The red-haired doll’s real-life story dates back to the 1970s
A SHOCK twist has been revealed after the sudden death of a paranormal investigator while touring with a “demonically possessed” doll.
Creepy Annabelle has spooked believers for decades – despite the doll being encased in a glass box to “contain the evil.”
Dan Rivera, 54, died on July 13 in Pennsylvania while leading a national tour of the allegedly haunted Raggedy Ann doll named Annabelle.
The US Army veteran was the lead paranormal investigator of the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR), which announced his “sudden” death.
Rivera had been showing the supposedly haunted doll – which inspired the Annabelle movies in The Conjuring film franchise – across multiple states.
At the time of his death he had been visiting Gettysburg, where he was leading the Devils on the Run Tour alongside NESPR colleagues.
A Pennsylvania coroner has now confirmed to People that the spooky doll was not in the hotel room where Rivera died.
Francis Dutrow, the Adams County coroner, told the magazine that he didn’t notice Annabelle upon his arrival at the scene on July 13.
Dutrow further confirmed that the doll had not been in Rivera’s hotel room at all.
The coroner told People that hours before he died, Rivera had been with NESPR colleagues.
“The decedent was discovered in his hotel room by workers.
“Nothing unusual or suspicious was observed at the scene.”
Rivera’s cause of death has not as yet been revealed.
His autopsy results are expected before the end of September.
The doll had been given to late paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, who kept it in their occult museum in Monroe, Connecticut.
The couple’s decades of ghost-hunting cases inspired such frightening films as The Conjuring series and The Amityville Horror.
Annabelle also has movies in her own name, including Annabelle (2014), Annabelle: Creation (2017), and Annabelle Comes Home (2019).
HAUNTINGS
The Warrens founded the New England Society for Psychic Research in Monroe in 1952 to probe suspected hauntings.
They investigated more than 10,000 cases in the U.S. and abroad, often writing about their experiences.
One such case was that involving the rag doll, with huge black eyes.
Lorraine Warren said, “It’s not what the doll looks like that makes it scary. It is what has been infused within the doll. Evil.”
A student nurse who received the Raggedy Ann doll as a gift brought it home where she lived with a roommate, according to NESPR, which is overseen by the Warrens’ son-in-law Tony Spera.
His in-laws pronounced the doll as being allegedly “demonically possessed.”
To protect people, they encased it in a glass box to contain the “evil spirited entity,” according to the website.
A chilling alert displayed on its case says: “Warning: Positively Do Not Open.”
US TOUR WARNING
Rivera, who was mentored by the couple, took ownership of Annabelle after Lorraine’s death in 2019, and hoped to continue their work with his research and tour.
His sudden death came after the Warren family had to quash conspiracy theory-style claims that the doll had disappeared.
Months before the US tour, Rivera had posted on Facebook about embarking on a “thrilling and terrifying adventure showcasing the most diabolical items from the infamous Warren’s Occult Museum.”
Spookily, a woman warned him eight weeks ago: “I don’t understand why you guys would put yourself in danger like this, you really should put that doll back.
“And Lorraine Warren said it wasn’t supposed to be touched or removed under no circumstances.”
