Journey Into The Paranormal

The Conjuring

The Conjuring's poster boldly proclaims that it's "based on the true case files of the Warrens." So who are the Warrens, anyway? The real-life couple, Ed and Lorraine (played in the film by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson), were American paranormal investigators that founded in 1952.

The Warrens' 10,000-plus career cases include the alleged haunting depicted in The Conjuring. In 1971, Roger and Carolyn Perron moved into a colonial farmhouse in Harrisville, R.I., with their five daughters, and quickly began experiencing what they described as both haunting and spiritual possessions. They invited the Warrens to the farmhouse to investigate. Over the nine years they lived in the house, the Perrons described spirits, both harmless and angry, that "stunk of rotting flesh" and routinely arrived at 5:15 a.m. to levitate their beds.

So how much of that is true? The real-life Perron family swears by their story, throwing their full weight behind the film and even appearing in some of The Conjuring's marketing materials. "Because I was the youngest and the most vulnerable, I was approached more than anyone, and I actually had a relationship with that [ghostly] boy," said April Perron in promoting the film.

Of course, there are plenty of people who doubt the story. Steven Novella, the president of the New England Skeptical Society, that "there is absolutely no reason to believe there is any legitimacy" to the Warrens' reports on the Perron haunting—or, for that matter, to any of the Warrens' cases.

The Conjuring "is a fair reflection of the chaos and danger we faced at the farm," . "There are liberties taken and a few discrepancies, but overall, it is what it claims to be—based on a true story, believe it or not.