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This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse is the one stop shop for all your footwear needs with sneakers, boots and everything in between for every style, mood and occasion. You'll definitely find shoes that get you at prices that get your budget. DSW has what you need, but more importantly, they have what you didn't even know you wanted. You never know what you'll find at dsw. Find the shoes that get you at prices that get your budget at DSW stores or gsw.com you're listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hi everyone. Welcome back to the into the Dark podcast. I'm your host, Peyton Moreland. I'm so glad you are here and listening or watching. Thank you so much for always supporting the show. Now, before we get into today's episode, I am going to quickly do my 10 seconds, okay? Low key. I had my water bottle and it's a hydro jug. And so it has like a hard plastic straw that connects to the top of the water bottle. Like you insert it and then put it into the cup and screw it on. And so Daisy was barking at me. I was laying in bed and she wanted a drink. And so I unscrewed my top of my hydro jug and normally I will just like take it out with the straw attached, right? So I unscrew it. Well, when I unscrewed it, the straw came detached and she doesn't like to drink if the straw's in there. And so I take the top off and then I take the plastic straw out and I put it in my mouth to hold it there until she finishes drinking. And I can reconnect everything and screw back together. Right? Okay. So I have this plastic straw in my mouth. I lean over to give Daisy a drink of the hydro jug and I slip and my. Both my hands are full because I have the lid in one hand, the straw in my mouth and the cup in the other. So I lean and I slip. And when I slip, the straw hits the bed and jams all the way into my throat. The plastic, the hard plastic straw, okay, cuts my throat like, gashes my throat. Like the blood is going down my throat and I'm like, oh my. I pull the straw out. I look at Garrett and I'm trying to tell him, like, because it's hurting really bad. And I'm trying to tell him, like, this straw, like, I slipped, and it went down my throat. And he's laughing because he thinks, you know, I just accidentally, like, shoved the straw in my throat, but nothing happened. And I'm trying to tell him, like, no, like, it's a gash. Like, the. There's blood. Like, I can taste it, and it's hurting so bad. Okay? So that happens now. For the last week, it has felt like I have a sore throat. Like, you know when you have a sore throat and it hurts to swallow and, like, it just kind of feels bruised and achy. It's like that on the left side of my throat where the straw went in. And I'm like, is this gonna get better? Because sore throats are so annoying. And this isn't a sore throat, like, I know is going to go away. And they're still. Like, I've looked at it with a flashlight, and there's still a gash in there. And now it has, like, a white scabby. I don't know, you guys. Needless to say, if it sounds like I'm sick, I'm not. But I have a sore throat, but I'm not. It just hurts. If Daisy would just drink out of her own bowl of water, you know? And before he caught me, like, well, that's what you get for sharing your water, your hydro jug with your dog. I literally birthed her, okay? She sleeps with me. I love her so much. I could care less. There are so many more nasty things. Humans kiss other humans. That's disgusting. That's gross. It's gross. Okay? I will gladly share a cup with Daisy. And, I mean, of course, the whole time I'm like, cut. And Daisy's just barking like, hey, give me the water. Give me the water, Mom. And I'm, like, trying to survive. It was such a wreck. All right, let's get into today's episode. The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. That quote has been attributed to Albert Einstein, which is very interesting because Einstein understood things that very few other people could. I mean, he was a literal genius, but even he had to acknowledge that there are many things in life that are still puzzling and impossible to grasp. There are some things that we just will never know. But we keep asking big questions about life, the universe, and the supernatural. And that said, back in the year 1970, a mother was shopping at a craft and hobby Store. And those major mysteries couldn't have been further from her mind. Her daughter's 28th birthday and college graduation were both coming up, and the mom wanted to do something special for her. Now, for privacy reasons, I don't know this woman's name. Her identity isn't public. But I do know that her daughter's name was Donna, and she was about to graduate with a nursing degree. Her mother was so excited and proud that she wanted to buy her something special as a graduation birthday present. And one item on a shelf that day in 1970 stood out to her. It was an antique Raggedy Ann doll. For those who don't know, Raggedy Ann is a doll that's made of cloth. It has red hair, a smiling face. They were first released in 1918, along with a book series all about how Raggedy Ann would come to life and have adventures when people weren't looking. Toy Story. Okay. Now, for whatever reason, as soon as the woman saw the doll, she knew that this would be a perfect gift for. For Donna. So she bought it and took it to the apartment that Donna shared with her roommate, Angie. And again, I don't know either of their last names or much about their real identities. I do know that they both were nurses and they got along as friends on top of living together. But this story is infamous, so stay with me. As soon as Donna got this gift, she decided to have some fun with it. Namely, she began pranking her roommate Angie with the Raggedy Ann doll her mother had gave her. When Angie wasn't home, Donna would pose the toy on the furniture so it seemed like the doll was moving around the house when Angie wasn't there. Now, once Angie realized what Donna was doing, she played the same kinds of practical jokes back on her roommate. Usually, Donna kept the doll on her bed when she wasn't at home. She. So every now and then, if Donna was at work or with friends, Angie would go into the room, grab Raggedy Ann, and put her on the couch. Occasionally, she crossed the toy's arms so she would look like she was angry. And so, back and forth it went, with the women taking turns moving and posing the doll. But eventually, the joke had run its course. Donna and Angie found new ways to have fun together. They started ignoring the raggedy hand, except even though neither of them were moving it around anymore, the doll kept turning up in unexpected places in their apartment. Sometimes Donna came home and found it on the couch, even when Angie swore to her she hadn't touched it. On other occasions, the Raggedy Ann would Be in its usual place. But Donna's bedroom door would be closed, even though she'd left it open. And creepiest of all, there were a few times when Donna came home to find her doll standing up, which was very hard to explain, because, like I said, Raggedy Ann dolls are made of cloth. They're not sturdy enough to stand up straight. Now, usually you would need some kind of support to get a doll to stand like this, but as near as Donna could tell, the doll was just on her feet and not tipping over. Donna could never figure out how Angie, her roommate, had done this, got this doll to do this, especially because Angie's like, I didn't do that. I didn't put it there. But the weirdest thing is that this just kept happening even when Angie and Donna were both gone. As in, they would go hang out together, leave the house. And when they left, the Raggedy Ann doll would be in one position. And then when they came back to the home, it was somewhere else. It's not like anyone else was home to move it. But it gets even stranger than that. About a month after Donna received the doll, she and Angie started finding little notes around their house. They were written on parchment paper, which is a particular kind of paper that Donna and Angie didn't keep in the apartment. It wasn't clear where this paper had come from. The message on them said, help us or help Lou. Now, for reference, Lou was the name of Angie's boyfriend. And this note was strange because as near as anyone could tell, Lou wasn't in danger. It wasn't clear what he needed help with. The message that they were finding around their house made no sense. Donna gave herself a few days to think things over, try to figure out what was going on, where these notes came from. And during those few days, she actually kept Raggedy Ann on her bed when she wasn't at home, just like usual. Except one day she came back, and she got this sudden, intense feeling of dread. She wasn't sure where it was coming from, because everything in the apartment looked normal. Nothing was out of place. Nothing was wrong. But her hair was standing up. Still, her instincts told her to go to her bedroom. And once she got there, she found the doll sitting on the bed exactly where she had left it. But there was some kind of stain on the Raggedy Ann doll's chest and hands. It was red. So Donna goes closer. And that's when she realized that her doll her mother had given her was covered in blood. Now, Donna never learned whose blood it was, but needless to say this was really alarming. She couldn't ignore all of these weird things happening around this doll any longer. It was clear to her there was something weird about this doll. Even though that doesn't really make sense. She's starting to think, is there something supernatural? Do I even believe in that? So Donna did a little research and found a way to get in touch with a local medium. Apparently, the psychic claimed that she could perform exorcisms to get rid of ghosts and bad spirits. So naturally, Donna hires her right away. The psychic seemed like exactly what she needed. Well, the medium said that the best way to figure out what was going on was to host a seance. And during this seance, she focuses on the doll. Right away, she said she could communicate with a spirit that was inside of the doll. This is making sense to Donna. Maybe this is the answer. She thought that the ghost in the doll was of a little girl named Annabelle. Now, the spirit claimed she'd used to live in the same building where Donna and Angie were staying now. But she had tragically died around the age of five or seven. It's unclear how Annabelle passed away, as I've seen conflicting information reported in different sources. She may have been in a terrible car accident or she may have been murdered. The point is that after this little girl, Annabelle died, her spirit had stayed in this apartment for years, up until Donna had gotten that Raggedy Ann doll as a gift. And as soon as Annabelle's ghost had seen the toy, she realized that that's what she wanted to inhibit. She wanted to live inside of it. She'd wanted the doll's body to become her own body. So she had possessed the Raggedy Ann doll. And since then, Annabelle had been walking around, leaving notes and playing pranks. But she never meant to hurt anyone. She was just a little girl who was scared and alone, which meant that sometimes she did act out. So by the end of the seance, that medium fully believed that there was a little girl, Annabelle's spirit, who had entered this doll. But she was harmless. She only needed someone to love her, to take care of her, to help her feel safe. And as soon as Donna heard this entire story, she actually believed it. And not only did she believe it, she felt moved. Her eyes teared up when she thought of this poor little girl all alone in the world with no one to take care of her. So Donna, believing in this spirit, now tells her she didn't want her to leave. She invited Annabelle to continue living in her doll permanently. And Donna promised that the ghost would always be safe and taken care of in their home. And this was the answer to her question. Then, as soon as the medium left, Donna tried to make good on her word. She really did want the child's spirit to feel loved and secure. So Donna bought toys and candy, left them near the doll so Annabelle, the Raggedy Ann's name, now could enjoy them when she was alone. And from that day onward, Donna treated Annabelle like a real little girl rather than a toy. She would talk to her Annabelle Raggedy Ann doll about her day. She never moved her or used her as a prop in jokes again, but it seemed like nothing she did was enough. No matter how loving and kind Donna tried to be, this doll kept doing strange and upsetting things. If anything, her behavior seemed to actually get worse. After the seance, sometimes when Donna got close to the Annabelle doll, she heard a growling noise coming from her. And before long, this strange thing started happening. Like how every night at the stroke of midnight, Donna would wake up and she would hear weird noises from outside her bedroom. Like something was moving around. Occasionally, she would actually see flashing lights too. Now, Donna was too afraid to get out of bed and see what was going on, but clearly it wasn't good. Plus, there was one other detail that Donna wasn't aware of. She wasn't the only person at this time who was having a hard time sleeping through the night. So was her roommate's boyfriend, Lou. AI had the time of my life. Life. Hey, I never felt this way before. From building timelines to assigning the right people and even spotting risks across dozens of projects, Monday Sidekick knows your business, thinks ahead and takes action. One click on the star and consider it done and I owe it all to you. Try Monday Sidekick AI. You'll love to use on Monday.com you guys. If you are still overpaying for wireless, it is time to say yes to to saying no. At Mint Mobile their favorite word is no. No contracts, no monthly bills, no overages, no hidden fees. No bs. And here's why I said yes to making the switch and getting premium wireless for 15amonth. Ditch overpriced wireless and their jaw dropping monthly bills, unexpected overages and hidden fees. Plans start at $15 a month at Mint. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. You can use your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan and bring your phone number along with all existing contracts. And honestly, it was shocking to me the difference in price it made the change a no brainer. Ready to Say yes to saying no. Make the switch@mintmobile.com paton that's mintmobile.com Payton spelled P A Y T O N O Upfront payment of $45 required equivalent to $15 a month limited time. New customer offer for first three months only. Speeds may slow above 35 gigabyte on unlimited plan taxes and fees extra. C Mint Mobile for details now you may remember that for a while, Donna and Angie had been finding those notes that said Help Lou on them. But they didn't know what that message meant because Lou didn't seem to need any help. Except for a while now, ever since Donna had gotten the doll, he'd been having intense bad dreams. They happened when he was at home and also when he was spending the night with Angie in the apartment. Now, he didn't tell anybody because he figured it was just his imagination running away from him. Lou did not believe that his nightmares meant anything, not until one night after the seance when Lou was asleep in Angie's bed and he either woke up or dreamed that he woke up. It's hard to say for sure, but the story goes, all Lou knew was that he was in Angie's room with a sensation of terror washing over him. He wasn't sure where it came from, but Lou also noticed that he couldn't move. It was like he was experiencing a night terror, except it felt extremely real to him and he thought he was awake. While he was lying in bed, he saw movement in the corner of the room. It was dark, so he couldn't tell what it was in the shadows, but he could tell it was getting closer. The thing climbed up onto the bed with him, and that's when he finally got a good look at what was moving around in his girlfriend's room. And it was the Annabelle doll, which had apparently come to life because it was walking on its own. All Lou wanted to do was scream. But like I said, he couldn't move. He couldn't even react when the doll grabbed his leg. Then it walked across his chest and put its hands on his neck and squeezed. According to Lou, he felt like he was choking to death, but he still couldn't move at all. He couldn't fight back or get away. He just lied there until finally he passed out due to lack of oxygen. Now, when he woke up the next morning, Lou couldn't explain what he'd been through. I mean, how do you wake up and say that this happened? Didn't feel like an ordinary dream. He did believe the attack was real, so he was Shaken and unsettled. And he told Angie that they had to get rid of the doll, that something was wrong with it. The problem is, this isn't Lou's call to make or Angie's. I mean, the Annabelle doll belonged to Donna. And at this point, Donna had kind of formed this unhealthy fascination with the doll. She still believed that she had an obligation to take care of the little girl ghost that she believed lived inside. So Lou has to figure out what to do. He was still trying to sort things out later that day when Donna left to take care of some errands. Now, Lou and Angie were alone, going over some paperwork together. And that's when Lou heard something in another room. He knew Donnah hadn't come home yet, and there wasn't supposed to be anyone else there. So Lou went into that room to see what was going on. And that's when he saw the Annabelle doll. Now, it wasn't moving. It was lying face down on the floor, like it had fallen over. Lou just knew deep down that Annabelle had made the noise. But how do you explain that you're terrified of a doll? So while he's trying to decide what to do, he heard another sound. This time from right behind him. He wondered if it was Angie coming to check on him. So he turned around, and the moment he took his eyes off Annabelle, he felt this intense pain in his chest. Lou didn't know where it had come from, but when he lifted his shirt, he saw deep scratch marks across his torso, like some kind of animal had just gouged him with its claws. All Lou could think was was that the doll had somehow hurt him. Even though it was made of cloth and didn't seem to have sharp nails. It defied explanation. It defied reality. But obviously he's awake now. It's daytime. He's not dreaming or imagining things. The scratches are deep. They're real. Only this story gets even stranger, because over the next few hours, Lou's injuries began to heal. His recovery was almost supernaturally fast. Kind of like the way he got them now. Of course, before they faded entirely, Lou had actually showed them to Angie. And Donna. And the women didn't know what to make of them. It was hard to believe that this doll was coming to life and attacking people. Still, Donna realizes at this point that her current plan with this doll is not working. Obviously, she wasn't helping anyone by taking care of this doll or treating it like a scared little girl, because now it's attacking people. In fact, she begins to wonder if Maybe the medium had been wrong and if they were somehow making this entire situation worse. So Donna decides it's time to look for help again, to call someone new. She reached out to a church in Hartford, Connecticut, and the church in turn put Donna in touch with a married couple who also lived in Connecticut. Their names were Ed and Lorraine Warren. They were very famous for their paranormal investigations. Now, I should acknowledge Ed and Lorraine are very controversial in the ghost hunting community even today. In the early 1970s, they rocketed to stardom when they got involved in another well known haunting, the one that went on to inspire the Amityville Haunted horror franchise. Once they became famous, they spent a lot of time going on tours and writing books. They gave interviews on tv. All in all, they seemed very focused on advertising their different paranormal encounters. Some of their critics thought Ed and Lorraine were actually more interested in getting press coverage than they were in actually solving supernatural mysteries. A few individuals even accused them of either exaggerating or blatantly making stories up for attention. I don't know if this is true or not, but I will say that as soon as they heard Donna's story, Ed and Lorraine knew they had to get involved. Especially because Donna's account didn't fit with anything they believed about ghosts. Basically, the Warrens had never heard of a dead person's spirit possessing an inanimate object. Occasionally, ghosts could take over a living person's body. But as a general rule, it was never believed that ghosts could live inside of dolls, meaning whatever was possessing the Raggedy Ann. They believed it wasn't an innocent little girl named Annabelle. Ed and Lorraine could only think of one entity that could actually live inside of a doll, and that was an evil demon. So they figured that the spirit had lied during the seance. It had just pretended to be a ghost to trick Donna into inviting a dark spirit into her home. And it had worked. As soon as Donna said that the spirit was welcome, she gave that demon power. Basically, now it had permission to stay in the doll in the apartment and wreak havoc, which it had been doing. According to Ed and Lorraine, it would be almost impossible to undo what had been done. They believed. It's very difficult to exorcise a demon that's been invited to stay with the person that it's tormenting. Still, they called in a priest to perform a quick exorcism on this demon doll. They weren't confident that it would work, but they figured they might as well try and cast the demon out afterward. It was impossible for the Warrens to even Know if the ritual had been effective, all they could do was wait and see if Annabelle came to life again. Except they didn't want to leave the doll in Donna's house because she, Angie, and Lou could all be in danger if the demon was still around. In fact, Ed and Lorraine knew that most demons don't actually want to possess dolls. They usually want human hosts. And a lot of the time, these evil spirits won't stop until they find someone's body to take over. So given that Annabelle had already drawn blood by attacking Lou, that she was walking around freely, and everything else, it seemed like she was very close to getting what she wanted. So the ghost hunting couple worried that if they delayed any longer, the demon might possess Donna, Angie, or Lou. Next. It could have been a matter of days or even hours. So rather than put any of the three in danger, the Warrens said that they were going to take Annabelle the doll away, that they would keep an eye on her from the safety of their own home. They figured they knew enough about demons and evil spirits to keep themselves safe in the presence of Annabelle. So they put Annabelle in the backseat of their car. They climb into the front, and they begin the drive back to their house. But almost right away, things start to go wrong for Ed and Lorraine. As they were driving toward a curve in the road, the vehicle refused to turn even though they were cranking the wheel. It was a miracle they didn't get into an accident. But somehow they navigated the ark almost to hit another car again. They try hitting their brakes and turning the wheel, but their car is not responding. It seemed like somehow Annabelle was influencing things from the back seat. She was trying to make them crash. Or at least this is what Ed and Lorraine thought. So finally, Ed grabbed a bottle of holy water from his bag and splashed it on the doll. And immediately afterward, the car started driving like normal again. So he and his wife made it the rest of the way home without any serious incident. But still, they decided to avoid the highways and tried to stick to back roads. And this is just within their first little bit of possessing the dollar. Now, once they get to their house, they put Annabelle on a chair in Ed's private office. But afterward, they experienced all of the same kinds of strange, inexplicable things that Donna and Angie said they had. Whenever they left home, they would come home to find Annabelle in a new pose or in a new room. They even got in the habit of locking the door to Ed's office. That way nobody could get in or out. Not the doll and also not any pranksters who might have been moving her around as a joke. But somehow, when they would come home, the door was always unlocked and open, and Annabelle would be sitting on the living room couch or on their bed. It was like she was trying to show them that they couldn't stop her. But she wasn't actually doing anything harmful. She just wanted to let them know that she could go wherever she wanted. So finally, he, even Ed and Lorraine decided they had had enough of this doll. They built a wooden case to keep Annabelle in. It was full of crosses and crucifixes to keep her from coming to life and escaping and hurting anyone in the real world. Plus, Ed and Lorraine did some rituals with the case that were supposed to keep demons away. This included splashing holy water over the entrance, and they carved several prayers into the wood. Basically, they did everything they could think of to keep Annabelle from escaping. And once all of these protections were in place, Ed and Lorraine moved the case with Annabelle inside of it to their private occult museum. That's a building in Connecticut where they kept all of the dangerous objects that they collected over the years while diving into the supernatural. And I want to be clear. The Warrens Occult Museum was open to the public for a while, but only for a short while. These days, it is not the sort of museum where anyone can just buy a ticket and view exhibits. It is a private collection that only a few trusted people have been able to see. This includes the members of a group called the New England Paranormal Research Center. The thinking is that the objects Ed and Lorraine have put in this museum are just too dangerous for ordinary people to be around. But back when the museum was public, Annabelle continued to torment the people who came to view her. In her case, on one occasion, a priest reportedly looked at Annabelle and said out loud that he didn't believe she was dangerous. His exact words were, quote, you're just a rag doll, Annabelle. You can't hurt anyone. She proved him wrong, because when he was driving home later that day, the brakes on the priest's car failed. He gets into a bad accident. Now, luckily, he does survive. And I do mean this was lucky, because it was a really bad crash. It totaled his car, and if things had gone even a little differently, he probably would have died. Now, according to Ed, another time, a young couple came to the museum to look at the Annabelle display, and the male visitor clearly did not believe in Annabelle. He tapped on her case and cracked some jokes about how she didn't scare him. Now, Ed was working nearby and overheard this entire exchange. And he came out and warned the man to be careful. But the man didn't listen. And sadly, later that day, the man and his girlfriend headed toward home on his motorcycle, and he lost control of the bike, and another horrible accident occurred. The boyfriend died of his injuries, and the girlfriend needed a lot of intense medical care to survive. Now, once Ed and Lorraine heard this account, it told them that they needed to be even more careful about who they let have access to the dollar. Some people believe all of these accidents are coincidence, and some people believe that it is tied to Annabelle. I mean, clearly, even with the prayers, the holy water, and everything else, Annabelle was still hurting and killing people, if you are a believer. So Ed began routinely praying over Annabelle, asking God to ensure the demon never got out. They even put a sign up near her case that said, warning positively, do not open. And they told staff members not to move the display for any reason, ever. The Warrens soon came to believe that Annabelle was actually the single most dangerous haunted item in their entire museum. Nothing else that was on display, according to them, even came close. And the couple were careful to never let their guards down around Annabelle, not even for a second. But Ed passed away in 2006 at the age of 79. Lorraine actually survived for 13 more years. She was 92 when she died, just in 2019. Emoji moment from Mark, who writes, I just want to thank you for making GLP1s affordable. What would have been over $1,000 a month is just $99 a month with mochi. Money shouldn't be a barrier to healthy weight. Three months in, and I have smaller jeans and a bigger wallet. You're the best. Thanks, Mark. I'm Mayra Amit, founder of Mochi Health. To find your mochi moment, visit joinmochi.com Mark is a Mochi member, compensated for his story. All right, you guys. Fall is here. Kids are back in school, vacations are over, and it is officially the start of cozy season. 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Plus they are available through international shopping to over 200 countries. You guys know I love Bombas. I posted a Q and A on my Instagram the other day and someone said, what's your favorite socks? And I know they only ask because I'm always raving about Bombas and I needed to say it for them. You need new socks. And go check out bombas. Head over to bombas.com audio and use code audio for 20% off your first purchase. That's Bombas B O m b a s.com audio. Don't forget code audio at checkout for 20 off. And by then, as you guys probably know, Annabelle was famous. In fact, if you are a fan of the Conjuring film franchise, this story is probably already very familiar to you. The true story of Annabelle. The doll inspired an arc in those movies. They featured an evil possessed doll made of porcelain, so not cloth, like. Like the real Annabelle. And there are other details that get changed for the films. But still, at its core, these films are Annabelle's story. In 2025, to promote the latest franchise installment, the workers at the occult museum actually arranged a tour. Annabelle and some other cursed objects would travel around the nation. That way, for the first time in years, people could see the possessed doll in real life that inspired these huge movies. They didn't need to go to Connecticut to see it. Annabelle would come to them, provided they lived near one of the tours stops. Now, this went directly against Ed's orders that this doll should never be moved. But it's been a lot of time and the museum workers felt like they knew how to handle Annabelle and this would be huge for the movies. Well, the trip had barely begun before alarming rumors started spreading online. So you guys, we are in modern day. This story is now Moder day. Now on TikTok, a rumor begins spreading that Annabelle had gone missing during this tour. The story went that during a stop in Chicago, her handler had somehow lost track of her case, and now nobody knew where she was. It seemed possible that this evil demonic doll was running loose in the world again. Or is this a PR stunt? Good news. The these rumors were completely unfounded. A spokesperson from the Paranormal Research center publicly came out to say that Annabelle wasn't lost. She was still completely under control and safely in her case with her handlers. But this is interesting. Even if Annabelle was where she was supposed to be, strange things seemed to happen each time she made a stop on tour. For example, from May 13th to 14th, 2025, Annabelle the doll was in New Orleans. The Paranormal Research center sold tickets to people who wanted to come and view her in the city. This is real. This just happened in May. And immediately the event sold out. There was a ton of excitement and interest in Annabelle, but while she was in town, there were reports of people's electricity going out without warning for no reason. Pet owners noticed that their dogs and cats were unusually anxious. Plus, several inmates actually broke out of a city prison while Annabelle was there. The most shocking development was when a historic plantation in Louisiana caught fire and burned to the ground. This all went down while Annabelle was in town. Now, obviously, I can't prove that the doll had anything to do with the jailbreak, the fire, the animals, or anything else. It could be a coincidence, but for some people, it's enough to wonder if somehow the demon was still still causing disasters everywhere it went, even while trapped inside the case. Now, in theory, everything should have gone back to normal once the tour was over. Annabelle was done traveling the country. She was safe and sound and would go right back to the museum where she had lived. Right. Well, yet another eerie headline broke in mid July, 2025 that has definitely converted some people who didn't believe to the believers. A paranormal researcher who worked at Ed and Lorraine's Occult Museum died suddenly on Sunday, July 13. And as of this recording, his cause of death has not been revealed. His name was Dan Rivera. And get this, Dan was actually on Annabelle's tour. He was one of the people who was supposed to watch her and make sure she didn't get out of her box while they traveled. This is a real paid position. Now, I want to be clear. When Dan passed away, he wasn't in the museum. He wasn't anywhere near Annabelle. He wasn't even in the same state as her. He was actually attending a ghost hunting event in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Dan actually collapsed in his hotel room. And Even though someone called 911 right away so paramedics could rush to the scene, he ended up passing away. Officials say there was nothing suspicious about his death. No signs of anything paranormal, no reason to think Annabelle had anything to do with it, except a lot of people are not believing this official story. They think that Annabelle was somehow involved in this suspicious death. And if that's true, that suggests that the spirit inside the Annabelle doll is still very powerful. And most paranormal investigators believe that there is something strong and dark still possessing the toy today. Within the community, the consensus is that the demon is real. If you believe in the paranormal or you are part of the paranormal community, Annabelle the doll is a very solid example of a demon possession. Obviously, there are people who believe Ed and Lorraine are lying, that the warrens have been exaggerating. But a lot of people believe their theories and stories about Annabelle were accurate. The thinking is that when Ed and Lorraine took the doll home, they might not have known what to do with such a wicked entity. It's a good thing they sealed it in a case, because if Ed and Lorraine had attempted another exorcism, it could have been disastrous. Even to this day, lots of paranormal investigators want nothing to do with Annabelle. They believe it is too dangerous to try and get rid of or fight. But the good news is, is that Annabelle is back at the occult museum. She is safe in her case, with people from the paranormal research center to keep an eye on her, or at least she's safe as she ever can be. We may never know exactly what the demon wants or how it came to possess the doll, or how she all of a sudden goes missing, or people around her suddenly die, But Annabelle is a perfect embodiment of the sentiment that opened the episode. The world is full of mysteries, and sometimes it's good to be curious and want to learn. The fact is, there are unexplainable things, but some things are not meant to be understood. And in certain cases, it's best to keep your distance from the things we don't fully grasp. Now, if you are not a believer in things like this, it totally is understandable, right? Like, to believe that a demon can be here on earth is hard to grasp and also scary to grasp. But that doesn't mean that unexplainable things happen all of the time. And honestly, I'm not sure where I stood on the paranormal and the supernatural in regards to dark things. That was until Garrett and I visited in person, Zach Bagan's haunted museum in Las Vegas near. Now, this museum is very similar to Ed and Lorraine's. Essentially, Zach had a lot of money and began collecting haunted, spooky things. Okay. He was very fascinated by this, still is. And began a collection. And then eventually this collection grew so large that he was able to basically Start a museum. Now, this museum is actually on real estate in Las Vegas that has had a lot of death around it. It was, you know, an office, a home at one point. And so he bought this haunted house, essentially, and turned it into the museum, a place to store all of the things that he has collected. Now he has things there that are real life horror. So he has a whole true crime exhibit where he has bought at auction things belonging to serial killers, actual evidence from evidence boxes that has been released. He has bought artifacts from victims, family members, as well as murderers, family members. So there was actual horrible stuff at this museum, and then there was supernatural haunted things at the museum. Now, when Garrett and I went, we had no idea what we were signing up for. I lowkey just thought it was going to be like a fun little haunted museum. Not the case at all. Okay. Like I said, I wasn't sure where I stood on this until I went and experienced it for myself. And I am very aware that, like, when you're entering a situation where you're being told that the things you're looking at are spooky and haunted, that already is pressuring your mind to go there, right? So you're already being swayed, which is a reason people could argue that these things aren't real, because you're just being brainwashed into it. Right? And now when I went in, I went in not knowing what I was getting into. And then as the tour started, the actual physical feeling I felt while going through the museum was uncanny and enough to make me have to leave that day and just go back to the hotel and do nothing because I felt so icky and horrible leaving that museum. There were certain rooms that they would explain to us what the room was before we would go in. And I opted not to go in because after going into the rooms before this, I was getting lightheaded, I was feeling sick, I felt dark and evil. And honestly, like, I, I. You can't explain the energy. I mean, all I can tell you is what I felt. And it's probably not believable, right? Like, I'm even questioning it myself. Like, why did I feel this late Way, what is going on? But there are things that are unexplainable. And when I tell you that that museum, I mean, he had things that belonged to Annabelle. He actually had the chair from Ed's office that they originally stored Annabelle in. I mean, there were just, he's collected things from movie sets, from actual haunted things. And so there were things that are even involving this story. And it just was dark. It was dark. And that's not explainable, and I can't tell you why. It just is what it is. And that is actually crazy. It's crazy and it's hard to grasp, but all we can tell is how we feel. And that is basically the backstory of Annabelle the Doll and how she turned into this huge franchise that we currently have today. And that she is still, still around today and still heavily guarded today. I don't know. Some people are like, totally believe it. Don't come near it with a 10 foot pool pole. Some people believe it and they want to go near these things and, like, taunt and be involved. And then some people just don't believe it at all. They're like, I don't believe that. That has nothing to do with me. And honestly, I don't know what's right or wrong. I just know that there are things that happen that we can't explain. Thank you guys so much for going into the dark with me today on the history of Annabelle. And I will see you with our next episode. Goodbye. Hey. I had the time of my life. Hey. I never felt this way before. From building timelines to assigning the right people and even spotting risks across dozens of projects, Monday Sidekick knows your business, thinks ahead, and takes action. One click on the star and consider it done. And I owe it all to you. You try Monday Sidekick AI you'll love to use on Monday. Com.