The Why Files: Operation Podcast - 88: From Amityville to Annabelle | The Truth of Ed and Lorraine Warren's Scariest Case

Episode Date: November 24, 2022

From Amityville to Annabelle | The Truth of Ed and Lorraine Warren's Scariest Case Ed and Lorraine Warren are maybe the most famous paranormal investigators in history. They've worked on more than 10,000 cases. Some of which have been made into books and movies. The Conjuring films are based on the work of the Warrens. Today we'll look at a few of their scariest, most disturbing cases and find the truth. So turn off the lights and put the little ones to bed. It's going to get spooky. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

If it's a flat or a squeal, a wobble or peel, your tread's worn down or you need a new wheel, wherever you go, you can get it from our Tread Experts. Toyo's open country family of tires will get you through tough weather in a variety of terrains. Until May 31st, save up to $100 in rebates on select Toyo tires. Find a Toyo Tread Experts dealer near you at treadexperts.ca slash locations. From tires to auto repair, we're always there at treadexperts.ca slash locations. From tires to auto repair, we're always there at treadexperts.ca. Hey, it's your buddy AJ from the Y-Files. And Hecklefish.

Right, and Hecklefish. We just wanted to tell you that if you want to start a podcast, Spotify makes it easy. It'd have to be easy for humans to understand it. Will you stop that? I'm just saying. Spotify for Podcasters lets you record and edit podcasts from your computer. I don't have a computer. Do you have a phone? Of course

I have a phone. I'm not a savage. Well, with Spotify, you can record podcasts from your phone, too. Spotify makes it easy to distribute your podcast to every platform and you can even earn money. I do need money. What do you need money for? You kidding? I'm getting killed on guppy support payments. These 3X wives are expensive. You don't want to support your kids? What are you need money for? You kidding? I'm getting killed on guppy support payments. These 3X wives are expensive.

You don't want to support your kids? What are you, my wife's lawyer now? Never mind. And I don't know if you noticed, but all Y-Files episodes are video, too. And there's a ton of other features, but you... But we can't be here all day. Will you settle down? I need you to hurry up with this stupid commercial.

I got a packed calendar today. I'm sorry about him. Anyway, check out Spotify for Podcasters. It's free, no catch, and a packed calendar today. I'm sorry about him. Anyway, check out Spotify for podcasters. It's free, no catch, and you could start today. Are we done? We're done, but you need to check your attitude. Excuse me, but I don't have all day to sit here and talk about Spotify. This would go a lot faster if you would just let me get through it. Today's episode of the Y-Files is brought to you by Established Titles. Ed and Lorraine Warren are maybe the most famous paranormal investigators in history. Today's episode of The Y-Files is brought to you by Established Titles. most disturbing cases. So turn off the lights and put the little ones to bed. It's going to get spooky.

December 1975, Amityville, New York. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What? We're jumping right in with Amityville? I don't know about this. You know I don't like to be scared. Yeah, I know, but we took a vote on the channel and most people said they wanted scary stories. Oh yeah, well, then they should be the ones to clean my bowl after I s*** myself. Okay, that's enough. I'm just saying there are going to be consequences. December 1975, Amityville, New York. George and

Kathleen Lutz were house hunting. Though the asking price of 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville was higher than their budget, at $18,000, it was a steal. Soon the Lutzes learned why. A year earlier, in the house, 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo Jr., also known as Butch, snapped. On November 13th at 3.15 a.m., he slowly and systematically went bedroom to bedroom and murdered his entire family. Butch DeFeo's father, mother, two sisters, and two brothers were all shot with a.35 caliber rifle while they slept. Butch claimed he heard voices urging him to kill. His attorney, William Weber, tried the insanity defense,

but it didn't work. In November 1975, Butch was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences. One month later, George and Kathleen Lutz, along with their three children, moved in to the DeFeo house. The Lutzes weren't that religious, but they asked a local priest to bless the house. While the family was unpacking, Father Pecoraro was in an upstairs room praying. As soon as he splashed holy water, the priest heard a voice that said,

Get out. Father Pecoraro didn't tell the Lutzes specifically what happened, but he warned them not to use that second floor room for a bedroom and stay out of the room altogether if they could. Did they stay out? They wish they did. I don't like this. Within a few days, the Lutzes noticed strange activity. At first, it was just sounds, doors slamming, footsteps, strange mumbling. Then the house wouldn't get warm, no matter how high they turned up the heat. So they kept the fire going day and night. George sometimes saw demonic faces in the fire. Missy Lutz,

then five years old, started talking about an imaginary friend named Jody. Green slime was found oozing from the walls and through keyholes. Doors and windows were found suddenly damaged. One night, George saw his wife Kathy transform into an old woman who looked like a witch. He saw hoof prints in the snow leading into their house. George would wake up at 3.15 every morning, the same time the DeFeo family was killed. One night, he heard his children's beds slamming up and down on the floor, but he couldn't do anything about it because he was paralyzed in bed by an unseen force. Later that night, he saw his wife levitating and moving across the bed.

The next morning, after only 28 days, the Lutzes had enough. They left the Amityville house and all their belongings and moved in with friends. And that's when they brought in the Warrens. On March 6th, Ed and Lorraine Warren conducted a seance in the house with several psychics. Lorraine, a clairvoyant, said she encountered Butch's spirit during the seance and felt what she described as an overwhelming feeling of horrible depression. The inhuman, the diabolical, are attracted to where tragedies occur, just like a moth would be attracted to a light.

And when the Lutz family moved in 13 months after these murders, they were still using some of the furniture that was in there. Ed Warren said the house was possessed by demons. The psychic team took a series of time-lapse photos of the upstairs landing. None of the photographs showed anything out of the ordinary, except one. Keep in mind that Butch DeFeo's little brother, John, was only nine years old on the night he was killed. The photo shows, peering out from one of the bedrooms, a little boy with glowing eyes. After the Lutzes moved out of the house, things returned to normal.

Two years later, they would tell their story to author Jay Anson, who released the book, The Amityville Horror. The book was an instant sensation, selling over 6 million copies. The story gained even more notoriety in 1979 when the movie Amityville Horror hit theaters. Since then, 12 books and a total of 28 films have been inspired by the story. Today, the Amityville house looks much like it did in the 70s. After all this time, it's still one of the most famous and frightening houses in the country, and maybe the world. In 1970, Donna, a nursing student, received a gift from her mother for her 20th birthday,

a Raggedy Ann doll. Donna loved the doll and took it back to her house that she shared with another young nurse named Angie. The doll's place in the house was sitting up on the couch, but Donna and Angie noticed the doll would be found in different rooms. Donna would set her on the living room couch before she left work. She'd come home and the doll was in her room with the door shut. Then Donna and Angie started finding notes around the apartment. They were written in child's handwriting and said, help me. And the notes were written on parchment paper that they didn't have in the house. One day they came home and the doll had moved again. But this time it had a sticky red substance on its hands that appeared to be blood.

Within a few hours, the red substance was gone. Angie's boyfriend Lou said the doll gave him a creepy feeling and told him to get rid of it. They wouldn't. That night, while Lou was sleeping, he heard a noise in the room, like someone was walking around. Then he felt something on the bed. He looked up and said the doll was quickly crawling on the bed on his body. He went to yell, but the doll covered his mouth and choked him until he passed out. The next morning, he tried to convince himself that it was all a dream, but he couldn't shake it. Donna and Angie didn't know what to do. They felt like they were going crazy. They contacted a local medium for help. The medium held a seance and told the women that the doll was possessed by a seven-year-old

girl named Annabelle Higgins. They later found out that the body of a young girl was found on the property years earlier, before their apartment building was built. The medium told the girls that the doll, who they now called Annabelle, just wanted someone to play with, and someone to love and care for her. Annabelle asked permission to stay in the doll and live with the young nurses. The young nurses said no, they got rid of the doll, the end. Nope, they kept it. I was afraid you'd say that. They felt bad for Annabelle and agreed to let her stay in the doll and they would take care of her.

That turned out to be a terrible mistake. You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. You searched for your informant,

who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth, while curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. You sailed beyond the horizon

in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms.

Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. After the medium left, Angie and Donna explained the story to Lou to try to get him to come around. He said the story just made it worse. Get rid of the doll.

They still said no. Over the next days and weeks, the strange activities continued. Sounds in the middle of the night, Annabelle moving from room to room, and now the notes changed from help me to help Lou. One day, Lou was helping Donna and Angie pack for a road trip. He saw that Annabelle looked like she was just thrown onto the floor. So he went over to pick her up, and then he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down and saw blood seeping through his shirt. Underneath, he had seven long, bloody scratches in the shape of the mark of the beast. Within two days, the marks disappeared like they were never there. Maybe the beast uses neosporin.

Please, no one-liners when I'm trying to be scary. I'm just trying to keep it light. All right, go ahead. Finally, Angie and Donna agreed to do something. They called the church and explained what was happening. The church reached out to Ed and Lorraine Warren. Ed Warren was the only lay person recognized by the church as a demonologist. The Warrens arrived and spoke to the young women at length. Ed and Lorraine explained that the doll was not possessed by a little girl, but possessed by a demon. And now that the demon was invited to live there, it would try to find a human host. The Warrens agreed to take the doll and put it somewhere the demon couldn't escape.

So Ed put Annabelle in the backseat of the car. He suggested that they don't take freeways home, and he was right. Several times on the drive, the car tried to run itself off the road, and the brakes would give out, come back and then give out again. Ed turned around and splashed holy water on Annabelle. And after that, the car worked fine. Even after they got Annabelle home, it continued to torment and terrorize. It would move around the house. And at some point, Ed found the doll levitating near his desk.

One day, a young priest was visiting and saw Annabelle. He mocked the doll and said, you're just a doll. You can't hurt anyone. Bad move, Padre. Well, on his way home, his brakes gave out and the priest was killed. Several people who mocked Annabelle ended up in car wrecks soon after. Finally, the Warrens put Annabelle in a glass case. And on the case is a note that ominously says, positively do not open. Today, Annabelle still sits in her glass case

at the Occult Museum in the Warren's house. Ghost hunters, mediums, and psychics still visit Annabelle to this day. All report feeling a dark, negative energy coming from the doll. But nobody opens the case, and everyone treats her with respect. When The Conjuring was released in 2013, it was praised not just for being extremely scary, but for feeling like a true story. That's because it is. In January 1971, the Perrin family moved into an old farmhouse

in Harrisville, Rhode Island. Almost immediately, Carolyn, Roger, and their five daughters saw strange things happening. Like most of these stories, the first activity was so small that it would go unnoticed, like things being out of place. Carolyn would notice that her broom would never be in the same place she left it. Then the noises started. Loud thuds, footsteps, and the sounds of people moving around in the kitchen. One day, Carolyn found muddy footprints and small piles of dirt on her freshly washed kitchen floor. Then the girls started seeing spirits around the house. Most of the spirits ignored the girls, but a few didn't.

And all those spirits were angry. Eight-year-old Cindy Parron kept hearing a voice whispering in her bedroom. It said, there are seven dead soldiers in the walls. One day, Carolyn walked into the kitchen and saw a man standing there just leaning against the wall. She said he was wearing old time clothes, which makes sense. The house was built in 1736. Ghosts also appeared sitting at their dining room table, and some seemed to be aware that the Perrons were there. The ghosts pointed at them and then vanished. Other ghosts ignored them before disappearing. So Carolyn researched the history of the house and discovered it had been in the Arnold family for generations. She thought the man she saw in the kitchen was

John Arnold. Carolyn learned there had been at least eight deaths on the property, some of them gruesome, a few of them, children. Carolyn learned that the primary evil force was the spirit of a woman named Bathsheba Sherman, who lived in the house in the mid-19th century. She was not a nice lady. She had a reputation for beating and starving the hired help. While her husband Judson farmed the land, she took care of the house. Bathsheba had four children, three of whom died very young. Local legend claims Bathsheba was a witch because an infant, while in her care, mysteriously died. The cause of death was determined to be a sewing needle that impaled the baby's skull. Locals believe that this was an offering to the devil, but Bathsheba was never convicted of any wrongdoing. When Bathsheba died, legend says she turned stone. The parents said

that at 5.15 every morning, there would be the smell of rotten flesh in the house, and the air would become terribly cold and the heat wouldn't work. One especially scary night, Roger Perrin's bed was lifted into the air and dropped. Soon, Carolyn started feeling like Bathsheba was trying to make her kill her children the way Bathsheba killed hers. That's when the Perrons called Ed and Lorraine Warren for help. The Warrens spent a few hours walking the house and talking to the Perrons. Then they performed a seance against Roger Perron's wishes. Here's Roger in his own words. The Warrens came over and they did the seance in the house. And it was, that was not a good thing.

I was against it, but they did it anyway. And three to five minutes into the seance, my wife got all, her whole body went out of shape and it was like an extortion. Somebody was squeezing her and her chair fell off the floor and came right into me, into the next room. And I tried to help her. She was

completely out of this world at that point, speaking crazy words. And I tried to help her. At that point, Roger had seen enough. He actually punched Ed in the mouth and threw the Warrens out of the house and told them never to return. But soon after the seance, the haunting stopped.

August 1977, Enfield, North London. This is considered one of the events that proves the existence of poltergeists. Peggy Hodgson had just put her children to bed when she heard the sound of a chair being dragged across the bedroom floor. Peggy went into the room and her daughters were under their blankets, terrified. The chair was upside down on the floor and they said they didn't do it. They said the chair moved on its own. So Peggy turned out the lights and then heard the sound of scraping. When she turned the lights back on, she saw a dresser slide 18 inches across the floor. Peggy wasn't quite sure what was happening. She tried to push the dresser back into place, but it wouldn't budge. Peggy called her neighbors over to make sure she wasn't going crazy.

The neighbors also heard the sounds. Peggy finally called the police. One of the responding officers said she heard knocking or tapping and saw the chair wobble. Then she saw the chair slide across the floor about three feet. This is in the official police report, but the police said there's no crime, so there's nothing they can do. After a couple of months, everyone in the house was sleeping in the same room, and then the activity got worse. Voices of an old man started coming from Janet, and her lips weren't moving. This voice is coming from an 11-year-old girl.

Well, perhaps Guy, perhaps you've got something to say to them. Yeah. I'd like to know how you make this noise without bashing Janet's vocal cords to pieces. If I do it for half a minute, I get a sore throat. Who's chasing you? Peggy didn't know where to turn, so she went to the media. Soon reporters and paranormal investigators descended on the family, performing test after test.

There are photos of Janet being levitated out of bed. There's video of knocking sounds responding to questions from mediums. Guy Playfair was a writer and parapsychologist with the Society for Psychical Research. He spent a great deal of time with the family. He witnessed a lot of poltergeist activity with his own eyes. By 1978, the Enfield poltergeist attracted the attention of Ed and Lorraine Warren. At this point in time, the Warrens were icons in paranormal research. They flew to London to investigate.

Ed Warren was convinced there was a demonic presence. The voice coming from Janet said its name was Bill and that he lived and died in the house. The voice said that he had died of a brain hemorrhage while sitting in a chair. Bill's son confirmed all of that was true. Some months later, Gross was contacted by Terry Wilkins, whose father Bill was buried in a nearby cemetery and had lived at the house before the Hodgsons moved in. I had an ember which had not been asleep and I died in a chair in a corner downstairs.

Astonishingly, the voice had described the precise circumstances of Bill Wilkins' death. But it describes exactly how he died. That's exactly what happened. He died in the chair down in the living room. In all, there were more than 30 witnesses who saw furniture moving, objects flying around, cold breezes, physical assaults, pools of water appearing on the floor, graffiti, and matches spontaneously igniting.

The Enfield poltergeist tortured Peggy, Janet, and the entire family for 18 months. It almost ruined their lives. Then, as quickly as it started, it stopped. You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen.

Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. The Snedekers lived in upstate New York, but found themselves traveling to Connecticut a lot. Philip, eldest son of Carmen and Alan Snedeker, had Hodgkin's lymphoma and his hospital was in Connecticut. In 1986, Carmen and Alan had had enough of the commute and decided to rent something near the Yukon Hospital. They packed up their four children and two of their nieces and moved to a spacious duplex on a quiet street in Southington, Connecticut. As soon as they moved in, Alan began renovations on the basement to make a bedroom for Philip. While cleaning out some rusty tools and other basement junk, he found an old piece of equipment he didn't recognize. It looked like a pump with a couple of old tubes coming out of it. Turns out, it was embalming equipment. Four. Corpses. No. Alan kept renovating. He found

two rooms. One was the embalming room, complete with equipment and rusty floor drains. The other room was a casket display room. No. The Snedekers now realized why the rent was so low on such a big house. It used to be a funeral home. The Hallahan Funeral Home, to be exact. Philip's bedroom would be the former casket room. And almost immediately, he heard strange sounds and voices. He saw dark figures moving in the shadows. He saw a man with white hair and a pinstripe suit.

One night, he saw bodies stacked up against the wall. Philip was so frightened, he asked to sleep in the hospital, which his parents didn't allow. Carmen thought Philip was hallucinating because of his cancer medication. But then everyone started seeing and hearing things. How many bodies passed through that house over the years? Well, it was a funeral home for a few decades, so

Thousands of bodies. Yeah. Nope. The Snedekers knew they had ghosts. At first, the ghosts just made sounds and moved things around the house. They would find light bulbs unscrewed from their sockets, but still somehow emitted light. And all through the house

was the smell of feces and decay. It became unbearable. The entire family was terrified. And just when they couldn't take it anymore, the ghosts became violent. What began as strange sounds, smells, and visions of spirits soon became much more. The spirits became physically violent. One night, both Carmen and her niece Tammy had a terrifying encounter. Carmen woke up and felt a dark energy around her. She couldn't see anything, but she felt cold hands reaching under her pajamas

and grabbing at her underwear. Then she heard an evil laugh. Carmen's niece had the same exact encounter, but she was... Whoa, what was that? You can't say... We'll get demonetized again. Oh, we don't want that.

No, we don't. So we'll censor it, and the grown-ups out there can fill in the blanks. Good thinking. Eventually, both Carmen and her husband, Alan, were by the entity multiple times. One night, Carmen finally saw the ghosts. One had long white hair and white eyes. The other had black hair and black eyes. That's when they called Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Warrens and their team of investigators spent nine weeks in the Snedeker house.

And during that time, they saw everything the Snedekers reported. Members of the team were pushed, slapped, even knocked to the ground. Ed and Lorraine searched the history of the home. They discovered that one of the morticians who worked there was a necrophiliac. Definition? He had a thing for corpses. Worst hobby ever. Ed said that the spirit infused the home with evil.

The Warrens felt that an exorcism would work, and after the house was cleansed, the Snedekers moved out. Then the Warrens hired author Ray Garten to document everything that happened in the house. The documentation of these events became the book In a Dark Place, The Story of a True Haunting. The Snedeker case was also made into the movie,

The Haunting in Connecticut, released in 2009. Since the Snedekers moved out, nobody has reported anything strange in the house since. And the owner makes sure to tell all renters that it was once a funeral home and that the renters should keep that in mind before they sign the lease. Ed and Lorraine Warren are possibly

the most successful paranormal investigators in history. They've written or contributed to at least 30 books about their cases. Their work has inspired the movies in The Conjuring Universe, a film franchise worth over $2 billion. But the Warrens have their detractors, with many skeptics calling them outright frauds and grifters. So what's the truth? Well, Ed and Lorraine Warren met when they were 16 years old at a local movie theater.

Their conversation soon moved to the paranormal. Ed believes he grew up in a haunted house, and Lorraine claimed to be clairvoyant. They were married when they were 19, when Ed was on leave from the army. They soon made their livings as artists. They would go to houses that they believed were haunted, paint them, and then try to sell the painting to the owner. Oof, that's a rough racket. It was. So Ed supplemented their income by driving a bus.

Though they were making a name for themselves locally as paranormal investigators, their breakthrough came in 1979 with the Amityville Horror Case. When the Warrens arrived in Amityville, they brought an entire film crew with them. Unfortunately, the film crew didn't capture anything except for the moanings of a few psychics. Yeah, and the ghost boy. Right, the ghost boy on top of the stairs. Yeah, that's a creepy photo, but it's actually a photograph of Paul Bartz. Oh, the mall cop? No, Paul Bartz was one of the investigators. He doesn't have glowing eyes, that's just light reflecting off his glasses. The cameras snapped a picture of him when he was setting up some equipment, but the photo became so famous that nobody bothered to refute it.

Now, the Lutzes did call Father Pecoraro to bless the house, which he did. He also said there was nothing strange about the house. It was a peaceful and lovely home. Other parts of the story are also a little sketchy. The Lutzes couldn't have seen hoof prints in the snow because there was no snow at that time. And all the damage that supposedly happened to the house didn't. Doors, windows, the entire house was in perfect shape when they moved in and when they left. The Amityville story was actually created by Butch DeFeo's lawyer, William Weber, and the Lutz family. One

night they were discussing a way to help each other. Weber wanted an insanity verdict for Butch DeFeo. He was also working on a book deal. The Lutzes were struggling financially and they liked the sound of a book deal. Weber said that after four bottles of wine, their meeting turned into a creative writing session. But the Lutzes didn't like their cut of Weber's book deal. Author Jay Anson offered the Lutzes 50-50. That they liked. And with millions of books selling like crazy and movie offers coming at them, it was in their financial interest to stick with the story. The Amityville Horror Story is definitely debunked. The next case we talked about was Annabelle, the possessed doll. This story is easier to track.

It's basically a retelling, beat for beat, of the Twilight Zone episode Living Doll, which aired in 1963 on CBS. Here's the synopsis. Eric Streeter is upset when his wife comes home with her daughter, Christy, having bought her yet another doll. Christy loves her new talking Tina doll, but her stepfather takes an immediate dislike to it. Anytime he is alone with the doll, it spouts abusive comments to the effect that it hates him and that it's going to kill him. It's a great episode, and every Twilight Zone fan knows it. Ed and Lorraine were apparently fans of the show too and co-opted the story. Still not convinced? The mother's name in the Twilight Zone episode was Annabelle.

We can call that one debunked. Now, how about Bathsheba Sherman, the witch that tormented the Perrons as portrayed in The Conjuring? When The Conjuring was released in 2013, the owner of the house at the time, Norma Sutcliffe, was tortured. By the witch? No, by movie fans. She released a video that year complaining about how her property was descended upon by horror fans at all hours day or night there would be people in her yard exploring the barn on her property and even sticking cameras and phones through her window she was furious she even sued warner brothers over this in her video norma goes on to debunk basically the whole story bathsheba was a real person but that's about all the story gets right. She never lived in that house, never killed anyone. By all accounts, she was a lovely woman.

She died peacefully at the age of 73. So, very little murdering of children? Very little. None, actually. Her last act before she died was to provide for her grandchildren's education. Norma lived in that house for years. She said nothing strange happened in the house before or since. Now, maybe Norma Sutcliffe just got lucky and the house was haunted when the parents were there. Maybe they got a few juicy book deals and a movie out of the story. So they said and continue to say their story is true. Oh, the parents didn't reach out to Ed and Lorraine Warren for help. The Warrens just showed up. That's something they did a lot. They finally left when Mr. Perron punched Ed in the mouth.

So Bathsheba Sherman and The Conjuring? Debunked. The Snedeker's case is another one that doesn't make the Warrens look good. Ray Garten, the author that Ed Warren hired, really struggled writing the book. It was difficult with the family involved. They were going through some serious problems like alcoholism and drug addiction. They could not keep their story straight and I became very frustrated. It's hard writing a non-fiction book when all the people involved are telling you different stories. When Garten told Ed Warren about this, Ed said, oh, they're crazy. Only crazy people call us. So Garten asked what he's supposed to do about the

book. Ed says, use what works and just make the rest up. Just make it scary. And this was not the first time Ed Warren hired a horror writer for help. Not a journalist, not a biographer, a horror fiction writer. Also, what's not widely reported is that Philip, their son with cancer,

was caught touching and trying to rear his cousins. He even got pretty close once. Police took him to a mental hospital where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. And schizophrenia could certainly explain why he was seeing and hearing things. Yeah, but it wouldn't explain why everyone else was. No, but the Snedekers lived in the house for two years without an incident. But after they got behind on the rent and their landlady had begun eviction proceedings, suddenly the house was haunted.

Also, their story has a lot of details that sound like the movie The Entity, which was popular and super scary. What's also not widely reported is that the family dealt with alcoholism and drug addiction, which makes everything worse. In fact, Ray Garten said that while he was working on the book, he never actually saw Philip,

and the Snedekers never mentioned what kind of cancer he had. He did speak to Philip on the phone, and Philip told him that when he stayed on his medication, the ghost stopped. Then Philip's mother quickly ended the call. Ray Garden and some of the Snedekers' neighbors suspected the family might have been using cancer as a cover story for Philip's mental health problems and drug addiction. And despite their claims, they were fully aware that the house was a funeral home. And there was a tenant living in the upstairs apartment who never saw or heard anything. The Snedeker's neighbors, their landlady, even the person writing the book about the case, all said the story was made up. This one is safely debunked. The Enfield poltergeist is a tricky one. We know at least some of the story was a hoax because Janet admitted to it. And the kids were

caught multiple times faking so-called paranormal incidents. And people say the voice was coming from her without her mouth moving, but there's plenty of video of her mouth moving. The photo of Janet levitating above the bed looks a lot like her jumping off the bed. And that picture was taken with a motion-controlled

camera in the girl's bedroom, so nobody else was in the room to confirm what actually happened. This was another case where the movie exaggerates the Warrens' involvement. Again, they just showed up uninvited. They stayed for a few hours, looked around, and left the following day. Ed Warren did have a chance to speak to Guy Playfair, the investigator who spent the most time with the family. Ed told Guy he could make a lot of money from this case.

Guy wasn't interested, but the Warrens wrote it up anyway. They cashed in and called this another one of their 10,000 cases. Except they didn't investigate 10,000 cases. If they did one case a day without a day off, that would take them 27 years. So we caught Ed stretching the truth again. Speaking of, there is one true horror story here. His name is Ed Warren. You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map.

You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest while you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. Warner Brothers' multi-film, multi-billion-dollar Conjuring franchise follows Ed and Lorraine Warren, a devoutly religious, happily married couple who travel the world, helping rid frightened families of ghosts and demons. Here comes the butt!

But, just weeks after the release of the first film in 2013, the studio learned about allegations made against Ed Warren. According to Judith Penny, Ed Warren initiated a relationship with her when she was only 15. She used to take his bus and he developed feelings for her. And if that wasn't disturbing enough, soon Judith moved into the Warren's house. Her relationship with Ed continued for over 40 years. And Lorraine knew all of this. Judith's bedroom was directly across from the Warren's. Eventually, they built an apartment for her upstairs, and according to Judith Penny's sworn testimony, Ed would sleep downstairs sometimes and upstairs sometimes. Their marriage wasn't as perfect as it's been portrayed. Judith said Ed would often beat Lorraine, sometimes knocking her unconscious. She said she was worried he might kill Lorraine

one day. Ed often told Judith that she was the love of his life. And in 1978, she became pregnant. Whoa, she had his baby? Nope. But, uh, oh no. Mm-hmm. She was told a child would complicate the Warrens' business. When attorney Jill Smith was working through the Warrens' movie contract, there was specific language that she had never seen before. Now, it's not unusual for producers to sign a non-disparagement clause when adapting a true story. Nobody wants to sell their story and then look bad. But this contract specifically said that the movies could not depict an extramarital affair,

relationships with minors, and some other specific things that I won't get into here. But suffice it to say, the descriptions were graphic. Now, in the Warrens' defense, they said Judith was a girl they took in for charity and she would watch the house when they were traveling. Judy and Tony Sparrow, the Warrens' daughter and son-in-law, say they never saw any of the alleged conduct.

The Sparrows believe Judith Penny is being manipulated, though I don't know for what purpose she's in her 70s, married, and doesn't make any money from the films. Though Warner Brothers did offer her $150,000 for her life story. Hush money. Yep. Judith says she remained friendly with Ed until his death in 2006. But despite her fondness for him, what he did was despicable and a crime.

What it all comes down to is this. No case that the Warrens worked on was ever supported by any evidence besides their word. Ed claimed to have photos and video, but those were never produced. I did see one video that Ed spoke about, the ghost called the Lady in White. Now that's a pretty compelling video. But Judith Penny said Ed told her to put on a white dress and walk around a cemetery, so she did. Now, I'm not saying ghosts aren't real and that the Warrens lied about everything. I am saying they lied about some things.

And because of that, we have to question everything they say. Ed Warren was a self-proclaimed demonologist. He said that anyone who was possessed by a demon, he could find and eradicate it. I guess he would know. Ed Warren had a few demons of his own.

Yo, get the door. That's my Lord package. Hello? I hear it. Yo, get the door. That's my Lord package. Mom, my liquor for temptation. Hello? I hear it. Web a little bit, a lot. When temptation comes, you'll keep riding. You're kidding me, right?

What is this? Um, what is this, my Lord, if you don't mind? You might be taking this a little too... Open a box, peasant! Okay, okay, hang on! I could get used to this. Okay. This certifies you as Lord Hecklefish Moriarty.

And this is the plot number of your land in Edelson, Scotland. And they even sent us coordinates. Google map it, that I may survey my domain. Oh, this is pretty nice. It is. I can't wait to get some serfs out there to work the land for me and pay me tribute. Uh, you can't have any serfs. I shall be a strict

but fair lord of these lands. My serfs will come to idolize me. You can't have serfs. I can maybe have a few serfs. You can't. One serf? No, stop saying serfs. Stop saying serfs, my lord. Alright, but check this out. The first

200 people who purchase a title pack using the promo code TWF will get land right near yours. My own kingdom? Kinda, yeah. I shall be a strict but fair lord to all who purchase using promo code TWF. Well, you won't be their lord.

They'll be lords and ladies of their own land. Not for now. But when I raise an army and conquer their land, I shall rule over them, and they will come to know me as a strict but fair lord. You can't conquer their land. Hmm. There may be a marriage pact to strengthen the kingdom. I don't see how that...

I shall betroth my eldest son to the daughter of one of the other lords. We will unite our kingdoms, and my blood shall rule these lands for a thousand years. You have an eldest son? What do you think those guppy support payments are for? Heckle Jr. lives with his mother in Hackensack, New Jersey. If you use code TWF, you'll get an additional 10% off. So go to EstablishedTitles.com slash TWF. You'll be lord of your own land, you'll get your own plot number,

and you get this cool framed certificate. This makes an amazing last-minute gift. Plus you'll be supporting a great charity and helping out the channel. And you'll be joining my kingdom! Right. And that. You will come to know me as a strict but fair lord. Yeah, we got it. Kneel before me!

Get bent. Yeah, don't make me declare premonachta. Ugh, we got it. Kneel before me. Get bent. Don't make me declare premonachta. Ugh, gross. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Thanks so much for hanging out with me today. My name is AJ. That's Hecklefish. This has been the Y-Files. If you had fun or learned anything, do us a favor and like, subscribe, comment, share.

I know it's annoying to hear me ask that, but it really helps the channel. And like most topics we cover on the channel, today's topic was recommended by you. If there's a story you'd like to see or learn more about, go to the Y-Files dot com slash tips. Special thanks to our patrons who make this channel possible. You guys are the best. I couldn't do this without you. And if you'd like to support the channel, consider becoming a member on Patreon or grabbing something from the Y-Files store. After this episode, we're going to need to sell Y-Files diapers.

Really? Too much? Too much. That's going to do it. Until next time, be safe, be kind, and know that you are appreciated. Did you hear my elbow hit that thing? God damn it. Bye.