Posted On: June 4, 2024 | Posted By: junketseo
The Conjuring House- although from the outside it seems like any other peaceful farmhouse in Rhode Island’s suburbs, once inside, the home’s history begins to unravel before your eyes, the friendly facade fades, and the realization that this is the home from The Conjuring franchise. But don’t be mistaken — the story isn’t just a tale told by Hollywood; there’s actual truth to it.
An authentic Colonial-era estate, The Conjuring House, as it’s so adoringly called, entices visitors with its mysterious and horrifying history. Built-in 1736, it allowed those who dared set foot on the property to visit a bygone era while also coming face-to-face with the horrors that plagued the families who lived there.
Though The Conjuring film was fictionalized, truth is always stranger than fiction. Let’s dive in.
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A Bit of History
The land the house is on was deeded in 1680 and surveyed by John Smith, one of Virginia’s original colonists. Roger Williams, a man who founded the colony of Rhode Island, had followers to who this property was dispersed.
Before it was The Conjuring House, it was the Arnold Estate. Before that, it was deeded to the Richardson family, who followed along with Roger Williams after he was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for going against the government and demanding more rights for the people, including a stark separation of church and state.
While the original estate was relatively large, the best way to preserve the land was to deed parcels to those who chose to follow him and his teachings — a sort of reward for their support. With more than one thousand acres to split up, he got to work and sold parcels to families in the area, some of which still have great-great-grandchildren living in the area.
Because women did not have rights to own property at the time, their estate was transferred through marriage from the first colonists, the Richardson family, and later landed in the Arnold family’s hands.
The house stands now as it was in 1736. It’s endured coastal storms, the Declaration of Independence, and even the Hurricane of 1938, which destroyed most homes in the area. It’s seen the Revolutionary War, the American Civil War, and the Industrial Age in America. It’s a glimpse into American history that has fortunately been preserved. As the official Conjuring House website states:
“Eight generations of one extended family had lived and died in it and apparently some of them never left, or visit it with some frequency. Because the historical chronicles of the time were dispersed or what was recorded was not salvaged, it is impossible to know the fullest extent of its past, but one thing is known. The house speaks to those who know how to listen. History has a story to tell. We will never know all of it, some of which has been lost to the annuls of time, but one thing is certain. There are few places like it which remain intact on the planet, and it should be protected and defended at all cost. “
Before the home was purchased by its current owners in 2019, it was owned by the most well-known family regarding the home’s story — the Perrons.
The Perron Family’s Experience
The home’s past spans over eight generations, during which residents reportedly died by drowning, murder, and hanging. Most of the stories heard in the horror franchise are based on the accounts of the Perron family. Carolyn and Roger Perron lived in the home with their five daughters during the 1970s. Almost immediately, small but strange events started to happen, and it wasn’t long before those events escalated tremendously.
One of the first reports came from Carolyn herself. She stated that she always noticed the broom disappearing as if one of her children was hiding it, but they promised and pleaded with her that it wasn’t them. She also began to notice small piles of dirt in a freshly swept kitchen. The Perron kids also began to report seeing apparitions around this time.
Harmless at first, they started to see shadows in corners, hear footsteps, and watch as their bedroom doors opened a bit on their own. The family’s experiences began to shift to something more sinister. They reported their beds would shake at 5:15 every morning, and Roger Perron reported a ‘cold and stinking presence’ behind him any time he entered the basement. Other members of the Perron family also reported the smells of rotting flesh throughout the home.
Bathsheba
One spirit in the home was also portrayed in the movies. Apparently, she was just as angry in real life as shown on the big screen.
The eldest Perron daughter, Andrea, said this about Bathsheba:
“Whoever the spirit was, she perceived herself to be mistress of the house and she resented the competition my mother posed for that position.”
Bathsheba is said to be responsible for throwing objects, slamming doors, and shattering glass. One night Carolyn was sitting in the living room when she felt a sharp pain in her leg. She looked down only to find blood trickling from a small wound, almost as if someone had stabbed her with a large needle.
It turns out a woman named Bathsheba did reside on the property in the mid-1800s. Her name was Bathsheba Sherman, and her neighbors believed her to have dabbled in witchcraft. There was even some evidence of her involvement in the death of an infant. Bathsheba is even buried nearby the home.
Ed and Lorraine Warren Come To Visit
After the Perron family’s experiences increased in severity and became malevolent, they called upon a couple of the most trusted names in the field — Ed and Lorraine Warren. Ed and Lorraine have investigated well over 10,000 cases of hauntings, and the Perron home was just another feather in their cap.
One of the ways Ed and Lorraine were said to make contact with the dead was through seances. They performed one at the Perron home, where Carolyn Perron seemed to become possessed, speaking in tongues and rising into the air against gravity with her chair. Andrea Perron saw the whole thing and described the feeling of being faint while listening to her mother ‘speak in a language that was not of this world in a voice that was not her own.’
After the seance, Carolyn seemed to return to normal, and Roger requested that the Warrens leave the property. The family stayed in the home until 1980 when they could afford to leave. When they moved, their experiences ceased.
Carolyn Perron describes the home as this:
“magical…It’s a portal cleverly disguised as a farmhouse. It’s multiple dimensions, interacting simultaneously.”
These days, the home is in new hands and is operated with the idea that the history and the home should be accessible to everyone. Tours of the house and property are offered, and the story of the Conjuring House is sure to live on for at least another few generations.
For those who are a bit skeptical about the house, the official website of the Conjuring House has an entire page named ‘Evidence’ in which you can review reports of strange activity from those who have visited the farm.
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Sources Cited:
https://www.visitrhodeisland.com/listing/the-farm-on-round-top-road-aka-the-conjuring-house/9894/
