The Conjuring Universe has always billed itself as ‘based on a true story.’ This helps make the events appear scarier than a film that isn’t based on real events, while also making the audience wary of going back to their own home at night and switching the lights off before bed. That being said, the word ‘based’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
While the events of The Conjuring movies may have been ‘based’ on true stories and actual accounts that you could read about online, they are not a documentary. Because of this, the franchise takes several liberties with the testimonies of those who lived through the alleged paranormal events. Without further delay, this article will list 5 real events that occurred in The Conjuring movies and 5 fictional events.
Real: Annabelle Wants To Play
The Conjuring film opens with the story of Annabelle the doll. In real life, the possessed doll terrorized some nurses in an apartment. The doll would move from room to room, leave notes written in blood, and even attacked and scratched their male friend.
The movie shows these events at the very beginning of The Conjuring, showing the Warrens investigating the case before eventually taking Annabelle to their occult museum.
Fictional: 95% Of The Nun
The character of the Nun was undoubtedly one of the scariest elements of The Conjuring 2. The demon tormented Lorraine and showed her horrible visions of a potential future. The popularity of the character inspired the studio to make a prequel movie about the Nun, creatively named, The Nun.
However, while the film does carry the ‘based on true events’ tagline, the movie was almost entirely fictional. The only element based on reality (and even this depends upon an assumption that demons are real) was that there is a demon named Valek, but it never appeared in nun form.
Real: A Spirit Did Follow Lorraine
Despite the fact that most of the Nun was fiction, Lorraine Warren was indeed followed by a spirit for several years in a similar manner to how Valek followed Lorraine. However, it wasn’t the demon Valek and it wasn’t a Nun.
Lorraine described the spirit that followed her as a dark, swirling vortex. That being said, we can’t blame the filmmakers for taking liberties with this story. A swirling vortex wouldn’t have been as scary as the Nun.
Fictional: Annabelle’s Creation
Most of the Annabelle movies are entirely fiction. Despite the fact that the doll is one of the scariest and most recognizable elements of The Conjuring Universe, the doll didn’t actually do much outside of the nurses’ story in the first The Conjuring.
As a result, the filmmakers are forced into inventing stories for Annabelle. One of these stories was the origin of Annabelle being crafted by a dollmaker, when in actual fact she was a Raggedy Ann doll made by Knickerbocker Toys.
Real: The Moving Furniture in The Conjuring 2
While the filmmakers of The Conjuring 2 certainly took some liberties with the direction of the plot, they did not have to take any liberties with the intriguing and creepy stories of moving furniture at the Enfield Haunting.
Despite the fact that many believe the Enfield Haunting to be a hoax perpetrated by the two sisters, one element of the story that is difficult to disregard as a hoax is the moving furniture. This was seen by two police officers who were investigating the property, both of whom checked for wires and other natural causes of the movement but could not find any.
Fictional: The Extent of Ed & Lorraine’s Enfield Investigation
The Conjuring 2 showed that the Warrens were deeply involved in the Enfield Haunting case. It showed them exorcising the demon Valek, it showed them investigating the ghost of Bill Wilkins, and it even showed them singing a cover of an Elvis Presley song at the end.
However, the Warrens were barely involved in the investigation in real life. In fact, another paranormal researcher working on the case named Guy Lyon Playfair said that the Warrens showed up uninvited and only stayed for a day at most.
Real: Hide & Clap
One of the most terrifying scenes in The Conjuring was the hide and clap game. The children of the Perron family would hide and a seeker, wearing a blindfold, would have to find the hiders by listening for their claps. This game was, naturally, exploited by the ghosts living in the house.
While the clap element was made up for the movie, the Perron children did play hide and seek and did report paranormal activity during their games. During one game Cindy Perron hid in a wooden box in the shed, only to get trapped and unable to open the lid.
Fictional: Ed & Lorraine Didn’t Stop the Perron Haunting
The first The Conjuring ended with Ed performing an exorcism that successfully rid the house and family of the evil spirit of Bathsheba. In reality, however, this did not happen.
The Warrens were unable to conduct an exorcism and instead conducted a seance to communicate with the spirits. According to the family, this just made the haunting worse. Indeed, the Perron family still believe they are haunted by the ghost of Bethsheba.
Real: The Many Ghosts Of The Perron House
One aspect of the Perron Haunting that The Conjuring portrayed accurately was the many ghosts of the house. Famously, the haunting was benign at first. The children reported contact with the spirit of a young boy named Johnny, or Rory in the movie.
The many ghosts in the house were due to several tragedies that occurred on the land, another element of truth that was portrayed in the movie.
Fictional: Bathsheba Was (Not) A Witch
It is difficult to blame the movie for perpetuating the idea that Bathsheba was a witch, as it was Lorraine herself who suggested it and was also supported by local legends. However, there is no evidence that Bathsheba was indeed a witch, that she sacrificed her child, or even that she hanged herself.
The real-life grave of Bathsheba is on church land and it is very unlikely that the local priest would have allowed this, or given funeral rites if she was an actual evil witch.
