We Tried It: I Spent a Night at the Real-Life 'Conjuring' House (And Yes, I Think It's Haunted)

To be honest, I don’t really like horror movies, but I do love to be scared.

Those qualities served me well in 2021 when I discovered the house that inspired the hit franchise Swearing (last meal, The devil made me do itcurrently being transferred) can be booked for the night. The estate is infamous for some spooky events that took place in the 1970s, including paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren and the hauntings of the Perron family.

Luckily, I have two close girlfriends, sisters Liz Beedle and Emily Penke, who are just as intrigued as I am. Friends and family now call us “ghost moms” and we routinely investigate supposedly haunted locations together and post about it on social media. It’s a unique kind of Moms Night Out (we all met through our kids’ school) and way more fun than book club.

Emily Penke

So we decided to travel to Rhode Island that year and tackle the Conjuring up house, now known as the Farm on Round Top Road. We flew into Providence and drove a little over 30 minutes to Harrisville. Winding country roads led us to an old clapboard Colonial owned by Cory and Jennifer Heinzen (at the time), who purchased the property in 2019. The couple met us at the door and took us on a tour.

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Opening the house to night investigations had always been their plan. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Cory explains of the purchase. Originally from Maine, the two have also been involved in the paranormal community for years and have sought to clarify the truth through film dramatization.

Jennifer and Cory Heinzen. Emily Penke

Cory informed us that no violent deaths have been reported in the house. The witch in the film, Bathsheba Sherman, was simply a neighbor during the 1800s. As grateful as we were to find out, it didn’t make us any less afraid of the evening ahead.

“When we bought it, we knew we wanted to share it with other people,” adds Jennifer, noting that they haven’t experienced anything negative. “Why keep a place like this to yourself?”

Emily Penke

Built in 1836, the house itself is a rustic farmhouse with the occasional Ouija board and Raggedy Ann doll thrown in for good measure. Past paranormal activity has included books falling of their own accord from library shelves, and shadowy figures are often seen in an upstairs bedroom where one of the Perrons’ daughters was frequently attacked by an unseen force. The Heinzens stay on the property in the annex of the house during all overnight reservations. Nothing about them is discussed with them.

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Around 11 pm, we started the investigation in the library and turned off all the lights. Within minutes, a nearby motion detector repeatedly activated for no apparent reason. There was also a loud screeching sound in the living room as if someone was passing by.

We sat upstairs in the bedroom where the attacks took place. The motion detector went off again and we saw a ball of light in a corner where there was no obvious source. The shadows seemed to be closing in on us and our terror made us all huddle in bed. What can I say? There’s something about three grown women snuggling up to each other that apparently can make things less scary.

Down in the basement was a lesson in how difficult it is to navigate in the dark. All your senses become heightened and every slightest noise causes you to jump fear. And don’t get us started on how many snake skins hang from the foundation, left exactly where their former occupants discarded them (which brought a whole new level of dread, especially for Emily). While we were standing in the room next to the old well, the table somehow moved into Liza’s leg, even though no one was near it.

The Conjuring House 2021. Emily Penke

We returned to the library in the early hours of the morning. I took some books from one of the shelves and right after I put them back, one fell and hit the floor hard. We can’t say for sure what caused it, but I’m OCD enough to know that I pushed them all up against the back wall and even lined them up on top because I didn’t want them to look deranged.

Calling it a night around 4:30am, we all went upstairs to “sleep”. I admit that I kept my head completely covered with a sleeping bag. All the scenes from the movie kept running through my head and there was no way I could peek to see who or what could be standing there.

Warner Bros.

When daylight finally began to illuminate the room, I was overcome with complete relief. And more than proud that we pulled through the night—without leaving early or even sleeping in our rental car.

As always, whenever we finish an investigation, we let all the ghosts know (out loud!) that they are not allowed him to follow us home. As we walked back to our hotel, we all concluded that the house was “terribly great”. And worth every terrifying minute.

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Source: HIS Education