The Brutal Truth Behind 5 ‘Fictional’ Horror Movies About Hauntings And Demonic Possession
"I was beginning to do some deliverance prayers. Within a few minutes she began to tremor and her facial countenance began to change. You saw a snake. She began sticking her tongue out like a snake and hissing and rolling her eyes. She coiled herself up."
By 
Daniel Hayes
2. The Conjuring
The Conjuring is based on the research of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren who visited the home of the Perron Family in Harrisville, Rhode Island in 1971. According to the Warren’s, the Perron family home was cursed by a woman named Bathsheba Sherman (among other spirits) who lived in the home during the 19th century. The home itself was built in 1736 and sits on a 200 acre property. Locally the home and land are known as the Old Arnold Estate. The families that lived on the estate allegedly endured multiple horrors over the generations they owned it including several suicides, possible murders, two drownings, four people that froze to death on the land, and the rape and murder of an eleven-year-old girl as well as multiple hauntings. The only family that allegedly did not experience these things were a minister and his family.
Keeping in mind this is over eight generations it’s still an incredible number of deaths (and wholly unsubstantiated by history). This lead families, including the Perrons, to believe the land was cursed. It’s also where the Warrens enter the picture. The Perron’s claim to have repeated experience with spirits, some nice, some terrifying, over the nine years they lived in the Old Arnold Estate. After the Warrens spent some time in the home they determined that the primary malevolent spirit dwelling there was Bathsheba Sherman who, according to legend, was accused of murdering a child she was taking care of by sticking a knitting needle in the back of its head. The Perrons had reported being awoken at night by sharp stinging pains and then finding small bloody holes like that created by a knitting needle in the morning. This, the Warrens claim, was the work of Bathsheba.
Of course the answer to this nine year ordeal would have been to simply move. However the Perron family believes they were meant to experience these horrors year after year.
“I hear that question most every day. I think we were supposed to have this experience and share it with the world.”
The Perron’s also claim to have experienced a possession during a seance although no exorcisms were ever conducted as it’s portrayed in the movie.
The Warrens attribute also attribute a lot of things to Bathsheba Sherman based on folk legends of dubious origin that simply don’t appear to be true. There was a Bathsheba named Bathsheba Thayer and she was born in 1812 lived on the property. She was apparently tried for killing a child and was found not guilty of the crime. The community wasn’t convinced though and stories about her being a witch and sacrificing the child to the Devil began to be repeated. Bathsheba also allegedly wasn’t very nice to the domestic help and this most certainly didn’t do her any favors in regards to the rumor mill.
Folklore also claims that Bathsheba had four children, all of whom died. Records do seem to show that she had four children but she had a son who lived to adulthood and married. People also seem to forget that the early to late 1800s were a time when Tuberculosis was the leading cause of death. Twenty percent of the people who died during these years died of Tuberculosis. Indeed, other sites discussing legend of a “witch Bathsheba” note this and unwittingly endorse the idea that her children very well may have died of the disease rather than because of “cursed land” or some pact with the Devil.
Despite what the Warrens and Perrons claim, there’s really no evidence that any of the myths about Bathsheba are true and all the evidence that does exist seems to characterize her as a woman who may have been demonized after a tragic event while living with possibly several tragic deaths in her own family because of disease.
What’s more, the current owners of the Old Arnold Estate say that everything in The Conjuring is nonsense and they’ve been badgered by movie fans ever since the film came out because it basically doxxed them. In 2014, they even made a fascinating hour-long YouTube video explaining why it was all completely made up by the Warrens and the Perrons.
