Ghost Hunter Lorraine Warren On the Haunted House She Won’t Revisit

Lorraine and Ed Warren founded the New England Society for Psychic Research in 1952, and have over 4,000 cases in their files. Out of all those cases Warren says that the Amityville house is the one haunted house she won't return to.
The Warrens were among the few investigators to look into the case at Amityville. Many people claim the whole story is a hoax, it's obvious that Lorraine Warren remains a firm believer that something terribly evil was in that house.

If Lorraine won't go back into the Amityville house after all the investigations she has has done, then that's enough to tell me there is some truth to the story behind the movie.

Lorraine has appeared on many paranormal t.v. shows. She was often called upon to help solve cases on "Paranormal State", along with medium, Chip Coffee, and the crew of the show.
She was, and is, the one paranormal investigator I trust to tell the truth without stretching it out of proportion.


(photo by Corbis) and Lorraine Warren (photo by Warner Br

Lorraine Warren doesn't have to go to the movies to see ghost stories—she lives them.
Alongside her late husband, demonologist Ed Warren, the clairvoyant investigated some of the most famous and infamous paranormal hauntings around. Her most notable cases have inspired plenty of frightening flicks, including 1979's "The Amityville Horror" (as well as the 2005 remake) and next week's scream-inducer, "The Conjuring."

At "The Conjuring" press junket in San Francisco, Yahoo! Movies recently had the chance to speak with Lorraine Warren, now 86. We asked Warren how the 1971 case of the Perron family in Harrisville, Rhode Island, which inspired "The Conjuring," compares with the horror that the Lutz family experienced in Amityville, New York back in the mid '70s. Warren laughed, as if there is no comparison at all.

"Amityville was horrible, honey. It was absolutely horrible," she said. "It followed us right straight across the country. I don't even like to talk about it. I will never go in the Amityville house ever again. You don't know how long my career is; that's the only one."

Warren's career is indeed long, as she and her husband founded the New England Society for Psychic Research in 1952, and have over 4,000 cases in their files. So when Warren says that the Amityville house is the one haunted house she won't return to, it's apparent that something terrifying went down there.

That something horrific did occur at the house is not in dispute. On November 13, 1974, 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his parents, two brothers, and two sisters. But that's not what inspired the film and its subsequent sequels.

About a year later, George and Kathy Lutz moved into the house at 112 Ocean Avenue with Kathy's three children. Not surprisingly, the Lutzes got a great deal on the house, which was ironically called High Hopes. But according to the Lutzes, after they moved in evil forces started rearranging the furniture (much of which was left over from the DeFeos), strange welts showed up on Kathy's body after she was levitated two feet in the air, a demonic face peered out of the fireplace, flies swarmed in the middle of winter, unexplained smells of excrement festered, green slime oozed off the walls and more. A dirty laundry list of paranormal terrorizing went down, enough so that the Lutzes finally evacuated High Hopes after only 28 days.

The Warrens were among the few investigators to look into the case. And while many claim the whole story is a hoax, it's obvious in talking to Lorraine Warren that she remains a firm believer.
Of course, movies based on actual events don't necessarily stay true to those events, especially in the horror genre, but if the Lutzes' case is scarier than the haunting depicted in "The Conjuring," then it's no wonder that Warren remains affected.

In "The Conjuring," directed by James Wan ("Saw," "Insidious"), Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga play Ed and Lorraine Warren, who set up an investigation in the Perrons' isolated farmhouse to find definitive proof of the inexplicable and frightening events that are endangering the Perron family. Unfortunately for everyone involved, they find that proof.

"You need proof. That's what you have to have. You can't tell ghost stories," Lorraine Warren told us.

movies.yahoo.com...

reply to post by sled735
I can't wait until Netflix gets "My Amityville Horror". It's a documentary with one of the Lutz children (Daniel I think) that tells the real story. Supposedly the events were exaggerated in the movie but Daniel says really freaky stuff did indeed happen. I think the DVD release is next month.

reply to post by littled16


wow
this documentary does look good. didn't know anything about it until now.

reply to post by littled16


Thanks for the trailer video.

Yes, that will be very interesting. I wasn't aware of this documentary coming up.

Great timing, being released just as The Conjuring is coming out. But, of course, it was planned that way by the movie industry for more publicity on both shows, I'm sure.

Yeah, I look forward to seeing that!

I actually met Ed and Loraine Warren. They lived in the same town as my sister in law. I asked about Amnityville. They said that the movie exaggerated certain points but that it was indeed an evil haunted house.

reply to post by FlyersFan


Really?! That must have been exciting for you!

I would love to meet her. She seems like a very sweet person, and true to her word.

In "Amityville: The Final Testament" (which was on cable-TV not that long ago), it was indicated that DeFeo was manipulated by some dark entity that may have also been responsible for what the Lutz's later experienced - which is of course the basis for the imfamous "The Amityville Horror" story/case/phenomenon/whatever-you-want-to-call-it.

The psychic featured in "Amityville: The Final Testament" (Jackie Barrett) claims she was drawn to the case, and to DeFeo specifically. There is a summary of that issue available here: link.

PS: For clarity, not saying I necessarily believe that all this is the truth - just that is the premise put forth.

reply to post by EnhancedInterrogator


Thanks for the links.

A great addition to this thread.

reply to post by EnhancedInterrogator
Hey I saw that one on the Biography channel. The owners of the house actually let them film parts of the documentary in the house itself, and they interviewed DeFeo in prison. Pretty interesting!

reply to post by sled735


Thanks for the thread OP. However, Paranormal State and Chip Coffey (sp?) are hoaxed. I didn't believe it at first, but the more I read up about PS and CC I came to realize that it's all TV. I like Lorraine Warren, a lot. However, her association with that show has made her less trustworthy in my opinion.

But that doesn't change the fact that I believe something did indeed happen in that house that was paranormal. I still get shudders from it when I see the picture.

Going to read the rest of all of this thread now.

reply to post by sled735

That was 25 years ago when I met them. Ed Warren has died. But back then they had a 'museum' at their property with stuff that they collected from their haunted house investigations. The big thing ... a really creepy raggedy ann doll. Everything was out of reach because if you touch them then psychic energy could transfer ... and that would not be good for you .....

Originally posted by Auricom
However, Paranormal State and Chip Coffey (sp?) are hoaxed.

Really? I didn't think so. I have seen YOUTUBEs of how ghost hunters has hoaxed in the past. But I hadn't heard that about Paranormal State. Geee .. another reality TV show on ghost hunting bites the dust ....

This is why I don't believe anything on television, only stuff on ATS (which is obviously all true).
PS: I also hear (on the Internet), that you can't post anything on the Internet that isn't true.

Originally posted by FlyersFan
reply to post by sled735

 

That was 25 years ago when I met them. Ed Warren has died. But back then they had a 'museum' at their property with stuff that they collected from their haunted house investigations. The big thing ... a really creepy raggedy ann doll. Everything was out of reach because if you touch them then psychic energy could transfer ... and that would not be good for you .....

i believe the lulz were telling truth, BUT, aargh its so frustrating, why dont people who are being regularly haunted not have a video or a cine camera to record the events. Why not have one ready and waiting? I dont understand.

Originally posted by thedoctorswife
i believe the lulz were telling truth, BUT, aargh its so frustrating, why dont people who are being regularly haunted not have a video or a cine camera to record the events. Why not have one ready and waiting? I dont understand.

I know its's hard to believe now. But, in 1975 there weren't iPhones, Smart-Phones, Tablets, Digital Camera's or even Cam-Corders (well, at least not commonly). It was 35mm camera or a Polaroid - if anything.

Originally posted by EnhancedInterrogator

Originally posted by thedoctorswife
i believe the lulz were telling truth, BUT, aargh its so frustrating, why dont people who are being regularly haunted not have a video or a cine camera to record the events. Why not have one ready and waiting? I dont understand.

I know its's hard to believe now. But, in 1975 there weren't iPhones, Smart-Phones, Tablets, Digital Camera's or even Cam-Corders (well, at least not commonly). It was 35mm camera or a Polaroid - if anything.

yeah i know, im old enough to remember. but i did mean cine, and off course there were cameras around then. I had a polaroid, bloody expensive!!

Originally posted by Auricom
reply to post by sled735

 

Thanks for the thread OP. However, Paranormal State and Chip Coffey (sp?) are hoaxed. I didn't believe it at first, but the more I read up about PS and CC I came to realize that it's all TV. I like Lorraine Warren, a lot. However, her association with that show has made her less trustworthy in my opinion.

But that doesn't change the fact that I believe something did indeed happen in that house that was paranormal. I still get shudders from it when I see the picture.

Going to read the rest of all of this thread now.

Of course, movies based on actual events don't necessarily stay true to those events, especially in the horror genre.

Yes, the t.v. industry does add a lot to the story to gain an audience, and I think Lorraine admitted this, but the fact that it was taken from real events is scary enough for me.

reply to post by FlyersFan


I enjoyed that show very much. I even liked Chip. I had a good feeling about him and was impressed by his accuracy. However a former home-owner who they investigated came forth saying that Chip was indeed told everything about that home. And that the leader (forgot his name) is a very vain person who would spend a lot of time talking to the crew to make sure they were all over him "swooning" at his knowledge and kindness on the show. The actual film crew also told the home-owners that he'd spend a lot of time in front of the mirror. But a lot of that is just personal stuff against him (the main guy).

But the fact that Chip was told everything in advance destroys the show. There's a lot of reading online regarding it, just take a quick DuckDuckGo (or Google) search for "Paranormal State faked" or "Paranormal State is fake".

reply to post by sled735


Please re-read what I wrote again. I'm not really discussing the house here, beyond the fact that I stated I believe something happened. I'm bringing in question to Mrs. Warren's credibility while working with people like Paranormal State.

reply to post by Auricom


I agree. A lot of that show seemed fake to me, but I still enjoyed watching it.

The independent documentary about Filmmaker/Paranormal Investigator Chad Calek's life story is coming out soon, or you can pay to watch it now online.
It is about Chad Calek's life story and has Ryan Buell, the "main guy" in Paranormal State in it.
The title is, American Ghost Hunter, for anyone interested in looking it up.
It sounds interesting to me.