It seems Halloween has come early this year – and my Haunted Hollywood postings along with it – courtesy of the Rhode Island residence that inspired the 2013 supernatural horror film “The Conjuring,” which just hit the market last week. Branded as “one of the most well-known haunted houses in the United States,” the 14-room dwelling has been the site of countless unexplained phenomena over the years, much of which was famously investigated and chronicled by demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren in the 1970s. Located on a sprawling 8.5-acre parcel at 1677 Round Top Rd. in Harrisville, the property is being offered by The Blackstone Team of Mott & Chase Sotheby’s International Realty for a cool – or should I say “chilling?” – $1.2 million. (Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.)
In 1971, the Arnold Farm, as it was then known, became the home of Carolyn and Roger Perron and their five daughters, all of whom began to notice strange happenings immediately upon settling in – and I do mean immediately. Andrea, the eldest Perron child, encountered her first specter on moving day! The eerie occurrences were benign at first – objects moving around on their own, odd sounds emanating from empty rooms, the refrigerator door opening and closing inexplicably, lights appearing in the fireplace – but they grew darker and more violent as time went on, especially towards Carolyn, and in 1973 the Warrens were brought in to investigate.
Per the demonologists’ findings, the pad was being haunted by a woman named Bathsheba Sherman. Rhode Island’s The Independent reports, “Bathsheba lived in the home in the early 1800s and was charged with manslaughter of a baby. The charges were dropped, but rumors spread that she killed the child for a satanic sacrifice. The Warrens were convinced she haunted and cursed anyone who lived in the house for control of the household.” Andrea disputes this, though, asserting Bathsheba never resided at the property, instead fingering a different former resident, Mrs. John Arnold, as her mom’s tormenter. Regardless of which claim is correct, there were plenty of otherworldly inhabitants to go around on the premises. The Independent notes, “According to [Andrea] Perron, the family researched the history of the home and found at least a dozen people who killed themselves or had a tragic death in the house or on the property.” Each, it seems, made their presence known to the family.
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Image Credit: Redfin The Perrons finally moved out of the farmhouse in 1980 but the hauntings they encountered have gone on to live in infamy, chronicled by countless articles, news reports, television shows, and books, including Andrea’s three-volume memoir “House of Darkness, House of Light.” It was not until 33 years after the Perrons sold the property, though, that the movie based upon their experiences hit the big screen in the form of the James Wan-directed thriller “The Conjuring,” with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson playing the roles of Ed and Lorraine, respectively. While the production took quite a few liberties with the story, as Hollywood is apt to do, Andrea told “CBS This Morning” that the film “is essentially true. There are elements of fiction in it; however – for the most part – in broad, sweeping strokes, it captures the true elements of what we endured for ten years in this farmhouse.”
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures One aspect of the film that didn’t exactly line up with reality? The home that stood in for the Perron residence. Instead of shooting at the actual property where the events took place or finding a similar-looking alternative, the production team settled upon a three-story Colonial at 405 Canetuck Rd. in Currie, North Carolina, which, aside from being rural and covered in clapboard, bears little resemblance to the real thing. Despite the glaring anomaly, the movie became a bona fide hit, racking up a worldwide total gross of $320.2 million! (“The Conjuring” franchise as a whole has earned a head-spinning $2 billion, according to Deadline!)
Not everyone, though, was a fan. The farmhouse’s then-owners Norma Sutcliffe and Gerald Helfrich, who purchased the place in 1987, wound up suing Warner Bros. and the other entities involved in making the film, blaming them for, as Entertainment Weekly reported, “inciting a parade of overzealous fans to their home.” Per the rather dramatic court documents, the movie led to a “‘Conjuring’-instigated siege of the property” with the couple facing “threats of physical violence and harm, sleepless nights, and worry that one day, one of the many trespassers will commit an act of destruction, violence, or harm.”
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Image Credit: NBC Universal Norma even went so far as to discredit the events depicted in the movie, as well as the Perron family’s haunting claims in a protracted hour-and-four-minute video in which she states, among other things, “There is nothing that ever happened here that couldn’t be explained by other means.”
It was quite an interesting about-face considering Sutcliffe had called in Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson from “Ghost Hunters” to investigate the property in 2005. In the episode that resulted, season two’s “Two Houses,” Norma detailed various hauntings she’d experienced there including the random banging of doors and a vibrating bed and chair. Following their study, Hawes and Wilson determined that the home was, indeed, haunted. Norma also later sat down with Andrea at the house for a 2013 video shoot in which she further discussed the many unexplained happenings she’d been witness to.
Sutcliffe and Helfrich eventually settled out of court and though they lamented to Vulture, “Can you imagine the horror of trying to sell this house?”, when they did decide to offload the place in 2019, it was quickly snapped up by paranormal investigator Cory Heinzen and his wife, Jennifer.
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Image Credit: Travel Channel Upon moving in, the couple invited the team from “Ghost Adventures” to investigate the home for paranormal activity, which was filmed for a two-hour 2019 segment titled “Halloween Special: Curse of the Harrisville Farmhouse.” Once again, the place was deemed to be haunted, a sentiment Cory and Jennifer embraced.
Realizing the potential of opening the infamous property to the public, the couple rebranded the place “Farm on Round Top Road” and were soon hosting special events on the premises and offering it for rentals, much like the owners of the Swan house from “Twilight.” As the listing notes, “The current caretakers have reported countless happenings in the house, and have turned overnight guest bookings and group events on the property into a steady successful business.” Too successful, in fact. Cory and Jennifer are finding it difficult to keep up with the massive interest and, as such, are now offering the residence for sale. Of their decision, Cory said, “It’s less of a house now and more of work. Even when we’re off, we’re not off.”
Though the Heinzens purchased the place for $439,000 just two years ago, it is being listed for an ambitious $1.2 million. The price hike is likely due to the pad’s many business and income opportunities, not to mention the cachet that comes with owning one of the most infamous properties in the world.
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Image Credit: Redfin Even without the unexplained phenomena that have long plagued it, the New England Cape-style abode has all the makings of a haunted house. Originally built in 1736, the property sits secluded on a desolate stretch of heavily forested road.
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Image Credit: Redfin With splintery cedar siding, wide hardwood plank flooring and unfinished beamed ceilings, both the interior and exterior are rustic and provincial, seemingly frozen in time from the date of construction.
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Image Credit: Redfin Featuring three bedrooms and two baths spread across a spacious 3,109 square feet, the throwback feel is made complete by oil and steam heating, multiple wood-burning fireplaces and antique furniture.
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Image Credit: Redfin A multitude of Raggedy Ann dolls are also dotted around the premises for good measure, a nod to the real Annabelle doll, which was not actually a large plastic moppet as depicted in “The Conjuring” and its sequels, but a Knickerbocker Toy Co. version of the equally creepy red-stringed rag doll. Buyer beware, indeed!