Matt Rife Now Owns Annabelle Doll Weeks After Dan Rivera's Death
The 29-year-old stand-up revealed Friday that he is now the proud owner of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren's infamous Connecticut home and occult museum, which means Matt Rife is also the new 'legal guardian' of one of the most notorious haunted objects in the world: the doll.
Matt Rife Snaps Up Haunted Warren House, Becomes Guardian Of Paranormal History
Rife said he teamed up with his pal, YouTube star Elton Castee, to buy the centuries-old Monroe farmhouse that once belonged to the real-life couple behind over 3,000 paranormal investigations, stories that went on to inspire horror classics like "The Conjuring" and "The Amityville Horror."
'Ed and Lorraine Warren are who took demonology, ghost hunting, and paranormal investigation and made it mainstream,' Rife explained to fans on TikTok, calling the home 'one of the most important and prominent pieces of paranormal history in the world.'
While Rife stayed tight-lipped on the exact purchase price, he didn't hold back when it came to hyping up the house's bone-chilling contents.
'We plan to open the house for overnight stays and museum tours so you yourself can experience and learn all the haunted history surrounding this amazing place,' he wrote.
Raggedy Ann Doll Turned Demonic Legend
Unlike the porcelain-faced Hollywood version, the real Annabelle is actually a giant Raggedy Ann doll.
Her chilling tale began in 1970, when a nursing student named Donna received her as a gift from her mother. It wasn't long before strange things started happening. The doll would shift positions on its own, leave behind creepy handwritten notes, and even appeared to have blood-like red stains on her chest and hands.
Things got darker when a friend claimed Annabelle tried to strangle him in his sleep and later woke up with mysterious scratches across his chest. That's when Ed and Lorraine Warren were called in.
The famed investigators determined the doll wasn't haunted by a child's spirit, as a medium first suggested, but instead was being used as a conduit for a demonic entity.
Paranormal Investigator Dies Suddenly After Touring With Annabelle Doll
The Annabelle legend only grew darker after the sudden death of paranormal investigator Dan Rivera, who had most recently been touring the doll across the country as part of the Devils on the Run exhibit. Rivera was found dead in his Pennsylvania hotel room on Sunday night, July 13, just hours after wrapping a sold-out three-day event in Gettysburg.
Adams County Coroner Francis Dutrow confirmed to PEOPLE that while Rivera's body was discovered inside his room, the infamous Annabelle doll was not present at the scene. The Pennsylvania State Police later issued a report, stating, 'Members from PSP Gettysburg responded to a hotel in Straban Township, Adams County for a report of a deceased [man]. The decedent was discovered in his hotel room by workers.'
Authorities noted that 'nothing unusual or suspicious was observed at the scene."
Matt Rife Buys Haunted Warren Home Just As 'The Conjuring: Last Rites' Trailer Drops
Rife's eerie new investment couldn't come at a more fitting time.
His big reveal landed just as Warner Bros. dropped the first trailer for "The Conjuring: Last Rites," the final chapter in the billion-dollar horror franchise inspired by Ed and Lorraine Warren's case files.
The sneak peek takes fans back to 1986, with Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga returning as the famed demon-fighting duo. This time, they're investigating the Smurl haunting in Pennsylvania, only to discover the entity tormenting the family is the same demon from their very first case.
'The Conjuring: Last Rites' Trailer Reveals Judy Warren's Haunting Fate In Full-Circle Finale
The trailer also teases a chilling twist. The demon isn't finished with the Warrens' daughter, Judy (Mia Tomlinson), who's now an adult. In one scene, Judy, wearing a wedding dress, is attacked by her sinister reflection in a hall of mirrors, a callback that promises to tie the series full circle.
'Lorraine's got this full-bar wifi of clairvoyance, and there's a bar or two that start popping up for Judy,' Vera Farmiga told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year. 'She's obviously inherited this spiritual sensitivity… Judy has been the quiet force right behind everything that Lorraine does. She's the light. She's the reason that Lorraine still fights when she feels like there's nothing left to give.'
With the real-life Warren home now in the hands of Rife, and "The Conjuring" franchise bowing out with its most personal story yet, fans of the supernatural say the timing feels almost supernatural itself.
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