Heidi Wong (0:06)

This is Crime House. An old farmhouse with dark secrets. A doll that attacks you in your sleep. If you love horror movies, this might sound familiar. But behind the films, it's all too real. Welcome to Twisted, a Crime House original. I'm Heidi Wong. I'm an artist, poet and creator. And if you've seen, if you go to my TikTok, YouTube or Instagram, you'll know I'm obsessed with horror movies. Watching them, writing about them, talking about them. The scarier the better. Every week I'll take you deep into the true stories behind horror's biggest legends. From vengeful ghosts to bloody slashers to alien encounters and more, these real life accounts are guaranteed to keep you up at night. But scary stories aren't any fun if you're telling them alone. If you've ever had a haunted moment or a twisted tale of your own, I want to hear about it. Drop it in the comments. The creepier the better. Today I'm going behind the scenes of one of my favorite horror franchises, the conjuring universe. Since 2013, these movies have captivated and terrified audiences around the world. And in this episode, I'll tell you about two of the chilling true events that inspired them.

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Heidi Wong (1:48)

Learn more@WhatsApp.com In 2013, a movie came out that was so scary it built an empire off of your nightmares. That's right, I'm talking about the Conjuring. If you haven't seen it or just need a refresher, here's a quick recap. In 1971, a family buys an old run down farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island. Surprise, surprise, it's haunted. And when the spirit attacks them, the family decides to fight back. Enter paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. With the Warren's help, the family overcomes their ghost problem and banishes their tormentor back to hell. Or so they think. Sounds pretty scary, right? But I promise you, the real story is even more terrifying. Just like in the movie, it all started in 1971 when the Perron family of Roger and Carolyn and their five daughters bought an old farmhouse in Rhode Island. But here's the thing. In the Conjuring, everything ramps up In a pretty short amount of time. In real life, though, the Perrons endured their haunting for nine years, until 1980. Their oldest daughter, Andrea, wrote a series of books about their experiences called House of Darkness, House of Light. You should totally check them out if you don't ever want sleep again. And if you've already read them, tell me what you think in the comments. According to Andrea, moving to the farmhouse was her mom's idea. Carolyn wanted to get her kids out of the city, and when she saw the listing, she thought that it was perfect. The place was almost 250 years old, so it needed a lot of fixing up, but it was quiet, peaceful, perfect for raising a family. At least, that's how it seemed. Carolyn was so eager to start their lives there that Perrons moved into the farmhouse in the dead of winter in January 1971. And yes, it was just as miserable as you'd think. Not only that, but when the former owner handed over the keys to Roger Perrin, he gave an ominous for the sake of your family, the leave the lights on at night. Now, if I were Roger, I'd be saying, no deal. I'm taking my family and going back to the city. But at that moment, he didn't think too much of it, just the ramblings of an old man. However, it wasn't long before the Perrins realized the former owner was dead serious. It started with strange noises around the house, which made sense. The place was hundreds of years old. But it wasn't just pipes clanking or floors creaking, though. Sound just traveled differently there, Like Carolyn could hear someone whispering from clear across the house one minute, and the next, everything was completely muffled. If that wasn't enough, Carolyn would sometimes feel a heaviness come over her, like there was a presence in the house watching her. And then the flies came. Within a few days of moving in, the house was infested with them, even though it was the middle of winter. And that is when I would have left. When they called an exterminator, the bugs disappeared just for them to come back as soon as he left. Because, of course, they did. This went on for weeks, until one day when they vanished just as suddenly as they'd arrived. But by then, something even more terrifying had replaced them. At some point that winter, Carolyn felt a strange urge to go out to the property's barn. The weather was freezing, so she bundled up to make the quick walk. When she got inside the barn, something just felt wrong. Carolyn shivered as her breath emerged in an eerie mist. Somehow it was even colder in the barn than it was outdoors. But that's when she decided to nope out of there. But just as she turned to leave, she heard a swooshing sound above her. One of the previous owners had left a small harvesting scythe up in the rafters, and now the sharp, curved blade was coming straight down at her head. In a stroke of luck, Carolyn's heavy winter clothes saved her from getting hurt. But she was convinced that the malevolent force had lured her into the barn and tried to kill her. But her husband wasn't so sure. Roger was a traveling salesman and wasn't there to see a lot of these paranormal events. And whenever Carolyn tried to talk to him about it, he insisted there was a rational explanation for it. For my fellow horror fans, classic skeptical husband. Although eventually the flies, the weird sounds, and all the things that they couldn't explain, they got to him. And as much as Roger hated to admit it, Carolyn might be right. But with how much money they put into the place, leaving just wasn't an option either. So they put up with their ghostly housemates. And there were a lot of them. One was especially terrifying. Imagine waking up in the middle of the night. You're not really sure why you're up, but you're overcome with this sense of dread as you try to get your bearings. You think you see something in the darkness, a shapeless form, and then it's right next to you. That's exactly what happened to Carolyn. One night she woke up and saw an apparition at her bedside. It was a woman, or at least appeared to be. Her face had no features. It was described as, quote, a sweet, swirling, rancid mass of rotting flesh, resembling a desiccated hornet's nest covered in what appeared to be a mesh of blackened cobwebs. Yeah, not super pleasant. And this wasn't a friendly visit. Carolyn could feel it in her bones. This spirit wanted to hurt her. She tried to shake Roger awake, but no matter how loud she screamed, he wouldn't stir. The ghoulish woman inched closer and closer until her face was inches away from Carolyn's. In that last desperate plea, Carolyn muttered, God help me. Then the woman vanished. This prayer was enough to make her leave Carolyn alone for the moment. But the spirit wasn't done with her or her family. And she was about to do a lot more than appear to them in the dead of night. On the first day of the girls summer vacation that first year in 1971, eight year old Cindy Perrin was playing in her room when she heard her door Open. She figured it was someone coming to get her for dinner. But when she looked up, it was that same ghost. A woman with a featureless, crooked head. She stretched her arms towards Cindy and said, come here, little girl. Come to me. Cindy was smart enough not to do that. Instead, she ran straight to her mother. Cindy told Carolyn the ghost had tried to take her, which is an understatement. To everyone's relief, the ghostly woman didn't come back for a long time after that. But Carolyn was terrified that she'd return. Who wouldn't be in that situation? Running wasn't an option, though. So Carolyn decided the best way to defeat this enemy was to understand her. And that started by figuring out who she was. Carolyn went through every record in the local library, the town hall, even the cemetery. And eventually, she got an answer. The evil apparition was a woman named Bathsheba Sherman. According to the town historian, Bathsheba lived in the farmhouse sometime in the mid-1800s. She was accused of witchcra for supposedly sacrificing a child by stabbing the base of its skull with a large sewing needle. Bathsheba swore the death had been an accident. Whether or not that was true, it seemed like she was never actually punished for it. But after she died, her spirit lingered on in the property to torment all who lived there. And shortly after Carolyn made the discovery, Bathsheba struck again. After about a year and a half of living in the farmhouse, around the summer of 1972, Carolyn was relaxing on the sofa late at night. It was a warm, muggy evening. Quiet, serene. The exact kind of night she envisioned when she moved her family out to the country. As the clock chimed 1am Carolyn yawned and stretched, ready to call it a night. And then she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her calf, almost like a bee sting. But when she looked at her leg, she saw that it was bleeding, as if someone had stabbed her with a massive sewing needle. Carolyn didn't know what to do, or how much worse it would get. If Bathsheba was capable of physically attacking her, what else could she do? Thankfully, Bathsheba didn't immediately escalate things. About a year and a half later, In October of 1973, help finally arrived on the parents doorstep in the form of Ed and Lorraine Warren. In case you're not familiar with the Warrens, here's some background on them. By the time they came to help the parents, Ed and his wife Lorraine were already world famous paranormal investigators. Lorraine says she developed supernatural abilities when she was only seven years old, which allowed her to communicate with the dead. Ed was a self taught demon expert who'd grown up in a Haunted House. The two of them made a great team and in 1952 they founded the New England Society for Psychic Research. Going on to investigate thousands of cases. And when one of Carolyn Perrin's friends learned about the family's ghost problem, they called Ed and Lorraine for help. The Warrens came to the Perron's farmhouse just before Halloween 1973. It was a dark and stormy night. Yes really. The setting sun filtered through the clouds casting twisted shadows from the trees surrounding the farmhouse like outstretched arms clawing to get in. But when Carolyn saw Ed and Lorraine standing on her doorstep, she felt a wave of hope that they'd be able to hold the evil at bay. That night, Carolyn took the Warrens on a tour of their home. Lorraine was like a human EMF reader. She immediately sensed a malevolent presence. She thought the parents daughters could be in danger. According to her, children were more susceptible to paranormal influences which if you've seen pretty much any scary movie, definitely tracks. The girls were hesitant to talk to the Warrens. Though there hadn't been any major activity in a few months. They were afraid that if they talked about what they had seen, Bathsheba would come back. But Lorraine said that the only solution to their problems was to confront them. So the family told them everything. After a few more visits, Ed and Lorraine came to a conclusion. The parents farmhouse had a serious demon problem that could only be cleansed with a seance. When the time came, the Warrens brought the big guns. A medium, a priest, a professor from Duke University, along with a whole crew to record the event in case things went sideways. Carolyn and Roger sent their daughters upstairs. They had no idea that two of the girls crept back down to watch Andrea and Cindy. Meanwhile, the adults gathered around a table where the medium placed candles and talismans in a circle. Once the flames were lit and the lights were off, everyone took their seats. As everyone joined hands, the medium called for God to create a peaceful connection with the spirit in the house. But Bathsheba wasn't interested in peace. After a moment, Carolyn's body jerked back. Lifting her head, she started speaking in tongues. Watching from behind a door, Andrea realized the voice wasn't her mother's. It was deeper, demonic. Carolyn wrenched her hands away, clenching her fists so tight her nails dug into her skin. She let out a cry and a wave of dark energy burst from her body. Then Carolyn's chair lifted into the air, rocketing back into the parlor and slamming her to the ground. As Roger ran to his wife's side, Andrea heard a deep, guttural roar come from the cellar. It was so loud it shattered glass throughout the house. After what felt like an eternity, Carolyn stirred and the house went quiet. The seance was over. Once Carolyn came to her senses, she told Roger she didn't remember anything, but after that night, she became quiet when withdrawn. Eventually, though, she regained her old loving personality, and while there was still spiritual activity in the house, it was peaceful, harmless even. The farm finally became everything she hoped that it would be. But in the process, something had fallen by the wayside. Carolyn and Roger's marriage. They tried to give it a shot, but after a few years they divorced. The ordeal had put a huge strain on their relationship. It became totally joyless, and in time they're housed it too. In the summer of 1980, the Perrons moved out and left for Georgia, forever changed and forever haunted. Coming up next, the shocking true story behind another major part of the Conjuring Annabelle the Doll.