You’ve seen the jump scares. You’ve heard the floorboards creak on IMAX speakers. But when you sit down to watch ed and lorraine warren movies, there is this nagging feeling in the back of your head. Is any of this actually real?
The short answer: Sorta.
The long answer is much more complicated, involving a 40-year-old sexual assault allegation, "possessed" Raggedy Ann dolls, and a whole lot of holy water.
The Timeline: How We Got Here
The Conjuring Universe didn’t just happen overnight. It started back in 2013 when James Wan decided to take a crack at the Perron family haunting. Since then, we’ve had prequels, sequels, and spin-offs about creepy nuns and even creepier dolls.
Honestly, the release order is a mess if you're trying to follow the actual story. If you want to watch them the way they "happened" in the lore, you'd start with The Nun (set in 1952) and end with the most recent flick, The Conjuring: Last Rites, which hit theaters in September 2025. This latest entry dives into the Smurl haunting from the mid-80s. It’s dark. Like, really dark.
The Heavy Hitters
Most people only care about the "main" entries where Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson play the titular couple. These are the ones supposedly "based on a true story."
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- The Conjuring (2013): The Harrisville haunting.
- The Conjuring 2 (2016): The Enfield Poltergeist.
- The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021): The trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson.
- The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025): The Smurl family's demon problem.
Fact vs. Fiction: The Enfield "Hoax"
In The Conjuring 2, the movie paints Ed and Lorraine as the primary heroes who saved a poor family in London from a demonic old man.
The reality? Guy Lyon Playfair, the actual investigator who spent years on the case, wasn’t exactly a fan of the Warrens. He famously said they showed up uninvited, stayed for a day, and basically tried to figure out how to make money off it.
The kids in the house—Janet and Margaret—later admitted to "faking" some of the phenomena to see if the investigators would catch them.
Does that mean the whole thing was a lie? Not necessarily. But the movie version where Ed sings Elvis and fights a nun in a basement? Yeah, that didn’t happen.
The Darker Side Nobody Talks About
We love the onscreen version of the Warrens. They’re a devoted, God-fearing couple who love each other and protect the innocent.
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But there is a skeleton in the closet named Judith Penney.
In 2017, legal documents surfaced where Penney claimed she had a decades-long relationship with Ed Warren. The kicker? She says it started when she was 15 and he was in his late 20s. She even claimed Lorraine knew about it and lived in the same house with them.
You won’t see that in a Warner Bros. movie. Lorraine actually had a clause in her contract that the movies could never show Ed being unfaithful.
Why We Still Watch
Despite the controversy and the skeptical researchers like Joe Nickell calling them "frauds," the movies work. They work because they tap into a very specific kind of Catholic-lite horror that feels grounded.
The real ed and lorraine warren movies aren't just about ghosts. They’re about the idea that there is something out there looking out for us when the "inhuman presences" start knocking.
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Actionable Insights for Fans
If you're planning a marathon, here is how to actually digest this franchise without losing your mind:
- Watch Chronologically for Lore: Start with The Nun, then Annabelle: Creation, The Nun II, Annabelle, The Conjuring, Annabelle Comes Home, The Curse of La Llorona, The Conjuring 2, The Devil Made Me Do It, and finally Last Rites.
- Read the Skeptics: If you want the full picture, look up Benjamin Radford’s investigations into the Warrens. It makes the movies even more interesting when you see what they changed.
- Visit (Virtually): The real Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut, has been closed to the public for years due to zoning issues, but you can still find old tours online. Just... maybe don't touch the doll.
The franchise shows no signs of stopping. With The Conjuring: First Communion reportedly scheduled for 2027, we're going to be talking about these two for a long time. Whether you believe they were saints or scammers, they changed the horror genre forever.
Next Steps for Your Movie Night
To get the most out of your next viewing, compare the trial transcripts of the Arne Cheyenne Johnson case with the plot of The Devil Made Me Do It. You will find that while the "possession" defense failed in court, the real-life drama was actually more tense than the movie's supernatural detective work. You can also look for the original 1991 TV movie The Haunted, which was the first time the Smurl case—the basis for the newest Conjuring film—was ever dramatized.