2020 has officially gone too far: The real-life, allegedly haunted doll the Annabelle horror movie franchise is based off of has apparently escaped containment…
…or has it?
On Friday (August 14), social media users' imaginations ran amuck when a rumor spread online that the infamous demonic Annabelle doll — a supposedly haunted Raggedy Ann doll made even more famous in recent years thanks to filmmaker James Wan's The Conjuring franchise — had escaped The Warren's Occult Museum in Connecticut, where it had been housed in a sealed glass case since the 1970s.
The viral rumor gained steam after someone updated the Annabelle Wikipedia page with the since-removed claim that the doll was on the loose.
As it turns out, however, the admittedly spooky doll's supposed escape was just a social media hoax.
Also adding to the confusion? An apparent mistranslation in the Chinese media involving a recent interview with British actress Annabelle Wallis, who coincidentally starred in the 2014 horror film Annabelle.
According to Newsweek, Annabelle apparently hasn't been housed in the late Ed and Lorraine Warren's iconic occult gallery (which was located in the paranormal investigators' residential home) for quite a while, after the museum shut down in 2018 "due to zoning violations."
The doll, as well as other "haunted" artifacts, are currently believed to be in the possession (no pun intended) of the Warrens' son-in-law, Tony Spera, who leads the New England Society for Psychic Research. (However, it is possible that Spera may be keeping the items in the closed-down museum while he looks for a new location.)
The Annabelle doll has been the main star of three Conjuring universe films: the aforementioned 2014 film, 2017's Annabelle: Creation and 2019's Annabelle Comes Home. A new Conjuring film, titled The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, is slated to hit theaters in 2021 after getting pushed back due to COVID-19, though it's unknown if the demonic doll will make an appearance in the flick.
See some hilarious reactions to the Annabelle doll's "escape," below.
Ed passed away at the age of 79 in August 2006. Lorraine passed away at the age of 92 in April 2019.