Watch the Annabelle doll being moved

In short
In February 2017 the Warren Occult Museum broadcast live on Facebook the moving of the Annabelle doll into a new case. The museum closed to the public in 2019; in 2025 the doll went on tour in the United States, and in August 2025 the Warrens’ house and museum were sold to comedian Matt Rife and Elton Castee.

You have surely all heard of the Annabelle doll, the possessed toy made famous by the 2013 film. It is currently locked in a case at the Warrens’ occult museum in the United States, but only for a few more hours.

The museum will be temporarily closed while it moves to a new location, and all the objects in it must be moved. Since Annabelle is one of the most dangerous objects, it is also the one that arouses the most curiosity. So it was decided to broadcast the moving of the possessed doll live on Facebook.

The event will take place at 00:30 Italian time tonight, Wednesday 22 February (technically Thursday 23, being after midnight). The doll will be moved from her case into another portable case so she can be taken to the new location. To do this, however, a purification ritual will be needed to stop the demon possessing Annabelle from breaking free and causing serious consequences. Not to be missed!

The live broadcast is over, but a video of the ritual is available below.

Transcript of the event

Welcome to the Warren Occult Museum. We are here live and you will witness Annabelle being moved from the old case to the new case. The most diabolical, most haunted and most evil object in the Occult Museum and in the world. Now I’ll hand over to Tony, who will tell you a little more about Annabelle’s story.

Welcome, we are live from the Occult Museum, the Warren Occult Museum founded in 1952 by Ed and Lorraine Warren, and probably the most evil object in this museum is the Annabelle doll. What we are going to try to do tonight is move the doll from her secure case here in the museum to a secure portable case that we will use for our event on 11 March, where we will have 3 objects (plus a surprise one) taken from the museum, which we will display at the restaurant where the conference and buffet will be held, and after which the objects will be revealed.

First I will go to the Annabelle doll and say a prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel. Then Dan, very carefully, will carry the doll to the other case, which he built himself and which is very, very secure. Here is the Annabelle doll; as you can see, this is Annabelle, the real Annabelle doll. Now I’ll open the case, but I won’t touch her because I’m not wearing gloves. This is the real doll and now I’ll begin reciting the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel. *recites the prayer*

The preparation

Now, Dan has already dipped his hands in holy water and has already been blessed; he received a blessing from a Catholic priest, and that’s why Dan will do it, because he has already been blessed. So Dan will do it, but first we’ll put a little more holy water on Dan’s hands; make the sign of the cross too. Dan is Catholic, he has just converted to Catholicism, and so am I. We take this very seriously, it is not a joke at all, and we want you to know it is not a joke. This doll has harmed many, many people and we believe she is responsible for the death of a young man who came here on his motorbike one day.

The story of Lou

Ed Warren was giving a little presentation in the museum, there were about 10 or 12 people here, and while he was talking about the doll and her story he mentioned an incident in which Lou, the boyfriend of one of the two girls who owned the doll, had had a terrible nightmare. He was on the sofa and Annabelle was on the other side of the sofa. He woke up suddenly, drenched in sweat, and said, “Oh God, I just had a terrible nightmare.” Donna, the doll’s owner, asked him, “What happened?” and Lou replied, “I just had a terrible nightmare. This doll was climbing up my leg and then strangling me to death.”

Then he took the doll in both hands and hurled her across the room, saying, “It’s just a doll, it wouldn’t hurt anyone.” But after he threw her, 7 wounds appeared on his body, 4 on his chest and 3 on his stomach. They looked like scratches and his T-shirt was soaked in blood. That was when they realised they were dealing with something not human.

While Ed was explaining this, the young man went up to the case and started tapping on the glass, saying, “This is just a load of nonsense. If this doll scratched someone, why doesn’t she do it to me now?” And that was the problem: he challenged the demon. He challenged the unknown, something he knew nothing about, intangible and invisible, that’s what he did. Ed told him and his girlfriend to leave, and three hours later the young man was dead.

The motorcyclist’s end

We know what happened because his girlfriend did not die, and after leaving hospital she said the last thing she remembered was joking about the doll with her boyfriend, before he lost control of the motorbike, crashed into a tree and died instantly. You must never challenge a demon, and we are not challenging this doll in any way. All we are going to do is move her from one case to the other, and we’ll do it quickly.

Dan is now wearing protective gloves, I’ll show you, he’s using protective gloves, he has made the sign of the cross, he has dipped his hands in holy water, and that’s how you protect yourself. Your skin must not come into contact with the doll’s aura, which means you must not touch her surface with your hands.

Moving Annabelle

Many people ask, “How can she be safe in the case?” Well, we have a priest come every two or three months to bless her. I myself will recite a binding ritual once she has been moved into that case. OK Dan, now it’s your turn, I’ll open this case. OK, quickly, we put her in the new case. This doll will never leave this case again. Now she will stay in the museum and then we will take her to the new location, so she will never leave that case again. This was the last time anyone touched this doll for… well, hopefully forever. Now I want to recite a binding ritual; before I do, let’s make the sign of the cross. *recites the ritual*

Well, if you want to see the doll in person, visit the website http://www.warrens.net/, click on the Annabelle event and sign up; there are still places available. At the event we will have 3 objects: the Shadow doll, Annabelle of course (the Shadow doll is almost as dangerous as Annabelle), the Conjuring Mirror and a surprise object. Visit the website and sign up.

Me, Dan and Linda, who is filming, wish you a good night.

2026 update, what happened next

This article covers the live broadcast of February 2017. A lot has changed since then. In 2019, after Lorraine Warren’s death, the museum closed to the public because of zoning problems, and Annabelle stayed in her case in Monroe, Connecticut.

In May 2025 the doll left the museum again for a US tour called “Devils on the Run”, organised by the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR) of Tony Spera, the Warrens’ son-in-law. During the tour a rumour spread on social media that Annabelle had “disappeared”, but NESPR denied it: the doll was safe in her case.

On 13 July 2025 Dan Rivera, 54, NESPR’s lead investigator and one of the main promoters of the tour, died suddenly in a hotel room in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. When the news broke, the cause of death had not yet been determined; the coroner said Rivera was alone and that the doll was not at the scene. Of course, his death fuelled the rumours about Annabelle’s curse.

Finally, in August 2025 comedian Matt Rife and Elton Castee bought the Warrens’ house and their Occult Museum, Annabelle included.

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