Celebrity paranormal investigator dies while on US tour with ‘demonic’ Annabelle doll
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Paranormal investigator Dan Rivera was on tour in the US with a Raggedy Ann doll that inspired the movie The Conjuring when he died suddenly on July 13.
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Celebrity paranormal investigator Dan Rivera died suddenly on July 13 while on tour in the United States with the infamous Annabelle doll – the supposedly demon-possessed toy that inspired the horror flick The Conjuring.
Coincidence?
The answers are not forthcoming, as the exact cause of his death has yet to be ascertained. Adams County Coroner Francis Dutrow listed it simply as “pending”.
Paramedics were called to Mr Rivera’s hotel in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 13, but efforts to revive him failed.
Mr Dutrow said in a statement that the death did not appear suspicious, and that Mr Rivera was found alone in his hotel room.
The doll was reportedly inside its case, and not in his room.
Mr Rivera, who was a consulting producer for the Netflix reality show 28 Days Haunted, was in the middle of his “Devil’s on the Run” tour across America. He was 54 years old.
His tour had featured a Raggedy Ann doll known as Annabelle, a nexus of both real-world paranormal lore and popular horror fiction.
The doll developed cult status in 1968, when it was given as a gift to a nursing student by her mother.
The student’s roommate claimed the doll soon exhibited “strange behaviours” – changing positions, moving rooms and leaving notes like “Help me”.
A psychic medium said shortly after that the spirit of a dead six-year-old girl named Annabelle Higgins inhabited the doll.
Occultists and paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren were called in to investigate, and they took possession of the doll in 1970.
They declared that there was a demonic entity using the doll as a conduit, and that it was murderous. They claimed the doll had stabbed a police officer and caused a car crash that killed a priest.
The doll was placed in a glass case inside a museum the Warrens ran, with a warning: “Positively Do Not Open”.
The doll inspired the 2013 movie The Conjuring and has since been in her own film series with Annabelle in 2014; Annabelle: Creation in 2017; and Annabelle Comes Home in 2019.
Mr Rivera, a US Army veteran who had gained fame dabbling in the occult and investigating paranormal phenomena over the past 10 years, was at the time of his death the senior lead investigator of the New England Society of Psychic Research (NESPR) in Pennsylvania, which was founded by the Warrens. Ms Lorraine Warren had been his mentor.
NESPR had hosted a public showing of the Annabelle doll a day before Mr Rivera died.
“Dan truly believed in sharing his experiences and educating people on the paranormal. His kindness and passion touched everyone who knew him.” NESPR’s lead investigator Chris Gilloren said on his group’s Facebook page.
