[ INVESTIGATIVE FILES Joe Nickell, PhD, is a skeptical demonologist. His many books include The Science of and The Science of Ghosts.

Dispelling Demons: Detective Work at House

he horror movie The Conjuring thirty to forty years. Then there was denly appear on their property, while (2013) focused on the “demons” the influence of Ed and Lorraine War- others make harassing phone calls at T that allegedly plagued the Perron ren—“demonologist” and “clairvoyant,” night. There have even been Internet family—Roger, Carolyn, and their respectively—who made a dubious ca- discussions about destroying the eigh- five daughters—at their Rhode Island reer of convincing such troubled peo- teenth-century residence because “it’s farmhouse. The movie was a major ple that they were plagued by demons so full of evil”—among other outrages box-office success. while seeking book deals and encour- (Sutcliffe 2015–2016). In an article in the SKEPTICAL IN- aging their coauthors, some admit, to Norma invited me to visit her eigh- QUIRER (Nickell 2014) and in the book fabricate elements to make the books teenth-century property in mid-June American Hauntings (Bartholomew and “scary” (Nickell 2014, 23). 2016 to see for myself much of the rest

There have even been Internet discussions about destroying the eighteenth-century residence because “it’s so full of evil”—among other outrage.

Figure 1. Norma Sutcliffe stands at her historic home, now made notorious by the movie The Conjuring (2013), which bears little resemblance to the truth. The barn in the background never saw a hanging. of the evidence behind the fictionalized and fantasized story. Guided by her, I Nickell 2015, 57–77), I analyzed the Norma Sutcliffe, who with her hus- toured the historic Arnold-Richardson Perrons’ claims of demonic activity and band, Gerry, acquired the property in house and property, visited old ceme- showed that they were consistent with 1987 and has lived there until the pres- teries in the area, and searched archival the effects of strong winds, mispercep- ent (Figure 1), reports no demonic ac- records in the Harrisville town hall and tions, schoolgirl pranks, vivid dreams, tivity. Yet the two have been plagued library—all helping to further dispel simple suggestion, role-playing, and by a “Conjuring-instigated siege of their the falsehoods and exaggerations that other factors—including one child’s property,” according to legal papers have been used to promote this utterly having had an imaginary playmate— filed in their lawsuit against Warner bogus case of demonic activity and and the effects of memory after some Bros. Studios. Uninvited people sud- demon possession.

20 Volume 40 Issue 6 | Skeptical Inquirer Revealing Tour occasion, two girls were playing with the next move.” She concluded: “It was Norma walked me through the historic a board in an attic room when far more than infestation. It was man- house—from cellar to attic—where I they were unaccountably locked in— ifestation.” In time, “inexplicably, the saw the locations of many occurrences ostensibly by evil entities (Perron 2013, phantom flies disappeared,” she said, reported by the Perrons that were sup- 24–25). Actually, the door has the same but years later Lorraine Warren “would posed to give evidence of demonic type of latch as the cellar door, and if arrive and explain that the flies were presences: the door had been pulled unthinkingly there with purpose and reason, as the Dark Passages. With what the Per- or had been allowed to swing after harbingers of things to come.” Andrea rons would come to think was an omi- the girls entered, the latch bar would would call them “the devil’s pets” (Per- nous warning, the previous owner told bounce upward as the door closed and ron 2011, 83–94, 265–266). In fact, Roger, “For the sake of your family, then drop down and engage, “locking” clues to the real explanation are found leave the lights on at night” (Perron the girls inside the room. No demons in her own words (“winter,” “clusters,” 2011, 45). But Norma found that a were needed. etc.), which indicate that the infestation light would have been needed down- Dead People in Walls. Young Cindy was probably caused by housefly-looka- stairs so family members could get Perron claimed she could feel the spir- likes called “cluster flies” that behave as to the bathroom in the middle of the its in her bedroom, insisting there were night from their far-flung bedrooms described (see “Ask the Orkin Man” on two floors—requiring treks through 2016). They are explained by science, multiple rooms that were dangerously not . dark. The man obviously had given Kitchen Phenomena. Several suppos- practical advice—not a warning of su- edly events occurred in the pernatural entities, which, in fact, he kitchen (now the dining room), “Con- made no mention of. sidered one of the most active rooms Apparitions in Carolyn’s Bedroom in the house” (Perron 2011, 448). For (now a study). Carolyn Perron once example, Andrea once witnessed a pot stirred from sleep to feel a “presence” of meatballs “go flying off the surface of and see a grotesque female figure loom- the stove without the assistance” of her ing above her while she was “immobi- father. Actually, her mother disagreed, lized” (Perron 2011, 185–187; Johnson and in fact Roger Perron was at the 2009, 70–71). Clearly, she experienced time “seething with anger” and had not a common waking dream that occurs only “touched” the pot handle but even between sleep and wakefulness, coupled followed up by “kicking the pot past his with sleep paralysis since her body was daughter.” It seems absurd therefore still in the sleep mode. And this was Figure 2. Norma Sutcliffe points out the cellar well where— to postulate a “kitchen witch” (Perron not the only waking dream to occur according to unfounded accusations—Bathsheba Sherman 2013, 235–238). among the Perrons (Nickell 2014; Bar- supposedly drowned her children. In fact, she never lived in the house. On another occasion, Carolyn started tholomew and Nickell 2015). peeling an orange when she saw blood Opening Cellar Door. This had a trickling from it. She first thought she habit of partially opening during the had nicked herself with the knife but night, “Even after the family remem- “seven dead soldiers buried in the wall” could find no wound. To keep her bered locking it” (Johnson 2009, 48). (Perron 2013, 279). However, the walls youngest daughter from wandering in Also when someone walked past the and becoming frightened, she hastily door, it might suddenly open behind were only seven inches thick—we mea- cleaned the blood from the sink and the person’s back (Perron 2011, 149). sured—so that could never have hap- floor and threw the “bloody orange” in Norma explained that the door was a pened. (She also perceived “a whole the trash (Johnson 2009, 545–555). The bit warped so that the antique latch did bunch of people eating in our dining not fully engage. Thus, temperature room” and several “little ghosts”—“na- most likely explanation here, I think, is fluctuations (such as the house’s wood tive children”—playing in a nearby pine that she had mistakenly gotten hold of a and metal cooling at night) could cause grove [Perron 2013, 69–70, 164–165].) California blood orange. Some of these the latch to release and the door to pop Her claims were surely only the imag- can resemble ordinary oranges but yield open. (It was never actually “locked,” inings of a child who exhibited many of a deep, blood-colored juice—hence, the only latched.) Or when someone walked the traits associated with fantasy prone- fruit’s name (“Blood Oranges” 2016). by, depressing the floorboard, the latch ness (Nickell 2014, 23). Many more examples could be could again release and the door open. Fly Infestation! Andrea Perron wrote given, but these are sufficient to show Norma and Gerry had the door fixed pages about “houseflies” in their home, how the Perrons repeatedly suggested after they moved in and discovered the appearing unaccountably “in the middle supernatural explanations for mundane problem (Sutcliffe 2015–2016). of deep winter.” There were “clusters of events—even before they found them- Locking Attic-Room Door. On one them huddled together, as if plotting selves under the spell of the Warrens.

Skeptical Inquirer | November/December 2016 21 Deaths Multiplied 1 Burrillville town records give the cause 1911)—not at the Arnold-Richardson Numerous people have allegedly died of death as “paralysis.” Her obituary in house as alleged by Perron (2014, 182). tragic deaths at the Arnold-Richardson The Burrillville Gazette (May 29, 1885) Still other alleged deaths on the his- house—an implication being that their corroborates the cause as “a sudden toric house property have no known basis unrequited spirits haunt the place or attack of paralysis”—almost certainly in fact. These include the infant whom that they have somehow been trans- a stroke. Her funeral service was con- Bathsheba Sherman allegedly killed, formed into malevolent entities or ducted by Rev. A.H. Granger, a Baptist the wound “presumably inflicted with demonic presences. But what are the minister, one of various facts belying a needle” through the base of the skull facts about the deaths of the people the claim that she was a witch. (Perron 2011, 384–385; Johnson 2009, allegedly involved? Historical research But if Bathsheba Sherman did not 51), and one or more of Bathsheba’s reveals the eye-opening truth. hang herself in the Arnold-Richardson own children, whom she is “rumored” The central figure is a reputed witch barn, maybe it was instead Susan Ar- to have drowned in “the basement well” named Bathsheba Sherman. Based on nold, age ninety-three, as later claimed (Figure 2) (Johnson 2009, 51). amateurish “research” of local records by Carolyn Perron (Perron 2011, xx, However, there is no available docu- and lore and later confirmations by 102). Alas, despite the Arnold sur- mented record of Bathsheba (or anyone “,” Carolyn Perron focused name, her suicide was at her home else- else, for that matter) having killed an on Bathsheba, allegedly accused but where on Harrisville Road. According infant. Had any such documentation acquitted of murdering an infant as to a newspaper clipping (“Burrillville” been known, it would likely have been

Numerous people have allegedly died tragic deaths at the Arnold-Richardson house. But what are the facts about the deaths of the people allegedly involved? Historical research reveals the eye-opening truth.

Figure 3. Author researching a compendium of deaths, known as The Black Book of Burrillville. (Author’s photos) 1866), Susan was the fifty-year-old recorded in what is known as The Black wife of John Arnold. She locked her- Book of Burrillville, a list of the unusual self in an attic storeroom where she was deaths in the township of Burrillville, part of a ritual sacrifice, “a deal struck found hanging “from a wardrobe hook from 1806, compiled by historians with the devil” (Perron 2011, 298–299, with a very small cord.”2 (Matthewson n.d.). 321–325). It was even said that Bath- Other Arnold deaths wrongly as- In light of what we have seen so far, sheba had hanged herself in the barn signed to the famous house include consider the following quotation—in near the Perron home (Johnson 2009, those of Prudence Arnold in 1849 and which every single statement but one 43–46, 51; Perron 2011, 404). The Johnny Arnold (son of Edwin, who is false: time came when the “demons” were did once own the property) in 1911 The Black Book of Burrillville, the consolidated, when “Mrs. Warren re- (Johnson 2009, 50; Perron 2011, xxi). town’s former public records book, ferred to the God-forsaken spirit as the Prudence was not yet twelve when reveals that over the course of its lone demonic presence in their house, she was murdered—her throat slashed existence the property has been host calling her by name: Bathsheba” (Per- by a jilted suitor—at the home of her to two suicides by hanging, one sui- cide by poison, the rape and murder ron 2011, 328). stepparents in Uxbridge, Massachu- of eleven-year-old Prudence Arnold In fact, as we shall see later, no re- setts (“The Inquest” 1849; “Uxbridge by a farmhand, two drownings,3 cords are known to confirm any of the Tragedy” 1849). And a despondent and the passing of four men who allegations against Bathsheba Sherman. fifty-seven-year-old John A. “Johnny” froze to death, in addition to other She is buried next to her husband, Jud- Arnold committed suicide by taking “a tragic losses of life. (“The Conjuring Filming Location” 2016) son, in the Riverside Cemetery in Har- dose of paris green” (commonly used risville, where her tombstone records as an insecticide and rodent poison) One man, Jarvis Smith, did die of her date of death as May 25, 1885. The “at his home near Tarkiln” (“Obituary” exposure on the property on March 20,

22 Volume 40 Issue 6 | Skeptical Inquirer JOE NICKELL INVESTIGATIVE FILES]

1901 (Matthewson n.d.). Otherwise, that has been reported to enter houses, a lot of time upstairs (Perron 2014, none of the previously listed deaths sometimes through chimneys (“Ball 183–184): “Day after day, for hours occurred there; neither was Prudence Lightning” 2016). and hours she waited, speaking to him Arnold raped, judging from the official Elsewhere in volume three we read gently. . . . How could April bid him report (“The Inquest” 1849). And the of an interesting apparition of a woman a fond farewell if he refused to come Black Book—which I personally exam- that appeared only to Christine at night make his presence known? In spite of ined from beginning to end (Figure and always in a window as an accompa- her prompting he was a no show on the 3)—is not “the town’s former public niment to her reflection. She found it stage of life and afterlife.” records book.” disturbing. Andrea gives a secondhand What had happened? Such entities The problem is not the Black Book account (Perron 2014, 13–14): are unknown to science—except as the of course but of numerous shoddy re- . . . [S]he’d glance at a window, only familiar “imaginary companion” with searchers compiling bogus claims, to see the woman standing behind whom certain young children interact misinterpretations made by them and her own reflection in the glass. The as if the entity is real. The phenome- others, and attributing the false infor- spirit was always the same. So much non seems to be rather more frequent taller than the youngster, she stood mation to sources they have misread or out in the crowd. . . . No optical among lonely or unsociable children or never seen. illusions involved, no mistaking it those who have difficulty in their family for something else beyond the glass, relationships (Goldenson 1970, I: 597– Clues at Hand this was an entity. As if standing 598). April now says she often “felt like at the mirror, there she was, right an abandoned child” who had to spend Volume three of Andrea Perron’s behind the kid, gazing at the glass much of her time alone. Also, “our wordy, repetitious, self-published tril- with her . . . just watching Christine mother appeared depressed most of ogy, House of Darkness House of Light watching her. the time and our father was just angry” (2014), continues to relate anecdotes Having researched something like (Perron 2014, 339). It seems that, as from the Perrons’ residence in the this before, I think it was indeed an typically happens with imaginary com- 1970s. The accounts provide clues as to “optical illusion”: a double reflection panions who become outgrown as the what really took place. of the girl, despite Perron’s haste to child finds different ways of meeting In the first volume (Perron 2011, convince readers otherwise. Note that his or her emotional needs (Golden- 243–244), much was made of a “solid the second image was that of a female, son 1970, I: 598), “Oliver” simply went blue tubular beam of light” that shot taller, and always fixed in the same po- away and could no more be reclaimed down the chimney into a room, then sition relative to her. Everyone has seen than April could herself turn back time retraced its route and disappeared. Car- his or her image reflected in a window, and become that little girl again. olyn “would speculate about the effects especially at night. Actually, both the of the light for many years to come.” front and back surfaces of the glass Conclusions Hearing about it, Lorraine Warren in- reflect an image, but these are usually sisted that, writes Perron, it was super- so close together as to go unnoticed. The evidence mounts that the Perrons natural, “manifesting as a beam of Cos- Seeing a reflection from an angle could were a dysfunctional family. They were mic Light traveling through space and enhance the separation, but an even not preyed upon by “demons” (whose time, then entering a specific portal; more intense effect can be produced by existence is not supported by science), delivering a message received by mortal wavy old glass such as that at the Ar- but rather they believed in such due to souls who have witnessed its affect [sic] nold-Richardson House. I had occa- religious and propaganda, yet remain unable to discern its mean- sion to duplicate and photograph such as evident throughout Perron’s books. ing”—perhaps a “blessing” or a “curse” an effect to explain Abraham Lincoln’s The merest noise or other odd happen- (Perron 2011, 244). having once famously seen his double ing was treated with the illogic of what Reportedly, the phenomenon hap- image in a mirror (Nickell 2001, photo is known as an argument from igno- pened twice more (Perron 2011, 244). on p. 11). rance: “We don’t know what caused Current resident Norma Sutcliffe also Quite another entity was partial it, so it must have been paranormal.” once saw a blue light shoot across the to April, the youngest of the Per- A “demonologist” and a “clairvoyant,” bedroom, but she is quick to say that ron girls, who was only five when the Ed and Lorraine Warren, were anxious she does not attribute any such odd family moved into the house. Sup- to convince them that demons—and a happening to the supernatural. And in posedly, April often communicated book deal—were lurking in the shad- volume three, Perron (2014, 332) now telepathically with a little boy named ows. In the final volume of her trilogy, concludes that—while the light was the Oliver whom she could find “always Andrea Perron (2014, 216) tells how “most amazing thing” she ever saw in upstairs in the chimney closet.” She Lorraine Warren eventually proposed the old house—it was really “a tube of believes he is still there (Perron 2013, just such a deal to her mother Carolyn. blue lightning.” That is consistent with 93–99). However, during their final Carolyn’s five daughters appear to the rare phenomenon of ball lightning week at the house in 1980, April spent have followed her lead: with the judg-

Skeptical Inquirer | November/December 2016 23 Notes ments and imaginations of children, Goldenson, Robert M. 1970. The Encyclopedia of they were soon competing for much- 1. The death register (vol. 1A, 1854–1900) Human Behavior, in two vols. Garden City, gives her name as Bathsheba Greene, apparently NY: Doubleday & Co. needed attention, reporting every “de- after a later marriage, but she is buried beside “The Inquest.” 1849. Inquest held at Uxbridge, her first husband, Judson Sherman, with his monic” occurrence. When their father MA, by coroner Aaron Burden; text in surname. Roger doubted much of the phenom- 2. The determined woman had in the room “Uxbridge Tragedy” 1849. ena and denounced the Warrens as with her a gun, knife, and vial of mercury. Also Johnson, Keith. 2009. Paranormal Realities. “a pair of two-bit charlatans” (Per- she had laid out on a bed in another room “all the Privately printed: New England Anomalies clothes for her burial.” Research (i.e., Keith and Sandy Johnson). ron 2013, 263), Carolyn felt that he 3. Andrea Perron (2011, 472–475) refers to Matthewson, J.C. N.d. The Black Book of questioned her integrity and the girls two Bakers, a father and son, who “reportedly Burrillville. Manscript “copied from the drowned on this property.” However, the Black original by John Smith.” Updated in 1999. stood “squarely in her camp” (Perron Book (Matthewson n.d.) relates only a single 2011, 112; 2013, 195). Eventually, he Baker drowning, the suicide of Chester A. in Lodged in archives at Jesse M. Smith Memorial Library, Harrisville, RI. seemed—at least after suffering es- 1949, “in Harrison Mill Pond.” Nickell, Joe. 2001. Real-Life X-Files. Lexington: trangement and divorce—to acquiesce References University Press of Kentucky. in favor of family harmony. ———. 2014. “The Conjuring: Ghosts? “Ask the Orkin Man.” 2016. Available online at It is no wonder that hysteria came to www.orkin.com/ask-the-orkin-man/large- ? Demons?” SKEPTICAL INQUIRER reign and “demons” were ever-present, slow-moving-flies/; accessed July 5, 2016. 38(2) (March/April): 22–25. “Ball Lightning.” 2016. Available online at “Obituary of John A. Arnold.” 1911. Unidentified or that things have since quieted with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_light- clipping (Sutcliffe 2015–2016). the thirty-year tenure of Norma Sut- ning; accessed July 15, 2016. Perron, Andrea. 2011. House of Darkness cliffe, who does not believe in demons. Bartholomew, Robert E., and Joe Nickell. House of Light, Vol. 1. Bloomington, IN: 2015. American Hauntings: The True Stories AuthorHouse. Still, the quiet has been disrupted by the behind Hollywood’s Scariest Movies—from The Hollywoodization of the old farmstead Exorcist to The Conjuring. Santa Barbara, ———. 2013. House of Darkness House of Light, Vol. 2. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. and the misrepresentation of truth by CA: Praeger, 55–77. “Blood Oranges.” 2016. Available online at ———. 2014. House of Darkness House of Light, shoddy research, misperceptions, exag- www.calif-citrusspecialties.com/blood_ Vol. 3. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. geration, probable mischief, suggestion, orange.htm; accessed July 7, 2016. Sutcliffe, Norma. 2015–2016. Communications and more, including the power of the “Burrillville.” 1866. Unidentified newspaper with author including in person at her home clipping (Sutcliffe 2015–2016). June 15–16, 2016, together with sheaf of almighty dollar. We see that the major “The Conjuring Filming Location.” 2016. photocopied and annotated documents. “demons” were Ignorance, , Available online at https:roadtrippers.com/ us/harrisville-ri/points-of-interest/the-con- “Uxbridge Tragedy.” 1849. Clipping from and Greed, and they still hold some in Woonsocket Patriot, week of February 9, 1849 ■ juring-filming-location?lat=40.80972&l- their power. ng=-96.67528&z=5; accessed July 7, 2016. (Sutcliffe 2015–2016).

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