r/Paranormal • u/Glum_Examination6439 • Jul 01 '26
Question Ed and Lorraine Warren real or fraud?
What do you guys think of Ed and Lorraine warren? Do you think they were legit or scammers?
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u/CynicalCannibal Jul 02 '26
Mostly if not 100% frauds. And there were so many more interal issues that people don't know about... like an underage girl that ed loved to spend time with.
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u/reagsters Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
One that they were legally prevented from mentioning in the Conjuring movies, which is a super weird thing for
EdLorraine to insist on being included in the contracts when turning over the rights.424
Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
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u/eternalapostle Jul 02 '26
Matt Rife bought the house and museum
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Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
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u/simplekindaman13 Jul 03 '26
You’re mostly right about what’s going on w the conjuring house. I’m the pain in the ass neighbor who swore out the affidavit. Jason is the real deal though. Amazing person. The whole family is. It’s been a privilege to become friends with them. He will be a fantastic custodian to the property
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Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
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u/simplekindaman13 Jul 03 '26
They are not good people. I am also somewhat of a prick at times. I signed a sworn affidavit to what I saw and would never fuck around with something like that. I’m sure he still figures he has cards left to play but it seems the courts have caught on. When Jason ends up opening the place back up it will be an inclusive setting. You should plan a visit then. The property it self is beautiful. And don’t mind me if I’m armed on my property. We have a lot of up close bear activity
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Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
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u/simplekindaman13 Jul 03 '26
We think a local lost control and smashed into it. I went around to local body shops looking for the truck but never found it. It used to be crazy when there were overnights. People all over the place. Since the house has been empty my only concern is someone vandalizing it or worse. A fire could potentially devastate the whole neighborhood. Jason owning the house is the best case scenario for everyone.
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u/OceanStateRI401 Jul 03 '26
It’s always nice to see a fellow Rhode Islander out and about in the wild.
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u/Shigadabitoga Jul 02 '26
Matt and Elton bought the warren house and museum. Not the conjuring house.
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u/Hoobi_Goobi Jul 02 '26
Yeah, the movies' over-the-top portrayal of their committed, ultra-wholesome marriage makes me uncomfortable knowing that. The real couple was far from innocent
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u/CynicalCannibal Jul 02 '26
Well yeah.. don't want them bringing up something that would show his name in a negative light
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u/101candygirl Jul 03 '26
Holy hell, no context to this post but seeing Tom from MySpace was a jump scare
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u/earldogface Jul 02 '26
You mean the underage girl Lorraine not only knew about but was OK with moving into their home?
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u/Ironicbanana14 Jul 02 '26
The one thing that gives me pause is that in Lorraines personal collection, she seemed to really love Hermes/Archangel Michael depending on what side you choose to put the symbolism. She loved chickens, roosters, and the rooster with the sword and shield is a symbol for them both (across cultures tho.) In Hermetic belief, if you overdo the balance, you can actually become toxic, because Hermes is also a archetypal symbol for commerce (toxic commerce is scamming...) masculinity, etc.
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u/Libertinelass Jul 02 '26
I thought you meant the designer Hermes for a moment. Made sense, she was well dressed.
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u/Ironicbanana14 Jul 03 '26
I wouldn't be surprised if the creators of the Hermes line were always in line with similar kinds of esoteric beliefs or something like it, close enough lol. Also Hermes is the proprietor of streets, highways, etc. So shoes would be kinda a big tell if she had Hermes shoes.
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u/Glum_Examination6439 Jul 02 '26
didn't even know about this until now wow the movies are nothing like real life!
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u/CynicalCannibal Jul 02 '26
Well of course. Its a movie.. not a documentary.
Go listen to chilluminati and the episode(s) they did on these two scamming horrible lying people m
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u/winkitywinkwink Jul 02 '26
And even if, documentaries are limited by runtime. That's why these Netflix documentaries on trials annoy me: they leave out so many details because they're trying to keep it to 2 hours.
But in a real trial, there are DAYS of evidence and testimony.
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u/Which_way_witcher Jul 02 '26
Netflix docs are the worst
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u/lobster_claus Jul 03 '26
I just started watching True Haunting. It's so bad that I couldn't stop laughing. Just at the absurdity of how it was put together. I made it through a couple episodes. That's enough of that.
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Jul 02 '26
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u/CynicalCannibal Jul 02 '26
Oh I'm not saying there wasn't history at the places they went too.. I'm just saying they were shams.
I hope she continues to haunt every single person in connection with that desication.
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u/keystohellanddeath Sep 08 '26
Batsheba was a very real woman cruely treated as a witch.
This is two months old but even worse, she wasn't accused of being a witch and is buried with her children. So just character assassination of a dead woman.
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u/VStarlingBooks Jul 02 '26
But I saw Blair Witch at the theaters and it was a documentary, right?/s
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u/bonecows Jul 02 '26
The Blair Witch Project, now that's a blast from the past. I was a teenager back then and had never heard of the found footage genre, the Blair witch was mind-blowing for me. Fond memories of that movie.
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u/coaxialology Jul 02 '26
For sure. I had a great time being genuinely terrified by that movie. You could never pull something like that off these days.
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u/VStarlingBooks Jul 02 '26
They dropped the act for the sequel which was ok but damn as a teenager at the time, very mind-blowing.
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u/RmRobinGayle Jul 03 '26
They put it back up for the third. Family members of the original crew go looking for what actually happened to the lost 3. They went back to their found footage roots.
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Jul 02 '26
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u/Genx4real74 Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
That was the most brilliant marketing for a movie I’ve ever seen. If you weren’t there during that time, there’s no way to explain how good it was. A lot of ppl were fooled, especially when they hid the actors for a bit after it came out.
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u/onyxzero66 Jul 02 '26
The pic kinda seems like she’s giving him the look like don’t f this up for us
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u/Granny_Skeksis Jul 02 '26
I feel like Lorraine had some true psychic abilities….that Ed exploited and embellished for financial gain and she went along with it because he was a narcissistic abuser and a grifter.
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u/RebaKitt3n Jul 02 '26
I feel this way, too. She may have had some gift or skill, but it was overtaken by his greed and ambition. And horniness.
I think later in life, she just said whatever he wanted and sounded creepy.
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u/FaeFollette Jul 02 '26
Don’t let Lorraine off the easy. She was a grifter too.
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u/magusjosh Jul 03 '26
Definitely. That doesn't mean either that she had no psychic talent...or that she wasn't another victim of Ed's scheming.
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u/Iamthechangeiwant Jul 02 '26
Lorraine, I think, was legit. I met her in person and she believed what she was saying. I’ve met enough false psychics to know the difference. I wish that she would’ve gotten away from Ed. He sounds like a real piece of work.
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u/DwightCharlieQuint Jul 02 '26
I also met her in person and I swear to god she stared into my soul. It scared me.
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u/Glum_Examination6439 Jul 02 '26
yeah for real but I feel like they definitely exaggerated their cases alot
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u/DaBozTiger Jul 02 '26
I read a lot about them in my teens, and this was in the late 90’s…or rather the paranormal ‘events’ they were involved in. They were all really interesting and the kind of stuff I would’ve liked to keep believing in but…with everything I’ve heard about recently I’m not so sure they weren’t just trying to con folks. Really is pretty sad, makes it difficult to believe in such things when there’s so many scammers out there taking advantage of folks in regard to this type of thing.
Saying all that, I watched a documentary about the son of the parents who lived in the ‘Amityville’ house…that was super interesting. I don’t recall him saying anything in regard to Ed and Lorraine, but he did experience a lot of insane stuff In that house. Not because it was necessarily haunted but more for what his dad was doing In the place at the time. Things that the book/movie totally omitted, lots of occult stuff he was apparently practicing during their time in the house.
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u/Live_Perspective3603 Jul 02 '26
I saw that documentary and didn't feel like he added much to the story outside of talking about child abuse at the hands of George. He did confirm some of the paranormal events that happened but mostly I just felt sad for him as he seemed so angry about having had such an awful childhood, aside from anything supernatural. Totally valid but if you're looking for info on the alleged haunting, I didn't feel that there was much in this documentary.
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u/MidNightMare5998 Jul 02 '26
Oh yeah, My Amityville Horror, right? Deeply weird and sad documentary, but very interesting. Whatever happened or didn’t happen in that house, he was clearly deeply traumatized. I hope he’s doing okay
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u/U_Bet_Im_Interested Jul 02 '26
What's the name of the documentary?
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u/stormwaltz Jul 02 '26
"My Amityville Horror" https://play.xumo.com/free-movies/my-amityville-horror/XM0U9335YZ1HW9
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u/ProfessionalCarrot53 Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
Can you believe they moved in with all the furniture and whatever belongings, if not all, of the DeFeos? I believe the Amityville horror stories are mostly true, minus the extra toppings said for extra flare that's expected from any told story that's passed on from one source to another.... especially 1970's media who left nothing off the plate to sell papers.....or "Da pay puhs! 🤌🏽" as would've been said. Whatever evil was in that house or expressed was energy attached to the the items that were in its presence. That's my theory on experiencing the paranormal, that it's the energy we leave behind
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u/rockanrolltiddies Jul 02 '26
Nobody since the Lutz have reported anything paranormal in that house, it still stands. Just resold in 2018 I believe.
People are evil, not things
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u/FromEden26 Jul 02 '26
The Amityville haunting was debunked years ago. I reread the book last year, and even the introduction states that the Lutz family lied because they knew it would make them money.
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u/Federal-Chemical7736 Jul 02 '26
My family is friends with a late and great ghost writer (and pretty popular 80s horror author, if you know anything about horror novels lol) and he was hired to adapt something for them based on their findings at a house (also I do not think they disclosed that they used ghost writers often) and when some evidence or something (I'm genuinely not sure the full details, but I can ask my parents) didn't add up they told him to just make it make sense and make it scary.
He also has a horror novel out that features a famous psychic couple that are frauds and I'd say is heavily inspired by them LOL
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u/CurrentlyNobody Jul 02 '26
I saw Tyler Henry recently and was really disappointed as he spent over half his show making us watch a sort of highlight reel of his career with clips from the celebrities he read, followed by a more forgivable but still lengthy talk on his finding his gift in his youth. By the time he got to actually doing the “work” there was only time for like four people, who seemed extra “camera ready.” After each of their readings he’d have his mom read an audience member question for him to answer. But probably the most jarring part was after each medium reading he did, he plugged his website saying he was offering them a free subscription. Dude sure is personable but….
I’ve gone to a few such things over the years. The real magic comes from hearing the people’s stories sans the medium. I’d love to see a paranormal investigation where the investigators got out of the way rather than standing smack dab in it blocking our view of things.
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u/ApplicationShot3211 Jul 02 '26
I think you can have a sensitivity to supernatural things and also be manipulative and predators. Unfortunately I believe both things to be true of these two. I was a fan as a teenager but learned recently Ed groomed and raped a teenager for years and Lorraine turned a blind eye. Pretty grotesque and vile stuff. Also I think the Christianity of it all gave Loraine artistic liberty with the background of haunted places being processed by witches and demons when perhaps it was so much more complex than that.
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u/pimithepimp Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
Didn't Ed also abuse Lorraine? I don't think it was a "blind eye," and more of being scared of her husband.
Edit: it was both. Ed did sometimes physically abuse Lorraine, but she also was an asshole to Penney.
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u/BogSalt Jul 02 '26
I am an indie director who specialized in Creepypasta/Ghost Story adaptations. For Season 3 of my webseries, I was going to adapt Annabelle because the movies did a poor job at telling the actual story. One of my writers got a hold of the Warrens and they sent me a cease and desist for copyright on the story.
That day I learned the Warrens made up most, if not all, of their stories
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u/UnivairsHorror Jul 02 '26
Fraud. Their career boils down to selling books recounting their fabricated stories. They built their legend but didn't live it. They made it all up. Not to mention that Ed had a relationship with a minor, and that his wife protected him. That's also why I don't like The Conjuring; the films are really bad, And the fact that they elevate them to the status of heroes disgusts me.
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u/Alarmed-Range-3314 Jul 02 '26
I used to enjoy watching Lorraine on ghost hunting shows years ago, when I watched those shows a lot. Now that I know more about her and her husband, and their history, I believe they were 100% frauding people, and the media as much as they could, for money and recognition. Ed was the bigger conman, but Lorraine wasn’t an innocent bystander.
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u/Additional_Towel_528 Jul 02 '26
I have to recommend Greg and Dana Newkirk’s Haunted Object podcast on them. It’s on YouTube, as well as other audio only broadcasters but watching the videos they do is always a plus.
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u/iamdevo Jul 02 '26
Thank you. Everyone needs to watch/hear that episode. I fucking love Greg and Dana. They approach paranormal research and education with the respect it deserves. Their healthy skepticism is much needed.
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u/Half-Word Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
So it would appear they are what the Warrens should have been?
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u/BaldGuy813 Jul 02 '26
Well, not exactly. I adore them and have met them and they are genuine people, but they have made it clear that they have no desire to "investigate" or go ghost hunting. They focus on curiosity, not fear, though they do admit to being afraid certain things. Their research is exhaustive and quite scientific. They will never dismiss anyone's opinion as being wrong and always look for the mundane explanation, when possible.
Their Podcast is the first one I've ever paid for, it's that good.
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u/iamdevo Jul 02 '26
Yeah but I don't think the Warrens ever actually cared about the research. They were only interested in money and fame.
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u/BadgerResponsible546 Jul 02 '26
I'd argue for fraud. I wrote them a short, friendly, "based" letter focusing on their own Catholicism and its fascinating, pertinent relationship the subjects they were investigating. I got a postcard in response saying, "Read our books". Such warm scholarly ecumenism and openness! I HAD read their damned book, which is precisely the factor that prompted my question! I found the Warrens to be less than impressive, to say the least.
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u/Adept_Contribution33 Jul 02 '26
I am going to say this, their body language ?
It always screamed one step down from Jim and Tammy Faye Baker.
Like said before a Snake Oil Salesman.
Just the feeling.
Also, kinda a sticking point with me, there is 1 and only 1 person that the Vatican allows to do exorcism at any point in time. There are more in training, yes, but only one at a time.
(My Faith is not theirs, but we must know all, so that we can understand each other)
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u/FaeFollette Jul 02 '26
The priest who performed exorcisms for them wasn’t Roman Catholic. He had been excommunicated from the RC, and belonged to an offshoot not bound by Vatican law.
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u/rockanrolltiddies Jul 02 '26
Ok, hear me out, I was raised catholic but I dont practice, but like...if you need God's help to get this demon out of someone, are you really going to trust someone whos been excommunicated? Like, dropped from God's varsity team? No thank you, if I need an exorcism you better find me someone who's still in good with the big guy, imo.
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u/Scruffylookin13 Jul 02 '26
If you're scared, helpless, and desperately looking for help you absolutely would. People try psychics and mediums that don't have any "godly" authority. You would try to find any help you could if you thought the devil or some demon was possessing a loved one
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u/xXxHondoxXx Jul 03 '26
The church and "the big guy" are two entirely different entities.
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u/rockanrolltiddies Jul 03 '26
That's fair, but also, if my eternal soul is on the line I'm going to need more than "someone on speaking terms with God", I need a Jesuit with a PhD in psychology, ok? If someone is battling the Devil for my sake, I want them to have proof that God is fighting with them, ok. I don't even believe in demonic possession like that, but if I did, and for something as serious as that would be, it just doesnt make sense to me that people would settle for an excommunicated priest.
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u/Adept_Contribution33 Jul 02 '26
Thank you, I for some reason (movies?) Always thought Ed had done those.
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u/philymc85 Jul 02 '26
Ed was good at 2 things, painting pictures of houses and conning folks. Do I believe in the paranormal, possession and other unexplained matters? Absolutely, I’ve seen and experienced too much to say otherwise. But these 2 were nothing but grifters unfortunately.
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u/Brockiebean Jul 02 '26
Hans Holzer was the real deal. Anyone else's experience is theirs alone.
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u/Catkillledthecurious Jul 02 '26
I learned a new level of English reading this one book I was given of his It was fascinating! He did seem like the real deal. His description of spirits, versus ghosts was on another level. I almost want to reread the book these 20 or so years later.
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u/elrangarino Jul 02 '26
I thought I was a ghost nerd but now I’m going to go down this rabbit hole. I’m so excited!
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u/photoblink Jul 02 '26
What was the book?
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u/Wolfwalker9 Jul 02 '26
I looked him up on Goodreads, & it appears he’s authored over 70 different books about ghosts, spirits, & the paranormal. I’d say take your pick depending on what specific part of the subject you’re interested in.
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u/photoblink Jul 02 '26
According to Wikipedia, he wrote 120 books! I am curious which one made such an impact on commenter Cat.
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u/Catkillledthecurious Jul 02 '26
It was also the only one I read of his, too and awhile back. It's got me curious what the title is. I'm sure his other books are just as fascinating
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u/Catkillledthecurious Jul 02 '26
I wish I could remember. It's most likely buried under the stairs in a box at the moment. If I can easily locate it in the next few days, I'll post the title.
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u/jpatricks1 Jul 02 '26
I know of him from Holzer files on HBO Max. He's a pioneer paranormal investigator and his black and white old timey stuff adds creepiness. Can't say for certain if he's the real deal but seems like he kept it as scientific as he could
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Jul 02 '26
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u/Jack_Shid Paranormal Researcher Jul 02 '26
In the episode called the haunted doll
It's called "The Living Doll".
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Jul 02 '26
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u/Jack_Shid Paranormal Researcher Jul 02 '26
Debunking and being skeptical about these things is my area of expertise as a paranormal researcher and investigator. I become irate sometimes at the things that people believe blindly, and without ANY supporting evidence. The first one that comes to mind is Ouija boards.
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Jul 02 '26
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u/Jack_Shid Paranormal Researcher Jul 02 '26
I know of Omar. I watched his channel a few times because it was good for a laugh. It's one thing to act like something interesting is happening, but when you have the acting skills of a turnip, it's not very convincing. It IS good for a laugh though. I feel the same way about most paranormal YouTube content creators and Paranormal Reality TV stars though. None of them are very good at convincing anyone who isn't completely gullible.
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u/Intrepid-Stock-8189 Jul 02 '26
Had the "pleasure" of meeting and participating in an investigation with them. Both were very unpleasant know-it-alls. And frauds, btw.
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u/Ninja_attack Jul 02 '26
Frauds obviously. They never actually did anything but become parasites to other cases of "paranormal activity" that other folk "discovered". The biggest issue was that Ed was a pedophile and Lorraine supported him.
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u/Basic-Place-4443 Jul 03 '26
I know that there is paranormal activity. Having said that, I think they were a little bit hungry for the next big case and never missed a chance to promote themselves. They (in my opinion) loved the spot light and any money they could make. I would categorize them more as showmen, not frauds or con artists. Kinda like the guy at work that does a good job and never lets anyone forget it. Then you find out about his secret live-in underage girl friend. The wife never mentioned her, lol. Some may say one thing has nothing to do with the other, but a pattern of deceptive behavior in a business built on trust makes me not want to choose them if I need a paranormal investigator.
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u/SelectSeaweed310 Jul 02 '26
I don't know. He never seemed all there or convincing. She had a lot of charisma and that can blur the lines.
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u/MatthewTheRaven Jul 02 '26
I got to meet them at our college. It was a really interesting talk and the one video they had was very compelling. But I also think they embellished a lot, so I’d say both.
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u/cribbageSTARSHIP Jul 02 '26
What was the video?
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u/MatthewTheRaven Jul 02 '26
I believe it was the raw footage of an exorcism of the supposedly possessed Maurice Theriault. He appears fictionalized in the Conjuring movies, but he was a real person. In the video I recall, a priest is performing the exorcism and taking to the man. Theriault blinks three times in a row and then doesn’t blink again for like 3 minutes, which is creepy enough. His features appear to elongate and change over the course of the video, his skin bubbles, and if I recall he speaks in Latin backwards and bleeds from the mouth. Of all the stuff they showed, it was the most interesting by far, anyway.
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u/Daeronius Jul 02 '26
So, they basically went to peoples’ houses, found a random creepy looking item and said “That! That thing right there!” was the source of their bad vibes, took said item and put it on display in their museum/house where they then charged people a fee to walk around and look at all the weird items and heirlooms they tricked people into giving them. There’s no way this was a scam!
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u/possiblethrowaway369 Jul 02 '26
Oh frauds for sure. Unethical at the very least. Just ask the actual family that lived in the conjuring house. Bathsheba was not involved in that haunting at all, and one of the daughters said that after they did a seance that almost got the mom killed, Ed didn't say "I'm sorry" or "it's gonna be okay," or anything like that, he just said "don't call the police" and they scurried out of there. They did check back in on her to make sure she survived...months later. (Source: an episode of Two Girls One Ghost where they interview one of the girls from the conjuring house)
Also, they love to blame hauntings on girls going through puberty, for some reason? (In the conjuring house and again in another haunting, but I forget which one)
Do I think they really do have some haunted items? Yes. Do I think Ed did do exorcisms sometimes? Yeah. But do I think they actually helped people more than they harmed them? No.
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u/No-stradumbass Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
Of course they were freuds. If it wasn't obvious from their life's work, just look at them. They look like scammers who would keep an extra marital under wraps with an abortion.
And then tell you how evil abortions are.
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u/SignificantProgram22 Jul 02 '26
I have to point out your Freudian slip by calling the Warren's "freuds." Of course Freud himself was a bit of a fraud😆
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u/CynicalCannibal Jul 02 '26
Did you listen to a certain podcast to learn that or having you done some deep diving on them?
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u/No-stradumbass Jul 02 '26
I did my own deep dive after the first movie came out.
I went to there "museum" and wasn't impressed. I looked in that dolls eyes and nothing happened.
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u/CynicalCannibal Jul 02 '26
Deep dives are always fun.. but i just don't have the time. So i get information from research others do.
Go listen to the Ed and Lorraine episode from Chilluminati.. although you might know it all already. Lol
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u/No-stradumbass Jul 02 '26
That's fine. No one is expecting you to be as obsessed as I am with random crap. If something catches my interest then I must know all about it before I can move on. Once I found my own conclusion then I'm done.
The Warrens were one of those times. Now I have the ability to roll my eyes with confidence whenever them or that dumb doll gets mentioned.
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u/diandays Jul 02 '26
The why files also does an awesome episode about them and their fraud ways
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u/Intelligent_Factor89 Jul 02 '26
They may well have investigated real, genuine hauntings, but their approach was to sensationalise and ultimately monetise everything they became involved in. I've done a lot of research into the Enfield Haunting, and their version of their involvement was nowhere near what it actually was (I've spoken to people who were actually there) Their fabrication of their involvement speaks volumes as to their credibility
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u/room750 Jul 02 '26
He gives snake oil salesman. There’s something dark in her
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u/MidNightMare5998 Jul 02 '26
COMPLETELY agree about the dark vibes in Lorraine, I’m surprised more people don’t talk about it. Every video I’ve ever seen of her just gave me awful vibes. He was just more of a con man, but something about her was deeply unwell
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u/Top_Ad3876 Jul 02 '26
Now that we know she was shielding a pedophile, she is getting pretty well dragged. But I honestly thought the same thing before all that came out.
Maybe people didn't before because it's a judgment that would be perceived to be based on "looks". And yes, she does look like an evil witch. But there is also a darkness about her which is not tangible, or easily described.
Either way we were obvi right. Another tick in the my intuition/gut was right column😋
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u/Complete-Wait-6457 Jul 02 '26
I went to UCONN- they hired them every Halloween but it was for *entertainment*. The amount of people who thought it was real was mind-blowing……
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u/SubstantialPressure3 Jul 02 '26
Both. Ed Lorraine was a predatory fraud. Whether Lorraine went along with it willingly or not is up for debate. He was an abusive POS. But I'll bet Lorraine did pick up psychic ability simply due to the hitchhiker effect.
And both being religious, looked at the phenomenon through the lense of Catholicism, AND with their own exploitative agenda in mind. That's how they made their living, and they needed publicity to do that.
I dont think its as simple as A or B.
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u/napalmnacey Jul 02 '26
Fraud. Absolute frauds. I’m so mad people take them seriously still.
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u/ag843 Jul 02 '26
Are they still alive…? Too lazy to google at the moment lol
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u/SecretaryCommon Jul 02 '26
Yes both dead, Lorraine died in 2019 I think. I’m glad to see the comments here are calling them out for the awful frauds, scammers and heinous people they were.
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u/Elcordobeh Jul 03 '26
Ngl I love the movies but also to watch them like a fanfic made by Lorraine...
"So so so, my Eddie is Orm and, and aaand -hold up- he's so strong and brave, he knows how to make exorcisms, literally all priests fail to perform them properly except my Eddie!"
It's actually heartbreaking because it's clear it's about an old woman wanting the world to only get the wholesome faithful marriage
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u/TheUpIsJig Jul 02 '26
The Annabelle doll story has zero sources except for the Warrens and was used as a gimmick in their occult museum. It is just a raggedy Ann doll bought from a store.
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u/diandays Jul 02 '26
We know they are frauds.
We also know they were predators and he was sleeping with a minor who he had living in their home
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u/SurpriseHistorical97 Jul 02 '26
Absolute fraud! Even worse: they explore people weakness, suffering and beliefs and make money out of it. Absolute fraud and an evil one!
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u/brimstonebridge Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
Frauds. And scumbags. It’s why I won’t watch the Conjuring movies, no matter how much I like ghost stories. I couldn’t stand how the first one made them near-saintly.
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u/MochaPochacco Jul 02 '26
I really liked those characters. I wish the writers had just invented their own ghost hunting couple for the movies, renamed them, and said it was loosely based on their work or whatever. The real Warrens don't deserve the portrayal; they were not good people from what I've read.
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u/RebaKitt3n Jul 02 '26
Their portrayal in movies is so far off from the real couple, I don’t even connect the movie Ed and Lorraine with the two scum bags.
Yeah, Ed played a guitar and sang to the scared family? And then probably hit on the daughter.
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u/tittyfrickthalasagna Jul 02 '26
Listen to the podcast episodes that Last Podcast on the Left did about them, the newer ones. I think there's 3 parts, might be 2. The Warrens were absolutely frauds, and on top of that Ed groomed and abused a young girl while Lorraine 100% knew about it.
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u/floralrain6 Jul 02 '26
They were fake/frauds. Hans Holzer was legit and seriously seemed invested in actually helping people along with documenting.
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u/Annahsbananas Jul 02 '26
Definitely frauds; there is a lot of evidence they were frauds. Even the author who wrote all the books for them says this
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u/DollyB54 Jul 03 '26
Growing up in Amityville I lived through all the crap that the book and later the movies created. Tons of old homes in the village and a bunch of them are haunted, but no bleeding walls or glowing red eyes. The most I’ve heard of happening in “the house” were footsteps, this when my daughter’s friend had a sleepover there. My feeling is that Ed and Lorraine were complete frauds.
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u/Suspicious_Safe_6150 Jul 02 '26
Professional marketers / grifters - they are small scale today compared to a lot of these crypto people etc
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u/Finegling Jul 02 '26
I feel that they were scammers. They pretty much never shied away from the limelight, cultivating situations to increase coverage, monetised it any way they could.
This all points towards nefariousness
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u/horitaku Jul 02 '26
Frauds for sure. Ed was also a sexual predator, and I believe that with my whole heart. I also believe that Lorraine was complicit in that. There was a 15 year old girl that 27 year old Ed impregnated and Lorraine told her to get an abortion because they couldn’t handle the scandal.
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u/apollo_lykeios Jul 02 '26
I tend to be more of a believer than a skeptic but those two were absolutely full of shit and my main goal is to somehow buy the real Annabelle doll and then eat her. Maybe just ripping off pieces and eating them or maybe I’ll like put her in some soup, let her simmer, and then try to steal her demon powers that way.
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u/Heythatsmy_bike Jul 02 '26
Frauds and pedophile unfortunately. The why files has a good episode on them
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u/JagTaggart93 Jul 02 '26
It sucks hearing everything come to light about them. The field in general has so many frauds and it sucks that these two pioneers may have been as fake as the rest of them. It sucks bc I've met Lorraine on a few occasions and she couldn't have been any nicer.
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u/LittleOperation4597 Jul 02 '26
I met her a couple times. I went to some of their Halloween event dinners and the house once. SWEEEEEEEEEETEST woman you will ever meet in your life and honestly I got nothing but genuine feelings from her (in a non paranormal way)
Never met ed really. I'm not saying we were friends or friendly but in passing we always seemed to end up chatting. The house visit was a paid tour.
Ed was in the coma at that time and tony sparrow was in his place.
YOU WANT TO talk about con. That guy's is 100% one. Just 70s used car salesman energy. When I asked about about why now they can move the Anabelle doll to actual events safety he literally told me they use welding gloves.
I'm on the fence with them. Do I think Ed was in it for notoriety and money to some degree sure. I don't think Elaine was at all a genuine or willing fraud.
JMO tho
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u/YoungVegabond Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
i feel really bad saying this considering i was obssesed with the paranormal topics as a teen and have read countless stuff on the subject but as an adult i highly doubt that the supernatural stuff even exists. it seems to me that in the end there is always some scienific explanations to the weird and the "unexplained" stuff some people claim to see, hear or even feel...reality is often disdapointing.. and as for ed and lorraine from my understaning they were frauds and horrible people who have exploited tragedies and mental ilness of the least fortunate.
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u/SasquatchBlumpkins Jul 03 '26
If you do the maths of how long they did investigations, then add in their total investigation amount it.
The lay claim to over 10,000 investigations, some say that those were just the ones they solved. They investigated for 50 years.
50x365 = 18,250 days
So they did an investigation every 1.8 days, and that's if they didn't take 1 day off in that 50 year time span. And that number is based off of the lowest claim of 10k investigations.
So I will let everyone make their own minds up.
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u/TwylaL Jul 12 '26
Elton Castee was all excited about getting access to their case files when he bought the house & rented the "collection".
Haven't heard anything about cases since. Tony Spera (son-in-law) has been running their for-profit "New England Society for Psychic Research" -- supposedly active since 1952. No journal, no books, no news about new cases since Ed died. Not even a Youtube channel. Former volunteers claim that they help nobody, just throw away incoming emails asking for help, and made money charging for lectures & tours of their illegal museum. Now that Elton Castee has taken over he's back to begging for free haunted items to be sent to him and selling evil-infested used Raggedy Anne dolls at $200 apiece. (Don't run a blacklight over any, they could be crime scenes themselves if you know what I mean...)
Nobody has come forward with a story about how Spera and his organization has helped them. Unlike Ed, he can't talk anybody into a book deal, assuming anybody actually exists. You'd think with The Conjuring franchise doing so well at least one person would come forward with their tale of rescue from demonic forces. Instead former cop Spera is stuck touting a convicted pdfile posing as a victim from one of Ed's cases and a convicted murderer from another at public events marketed to families with kids.
So yeah. It's a great legacy. And they are all cosplaying as Catholics.
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u/Fit-University1070 Jul 02 '26
Mixture of both. Im sure they had their fair share of real interactions but every good storey tellers and the like, have a fair share of exaggeration.
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u/dokuroman Jul 02 '26
They are total frauds. Listen to the Last podcast on the left episode about them.
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u/Commercial-Cod4232 Jul 02 '26
Hard for me to say...i dont think its impossible they were both psychically sensitive people that had some ability to percieve or sense things in the spiritual realms like ghosts and demons but at the same time I dont believe anything completely unless some kind of evidence or proof can be shown...I def. Believe in ghosts, elementals, demons, spirits and angels etc tho
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u/theweespree Jul 02 '26
They toured my small mid-west college back in 2014. All they showed were Polaroid photos of the ghosts/demons they encountered. Lorraine then told a student in the audience she saw a “dark presence” around her. The student apparently had her dorm room door slam shut on its own later that night. That’s how these types of people can keep up appearances
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u/Late_Technology1704 Jul 07 '26
i believe it’s similar to the “second conjuring house” case not sure if anyone has watched the same and colby investigation there but i believe they started with this for real and real investigations but i think once they recieved the fame and money they likely faked things or worked with people to keep up their name.
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u/suzyswitters Jul 02 '26
I think both. They probably started out pretty legit and then had to create demand for content like a YouTuber. I don't think most psychic ability is as on-demand as they and many other psychics portray it to be. Wouldn't actually, legit psychics that can turn it on and off just get kidnapped by a government?
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u/Which-Clothes-2606 Jul 02 '26
I think they’re scammers who once in awhile interact with legitimate cases of real “supernatural“ issues. Same way I view ghost shows/ other paranormal shows
These people are interacting with something and dealing with something and for the most part they were not being helped properly
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u/eldriche1 Jul 02 '26
FRAUDS! They were more evil than all the demons they made up. They ruined the hope of any legitimate investigation into the paranormal. The movies have rewritten them into folk heroes but the most basic research into them shows the truth. May they both be rotting in their made up Hell.
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u/pinkoctober88 Jul 03 '26
I don’t know about them being frauds but I do know my mother in law worked with them on an investigation because she has abilities and it was a very terrifying and eye opening experience. I’ll have to pick her brain more about them as people.
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u/PresidentPopcorn Jul 02 '26
Massive frauds.
Also, what was conjured in The Conjuring? Nothing was conjured.
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u/dimiteddy Jul 02 '26
when I was younger and watched the first Conjuring I thought maybe they were the real thing. I even bought a non haunted Raggedy Ann doll. But after I I read about them I learned they were scammers and abusers. Do your research
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u/CKitty_BKitty Jul 03 '26
Oh! I went to the University of CT in the early 2000 when they still came to campus and spoke every Halloween.
I think the degree of “fraud” has to be determined by how much someone believes their own story.
Growing up in CT, there definitely seemed to be a “polished business” element to the Warens. It’s hard for me to look at everything and not think a good deal was engineered.
But listening to them speak? I think they genuinely believed in many of the stories they told into the end of their careers.
I mean, New England is basically America’s haunted house. A standard 5th grade field trip includes visiting the crumbling stone runes of a 17th century prison, and no one’s phased by or questions it. Common arts & crafts projects include making gravestone rubbings from small, unmarked, colonial plots in the middle of the woods. You have friend living in homes which giant (no longer functional) fire places in each room with dirt & flagstone basements and hidden stairwells.
One of the best “check-list” items from attending UConn was taking a trip to the old, condemned mental institution without getting caught by the cops. (Who’s have to find you by accident cause they didn’t exactly care. But pretend they did made it more fun.)
So….I don’t think there’s a clear cut/black or white answer to that question. Their history in CT, both the engineered and sincere, is all “part of it.”
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u/pez_pogo Jul 02 '26
I used to think they were the $h!t back in the day but I have since. Hanged my mind as new things about their life and how they actually did investigations are coming to light. Damn shame too.
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u/DissedFunction Jul 02 '26
It's a shame b/c there are some people who do (or in the case of my Mom) did some of this sort of stuff in real life and when the most famous end up scammers it taints everyone else.
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u/vickiw78 Jul 02 '26
Can I direct everyone with an interest in the paranormal towards the haunted objects podcast, it is so funny and eye opening- they have an episode covering the warrens!
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