Ed and Lorraine Warren


It's hard not to discuss the vintage era of ghost investigations without mentioning the married couple, Ed and Lorraine Warren, who became famous for their high-profile investigations and last word on hauntings.




Ed was a lecturer, self taught demonologist, and author and his wife Lorraine was a psychic medium/clairovoyant. In 1952, the couple opened up the New England Society For Psychic Research. The couple authored many books and went on many investigations. 

It was reported that they handled over 10,000 cases in their career, including the Amityville home, and many other notable locations. They covered cases of demons, werewolves, hauntings, possessions, you name it; the whole gamut of paranormal possibilities. 

Ed has passed on and Lorraine, a gentle soul, is in her retiring years after many decades of responsibility for people who are in distress and coming to the aid of troubled those in homes. 

The 2014 film, "Annabelle" was based upon one of their cases where some roommates believed their doll was possessed by the spirit of a little girl. The Warrens took the doll to put in their own family oddities museum, saying it was possessed by something inhuman. 

Interestingly, many of their cases were deemed as something evil, inhuman or demonic. And, coincidentally many of these cases went on to become films; "The Amityville Horror," "The Haunting in Connecticut," "Annabelle," "The Conjuring," and "The Haunted." If there was a voracious appetite for ghost stories in this vintage era, likely their cases sparked it. 



If you call in a demonologist for a case, they're probably gonna find a demon. That's my take on it. I am sure that for some clients, Ed and Lorraine offered comfort, though I'm sure that in a lot of cases they scared the bejesus out of them. I am always concerned about people who have a belief system in place and a business based on a particular belief, like demons, who go into investigations. 

Personally, I've never been a follower. There is a vast majority who admire and revere them as the final word on hauntings, however. I think that what they offered the public in this vintage era was what was available, something between spiritualist movement and church. 

What Ed and Lorraine offered to the field of research, it is that it's okay to go public and talk about these things, even if you might be ridiculed because open discussion is better than doing this in the dark. Given their belief in demons and the like, they were pretty fearless about entering cases head on, and for that they can be respected. 

They were investigators in a period of time in which open talk about ghosts was just beginning and they certainly paved the way for the concept of investigators who go in and evaluate a site. Their techniques or take on hauntings might seem rather vintage today, but no other couple will ever be in on as many intriguing cases likely ever again. It was a mixture of the right people at the right time.


Their books












**April begins a month of mixed para subjects and I'm kicking it off with some awesome posts - 
1st - Amazing Ancient Footprints Found Around the World
2nd - Portals: Severe Thunderstorms and Stunning Paranormal Phenomena.
3rd - The Face of Bigfoot 

Comments

  1. The Warrens - pioneers. That is all I have to say about that! :)

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  2. Sharon,

    Excellent write-up! I agree with much of what you have said regarding the Warrens. I definitely think they were important early pioneers in the field, and helped bring (what was then) taboo subjects out into the light.

    I also agree about their 'everything is demonic' approach. I often wonder if that is because demons make for better publicity. I think in some cases, it may have done more harm than good.

    Happy Hunting!

    Patrick Johnson-Hedges
    Destination Paranormal

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  3. I saw something when researching one blog post on people who study aliens and UFOs. Basically, the folklore around demons was projected onto aliens and abduction theories. It's a very old pre-Catholic set of superstitions, that just keep reappearing in new guises. People love mysteries. This is a great write up about the Warrens; they were in a way their own branded form of niche entertainment, whether or not they saw themselves that way. The fact that so many movies have been made around them and their cases shows their appeal and the compelling drama that surrounded them as a pair. As for their investigations, anyone who can make an actual living doing this as opposed to an office job, well, hats off to them.

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