While the Warren's Occult Museum is no longer open due to the death of its proprietors, many people are fascinated by its haunted artifacts. Ed and Lorraine Warren traveled the world collecting paranormal artifacts and oddities and observing the strange stories. Many of these artifacts were featured in a collection in their Connecticut-based home.
The Warren's Occult Museum
The museum is actually housed in the Warrens' real home in Monroe, Connecticut. However, due to the city's zoning ordinances, the paranormal collection was forced to close in 2019. According to reports, the location wasn't suited for the amount of traffic that the museum received. Unfortunately, despite the Warrens' kids' efforts to keep the property within compliance and to ward off visitors coming after hours, the museum remains closed. It isn't yet known whether the collection is going to be moved to a more suitable location and thus, it remains closed indefinitely.
In 1952, the couple opened the basement in their home to the public. They filled it with paranormal treasures from their adventures and called it Warren's Occult Museum. The museum houses some delightfully scary artifacts which many people believe possess some sort of supernatural energy.
Many items come directly from cases the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR) has worked over the years. They are fascinating and diverse, and many give insight into the strange lives the Warrens led. The passageway into the museum displays Ed Warren's paintings depicting hauntings from many of the cases they investigated in the late 1960s and early 1970s. You might even be familiar with some of these items.
- Annabelle the doll: The most popular artifact in the collection, Annabelle is a doll that's supposedly possessed by the spirit of Annabelle Higgins and is locked in a case that reads "Warning: Positively Do Not Touch."
- Haunted piano: Ed reports that he acquired the haunted piano from the house of a dead priest and that it plays music all on its own.
- A shadow doll: A suspicious doll that's said to be able to enter your dreams and even stop your heart.
- A brick from Borley Rectory: This is a brick from supposedly the most haunted house in England, which was built in 1862 and demolished in 1944.
- Various items connected to Satanic rituals: The Satanic Panic of the 1980s gave the Warrens a bevy of interesting artifacts connected to devil worship that they displayed in their museum.
- Children's tombstones: The museum boasts a large collection of antique children's tombstones.
- Animal skins and African fertility dolls: Animal skins and other interesting phenomena help set the tone for the museum's ambiance.
About Ed and Lorraine Warren
Ed and Lorraine Warren were paranormal investigators and self-proclaimed demonologists, and in Lorraine's case, a medium. Operating during the mid-century, Ed and Lorraine traveled around the world investigating hauntings, possessions, and spiritual occurrences. Some of their most famous encounters have become the inspiration for books and films, and all are filled with terror and suspense. These are just a few of the cases that the couple took on during their lifetime:
- The Amityville Horror case
- The Perron family haunting (featured in The Conjuring)
- The Enfield Poltergeist
- The Snedeker house haunting
Unfortunately, Ed died in 2006 and Lorraine in 2019, leaving their daughter and son-in-law to keep their legacy alive and manage their museum and estate.
Keep an Eye Out for a Reopening
While haunted items are certainly fascinating, they may also contain energy that has the potential to be dangerous and follow you outside of their careful resting place. However, if you're interested in seeing the spooky things the world has to offer, keep an eye out for the museum's reopening. Whether they choose a new location or convert the original into something more befitting of the neighborhood's codes, once it's back in business, be sure to plan your trip. After all, it's truly a once in a lifetime opportunity to be close to some of the most haunted objects in history.
