Haunted Annabelle doll's location finally revealed following frenzied speculation over whereabouts
In recent days, social media was flooded with claims that the 'demonically possessed' Raggedy Ann doll had gone missing, causing horror buffs to become concerned.
The Raggedy Anne Doll's paranormal legend dates back to the 1970s when it was apparently given as a gift to nurse in Hartford, Connecticut, before it began exhibiting disturbing behavior.
Annabelle was thought to be possessed by the spirit of a dead child and was said to move on her own, leave terrifying handwritten notes and even allegedly attacked someone.
The case caught the attention of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren who concluded Annabelle was being manipulated by a demonic entity - and the doll later became the subject of The Conjuring films.
Due to her popularity, the real Annabelle doll was removed from the secured case she was displayed in and was included as part of a traveling US exhibition Devils on the Run which began touring earlier this month.
But recently, fans began to speculate the doll had escaped from her box during the tour hosted by the New England Society for Psychic Research, per The Independent.
However, after countless rumors and terrified fans, the society's lead investigator Dan Rivera has finally come forward to debunk the theories in a TikTok video.
'I'm here at the museum right now, and I just wanna show you guys that Annabelle is in the Warrens' Occult Museum. Let's go inside and let's check,' he began the video.
As he weaved his way through he exhibits, he approached the doll sitting in her secured wooden case.
'Annabelle is not missing. She is not in Chicago.'
He added: 'She has never been missing.'
However, Dan did advise horror fans that they would get the chance to see the 'possessed' toy at the Rock Island Roadhouse Esoteric Expo in Illinois on October 4.
The New England Society for Psychic Research also posted on their Facebook to assure fans: 'It's a rumor... Annabelle has NOT been stolen. The doll is safely in place at the Warren Occult Museum.'
With all of the rumors circulating and the tour still underway, one haunted doll collector - who houses 54 'spirits' - argued the doll should not be taken on tour.
In other Annabelle news, this wasn't the first time the terrifying doll has caused panic online.
In 2020, Tony Spera, the son-in-law of Ed and Lorraine Warren, also had to clear up rumors of her escape.
'I'm here to tell you something, I don't know if you want to hear this or not, but Annabelle did not escape,' Spera said in a selfie video as he dramatically turned his camera to bring the infamous doll into view behind him.
He added: 'Annabelle's here. She didn't go anywhere. She didn't take a trip. She didn't fly first class and she didn't go out to visit her boyfriend,' he said as he showed Annabelle in her glass case.
'So here she is. Let's put the rumors to rest, guys.
'I appreciate all the concern. I'd be concerned if Annabelle really did leave because she's nothing to play with.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
The one simple reason why Kirsten Dunst would star in Minecraft 2
Kirsten Dunst, known for her roles in cult classics and indie films, is now looking to star in blockbusters, partly for financial reasons. She expressed a desire to appear in a potential sequel to 'A Minecraft Movie', influenced by her sons' enjoyment of the film and its lucrative potential. 'A Minecraft Movie', an adaptation of the popular video game, achieved significant commercial success, grossing nearly $1 billion worldwide. Despite its impressive box office performance, the film received largely negative critical reviews but was highly popular with audiences. The film is currently the second-highest-grossing video game adaptation globally, behind 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie'.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Jenelle Evans fires back at her SON Jace, 16, after he exposed her shocking text messages
Teen Mom alum Jenelle Evans pushed back after her 16-year-old son Jace publicly shared a tense text exchange amid a row she said is the result of teenage angst. The tense situation involving the MTV alum, 33, erupted Tuesday when Jace shared some of the family's dirty laundry with more than 41,100 Instagram followers. 'I am finally putting out how my mother really is,' Jace said, accompanied by a text exchange in which he complained about his living situation and called his mother Jenelle 'crazy.' The Teen Mom 2 personality welcomed Jace with ex-boyfriend Andrew Lewis in August of 2009. Jenelle is also mom to Kaiser Orion Griffith, 11, with ex-boyfriend Nathan Griffith; and daughter Ensley Jolie Eason, eight, with ex-husband David Eason. Jenelle rocketed to reality TV fame in 2010 while on the popular MTV show 16 and Pregnant during her pregnancy with Jace, then was added to the Teen Mom cast the following year. Daily Mail has reached out to Jenelle via Instagram for further comment on the story. Jace said to his mother, 'I don't need you, you don't need me and I don't understand why ur doing this just because I'm telling you the truth, ur crazy.' The 16 and Pregnant alum replied to her son in the text thread, '[You're] the one saying you're going to have my custody taken. F*** YOU.' The text also included references to Jenelle's ex-husband David Eason, as she claimed Jace lied that he had tried to strangle him. Jace said he 'never lied' and that Eason had indeed 'tried to' physically assault him. Jenelle on Tuesday posted a lengthy response via Instagram Stories, telling her 3.1 million followers that it's been challenging parenting her first-born child as he deals with health and legal issues. 'My children are my whole world,' she said. 'And everything I do is to try to protect, guide and love them. Like any parent, I set rules and boundaries ... and sometimes that isn't easy. 'Jace posting our private texts was his reaction to being rightfully disciplined and while it hurts to see those moments shared publicly, I know it comes from a place of struggle.' Jenelle said she hopes fans can empathize with the difficult family situation she finds herself in, vowing to to stand by her son. Jace called his mother Jenelle 'crazy' and 'really unstable' on Instagram Tuesday 'Navigating Jace's different [medical conditions] has not been easy but I have never stopped fighting to make sure he has the resources love and support he needs. Jenelle said: 'I will always stand by him, no matter what challenges come our way and I will continue to work on being the best mom I can be to all three of my kids.' Jenelle asked the public for 'empathy, kindness, and prayers during this time,' adding, 'not just for me, but for Jace and our family as we work through this together.' She continued: 'Recently, he's also been in trouble with the law these past few months and is having a hard time adjusting to the rules set before him. 'I've been trying to help him navigate it, but we are butting heads in the process.' Jenelle ended her emotional statement in saying, 'Please give him grace at this time ... this is hard on all of us,' adding emojis of a crying face, a broken heart and prayer hands.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Love as a business deal? Whales, unicorns and why Materialists and Anora have a lot in common
'Marriage is a business deal and it always has been.' So says Dakota Johnson's Lucy, an elite Manhattan matchmaker in Celine Song's second feature, Materialists. Lucy may be a modern woman, but her world looks eerily similar to the marriage mart of Jane Austen's day. For Lucy and her clients, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. Or rather, a 'high quality woman', as Lucy would unironically put it. Materialists drops us head first into a world where coupling off with a partner is a purely financial endeavour; where foolish notions of love are not merely ignored, but deemed to be irrelevant; where women must choose passion or practicality. If all of this sounds rather archaic or even regressive, that's because it is. And Song knows it. After all, she frequently cites Jane Austen, specifically Pride and Prejudice, as one of her biggest inspirations for the film: 'What an amazing fantasy Pride and Prejudice is, because in that story, the love of your life is also the answer to all your practical problems,' she said to Curzon. Just as this year's best picture winner Anora was widely viewed as the anti-Pretty Woman for flipping the fantasy of the rich-guy-falls-for-sex-worker-and-whisks-her-out-of-poverty on its head, Materialists functions as a sort of anti-Pride and Prejudice. As Song notes, Austen's beloved novel offers a similar fantasy: that the man you love might also be the answer to your practical financial problems. In Materialists, as in Anora, the fantasy doesn't quite play out. Not that Lucy is naive enough to expect it to. No, this heroine is all practicality and sense. 'I will die alone or marry a rich man,' she says with resignation at the beginning of the film. This businesslike approach to love doesn't just come from her day job: she has been burned by passionate love in the past: her ex-boyfriend John is a 37-year-old waiter who, despite having the face of Chris Evans, can't seem to make it as an actor. She gets her chance at the dream marriage of convenience when she meets Harry, an uber rich guy who seems nice enough and has a $12m apartment. He is, her colleague says enviously, a 'unicorn'. This is another unexpected echo of Anora – when Ani, a sex worker looking for a way out of poverty, meets and marries a wealthy young Russian, Vanya, her colleague, also envious, snarks, 'Oh, you caught your whale'. Each of these reverse fantasies are driven by heroines who are adamantly uninterested in romance. It marks new territory. Even in Austen's day, heroines clung to the fantasy of a love match despite the practical realities of their time. And we progressed from there. The early screwball romcoms of the 1930s and 40s brought us headstrong heroines, while the 80s and 90s screen romances were filled with 'working girls' who were independent, self-sufficient women. Now, it seems, we are entering a new era defined by heroines who openly, proudly proclaim their desire for a practical match – an era of young women who have given up on love. Fascinatingly, this is playing out in the real world, too. For a generation of young heterosexual women, a 'unicorn' or a 'whale' is seen as the ultimate prize. 'Watching Materialists when the poor man propaganda wins and Lucy picks a broke 37-year-old failed actor over rich, loving Harry who would give her the world,' one person wrote in a TikTok video in response to Materialists that scored more than 22,000 likes. 'I will not fall for broke guy propaganda, she fumbled hard,' another wrote – also liked more than 22,000 times. I can't help but recall last year's 'looking for a man in finance' TikTok trend. Young women are also reappraising certain female characters who were once judged for their practical approach to love. Meredith Blake, the gold-digging villain of the 1998 The Parent Trap who threatens to stand in the way of true love, now has a new troop of young fans who think she was an 'icon', actually. 'Maturing is realising that Meredith just knew [sic] what she deserves and wouldn't settle for less' – TikTok again. Then there's the growing idolisation of the money-oriented Amy March, kickstarted by Greta Gerwig's 2019 adaptation of Little Women. Gerwig put the character's motivation into words: 'Don't sit there and tell me that marriage isn't an economic proposition because it is. It may not be for you, but it most certainly is for me.' But wait. Little Women and Pride and Prejudice were written years ago when women often really did need to marry well to escape their circumstances. Why is this resonating with young women now? Haven't we moved on? Wasn't decades of feminism meant to dig us out of this reliance on men and marriage? Why are Lucy and Ani and, it would seem, tens of thousands of young women on TikTok, thinking and operating as if they were characters in a Victorian novel? What, in other words, is going on? Song has some ideas. 'I think it has so much to do with how deeply broken our economic systems are, especially in the US,' she said in a recent Guardian interview. 'As we have learned, the American dream is not achievable. You cannot jump your class. But what's one of the few ways that you can still jump your class? Well, marriage.' It's all rather cold and depressing. Thankfully, though, while these films may be reflecting a real, somewhat unsettling cultural shift, they defy the philosophy that romance is merely a business deal. They stand up for love. Lucy finds her 'unicorn' and Ani gets her 'whale' – but each 'love' story ends in disappointment. Lucy has to face up to the fact that she does need a little love in her life, actually – even if it means forgoing the nice restaurants. Meanwhile, Ani is confronted with the reality that Vanya doesn't love her or even respect her enough to stand up for their marriage once his oligarch parents arrive to break them up. In each film, the third act delivers relief in the form of real human connection. Love does matter – even, and perhaps especially, in our increasingly money-obsessed world. And cinema is still fighting for it.
