The house that would leave anyone speechless, especially fans of the horror franchise, the Conjuring house has been a place of interest for many brave hauntings enthusiasts for quite a few years. Was the house ever really haunted, or was it all just a hoax?
As in the movies, the Conjuring house is located in the Rhode Island village of Harrisville. The exact address of the Conjuring house is now known due to it being transformed into a haunted B&B of sorts—the address is1677 Round Top Road, Harrisville. The house forms a part of The Old Brook Farm, which originally spanned 200 acres.
Initially built in 1736, this huge farmhouse contains 10 rooms, and the original structure still stands today. Much of the house has been renovated on the inside to keep up with the times, but it still kept its eerie décor. The house is currently owned by Cory and Jennifer Heinzen, who moved there in June 2019. According to their claims, the horror stories revolving around the house might not be made up after all.
The Conjuring House History – How Did It Become Haunted?
Despite the lack of evidence, the Conjuring house has gained quite a reputation among the ghost hunters. There are many spirits said to be residing inside the house, the most prominent of them the spirit of Bathsheba – a supposed witch that haunted the families living in it.
The house was originally built in 1763, but two famous families resided in it or visited it. The Warren family visited the house in the 1970s. What is notable around them was that the Warren couple was probably the most famous paranormal experts the US ever had. They had investigated quite a few high-profile cases in their lifetime. This included the Amityville House too, but that is a story for another time.
In 1952 the Warrens founded the New England Society for Psychic Research. It is now considered to be the oldest ghost-hunting group in all of New England. Lorraine Warren claimed to be clairvoyant and a medium, which meant that she supposedly could communicate with the spirits and demons she came in contact with. She would, later on, be the most dedicated advocate to the story of The Conjuring movie, maintaining that every moment of it was true.
At one point, she told USA Today:
"The things that went on there were just so incredibly frightening. It still affects me to talk about it today."
As the years passed, the Warrens collected and exhibited their supernatural relics and founded The Warrens Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut.
What was the story with Bathsheba then? We know that she was a real person, though no records indicate that she lived in the Conjuring house. She was buried in the historic graveyard in Harrisville.
The Conjuring house history starts with the Perron family. The Perron family moved into the property in January 1971. Despite having reported supernatural activity almost immediately, they lived in the house until they moved out in 1980. Andrea Perron was the child at the time, and she says that after the events that transpired at the Conjuring house, she has returned there on many occasions. Despite everything, the house always felt like home to her.
"It's just such a huge part of our lives and memories. My mother once said, 'We left the farm, but it will never leave us.'"
The Perron family lived in the Conjuring house for about ten years. The father and mother purchased the house in the winter of 1970. The large property offered plenty of space for them to raise their daughter. And good thing, because they had five of them!
Shortly after they moved in, the house would start to frighten them with the objects moving on their own and the floors creaking in the middle of the night, as well as cups and glasses falling off the shelves. It was a typical recounting of a haunted house that eventually culminated in the family leaving it because they supposedly wanted a larger place. Was this the real reason for them to move out? Or was it because the Conjuring house was indeed haunted?
Later on, in 2011, Andrea Perron released a book called the House of Darkness House of Light, where she presented her version of the true story of her and her family's experience in the famous Conjuring house.
Bathsheba Sherman – The Famous Spirit Of The Real Conjuring House
The most known spirit of The Conjuring house, which was also portrayed in the movie, is that of the suspected witch, Bathsheba Sherman. Was she the one that made the Conjuring house haunted?
The real Bathsheba was born as Bathsheba Thayer in Rhode Island in 1812. She married a fellow Islander, Judson Sherman, in 1844. Bathsheba was a housewife while her husband worked as a farmer on their land. They were fairly well-off for the time. Bathsheba and Judson had a son, Herbert L. Sherman, born when Bathsheba was 37 in 1849. Some records state that they had three other children as well, though there was no census on this.
The family often took in boarders to help them on the farm.
There were no photos recorded of Bathsheba Sherman, except one that is in old-fashioned sepia. Even this photo is not sure to have been of her. It was a photo of the Perron family farmhouse in 1885 when it was the Arnold Estate. The real Bathsheba lived next door in the Sherman Farm, and she would have been in the early seventies at the time. However, it is possible that she had already passed away at the time and that she actually wasn't captured in the photo.
Why was Bathsheba Sherman thought to be a witch? There is no hard evidence for this at all, though it is a favored theory. The suspicion around her grew when an infant died in her care mysteriously. The baby was examined, and it was determined that the mortal wound was caused by a large sewing needle that had been impaled at the base of the child's skull.
Bathsheba Sherman was released due to insufficient evidence at court. However, the public was not convinced. They believed that Bathsheba sacrificed the child as an offering to the devil.
In Andrea Perron's book, she recounted a few conversations her mother had with a man called Mr. McKeachern. Supposedly he told her mother that Bathsheba treated the staff of the Sherman Farm badly. She beat them and punished them often. She started her staff and left them living in terrible conditions. This only added to her negative image in the public's eye.
Staying Inside This Haunted Place – The Conjuring House Tour
It is never easy to stay inside a haunted house – at least for most people. Some have trouble in the haunted houses in theme parks, but some like the thrill of being scared.
Over time, several film crews stayed in the Conjuring house. It is open to the public and rented overnight by the current owners, attracting horror enthusiasts and modern ghost-hunters.
A film crew that made the documentary The Sleepless Unrest stayed inside the Conjuring house for two weeks. They have done a lot of similar shots in the past, but this one was quite powerful. The directors say that staying inside the house for that long made quite an impact on the psyche of everyone in the crew.
On the third day, they started to get worn down, and on the fourth day, they couldn't sleep because of what was happening around them. They say that even when they left home, the Conjuring house stayed with them. They felt attached to the house in a way they hadn't felt before.
Another filming crew decided to stay there in 2020. They flew to Rhode Island and were greeted by the current owners – Cory and Jennifer. When they were given a tour, the Conjuring house seemed like any other house. In broad daylight, it was nothing but a museum set-up. Things changed during the night, however.
When lights were out, at 11 PM, the crew began hearing loud creaks in the living room as if someone was walking by. Equipped by their ghost-hunting equipment, they explored the house thoroughly, especially the library, where they claimed that their motion detectors were triggered for no apparent reason. The cacophony of sounds continued throughout the night. Was it due to the ghosts residing in the house, or simply an old house settling?
New Owners Of The Conjuring House
In 2019, the Conjuring house was bought by Cory and Jennifer Heinzen. They were very interested in the farmhouse and fell in love with it the moment they visited. The couple were also ghost hunters and felt that the house was a piece of paranormal history that needed to be saved.
Since they moved into the house, they reported a few strange events. The doors closed on their own, footsteps, knocking, and disembodies voices could be heard. They even said they saw a black mist that looked like smoke gathered in an area that moved.
Before the Heinzen's moved into the Conjuring house, Norma Sutcliffe lived there, and she never reported anything supernatural involving the house. She remarked that she never believed in ghosts, and though she heard a few sounds here and there, she was sure natural causes could explain them. Sutcliffe and her late husband only ever said they experienced slight vibrations of a door, chair, and bed.
Jennifer Heinzen said that the events she experienced were much more prominent. She recounts an even in the kitchen:
"I was eating dinner by myself and I saw someone run by me. I caught it by the left corner of my eye, and all I saw was a veil and a skirt and it just vanished into thin air. This had all happened in a span of three seconds, and I just sat there in complete disbelief not knowing what to do afterwards."
The couple said that opening up the house for overnight investigations had always been their plan. They bought it with this purpose and wanted to allow the ghost-hunting enthusiasts to experience the full haunted glory of the Conjuring house.
Cory Heinzen informed that there had been no violent deaths recorded in the house. Bathsheba Sherman was only a neighbor during the 1800s.
The Conjuring House In Modern Media
This large farmhouse in Rhode Island inspired one of the greatest horror franchises of all time. The Conjuring is an American supernatural horror film directed by James Wan and written by Char Hayes and Carey W. Hayes.
It revolves around the Warren couple – Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators who visited the house on the call of the Perron family who lived there. The house had been a prominent place of haunting. The Warrens came to the assistance of the Perron family as increasingly disturbing events were transpiring around the house.
The film was developed in early 2012 and released in 2013. The Conjuring was released in the United States and Canada on July 19, 2013. It received very positive reviews from critics. It was praised for the actors' performances, direction, screenplay, and its fantastic haunted atmosphere. With a creepy musical score, it was a horrifying horror hit that produced two sequels.
The Conjuring focuses on a married couple who investigate horror events. Allegedly, the events in the movie are based on real-life events transpiring in the Conjuring house. However, there is no historical evidence that says that Bathsheba Sherman was anything more than a neighbor and that anything violent happens inside the house.
