Welcome to The Attic. The Warrens are back!

In 2013, The Conjuring was released, and garnered a ton of praise by critics and horror fans alike. A year later, the film was followed up by a spin-off called Annabelle, featuring the terrifying doll from the first. Both movies are favorites of mine, and while the legendary Ed and Lorraine Warren were absent in the spin-off, I am happy to say that they will indeed be making a return for The Conjuring 2. Not only will Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise their roles, but a few other familiar faces will make a return as well. Drew, from their paranormal research team, will again be played by Shannon Kook, and Sterling Jerins will return as the Warrens daughter, Judy.

Recently, we finally got to see the first still from The Conjuring 2, which will be set years after the events of the first film, and I hope I’m not alone when I say I let out a little squeal of delight. But now, my friends, we have ourselves a trailer! Before we get to that, I wanted to do some research on the real life case for this one. As any true horror fan will tell you, sometimes truth is scarier than fiction. So I sat down today after watching the trailer and found out some interesting information about this case from 1977, known to many as:

The Enfield Poltergeist

First off, I’d like to tell you all that the Warrens did in fact investigate this case. Many across the interwebs are stating that the couple had nothing to do with the Enfield investigation. This triggered my curiosity so I went searching myself, and I’ve found many resources that claim otherwise. So with that out of the way, let’s get to the real life story.

Janet Hodgson and her family became the victims of a poltergeist (or demonic entity as some like Ed Warren claimed) in 1977. They say it began when Janet and her older sister were terrified to find furniture moving on its own. (Anyone that has watched The Exorcist knows that this is never a good sign…) Then things got worse. The whole family began to hear knocking in the walls and it even drove Peggy Hodgson, Janet’s mother, to call the police once. It is said that one of the police officers saw a piece of furniture slide across the floor, but he couldn’t determine if it had moved on its own, or by a person in the house. Over time, things began to worsen. Many people including neighbors, paranormal researchers, and even press, came in to see what was going on for themselves. Janet was undoubtedly the biggest target of this entity, and Ed Warren claimed that he saw her levitate on her own, while sound asleep. It is said that this experience is what led him to believe that she was in fact the victim of demonic possession instead of a simple poltergeist. Janet also spoke in a deep, guttural growl, which is usually another sign of possession. This has also been caught on tape and you can watch it here. Even if you think it was all just a hoax, watching this is still a bit unnerving. If you don’t want to watch the whole video, skip to about 2:00 in and have a listen.

The debate has waged on for years; where some reports by eyewitnesses say that there is no way the claims made by the family could have been faked, others say that everything they saw could easily be explained away as a young girl trying to get attention. Despite what side you’re on, the fact is that this case has been widely talked about to this day for a reason: it is compelling. There are still documentaries circulating the internet. Interviews continue to pop up from the people that were involved. Graham Morris, who is known for taking the famous shots of little Janet while jumping (or levitating, depending on what you believe) through the air in her red nightgown, claims that everything they report is true, and believes she was in fact the victim. Graham even says that items were thrown at him, and has no explanation for it. You can hear a clip from his BBC interview here, where he states you had to see it to believe it. I found this interview with Janet herself from 2012, as well as an investigator that was there through the events, and a skeptic for added balance. Needless to say, this is very interesting to watch, so check it out! She even goes into detail about what she says happened when those famous photos were shot.

In May of 2015 a fantastic mini-series called The Enfield Haunting aired on Sky Living in the UK, and on A&E in Canada and the U.S. If you missed it when it aired, and can somehow get your hands on this series, I highly recommend you watch if you are at all interested in the real case. Something to get us even more excited for the new film, which will be released on June 10th this year.

And now, dear friends, it is time. I present to you The Conjuring 2 trailer!!

What did you think? Are you looking forward to this sequel? Let us know in the comments section! And as always…

Stay scared,
Dark Princess