Let’s Talk About Annabelle
In a divinely timed fashion, as I wrapped up teaching a class on Spirit Dolls & Haunted Dolls in Moonshadows, I started getting tagged & messaged all day long about Annabelle.
Folks were wondering what I thought about the allegedly demonically possessed doll leaving the Warrens’ Occult Museum to go on tour in the U.S. Interest certainly peaked when the Nottoway Plantation ((a site of & symbol of this nation’s violent history)) burned down while Annabelle was visiting New Orleans. 🫣🫣
So…is Annabelle really a haunted doll? Is there truly a demonic spirit attached to it? Well… I have some thoughts.
the original Annabelle doll in her special box in the Warrens’ Occult Museum.
For those who are unfamiliar with the Lore of Annabelle,
the story goes that a nursing school student named Donna received a Raggedy Anne doll as a gift from her mother for her birthday.
Upon bringing the doll back to her apartment, which Donna shared with her roommate, Angie, some strange things began to happen.
Donna and Angie would find the doll in strange positions on the couch, would find it in places where they had not left it, and even found notes that they believed may have been written by the doll in the apartment.
Donna and Angie called a medium, who determined that the doll was, in fact, inhabited by a child spirit named Annabelle Higgins. In response the roommates gave the child spirit permission to inhabit the doll and be a part of their home. Things spiralled out of control quickly, escalating from silly poses to full-on psychological and violent physical phenomena, which eventually lead to Ed and Lorraine Warren being called to handle the problem.
The Warren's’ quickly came to the determination that the doll was (is?) possessed by a demonic spirit, their rationale being that human spirits do not inhabit inanimate objects.
As an Espiritista, Occultist, and Exorcist, I can tell you that this is simply not true.
Throughout history, we see examples in different cultures and cosmologies of dolls being used as physical vessels for the spirit of human and non-human spirits alike. Muñequitas Espirituales of the Caribbean, and Shabti Dolls of Ancient Egypt are just two examples of dolls specifically dedicated to use by human souls.
We can also find present day and historical examples of dolls made to hold the spirits of non-human benevolent spirit guides and deities, and dolls as vessels for spiritual intentions (ie, fertility, abundance, or protection).
A doll with a spirit within it is not inherently demonic - in fact, it is a natural human expression of the very divine act of creation. Dolls as spiritual vessels is a beautiful, powerful, and ancient spiritual technology.
On the subject of demons - I feel it’s important to point out not all things that are classified as “demonic entities” by Christians/Christianity are actually evil.
One of my favorite ways to demystify an occult topic is by digging into the language we use to label and describe it.
If we look at the etymology of “demon”, we find:
from Latin daemon "spirit," from Greek daimōn "deity, divine power; lesser god; guiding spirit, tutelary deity" (sometimes including souls of the dead); "one's genius, lot, or fortune;
it is not until c. 1200, that the Greek word was used in Christian Greek translations and the Vulgate for "god of the heathen, heathen idol" and also for "unclean spirit." "an evil spirit, malignant supernatural being, an incubus, a devil,"
My experience as a medium and occultist has taught me that many of the spirits classified as demons by Catholicism (the Warrens’ were devout Catholics) and other sects of Christianity are just spirits, man!
Ancestral spirits, pagan spirits, land spirits, elder spirits, folk spirits, spirits of different indigenous cosmologies, spirits that conflict with oppressive ideologies that were and (in many cases) continue to be used by the church.
Christianity certainly has a habit of taking indigenous spirits from around the globe - especially spirits of liberation - and turning them into “demons.”
So whether Annabelle is inhabited by a malevolent spirit or not, it is unlikely, IMHO, that she is possessed by a demon - at least not in the current sense of the word.
When it comes to hauntings (dolls, houses, people) it’s never as simple as a Good Spirit or a Bad Spirit.
There is so much context and nuance that must be taken into consideration.
As an ethical exorcist, when clients reach out to me regarding a potential haunting or spiritual attachment, I refuse to make any determinations about a case without first considering:
The History of the Land - Who what here first? What events have taken place over the years? Who was harmed? Who benefited?
The History of the Spirit in Question - What’s their story? Are they human or other? Are they related to the living being affected by the phenomena? When living, were they someone who was harmed? Someone who caused harm? Both? Are they lost? Are they scared? Do they need help? Do they need recognition? Do they need elevation?
The History of the Living People Being Affected by the Spirit - Who are their ancestors? Are their ancestral histories somehow connected to the History of the Land and/or the Spirit? What are their personal spiritual stories? Could the phenomena they are experiencing be practical in origin rather than super natural? Could the phenomena they are experiencing be the consequences of their own choices?
Through a combination of divination, channeling, and research, we come to an understanding about (a) what’s actually happening and (b) what type of remediation is appropriate for the situation at hand.
Not all spirits who “haunt” are malevolent. Sometimes they just need some help. Sometimes they need some respect. And sometimes, there are living people simply inhabiting a place they have no business being in. The original stewards of Turtle Island (and of many indigenous cultures around the world) have always understood that there are some places on this Good Earth that are only meant for elder spirits, elementals, and non-human beings.
Then, we have the question of ethics and authenticity when it comes to anything involving the Ed and Lorraine Warren.
Many researchers, occultists, and pop culture enthusiasts have claimed that the Warrens had the tendency to pull their life stories from fiction.
In 1963, The Twilight Zone aired The Living Doll - an episode about a woman named Annabelle who was in possession of a supernatural. In the episode, Annabelle gifts a doll to her daughter, Chrisie - and this doll decides to take matters into her own lil porcelain hands and serve justice to Annabelle’s abusive husband. It’s very much of the “Good for Her” genre of horror, of which I am a Big Fan. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Many folks have alleged that this episode served as the inspo for the Warrens’ Annabelle doll story. Perhaps this is why we don’t know Donna & Angies last names, and why no one has ever been able to track them down to verify the Warrens’ story.
It’s also possible that, if the story is true, that Donna and Angie don’t want to be found, bc they don’t want to have to answer a bunch of questions that force them to relive a really shitty and scary experience.
I guess we’ll never know.
So, what do we think? Is the Annabelle doll inhabited by a child spirit? A demonic spirit? A violent spirit? A hoax?
Tbh, idk. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Without proper divination, it’s impossible for me to know, and quite frankly, I don’t feel called to do any further divination on her. lol.
What I will say, though, is that if the Annabelle doll is, in fact, haunted by a violent spirit - I think it’s far more likely for that to be the spirit of an unwell human rather than a so-called demon.
When we consider the colonial history of Turtle Island, the violence through which this nation was created, the violence that continues to be employed by the state to continue it’s legacy, history and the present tell me that humans tend to be the most violent - living or dead.
