ANNABELLE

Around 1971, a mother was on the search for the perfect gift for her daughter, Donna. It was a special occasion as Donna was turning 28 and had just graduated college with a nursing degree. Donna shared a small apartment with her friend and fellow nurse, Angie. Wanting to find something unique, Donna's mom went to a hobby shop and stumbled upon an antique raggedy doll. Donna loved the gift and cherished the doll, even bringing it to breakfast one morning as a fun joke with Angie.

However, things took a strange turn when they noticed that the doll seemed to move on its own. At first, they thought it was a prank, but as the mysterious movements persisted, they started to worry someone was breaking into their apartment. They even found strange messages around their home, written in a childlike handwriting on parchment paper. The women were baffled and asked Angie's fiancé, Lou, to move in to keep an eye on things.

The situation intensified when Donna discovered what appeared to be bloodstains on the doll. Concerned and scared, they decided to call in a psychic medium who revealed that the spirit of a little girl named Annabelle Higgins inhabited the doll. Annabelle's family used to live on the same property before her tragic passing at the age of seven. Despite their fear, the women decided to show kindness and compassion to the spirit and allowed Annabelle to remain with them.

However, their attempts to be caring only seemed to worsen the situation. The doll would move on its own, and strange phenomena, such as knocking sounds, flashing lights, and rocking beds, occurred around the apartment. The women began to realize that there might be more than just Annabelle's spirit at play, and they couldn't help but wonder if something darker was lurking behind the doll.

Overall, it's a classic tale of attempting to be kind to a spirit but encountering unexpected and unsettling consequences, leading them to question the true nature of the entity residing within the doll.

One night, after finishing their shift at the hospital, the women returned home just past midnight. To their horror, upon opening the front door, they found Annabelle, the doll, standing upright on her flimsy legs. This frightening sight left them screaming and thoroughly terrified. From then on, they avoided the doll, no longer moving her and leaving her wherever she ended up at the end of each day.

Angie shared what they had learned during a seance, but Lou remained unconvinced and continued to despise the doll. However, he stayed in the apartment because he cared about Angie's safety. Over time, he started experiencing terrible nightmares and grew increasingly certain that the doll was responsible. Lou doubted that the spirit inhabiting Annabelle was a scared little seven-year-old, and the fear kept him up at night.

One evening, before a road trip, Lou and Angie went to bed early, but Lou woke up suddenly in the middle of the night, feeling paralyzed and covered in sweat. He couldn't move or speak, only able to scan the room with his eyes. He saw Annabelle at the foot of the bed, and as she moved closer, he felt an intense pressure on his throat, struggling to breathe. Despite trying to stay conscious, he eventually lost consciousness.

Upon waking the next morning, Lou discovered marks on his neck, indicating that something had strangled him during the night. He realized that this was not just a nightmare; it had truly happened. Determined to leave, Lou urged Angie to get ready to leave as soon as possible.

As they were planning their route, they heard a noise from Donna's room, and Lou, thinking it was an intruder, investigated. However, they found nothing amiss in the room, except for Annabelle lying face down in the corner. Lou was convinced that the doll was responsible for all the strange occurrences.

Later, after seeking help from a priest, they decided to call in paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren, because they felt Annabelle needed assistance in crossing over to the other side. The fear surrounding the doll intensified, and they hoped that the Warrens could help them deal with the malevolent presence.

It was decided that a meeting would be arranged with Donna, Angie, and Lou. Ed and Lorraine conveyed their discovery to them, explaining that they had been misled by the medium. Annabelle Higgins, the young girl who died in a motorcycle accident near their apartment building, was not the one inhabiting the doll. Instead, an evil and inhuman entity had attached itself to the doll. Ed and Lorraine clarified that spirits of the dead cannot possess inanimate objects, but this entity was a demon pretending to be Annabelle's spirit.

The bad news was that demons did not desire to remain attached to objects or places; their ultimate goal was to possess a human host. The demon had already entered the infestation stage, causing disturbances in the apartment to gain attention. By manipulating the psychic medium, the demon received permission to stay in the doll, making everyone at risk of possession once they treated it with kindness and compassion.

The demon's objective was to cause chaos, pain, and fear by possessing a person. It left the mark of the beast on Lou's chest during the last attack, solidifying the evidence of demonic possession. Ed and Lorraine foresaw that if left unchecked, the situation would escalate, posing a serious threat to everyone living there.

To address the situation, the Warrens recommended a home exorcism and blessing performed by Father Cook to make the environment inhospitable for the demon. However, even after the exorcism, the demon persisted in its malevolent actions. It would levitate, teleport around the house, and react unfavorably to the presence of priests. Visitors also experienced accidents and misfortunes after mocking or challenging the doll.

Realizing the danger, the Warrens decided to secure Annabelle in a specially crafted case infused with holy water and oil. They placed her in their occult museum with strict warnings not to open the case, as the demonic presence remained powerful even when confined. Despite these precautions, Annabelle's malevolence caused harm to visitors who dared to challenge her.

From that point on, the case was surrounded by holy objects to contain the evil entity. Ed performed binding prayers over the case to add another layer of protection. Visitors flocked to the museum to witness the haunted Annabelle doll, and her reputation spread far and wide as people learned about her malevolent history.

The case of Annabelle serves as a chilling reminder of the dangers of dealing with malevolent entities and the importance of respecting the boundaries set by the supernatural.