Annabelle Doll
The Warrens' Raggedy Ann doll that became the Conjuring Universe's porcelain menace.
Annabelle is a Raggedy Ann doll that the paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren said was haunted. In their account, a 28-year-old student nurse named Donna from Hartford, Connecticut, gave them the doll in the 1970s, saying it moved on its own and behaved maliciously; a medium had told her and her roommate that the spirit of a dead seven-year-old girl named Annabelle had taken it over. The Warrens declared it demonically possessed and kept it in a display case in their Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut. Academics and science writers treat the story as myth and folklore.
Quick Facts
- Type
- Raggedy Ann doll (porcelain in the films)
- Claimed owner
- Donna
- a student nurse from Hartford
- Connecticut
- Kept at
- The Warrens' Occult Museum
- Monroe
- Connecticut
- Film series
- Annabelle (2014)
- Annabelle: Creation (2017)
- Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
Facts from the source article.
Background
The doll's story appeared in Gerald Brittle's 1980 book The Demonologist, and a character based on it became one of the antagonists of The Conjuring Universe. The films replaced the Raggedy Ann look with a disfigured porcelain doll, partly to avoid trademark issues and partly to look more menacing. It first appears in The Conjuring (2013), carries Annabelle (2014), Annabelle: Creation (2017) and Annabelle Comes Home (2019), and makes brief appearances in other films of the series.
The Occult Museum closed in 2019 over zoning violations. In 2025 reports that the doll had gone missing turned out to be publicity for a touring exhibition, and comedian Matt Rife bought the Warrens' home and museum, becoming guardian of the collection.
Did You Know?
- The Warrens claimed the doll caused a priest who insulted it to crash his car into a tree.
- The doll also appears in the DC films Aquaman and Shazam!, directed by Wan and David F. Sandberg.
More in Artifacts & Rituals
Elsewhere in The Conjuring
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced