In the past decade, one of the most popular horror franchises has been The Conjuring. The series has been quite lucrative for Warner Bros., resulting in a total of two main Conjuring films as well as three Annabelle films and the spin-offs The Nun and The Curse of La Llorona.
With the success of the franchise, Warner Bros. doesn’t show any signs of stopping the series anytime soon. Most of the movies have been more or less based on the case files and experiences of Ed and Lorraine Warren. With their several years in the paranormal field, there are plenty of case files future movies could be based on.
Updated on November 3rd, 2020 by Julian Beauvais: Ed and Lorraine Warren will always be the rock stars of the paranormal investigation and demonology field. Their body of work is rife with material for Hollywood horror films, as evidenced by The Conjuring series and its numerous spin-offs. With Halloween just around the corner, it seemed like a good time to revisit the Warrens' cases. In light of Lorraine Warren’s passing in the spring of 2019, it also seemed like a fitting tribute to an outstanding career protecting the innocent from evil.
Borley Church Haunting
The grounds upon which the Borley Church now reside have housed various religious edifices since the eleventh century. Folklore claims the earliest hauntings there to have originated in the 14th century following the execution of a nun who had an affair with a monk, but the first substantiated reports came in the 1860s.
The Warrens traveled to Essex, England, to investigate claims of ghostly chanting and ethereal organ music, accompanied by the ghosts of a monk and a nun roaming the grounds. Serving as inspiration for The Nun, a potential film of this case would not only be terrifying but reveal the true story behind the preternatural postulate.
The Apprentice
The Warrens' careers as paranormal investigators was inspirational to several others who followed in their footsteps. Chief among these burgeoning demon-busters was John Zaffis, Ed’s nephew, and an expert paranormal investigator in his own right.
Zaffis has over forty-three years of experience combating infernal and spectral enemies. No stranger to media exposure, Zaffis has appeared on multiple television and radio shows to discuss his cases, as well as lecturing at universities and colleges. But he got his start with the Warrens, and it wouldn’t be a big stretch of the imagination for a studio to chronicle his first case with them in a film. If successful, it can possibly set up another universe of films based solely on his own cases.
The West Point Haunting
Back in the ‘70s, the Warrens were called to a military Academy in West Point, New York. When Ed and Lorraine investigated, Lorraine felt the presence of an Irish cook named Molly, who would knock over wine bottles and mess up freshly made beds.
The officers complained about a ghost moving objects around the quarters, which was later identified as a spirit named Greer. After some research, it was believed that the spirit was that of Lawrence Greer, who was a Buffalo soldier turned murderer. However, after his trial, there is no record of what happened to the soldier.
The Amityville Horror
The Amityville Horror story may have been a small part of The Conjuring 2, but the story was simply glossed over. With this being one of Ed and Lorraine Warrens' most famous cases it really deserves to get its own movie.
There have been over a dozen Amityville Horror movies over the years, so fans may sigh if Warner Bros announced another Amityville Horror movie. That being said, with most of the Amityville movies getting poor reviews, The Conjuring universe could finally do the story justice.
The White Lady of Easton
The White Lady of Easton is a ghost that people have been claiming to have seen for decades, including Ed and Lorraine Warren. Ed and several Easton police officers supposedly caught the ghost on film.
When Ed described his encounter with the ghost, he claimed that several “ghost lights” came together to form a woman without any facial features, dark hair, and a white dress. Ed made the mistake of walking towards the ghost and it disappeared. Having a haunted cemetery being the basis for a film could be a terrifying premise, and the White Lady of Easton could become the next icon of the Conjuring franchise.
The Southend Werewolf
The case of Bill Ramsey, also known as the Southend Werewolf, was one of the stranger cases that Ed and Lorainne Warren dealt with. When Ramsey was nine years old, he apparently ripped a fence post out of the ground and began acting like a wild animal. When he grew up, this possession came back when he bit and attacked a stranger, a nurse, and finally a police officer.
Eventually, he was taken to a mental hospital, where the doctors couldn’t explain his condition as a mental illness. Bill Ramsey then traveled to the United States with the Warrens, where a priest performed an exorcism, which cured him but not before people witnessed him partly transform into a werewolf.
The Donovan Family
The Donovans called upon the Warrens in the ‘70s after they became terrified of what was in their house. The Donovan’s experienced loud noises coming from inside their walls, but there were several other terrifying paranormal phenomenons that were more unique to their case. The wallpapers in their house would peel off the walls, the water in their sink looked like blood, and there were hair-raising animal noises coming from different ends of the house.
The daughter Patty Donovan confessed that she communicated with a spirit via an Ouija board that was claiming to be a young boy. The Warrens' concluded that the spirit was actually a grown demonic entity. Like many other cases, a priest was brought in to perform an exorcism, which fixed the issue.
A Haunting in Connecticut
The story of the Snedeker family from the Warrens' case, known as Haunting in Connecticut, is widely believed to be a hoax, and a film was already made about the story in 2009. The "real story" goes that the Snedeker moved into a home that unbeknownst to them, used to be a funeral parlor. The funeral director was even later found to be a necrophiliac.
The two Snedeker sons living in the basement claimed to see beings moving about the house, which the other family members eventually saw as well. Fast-forward through weird phenomenon and family members claiming to be sexually assaulted by the demons, and Ed and Lorraine Warren were called. While the story has been told on the big screen before, the film was very different from what actually happened in real-life, something Warner Bros. could correct with a new Conjuring film.
Satan’s Harvest
One case that was actually turned into a book is known as Satan’s Harvest. This case was about the possession of Maurice Theriault, known as Frenchie. Frenchie was a farmer who essentially had two personalities: one that was friendly towards his family and neighbors, and another that was cruel and abusive toward his children.
Once Ed and Lorainne stepped in, they encountered Frenchie bleeding from his eyes and mouth, crosses appearing on his body, and even French-Canadian messages appearing on his back. Frenchie actually appeared in The Nun and is also seen at the beginning of the first Conjuring film as Ed and Lorainne talk about the three stages of possession. That being said, everything that happened in The Nun with Frenchie is fictional.
The Lindley Street Haunting
Another haunted house case the Warrens took on was back in the ‘70s and known as The Lindley Street Haunting. The happenings occurred a few years after Gerald and Laura Goodwin adopted a girl named Marcia. The case drew a lot of publicity, with several people claiming they actually saw furniture moving by itself and a crucifix shooting from a wall.
One of the eeriest elements of this case was that some people claim to have heard Marcia’s pet cat speak and one reverend even claims to have heard Sam the Cat singing Christmas carols in the basement. Marcia supposedly confessed it was a hoax at some point, but that doesn’t mean Warner Bros. couldn’t adapt this chilling story anyway.
Beginnings
While this isn’t actually a case file of the Warrens, it could be an interesting idea to give Ed and Lorraine an origin story. Ed realized his house was haunted at the age of five when he saw a glowing orb with a horrifying woman’s face come out of his closet. Ed and Lorraine became friends when they were 16 and married after Ed was sent home from World War II on a survival leave due to his boat sinking.
In order to get their foot literally in the door of haunted houses, Ed would give the homeowners paintings of their house. Ed’s love for drawing and painting is even a part of the Conjuring universe. An origin story could be an interesting way to keep the franchise fresh and explain how Lorraine didn’t originally believe in ghosts. They could even fudge the story a little bit and have scary things happening on Ed’s WWII ship before it sinks.
The Smurl Haunting
The Smurl Haunting is one of Ed and Lorraine Warrens' most famous cases. The case revolved around a family who had a demon inhabiting their home for the better part of a decade. The demon was extremely violent towards the family and even once threw their dog at a wall.
Aside from the usual bed shakings and loud noises late at night, one of the most disturbing elements of the case was the father’s claim that the demon actually sexually assaulted him on more than one occasion. Needless to say, it would be a deeply disturbing storyline for Warner Bros. to adapt.