RedFin lists for sale the house that inspired The Conjuring. At $1.2m, the asking price is almost double that fetched in 2017 by the house on Ocean Avenue in Amityville, with a similar story attached to it.
Every so often an opportunity presents itself to possess an extraordinary piece of cultural history. The true story of 'The Conjuring' started in this very house, in Harrisville, RI. The critically acclaimed original movie was based on accounts taken from inhabitants of this fourteen-room farmhouse. Rumored to be haunted by the presence of Bathsheba Sherman, who in the 1800's lived in the house, 1677 Round Top Road is one of the most well-known haunted houses in the United States. The chilling stories from this house have inspired dozens of books and movies. Many qualified paranormal researchers have been invited into the home – most famously Ed and Lorraine Warren, who founded the oldest ghost hunting team in New England, and in the 1970's were hired to rid the home of its evil. The Warrens confirmed that the events depicted in The Conjuring movies (the third just recently released) actually transpired. The current caretakers have reported countless happenings in the house, and have turned overnight guest bookings and group events on the property into a steady successful business
It's a convenient location — just over the borders of both Massachusetts and Connecticut, making it a little over an hour to Boston and a little under 4 hours to New York City. And it comes with a collection of creepy-ass dolls!
But things get even weirder when you scroll down and notice that the $1.2 million property was previously put up for sale in November of 2020 with an asking price of … $69K? And that the current owners — a family of aspiring paranormal investigators themselves — had only just bought the place in 2019 for a little over $400K, with the goal of turning into a tourist destination, with one-hour walking tours of the supposedly-still-haunted property as well as overnight stays (weeknights are only $125!). The last time it was sold before that was for $25,000 in March 2013, just three months before the release of the first movie in the current Conjuring franchise.
From $25,000 to $1,200,000 in 8 years? That's not a bad investment. Though I wonder what actually happened to the property to increase its value so much (besides the inclusion of the creepy-ass dolls). A cynic might even think that the current owners only ever bought the place so they could sell the business for a quick buck! Why else would they want to leave after all the time they claim to have invested in befriending the ghosts who still there?
Anyway the Warrens were very likely con artists, and Ed Warren was allegedly a pedophile, to the point that Lorraine Warren's licensing agreement for The Conjuring film franchise explicitly forbids the movie studios from depicting her or her late husband, "including sex with minors, child pornography, prostitution or sexual assault." Kind of a weird thing to specifically call out in a legal document, huh?