Shuvrajit Das Biswas
Annabelle might be the most popular (albeit scary) doll in pop culture at the moment. However, the real story behind the doll’s creation is quite murky. Be it in life or film, Annabelle’s past is somewhat obscured. It is just a supposedly demonic doll that exists and strikes terror in all hearts. Although ‘The Conjuring‘ series made the Annabelle doll famous, and shed new light on it – including a spin-off franchise, the real doll has been around for ages. So, how did the Annabelle doll come to be?
Annabelle Doll Creation:
In the film, Annabelle’s creation is credited to two different sources. In ‘Annabelle,’ we learn that Annabelle Higgins, a member of a Satanic cult, holds the doll while she’s dying. Her blood drips into the doll’s eye, and Higgins’ spirit enters the doll, perhaps along with the demon their cult worshipped. However, this does not tie in with Annabelle’s story, as we know in real life.
It was actually ‘Annabelle: Creation’ that got closer to the truth, and has rightly been dubbed as the prequel in the franchise. Here, we see a dollmaker and wife have a girl named Bee (Annabelle). Their car’s tire needs changing, while they’re on the road. The dollmaker struggles with the tire, while the wife tries to flag down an oncoming car. A bolt from the wheel falls on the road. Bee tries to help them and get it. In the process, she tragically steps in front of the oncoming car and dies. The couple misses their daughter so much that they pray for her to return. Bee’s spirit, or what seems to be Bee’s spirit, gets in touch with them and asks for permission to move into the doll so that she can be with them forever. Initially, they are glad to grant this request. However, they soon realize the spirit isn’t Bee and has nefarious intentions. The dollmaker secures the doll in a closet wallpapered with the Bible’s pages.
Since the real Annabelle doll’s history could not be traced, the films have taken some creative liberties from the information available. We must state at the offset that the story about the dollmaker making the Annabelle doll is untrue. After all, the real-life Annabelle is a vintage Raggedy Ann doll, that is manufactured by Knickerbocker Toy Co. But, what is the real Annabelle’s story?
The first known account of Annabelle in real life is when it was purchased at a hobby story by a mother in 1970. She gave it to her daughter, Donna, a nurse. Soon, Donna and her roommate realized the doll was behaving abnormally. They got in touch with a medium, who told them how the spirit of Annabelle Higgins was inside the doll, and how she’d died in a car accident, not too far from where Donna lived. Of course, they agreed to let Annabelle stay with them until it turned out the doll harbored malevolent intentions. This was when Ed and Lorraine Warren came into the scene.
The demonologists realized that an inhuman power was actually terrorizing the two, and decided to take Annabelle away with them – to keep her from hurting anyone else. The journey back home to Connecticut wasn’t without perils either. The Warren’s car’s brakes failed – and we see glimpses of it in ‘Annabelle Comes Home‘ – until they soaked the doll in holy water. There’s been a lot of debates and skepticisms about Annabelle’s powers. The doll remains at the Warren residence, in their now-closed ‘Occult Museum.’ Since being contained, Annabelle has been linked to one death – when a rowdy biker goaded and mocked the doll, only to die in a bike crash hours later.
It is unknown how much of Annabelle’s origin story is true, but the films have taken creative licenses for sure. Either way, the doll has become an indelible part of pop culture, striking fear in everyone’s hearts with its potential for evil.
Read More: Did the Annabelle Doll Escape?
