Beyond ‘The Conjuring’ – A History of Ed & Lorraine Warren in Movies & Television

The Warrens only really became household names back in 2013 with the release of James Wan’s original The Conjuring, but the truth is that the late duo of paranormal investigators had been researching all things supernatural for decades before being immortalized on the big screen by the perfectly cast Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga.

Of course, that’s not to say that the Warrens didn’t have a hand in shaping the horror genre before Warner Bros invested in the Conjuringverse, as the couple’s extensive casefiles have inspired countless scary movies over the years – some which you might not even know were based on allegedly true stories. And in honor of The Conjuring: Last Rites giving the current incarnation of the franchise a highly profitable farewell while still embracing the series’ emotional core, I think it might be fun to look back on cinematic history of The Warrens outside of the Conjuring movies.

For those unfamiliar with the couple’s history, Ed was a self-taught demonologist and Lorraine claimed to have been born with mediumistic abilities, and both of them were brought up Catholic in Connecticut. The duo met and fell in love as teenagers, marrying in 1945 and having a daughter a year later. Despite being interested in the subject from an early age, they only began to publicly investigate the paranormal in 1952, when the couple founded the New England Society for Psychic Research in the hopes of learning more about the supernatural while also helping those suffering from alleged hauntings.

And with over 10,000 cases under their belts, it’s no surprise that the Warrens also had a massive impact on popular culture. Their books and interviews became the backbone for future investigators who wished to study the paranormal more seriously while also becoming the basis basis for countless works of fiction meant to profit off our collective fascination with scary stories. For instance, the Raggedy Anne haunting that gave us Annabelle was also indirectly responsible for several haunted doll movies throughout the 1980s thanks to the publication of Gerald Brittle’s The Demonologist, a book chronicling the Warrens’ exploits.