolls in the world. One of the most haunted too. You have first seen her in The Conjuring, one of its creepiest parts; and later in her eponymous spin-offs. However, though it may be a little harder to believe due to some exaggerations in the movie, she is not a fictional doll but a real one. Not your average little dolly.
Annabelle is a 1970 Raggedy Ann Doll
First of all, that creepy looking porcelain doll with an eerie, forced smile, garish makeup and unblinking eyes in the movie is a far cry from the real one. The real Annabelle doll is just your run of the mill Raggedy Ann doll. It is 32 inches long, adorned in a calico dress and white apron, cuddly-looking, simple and innocent. Unfortunately, the original doll until now resides in a glass cabinet at Warrens Occult Museum in Connecticut owned by Ed and Lorraine Warren, America’s preeminent experts on demonology. Besides this, Knickerbocker Toy Co., the manufacturers, just could not allow their product as a conduit to evil in a movie.
Annabelle is the name of the spirit not the doll
Annabelle is not the doll’s real name but the mischievous spirit that haunts it. Annabelle Higgins to be exact. The seven-year-old girl was found dead in the field years ago before the doll’s owners’ apartment complex was built. When the doll came into the house the girl’s spirit latched onto it. She found the ladies to be trustworthy. She wanted to stay with them. So, she did.
Annabelle is not possessed but haunted
The Warrens said that the doll wasn’t possessed because demons do not possess things only people. However, there was an inhuman demonic spirit attached to the doll. It was clinging to the doll, manipulating it; in order to give an impression of hunting when its target was actually the owner’s soul.
Annabelle is mother’s birthday present
In 1970, a mum bought the doll from a hobby shop for her daughter, Donna, as a gift on her 28th birthday. Donna was a nurse student and was sharing an apartment with her classmate Angie. At first, Donna and Angie did not think was special until they noticed it moving. One time they left the apartment with Annabelle on Donna’s bed and return home to find it on the couch. Soon Annabelle’s actions got even weirder - Donna began to find pieces of parchment paper in the house with “Help us,” or “Help Lou” written on it. Just to make the whole thing that much creepier, nobody in the house had parchment paper. Lou, by the way, was Angie’s boyfriend who apparently hated the doll.
Annabelle once had blood on her chest
One time, Donna returned home and found Annabelle in her bed with blood on her hands- seemed to be coming from the doll itself. Finally convinced they needed help, Donna called a medium. However, neither the medium nor the Warrens who later came to investigate could explain how the blood had gotten there.
Annabelle brutally attacked someone
Lou found the doll creepy and evil from the start. He told the ladies many times that they better get rid of it immediately. Unfortunately, Annabelle was displeased about it and decided to let the guy know.
One night, Lou awoke from a deep sleep and found himself unable to move. To his surprise, he saw Annabelle in his feet crawling up to his chest. She strangled him until he fell unconscious. When he woke up the next morning, he was confused if he was only dreaming the night before.
A few days later, Annabelle carried out her revenge to its fullest. When they were alone, she made sure her presence was felt. When Lou crept over to the door to check who was intruding in Donna’s room, he saw everything in its place except for the doll which was sitting in the corner of the bed. As he approached the doll, he felt the back of his neck burnt. He spun around. There was a sudden pain in his chest. There was no one in the room except for the doll. After turning on the lights he saw his stomach bleeding from several scratches. And he knew Annabelle had done it.
Now you know, while the movies look sufficiently terrifying, they are not really in line with the doll’s true origin story. The basic structure of the story retold in Annabelle: Creation may be pretty close to the real events but there are still many points where reality and the movie split their path. Well, it’s all in the nature of film industry that for art’s sake of effectively making someone pee on their pants, they have to set things much creepier than the actual events. We’ll leave this one to you guys to debate. Which is more horrifying the movie version or Warrens’ version?