October 7, 2025 • 27 mins
In the world of paranormal encounters and urban folklore, few stories are more chilling than this one.
Before The Conjuring turned her into a horror icon, Annabelle was real — a simple Raggedy Ann doll at the center of one of the most documented real hauntings in American history.
In this episode of State of the Unknown, host Robert Barber explores the true paranormal story of Annabelle - from the strange movements witnessed by two nursing students in 1970s Connecticut to the terrifying investigation led by Ed and Lorraine Warren.
Discover how an innocent gift became one of the most infamous haunted objects in haunted America, and how its legend continues to shape creepy history and eerie stories to this day.
If you love true paranormal stories, haunted history, and the darker corners of American folklore, this one’s for you.
State of the Unknown is a documentary-style podcast tracing the haunted highways, forgotten folklore, and unexplained phenomena across America’s 50 states.
👁️🗨️ New episodes every Tuesday — with full-length stories every other week, and shorter mini tales in between.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
What if I told you one of the most terrifying dolls
in history isn't Chucky?
It's real.
You've seen her in the conjuringmovies, but the truth about
Annabelle is a lot stranger andhonestly way more terrifying
than anything Hollywood evershowed.
(00:22):
The real Annabelle wasn'tporcelain.
She wasn't made to look scary.
She was just a plain old raggedyand doll, cloth, stuffing,
button eyes.
The kind of toy you wouldn'tthink twice about.
She was made by theKnickerbocker Toy Company, a
simple children's doll sold allover the U.S.
(00:45):
In the 1970s, two nursingstudents in Hartford,
Connecticut started noticingsomething strange about her.
They'd leave the doll on thebed, come home from class, and
she'd be in a different spot.
At first, it was small things,an arm at a different angle, her
(01:05):
head tilted.
But it didn't stop there.
One day she was on the bed, thenext, sitting in a chair across
the room, legs crossed, hands inher lap.
The apartment was locked, no oneelse had a key.
And the air in that placestarted to feel different.
(01:26):
Still, heavy, like it waswaiting for something to happen.
Before long, Donna startedfinding little pieces of
parchment paper on the floor,folded neatly, written in a
child's handwriting she didn'trecognize.
Just a few words, scrawled inpencil.
(01:47):
Help us.
Her name was Donna, a nursingstudent in Hartford,
Connecticut.
Her roommate Angie worked as anurse too.
They lived the usual life (01:57):
long shifts, late nights, piles of
notes and textbooks on thetable.
But that doll started to takeover their lives.
At first, they laughed it off,figured it was a prank, or maybe
just their imaginations.
But things got darker.
(02:18):
Their friend Lou, who spent alot of time at their apartment,
started having violentnightmares.
He said the doll climbed ontohis chest and tried to choke
him.
When he woke up, he had deepscratches across his torso.
That was the moment they stoppedtrying to explain it away.
They called in a medium.
(02:39):
And that's when the nameAnnabelle first appeared.
(03:00):
And tonight, we're opening thecase file on the doll locked
behind glass.
The one the Warren swore was toodangerous to leave unprotected.
This is the true story behindthe doll known as Annabelle.
What began as a simple gift froma mother to a daughter spiraled
into one of the most documentedhauntings in American history.
(03:23):
This is State of the Unknown.
Donna and Angie were just twoyoung women sharing a small
apartment in Hartford,Connecticut.
Nursing students, overworked,underpaid, and doing their best
to keep life simple.
Classes during the day, longshifts at the hospital, dinner
(03:47):
at odd hours.
The apartment was modest, secondfloor.
Creaky floors, walls, thinenough to hear the neighbors'
TV.
Nothing unusual about it.
The doll came from Donna'smother.
A gift.
She'd found it in a hobby shopone afternoon.
Just a little something to makethe apartment feel homier.
(04:09):
A raggedy and doll.
Soft, friendly, stitched-onsmile.
It was the kind of thing you'dexpect to see on a child's bed,
not in a college apartment.
But it reminded Donna of home,so she set it on her bed.
For the first few weeks, it justsat there, exactly where she
(04:29):
left it.
Then one afternoon, Angie camehome before Donna and noticed
something odd.
The doll wasn't on the bedanymore.
It was sitting on the couch,legs straight out, head turned
slightly towards the door.
She figured Donna had moved it.
But when Donna got home, sheswore she hadn't touched it.
(04:51):
They laughed it off, probablyjust one of them forgetting.
But the next day, it had movedagain.
And the next.
Sometimes it was subtle, achange in position, an arm
resting differently, or its headtilted.
Other times it was unmistakable.
They'd leave for work, lock thedoor, and come back to find the
(05:15):
doll in another room entirely.
Once it was standing upright,balanced perfectly against a
chair, like someone had posed itthere.
That's when the air in theapartment started to feel
different.
Still, heavy, like the roomitself was watching.
Then something new started tohappen.
(05:38):
Donna began finding small piecesof parchment paper, folded
neatly, tucked under furniture,or lying in the middle of the
floor.
The paper looked old, almostyellowed, and neither of them
owned anything like it.
On each piece, written in whatlooked like a child's
handwriting, were shortmessages.
(05:59):
Help us.
Help me.
It was always the same pencil,faint uneven strokes.
That's when the laughterstopped.
Because it wasn't just about thedoll moving anymore.
It was about messages fromsomething that shouldn't have
been able to write.
And whether they admitted it outloud or not, both of them
(06:20):
started to wonder the samething.
What if it wasn't a prank?
And what if something insidethat doll was trying to get
their attention?
Don and Angie weren't goingthrough this alone.
They had a close friend, LukeHarlow, who stopped by often.
Dinners, late-night coffee aftershifts.
(06:42):
The kind of friend who noticedwhen something felt off.
And almost from the start, Louhated that doll.
He couldn't explain why.
He just said it gave him a badfeeling, a quiet warning in his
gut.
Every time he passed down hisbedroom, he'd glance towards the
bed and swear it felt like thedoll was looking back.
(07:04):
The women teased him for it.
It's just a toy, Lou, Angiesaid.
He didn't laugh.
He told them flat out theyshould get rid of it.
They didn't.
Then Lou began havingnightmares.
The same one, night after night.
He'd wake frozen in bed, unableto move or call out.
(07:26):
At the foot of the mattressstood the doll.
Sometimes it just stared.
Other times it climbed slowlyonto his chest.
He could feel the weight, thepressure on his ribs, the
tightening around his throatuntil the room spun and he
snapped awake, gasping for air.
At first, he told himself it wasstress or exhaustion.
(07:49):
But the dreams kept coming, andhe wasn't the only one feeling
uneasy anymore.
Donna started hearing faintknocks at night.
Angie swore she saw a doll'shead turn towards her when she
walked past the bedroom door.
None of it made sense, and allof it felt wrong.
(08:10):
That was when they decided theyneeded help.
If this really was somethingspiritual, maybe someone who
claimed to speak to spiritscould explain it.
They found a local mediumthrough a coworker.
One evening she arrived carryinga small leather case and a
bundle of white candles.
The lights were low, the airheavy with melted wax and
(08:33):
incense.
She asked Donna and Angie to sitwith her on the floor.
Hands joined, eyes closed, shebegan the session, quietly at
first, asking whatever presencewas there to identify itself.
For a long time, nothinghappened.
Then the medium's breathingchanged.
(08:54):
She began to tremble.
Her voice dropped as she toldthem a story.
A young girl named AnnabelleHiggins, who'd once lived near
that spot and died suddenly.
Lost and lonely, the spirit hadfound comfort in the doll.
She means you no harm, themedium said softly.
(09:14):
She just wants love, a home.
The two women listened, heartspounding.
They didn't know if theybelieved it, but pity overtook
fear.
Before the session ended, theyspoke into the still air and
said the words that would changeeverything.
You can stay here.
(09:36):
You are welcome.
It was an act of kindness, andaccording to the Warrens, the
moment the real danger began,because if their later
investigation was right, itwasn't a child's spirit that it
answered.
It was something that onlypretended to be one.
(09:57):
After that seance, Donna andAngie felt calmer for a while.
They'd been told the spirit of alittle girl only wanted to feel
safe, and they believed her.
They stopped worrying so muchabout the doll and tried to get
back to normal life.
But within a few days, theenergy in the apartment changed.
(10:18):
Objects started shifting again,more often and in stranger ways.
The doll would appear kneelingon a chair or sitting against
the wall by the front door as ifshe's waiting for someone to
come home.
It was deliberate now, posed.
And that uneasy heaviness creptback into every room.
(10:39):
Lou noticed it first.
He had already had thatterrifying dream about the doll,
but this time it wasn't a dream.
One afternoon, while he andAngie were packing for a short
trip, they heard faint movementfrom Donna's room, a shuffling
sound like fabric draggingacross the wood.
(10:59):
The apartment was locked.
Donna was at work.
Lou opened the door.
Nothing moved, but the doll wassitting in the corner of the
room.
Its head was tilted slightlyupward, button eyes fixed on
him.
He took a step closer and theair changed.
Thicker, heavier, charged.
(11:20):
Without warning, pain toreacross his chest.
He stumbled back, pulling up hisshirt to find three long
scratches slashed diagonallyacross his skin, fresh and
bleeding.
They were gone within two days,but the experience left him
shaken.
That was the moment Donna andAngie realized they were in over
(11:41):
their heads.
Whatever they'd invited inwasn't a child's ghost looking
for comfort.
They called the church.
Father Hegan came first, young,practical, but clearly disturbed
by what he saw.
After hearing their story, heescalated it to Father Cook, who
brought in outside help, Ed andLorraine Warren, founders of the
(12:06):
New England Society for PsychicResearch.
The Warrens arrived soon after.
Ed was a self-taughtdemonologist.
Lorraine, a clairvoyant andtrans medium.
They'd already investigatedhundreds of hauntings by that
point, but what they encounteredin the Hartford apartment felt
different.
(12:27):
According to Ed's notes, the airin the home carried what he
called a mocking presence.
They listened carefully as Donnaand Angie recounted the
movements, the notes, theseance, and their act of
compassion.
To the Warrens, it all fit afamiliar pattern.
This wasn't a haunting, theysaid.
(12:49):
It was an infestation, the earlystage of demonic possession.
The entity had pretended to be achild to win their trust, and by
allowing it to stay, they'dgiven it permission to act.
The warrants warned them thatonce an inhuman spirit gains
that kind of foothold, it neverstops on its own.
(13:12):
The only way to close it off wasthrough a full church blessing.
Donna and Angie agreed,desperate to end it.
And that decision to bring inthe church and remove the doll
would become the turning pointthat transformed Annabelle from
a local haunting into one of themost infamous cases in the
Warren's entire history.
(13:34):
By the time Ed and LorraineWarren arrived, the apartment
already felt spent.
Like whatever had been happeningthere had burned through the air
itself.
Father Hegan had told themeverything.
Father Cook agreed to meet themthere and perform a full
blessing of the home.
It wasn't an exorcism in thecinematic sense.
(13:56):
This was a standard episcopalrite, a way to reclaim the space
and cut off whatever influenceremained.
Father Cook moved slowly fromroom to room, reading from the
book of blessings, sprinklingholy water, and marking small
crosses above each doorway.
Donna and Angie followed a fewsteps behind, clutching
(14:17):
rosaries.
The Warrens observed quietly, Edtaking notes, Lorraine
describing what she felt as acold current that drifted from
room to room.
When it was over, the tension inthe air lifted.
For the first time in weeks, theapartment felt normal again.
(14:39):
But Ed wasn't convinced it wouldstay that way.
He told the women that the dollhad become a focal point, a
physical anchor for the entity,and leaving it there could
restart the whole cycle.
So they took it.
The Warrens wrapped the doll ina clean white cloth, carried it
down the narrow stairs, andplaced it carefully in the back
(15:01):
seat of their car.
According to their own account,the trip back to Monroe,
Connecticut was anything butordinary.
Several times the steeringlocked, the brakes failed, and
the engine stalled, until Edreached into the back seat,
sprinkled the doll with holywater, and said a short binding
(15:22):
prayer.
After that, the drive wasuneventful.
Whether coincidence or not, itbecame one of the stories the
warrants repeated for decades.
At home, the doll went firstinto Ed's office on a simple
wooden chair beside his desk.
When he returned the nextmorning, it was said to be
levitating just slightly off theseat.
(15:44):
That's when he decided it neededa permanent enclosure.
He built a case himself, solidoak, glass panels, a small cross
mounted inside, and across thefront, a printed sign that read,
Warning, positively do not open.
That case became the centerpieceof the Warren's Occult Museum, a
(16:08):
basement room lined withartifacts from their
investigations.
Each item, they said, carriedtraces of the supernatural.
But none drew as much attentionas Annabelle.
Even inside the case, theWarrens claimed, the doll still
moved.
Slight changes in posture, thefaint shifting of fabric when no
(16:30):
one was near.
And the stories grew.
Visitors who mocked the doll,who ignored the warnings, were
said to have suffered accidentsafterwards.
Ed often told one story inparticular.
A young couple visiting themuseum, the boyfriend tapping on
the glass and laughing, whilehis girlfriend told him to stop.
(16:52):
Ed asked them to leave.
On the way home, theirmotorcycle crashed into a tree.
She survived.
He didn't.
I heard that same story myselfyears ago when I saw Ed and
Lorraine Warren speak at acampus event.
Lorraine's delivery was calm,measured, and it seemed utterly
(17:14):
sincere.
Whether or not it happenedexactly as they said, her
conviction was unmistakable.
And it stayed with me all theseyears later.
Those accounts, the drive home,the levitation, the motorcycle
accident, all come from theWarren's own lectures and files.
(17:35):
They can't be independentlyverified.
But they became part of thelegend, the version of Annabelle
that still lives in publicimagination.
After the museum's closure, thecollection remained under the
Warren family's care.
In 2025, the property waspurchased by new caretakers who
(17:55):
now act as legal guardians ofthe artifacts, including
Annabelle, under agreement withthe Warren family.
While the museum is still closedto the public, the doll remains
at the Monroe site under closesupervision.
Warning.
Positively do not open.
(18:17):
After the Warren's case filesbecame public, Annabelle's story
didn't stay confined to theirmuseum.
It started to move.
First through newspaperwrite-ups and television
specials in the 1980s.
Then through the explosion ofparanormal pop culture in the
1990s and early 2000s.
By the time the conjuring hittheaters in 2013, the Warren's
(18:41):
name had become part of Americanfolklore themselves.
They weren't just investigatorsanymore, they were characters.
And Hollywood saw Annabelle asthe perfect starting point.
But the version of Annabellethat appeared on screen looked
nothing like the real doll.
The filmmakers made herporcelain, cracked, pale, with
(19:03):
hollow eyes and a carved grinthat could carry an entire
horror film by itself.
In real life, the Raggedy Anndoll was the opposite, harmless,
even a little goofy looking.
That contrast might actually bewhat made the story work.
The filmmakers amplified whatwas only implied in the Warren's
(19:24):
accounts, turning a quietpsychological haunting into
something visual and immediate.
The film Annabelle, released in2014, invented almost everything
that people associate with thedoll today.
The satanic cult, the possessedwoman, the gifted to a young
couple storyline, all purefiction.
(19:47):
None of that appeared in theWarren's case files.
In their telling, Annabelle wasnever linked to any ritual or
murder.
The only backstory came fromthat seance, from a medium
claiming the doll was inhabitedby the spirit of a young girl
named Annabelle Higgins.
The Warrens insisted thatexplanation was false, that the
(20:08):
entity pretending to be the girlwasn't human at all.
Still, the Hollywood versionworked.
It struck a nerve.
Annabelle became the center ofher own film franchise.
Annabelle in 2014, AnnabelleCreation in 2017, and Annabelle
Comes Home in 2019.
(20:30):
Each movie layered on more myth,giving her origins, motives, and
even a cinematic personality.
She went from case filecuriosity to pop culture icon,
joining Chucky and the doll fromthe Dead Silence movie as one of
the most recognizable faces inhorror.
But here's the irony.
(20:52):
The real Annabelle doesn't lookterrifying.
She never did.
And maybe that's why her legendendures.
Because the fear doesn't comefrom her appearance, it comes
from the idea that somethingevil could hide inside something
ordinary.
By the time the films had turnedher into a household name, the
(21:12):
real doll was still lockedbehind glass in Monroe,
Connecticut.
Quiet, motionless, staringthrough the same scratch glass
case she'd been in since the1970s.
And yet, through those movies,that doll became bigger than
she'd ever been in life.
The story the Warrens told, partfaith, part folklore, had been
(21:37):
reborn as something that nowlived on in every Halloween
aisle, every replica doll oneBay, every meme that warned,
don't tap on the glass.
Even decades after the Warrensinvestigation, Annabelle's story
still finds its way intoheadlines.
(21:57):
She's part of pop culture now,but every so often, something
happens that reminds people whyher legend refuses to fade.
In July 2025, Dan Rivera, alongtime member of the New
England Society for PsychicResearch, died suddenly while
traveling with the museum'sHaunted Objects Tour in
(22:18):
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Annabelle was part of that tour.
Almost immediately, social medialit up.
Posts claimed that the doll hadclaimed another victim.
Some even insisted Rivera hadtouched the case.
But the facts told a differentstory.
(22:39):
According to official reportsand statements from the Warren
Family Foundation, Riverasuffered a sudden heart-related
medical event consistent withhis health history.
He wasn't even near the dollwhen it happened.
Still, the rumor spread fasterthan the correction.
Because that's what Annabelle'slegend does.
(23:00):
It grows.
Every time her name surfaces,the line between truth and
folklore blurs just a little bitmore.
You know, the Annabelle case hasalways stood right on that edge
where faith, fear, and folkloremeet.
On one side, you've got what theWarrens documented the
(23:24):
scratches, the seance, theblessing, the case in the
museum.
On the other, you've got decadesof retellings, accidents,
curses, and stories that mayhave started as cautionary
tales, but became part of thelegend.
And then there's Hollywood,layering fiction on top of both,
(23:45):
until the lines between truthand myth all but disappear.
The funny thing is, the realAnnabelle doesn't look scary.
She never did.
She's cloth and stuffing, a redyarn smile and two-button eyes.
Something you'd expect to findin a kid's bedroom, not behind a
glass case, Mark a warning.
(24:07):
And maybe that's exactly why herstory gets under our skin.
Because it's not just about whatthe doll looks like, it's about
what it represents.
There's something deeplyunsettling about innocence
corrupted, about the idea thatsomething ordinary could become
a vessel for something dark.
(24:27):
Psychologists call that feelingthe uncanny valley.
When something almost humandoesn't feel quite right, dolls
fall right into that space.
They remind us of childhood, buttwist it just enough to make it
unsafe.
And Annabelle has come to embodythat.
(24:48):
She's not just a case in theWarren's files anymore.
She's become a symbol, partfolklore, part faith, part pop
culture myth.
Each time the story is told, itpicks up a little more weight.
I still think back to that nightI saw Ed and Lorraine Warren
speak in person.
(25:09):
I can still hear them tellingthat story about the young man
who mocked the doll, tapping theglass, daring it to move, and
never making it home.
I can't confirm it happened, butI can tell you this.
Hearing them say it, theconviction in their voices, it
stuck with me all these years.
Because belief, whether youshare it or not, has power.
(25:34):
And that's what keeps Annabellealive.
The power of belief, of fear,and stories we can't seem to
stop telling.
This has been State of theUnknown.
It's just a doll.
That's what makes Annabelle sounsettling.
(25:56):
A child's toy, cloth and yarn,harmless on the surface.
But for decades, she's been atthe center of one of the most
infamous cases in Americanparanormal history.
Maybe it's because she looksordinary.
Maybe it's because she remindsus that the things we fear most
(26:16):
don't always look frightening.
Sometimes they sit quietly inplain sight, waiting to be
noticed.
If you've been enjoying State ofthe Unknown, thank you.
It means the world that you'rehere week after week exploring
these stories with me.
The best way you can help theshow grow is simple.
(26:37):
Leave a quick rating or review.
On Spotify, it's just a coupleof taps.
On Apple Podcasts, you can evenwrite a few words.
I read every one, and I can'ttell you how much it means.
Next time, we're heading intoanother true story.
One that asks whether a hauntingcan outlive the people who
(26:58):
started it.
Until then, stay curious.
Stay unsettled.
And whatever you do, don't tapon the glass.
What if I told you one of the most terrifying dolls
in history isn't Chucky?
It's real.
You've seen her in the conjuringmovies, but the truth about
Annabelle is a lot stranger andhonestly way more terrifying
than anything Hollywood evershowed.
(00:22):
The real Annabelle wasn'tporcelain.
She wasn't made to look scary.
She was just a plain old raggedyand doll, cloth, stuffing,
button eyes.
The kind of toy you wouldn'tthink twice about.
She was made by theKnickerbocker Toy Company, a
simple children's doll sold allover the U.S.
(00:45):
In the 1970s, two nursingstudents in Hartford,
Connecticut started noticingsomething strange about her.
They'd leave the doll on thebed, come home from class, and
she'd be in a different spot.
At first, it was small things,an arm at a different angle, her
(01:05):
head tilted.
But it didn't stop there.
One day she was on the bed, thenext, sitting in a chair across
the room, legs crossed, hands inher lap.
The apartment was locked, no oneelse had a key.
And the air in that placestarted to feel different.
(01:26):
Still, heavy, like it waswaiting for something to happen.
Before long, Donna startedfinding little pieces of
parchment paper on the floor,folded neatly, written in a
child's handwriting she didn'trecognize.
Just a few words, scrawled inpencil.
(01:47):
Help us.
Her name was Donna, a nursingstudent in Hartford,
Connecticut.
Her roommate Angie worked as anurse too.
They lived the usual life (01:57):
long shifts, late nights, piles of
notes and textbooks on thetable.
But that doll started to takeover their lives.
At first, they laughed it off,figured it was a prank, or maybe
just their imaginations.
But things got darker.
(02:18):
Their friend Lou, who spent alot of time at their apartment,
started having violentnightmares.
He said the doll climbed ontohis chest and tried to choke
him.
When he woke up, he had deepscratches across his torso.
That was the moment they stoppedtrying to explain it away.
They called in a medium.
(02:39):
And that's when the nameAnnabelle first appeared.
(03:00):
And tonight, we're opening thecase file on the doll locked
behind glass.
The one the Warren swore was toodangerous to leave unprotected.
This is the true story behindthe doll known as Annabelle.
What began as a simple gift froma mother to a daughter spiraled
into one of the most documentedhauntings in American history.
(03:23):
This is State of the Unknown.
Donna and Angie were just twoyoung women sharing a small
apartment in Hartford,Connecticut.
Nursing students, overworked,underpaid, and doing their best
to keep life simple.
Classes during the day, longshifts at the hospital, dinner
(03:47):
at odd hours.
The apartment was modest, secondfloor.
Creaky floors, walls, thinenough to hear the neighbors'
TV.
Nothing unusual about it.
The doll came from Donna'smother.
A gift.
She'd found it in a hobby shopone afternoon.
Just a little something to makethe apartment feel homier.
(04:09):
A raggedy and doll.
Soft, friendly, stitched-onsmile.
It was the kind of thing you'dexpect to see on a child's bed,
not in a college apartment.
But it reminded Donna of home,so she set it on her bed.
For the first few weeks, it justsat there, exactly where she
(04:29):
left it.
Then one afternoon, Angie camehome before Donna and noticed
something odd.
The doll wasn't on the bedanymore.
It was sitting on the couch,legs straight out, head turned
slightly towards the door.
She figured Donna had moved it.
But when Donna got home, sheswore she hadn't touched it.
(04:51):
They laughed it off, probablyjust one of them forgetting.
But the next day, it had movedagain.
And the next.
Sometimes it was subtle, achange in position, an arm
resting differently, or its headtilted.
Other times it was unmistakable.
They'd leave for work, lock thedoor, and come back to find the
(05:15):
doll in another room entirely.
Once it was standing upright,balanced perfectly against a
chair, like someone had posed itthere.
That's when the air in theapartment started to feel
different.
Still, heavy, like the roomitself was watching.
Then something new started tohappen.
(05:38):
Donna began finding small piecesof parchment paper, folded
neatly, tucked under furniture,or lying in the middle of the
floor.
The paper looked old, almostyellowed, and neither of them
owned anything like it.
On each piece, written in whatlooked like a child's
handwriting, were shortmessages.
(05:59):
Help us.
Help me.
It was always the same pencil,faint uneven strokes.
That's when the laughterstopped.
Because it wasn't just about thedoll moving anymore.
It was about messages fromsomething that shouldn't have
been able to write.
And whether they admitted it outloud or not, both of them
(06:20):
started to wonder the samething.
What if it wasn't a prank?
And what if something insidethat doll was trying to get
their attention?
Don and Angie weren't goingthrough this alone.
They had a close friend, LukeHarlow, who stopped by often.
Dinners, late-night coffee aftershifts.
(06:42):
The kind of friend who noticedwhen something felt off.
And almost from the start, Louhated that doll.
He couldn't explain why.
He just said it gave him a badfeeling, a quiet warning in his
gut.
Every time he passed down hisbedroom, he'd glance towards the
bed and swear it felt like thedoll was looking back.
(07:04):
The women teased him for it.
It's just a toy, Lou, Angiesaid.
He didn't laugh.
He told them flat out theyshould get rid of it.
They didn't.
Then Lou began havingnightmares.
The same one, night after night.
He'd wake frozen in bed, unableto move or call out.
(07:26):
At the foot of the mattressstood the doll.
Sometimes it just stared.
Other times it climbed slowlyonto his chest.
He could feel the weight, thepressure on his ribs, the
tightening around his throatuntil the room spun and he
snapped awake, gasping for air.
At first, he told himself it wasstress or exhaustion.
(07:49):
But the dreams kept coming, andhe wasn't the only one feeling
uneasy anymore.
Donna started hearing faintknocks at night.
Angie swore she saw a doll'shead turn towards her when she
walked past the bedroom door.
None of it made sense, and allof it felt wrong.
(08:10):
That was when they decided theyneeded help.
If this really was somethingspiritual, maybe someone who
claimed to speak to spiritscould explain it.
They found a local mediumthrough a coworker.
One evening she arrived carryinga small leather case and a
bundle of white candles.
The lights were low, the airheavy with melted wax and
(08:33):
incense.
She asked Donna and Angie to sitwith her on the floor.
Hands joined, eyes closed, shebegan the session, quietly at
first, asking whatever presencewas there to identify itself.
For a long time, nothinghappened.
Then the medium's breathingchanged.
(08:54):
She began to tremble.
Her voice dropped as she toldthem a story.
A young girl named AnnabelleHiggins, who'd once lived near
that spot and died suddenly.
Lost and lonely, the spirit hadfound comfort in the doll.
She means you no harm, themedium said softly.
(09:14):
She just wants love, a home.
The two women listened, heartspounding.
They didn't know if theybelieved it, but pity overtook
fear.
Before the session ended, theyspoke into the still air and
said the words that would changeeverything.
You can stay here.
(09:36):
You are welcome.
It was an act of kindness, andaccording to the Warrens, the
moment the real danger began,because if their later
investigation was right, itwasn't a child's spirit that it
answered.
It was something that onlypretended to be one.
(09:57):
After that seance, Donna andAngie felt calmer for a while.
They'd been told the spirit of alittle girl only wanted to feel
safe, and they believed her.
They stopped worrying so muchabout the doll and tried to get
back to normal life.
But within a few days, theenergy in the apartment changed.
(10:18):
Objects started shifting again,more often and in stranger ways.
The doll would appear kneelingon a chair or sitting against
the wall by the front door as ifshe's waiting for someone to
come home.
It was deliberate now, posed.
And that uneasy heaviness creptback into every room.
(10:39):
Lou noticed it first.
He had already had thatterrifying dream about the doll,
but this time it wasn't a dream.
One afternoon, while he andAngie were packing for a short
trip, they heard faint movementfrom Donna's room, a shuffling
sound like fabric draggingacross the wood.
(10:59):
The apartment was locked.
Donna was at work.
Lou opened the door.
Nothing moved, but the doll wassitting in the corner of the
room.
Its head was tilted slightlyupward, button eyes fixed on
him.
He took a step closer and theair changed.
Thicker, heavier, charged.
(11:20):
Without warning, pain toreacross his chest.
He stumbled back, pulling up hisshirt to find three long
scratches slashed diagonallyacross his skin, fresh and
bleeding.
They were gone within two days,but the experience left him
shaken.
That was the moment Donna andAngie realized they were in over
(11:41):
their heads.
Whatever they'd invited inwasn't a child's ghost looking
for comfort.
They called the church.
Father Hegan came first, young,practical, but clearly disturbed
by what he saw.
After hearing their story, heescalated it to Father Cook, who
brought in outside help, Ed andLorraine Warren, founders of the
(12:06):
New England Society for PsychicResearch.
The Warrens arrived soon after.
Ed was a self-taughtdemonologist.
Lorraine, a clairvoyant andtrans medium.
They'd already investigatedhundreds of hauntings by that
point, but what they encounteredin the Hartford apartment felt
different.
(12:27):
According to Ed's notes, the airin the home carried what he
called a mocking presence.
They listened carefully as Donnaand Angie recounted the
movements, the notes, theseance, and their act of
compassion.
To the Warrens, it all fit afamiliar pattern.
This wasn't a haunting, theysaid.
(12:49):
It was an infestation, the earlystage of demonic possession.
The entity had pretended to be achild to win their trust, and by
allowing it to stay, they'dgiven it permission to act.
The warrants warned them thatonce an inhuman spirit gains
that kind of foothold, it neverstops on its own.
(13:12):
The only way to close it off wasthrough a full church blessing.
Donna and Angie agreed,desperate to end it.
And that decision to bring inthe church and remove the doll
would become the turning pointthat transformed Annabelle from
a local haunting into one of themost infamous cases in the
Warren's entire history.
(13:34):
By the time Ed and LorraineWarren arrived, the apartment
already felt spent.
Like whatever had been happeningthere had burned through the air
itself.
Father Hegan had told themeverything.
Father Cook agreed to meet themthere and perform a full
blessing of the home.
It wasn't an exorcism in thecinematic sense.
(13:56):
This was a standard episcopalrite, a way to reclaim the space
and cut off whatever influenceremained.
Father Cook moved slowly fromroom to room, reading from the
book of blessings, sprinklingholy water, and marking small
crosses above each doorway.
Donna and Angie followed a fewsteps behind, clutching
(14:17):
rosaries.
The Warrens observed quietly, Edtaking notes, Lorraine
describing what she felt as acold current that drifted from
room to room.
When it was over, the tension inthe air lifted.
For the first time in weeks, theapartment felt normal again.
(14:39):
But Ed wasn't convinced it wouldstay that way.
He told the women that the dollhad become a focal point, a
physical anchor for the entity,and leaving it there could
restart the whole cycle.
So they took it.
The Warrens wrapped the doll ina clean white cloth, carried it
down the narrow stairs, andplaced it carefully in the back
(15:01):
seat of their car.
According to their own account,the trip back to Monroe,
Connecticut was anything butordinary.
Several times the steeringlocked, the brakes failed, and
the engine stalled, until Edreached into the back seat,
sprinkled the doll with holywater, and said a short binding
(15:22):
prayer.
After that, the drive wasuneventful.
Whether coincidence or not, itbecame one of the stories the
warrants repeated for decades.
At home, the doll went firstinto Ed's office on a simple
wooden chair beside his desk.
When he returned the nextmorning, it was said to be
levitating just slightly off theseat.
(15:44):
That's when he decided it neededa permanent enclosure.
He built a case himself, solidoak, glass panels, a small cross
mounted inside, and across thefront, a printed sign that read,
Warning, positively do not open.
That case became the centerpieceof the Warren's Occult Museum, a
(16:08):
basement room lined withartifacts from their
investigations.
Each item, they said, carriedtraces of the supernatural.
But none drew as much attentionas Annabelle.
Even inside the case, theWarrens claimed, the doll still
moved.
Slight changes in posture, thefaint shifting of fabric when no
(16:30):
one was near.
And the stories grew.
Visitors who mocked the doll,who ignored the warnings, were
said to have suffered accidentsafterwards.
Ed often told one story inparticular.
A young couple visiting themuseum, the boyfriend tapping on
the glass and laughing, whilehis girlfriend told him to stop.
(16:52):
Ed asked them to leave.
On the way home, theirmotorcycle crashed into a tree.
She survived.
He didn't.
I heard that same story myselfyears ago when I saw Ed and
Lorraine Warren speak at acampus event.
Lorraine's delivery was calm,measured, and it seemed utterly
(17:14):
sincere.
Whether or not it happenedexactly as they said, her
conviction was unmistakable.
And it stayed with me all theseyears later.
Those accounts, the drive home,the levitation, the motorcycle
accident, all come from theWarren's own lectures and files.
(17:35):
They can't be independentlyverified.
But they became part of thelegend, the version of Annabelle
that still lives in publicimagination.
After the museum's closure, thecollection remained under the
Warren family's care.
In 2025, the property waspurchased by new caretakers who
(17:55):
now act as legal guardians ofthe artifacts, including
Annabelle, under agreement withthe Warren family.
While the museum is still closedto the public, the doll remains
at the Monroe site under closesupervision.
Warning.
Positively do not open.
(18:17):
After the Warren's case filesbecame public, Annabelle's story
didn't stay confined to theirmuseum.
It started to move.
First through newspaperwrite-ups and television
specials in the 1980s.
Then through the explosion ofparanormal pop culture in the
1990s and early 2000s.
By the time the conjuring hittheaters in 2013, the Warren's
(18:41):
name had become part of Americanfolklore themselves.
They weren't just investigatorsanymore, they were characters.
And Hollywood saw Annabelle asthe perfect starting point.
But the version of Annabellethat appeared on screen looked
nothing like the real doll.
The filmmakers made herporcelain, cracked, pale, with
(19:03):
hollow eyes and a carved grinthat could carry an entire
horror film by itself.
In real life, the Raggedy Anndoll was the opposite, harmless,
even a little goofy looking.
That contrast might actually bewhat made the story work.
The filmmakers amplified whatwas only implied in the Warren's
(19:24):
accounts, turning a quietpsychological haunting into
something visual and immediate.
The film Annabelle, released in2014, invented almost everything
that people associate with thedoll today.
The satanic cult, the possessedwoman, the gifted to a young
couple storyline, all purefiction.
(19:47):
None of that appeared in theWarren's case files.
In their telling, Annabelle wasnever linked to any ritual or
murder.
The only backstory came fromthat seance, from a medium
claiming the doll was inhabitedby the spirit of a young girl
named Annabelle Higgins.
The Warrens insisted thatexplanation was false, that the
(20:08):
entity pretending to be the girlwasn't human at all.
Still, the Hollywood versionworked.
It struck a nerve.
Annabelle became the center ofher own film franchise.
Annabelle in 2014, AnnabelleCreation in 2017, and Annabelle
Comes Home in 2019.
(20:30):
Each movie layered on more myth,giving her origins, motives, and
even a cinematic personality.
She went from case filecuriosity to pop culture icon,
joining Chucky and the doll fromthe Dead Silence movie as one of
the most recognizable faces inhorror.
But here's the irony.
(20:52):
The real Annabelle doesn't lookterrifying.
She never did.
And maybe that's why her legendendures.
Because the fear doesn't comefrom her appearance, it comes
from the idea that somethingevil could hide inside something
ordinary.
By the time the films had turnedher into a household name, the
(21:12):
real doll was still lockedbehind glass in Monroe,
Connecticut.
Quiet, motionless, staringthrough the same scratch glass
case she'd been in since the1970s.
And yet, through those movies,that doll became bigger than
she'd ever been in life.
The story the Warrens told, partfaith, part folklore, had been
(21:37):
reborn as something that nowlived on in every Halloween
aisle, every replica doll oneBay, every meme that warned,
don't tap on the glass.
Even decades after the Warrensinvestigation, Annabelle's story
still finds its way intoheadlines.
(21:57):
She's part of pop culture now,but every so often, something
happens that reminds people whyher legend refuses to fade.
In July 2025, Dan Rivera, alongtime member of the New
England Society for PsychicResearch, died suddenly while
traveling with the museum'sHaunted Objects Tour in
(22:18):
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Annabelle was part of that tour.
Almost immediately, social medialit up.
Posts claimed that the doll hadclaimed another victim.
Some even insisted Rivera hadtouched the case.
But the facts told a differentstory.
(22:39):
According to official reportsand statements from the Warren
Family Foundation, Riverasuffered a sudden heart-related
medical event consistent withhis health history.
He wasn't even near the dollwhen it happened.
Still, the rumor spread fasterthan the correction.
Because that's what Annabelle'slegend does.
(23:00):
It grows.
Every time her name surfaces,the line between truth and
folklore blurs just a little bitmore.
You know, the Annabelle case hasalways stood right on that edge
where faith, fear, and folkloremeet.
On one side, you've got what theWarrens documented the
(23:24):
scratches, the seance, theblessing, the case in the
museum.
On the other, you've got decadesof retellings, accidents,
curses, and stories that mayhave started as cautionary
tales, but became part of thelegend.
And then there's Hollywood,layering fiction on top of both,
(23:45):
until the lines between truthand myth all but disappear.
The funny thing is, the realAnnabelle doesn't look scary.
She never did.
She's cloth and stuffing, a redyarn smile and two-button eyes.
Something you'd expect to findin a kid's bedroom, not behind a
glass case, Mark a warning.
(24:07):
And maybe that's exactly why herstory gets under our skin.
Because it's not just about whatthe doll looks like, it's about
what it represents.
There's something deeplyunsettling about innocence
corrupted, about the idea thatsomething ordinary could become
a vessel for something dark.
(24:27):
Psychologists call that feelingthe uncanny valley.
When something almost humandoesn't feel quite right, dolls
fall right into that space.
They remind us of childhood, buttwist it just enough to make it
unsafe.
And Annabelle has come to embodythat.
(24:48):
She's not just a case in theWarren's files anymore.
She's become a symbol, partfolklore, part faith, part pop
culture myth.
Each time the story is told, itpicks up a little more weight.
I still think back to that nightI saw Ed and Lorraine Warren
speak in person.
(25:09):
I can still hear them tellingthat story about the young man
who mocked the doll, tapping theglass, daring it to move, and
never making it home.
I can't confirm it happened, butI can tell you this.
Hearing them say it, theconviction in their voices, it
stuck with me all these years.
Because belief, whether youshare it or not, has power.
(25:34):
And that's what keeps Annabellealive.
The power of belief, of fear,and stories we can't seem to
stop telling.
This has been State of theUnknown.
It's just a doll.
That's what makes Annabelle sounsettling.
(25:56):
A child's toy, cloth and yarn,harmless on the surface.
But for decades, she's been atthe center of one of the most
infamous cases in Americanparanormal history.
Maybe it's because she looksordinary.
Maybe it's because she remindsus that the things we fear most
(26:16):
don't always look frightening.
Sometimes they sit quietly inplain sight, waiting to be
noticed.
If you've been enjoying State ofthe Unknown, thank you.
It means the world that you'rehere week after week exploring
these stories with me.
The best way you can help theshow grow is simple.
(26:37):
Leave a quick rating or review.
On Spotify, it's just a coupleof taps.
On Apple Podcasts, you can evenwrite a few words.
I read every one, and I can'ttell you how much it means.
Next time, we're heading intoanother true story.
One that asks whether a hauntingcan outlive the people who
(26:58):
started it.
Until then, stay curious.
Stay unsettled.
And whatever you do, don't tapon the glass.
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