Demonic ‘Annabelle' doll absent from hotel room where paranormal investigator Dan Rivera is found dead
Paranormal investigator Dan Rivera, 54, was found dead in his Gettysburg hotel room this week, just hours after finishing a sold-out 'Devils on the Run Tour' at the Soldiers National Orphanage, which featured the allegedly cursed Annabelle doll, People reported.
The creepy plaything wasn't in the room though when first responders arrived and found the US Army veteran dead later that night, Adams County Coroner Francis Dutrow told the outlet.
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4 Paranormal investigator Dan Rivera with Annabelle doll.
@dan_rivera_nespr / Instagram
Rivera's cause of death remains unknown, with autopsy results still pending.
4 Annabelle doll in a glass case with a warning sign.
Matthew McDermott
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He had been featured as a paranormal investigator on the Travel Channel's 'Most Haunted Places' and served as producer for a number of other shows, including Netflix's '28 Days Haunted.'
Part of Rivera's tour included traveling around the US with other members of the New England Society for Psychic Research — founded in 1952 by famous paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren — to show off the Raggedy Ann Doll figure.
4 Rivera died suddenly on Sunday night in Pennsylvania.
Dan Rivera / Facebook
The Annabelle doll has been tied to a series of supposed hauntings in 1970 after it was given to a Connecticut nursing student named Donna. The Warrens claimed the toy physically lifted its own arms, followed people around the apartment, and would display other frightening and malicious behavior.
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The couple, whose story inspired 'The Conjuring' horror movie series, also claimed Annabelle was demonically possessed and had stabbed a police officer and caused a car crash involving a priest, later moving it to their museum in Connecticut.
A psychic medium believed the doll was inhabited by the spirit of a dead 6-year-old named Annabelle.
4 Rivera holding the allegedly cursed Annabelle doll.
Dan Rivera / Facebook
Conspiracy theorists have since linked Rivera's sudden demise to the allegedly haunted relic, despite state police confirming Wednesday that 'nothing unusual or suspicious' was found at the grim scene.
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NESPR said it plans to continue its supernatural tour following the sudden loss of their chief investigator.
'We believe with all our hearts that Dan would have wanted the work to continue — bringing people together, sharing knowledge, and honoring the memory of Ed and Lorraine Warren,' tour organizers said in a statement.
'We will carry his spirit in everything we do.'
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