The True Story Behind “The Conjuring”: Where Is the Perron Family Now?

'The Conjuring' has turned into a billion-dollar franchise…but how much of it is real?

<p>The Conjuring House: A Homecoming | The Dark Zone | TRAILER/YouTube</p> The Perron family

The Conjuring House: A Homecoming | The Dark Zone | TRAILER/YouTube

The Perron family

The Conjuring has spooked audiences for over a decade since its release, but the premise of the movie isn't as fictitious as people may think.

The horror movie premiered in theaters in 2013 and quickly became a smash hit, grossing over $320 million at the global box office. The movie starred Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston as Roger and Carolyn Perron, two parents who try to protect their children from malicious spirits in their new home.

Desperate for help, the parents call in paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson), who reveal that the spirit of an alleged witch named Bathsheba Sherman is the one harming the family.

Related: Who Is Ed and Lorraine Warren's Daughter Judy Spera? How She's Continued Their Paranormal Legacy (and Her Honest Thoughts on The Conjuring)

The Conjuring transformed the Warrens into folk heroes and turned the Rhode Island farmhouse where the events supposedly took place into a tourist hotspot. In 2022, the home was sold for a whopping $1.5 million, thanks to the film’s fame.

However, while the movie is based on the Perrons' true experiences, the majority of the film is fictionalized.

"Even though The Conjuring is an excellent film for what it is, it’s about 95 percent fiction and about five percent hard truth," the Perrons' daughter, Andrea Perron, told Canada's Global News in 2021.

But what’s the true story behind the notorious haunting, and where is the real Perron family now? Here's everything to know about the tale that inspired The Conjuring.

Is The Conjuring based on a real story?

<p>The Conjuring House: A Homecoming | The Dark Zone | TRAILER/YouTube</p> Roger and Caroline Perron

The Conjuring House: A Homecoming | The Dark Zone | TRAILER/YouTube

Roger and Caroline Perron

The Conjuring is loosely based on a real story. In real life, Roger and Carolyn Perron moved into the Rhode Island farmhouse in 1971 with their five daughters, Andrea, Nancy, Christine, Cindy and April. While the movie portrays the events happening over a very short period, the Perrons actually lived in the house until 1980.

The most vocal member of the family is Andrea, who wrote the 2011 book House of Darkness: House of Light, which helped inspire the movie. “We all experienced encounters with spirits,” she told Global News in 2021. “Some were unpleasant, some were lovely, cordial and communicative. From benign to benevolent to oblivious to mean-spirited, the spirits were just like us, a wide variety of personalities.”

The family (mostly Carolyn and her daughters) saw full-body apparitions, heard noises and smelled rotten odors, culminating in a terrifying séance performed with the help of paranormal researchers Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Warrens contacted the Perrons after hearing about their situation from other paranormal researchers and offered to come investigate.

“I knew the house was haunted, all I had to do was walk in it,” Lorraine said in a Conjuring featurette.

While depicted as more of an exorcism in the film, the Warrens allegedly did guide the Perron parents through a séance to help them communicate with whatever malicious entity was targeting Carolyn and her daughters.

Andrea told USA Today in 2013 that she secretly witnessed the alleged séance. “My mother began to speak a language not of this world in a voice not her own,” she said. “Her chair levitated and she was thrown across the room."

The Perrons eventually moved out in 1980. In 2021, Andrea explained to a luncheon (per The Providence Journal) how the family finally decided to leave. “My mother told my father she would not survive another winter in the house, she had been under attack in that house for 10 years," she said.

In recent years, many historians, and even Andrea herself, have further investigated the history of Bathsheba Sherman and have discovered that she likely wasn’t a murderer or a witch and had been wrongfully accused. “Essentially, Bathsheba copped the blame for everything evil, and it simply wasn’t the case,” Andrea told Global News. She now believes the evil spirit in their home was likely someone else.

Who are the Perrons?

Roger and Carolyn were the parents of five daughters, Andrea, Nancy, Christine, Cindy and April. At the time, Roger was a traveling jewelry salesman and was often away from home. Andrea has said in interviews that this is likely why he was the least targeted by the spirits and initially refused to believe the house was haunted.

"He wasn’t having the same experiences we were having and when he did come home exhausted, the last thing he wanted to hear was my mother saying, 'Roger, I think we have ghosts,' " Andrea told Global News.

However, later in life, Andrea said Roger had admitted that he didn't want to believe his wife because he didn't want to think he'd put his family in a perilous situation with the purchase of the house.

Who are Ed and Lorraine Warren?

<p>Russell McPhedran/Fairfax Media/Getty Images</p> American ghost hunters Lorraine and Ed Warren.

Russell McPhedran/Fairfax Media/Getty Images

American ghost hunters Lorraine and Ed Warren.

Ed and Lorraine were husband and wife, and from the 1970s-1990s, they were prominent self-professed paranormal investigators and demonologists. On top of helping the Perron family in Rhode Island, they were also connected to several other famous hauntings like the Amityville house in New York, the Enfield Poltergeist case (which became the basis for The Conjuring 2, though critics argue that the film exaggerates how much the Warrens were actually involved) and even the trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, whom the Warrens claimed was possessed. Up until 2019, Lorraine used to run a paranormal museum filled with artifacts from their investigations, including the infamous Annabelle doll.

Lorraine said in an interview with Warner Bros. that she first noticed her paranormal abilities when she was a child.

“From the time that I was about 7 years old, I remember seeing lights around people,” she said. “I realized that I was communicating.”

The Warrens have also received a large dose of skepticism. Many of the cases they’ve worked on lack proper evidence and have been accused of being embellished or full-on hoaxes.

Ed died in 2006 at the age of 79, and Lorraine died in 2019 at the age of 92.

What happened to the Perron family?

<p>The Conjuring House: A Homecoming | The Dark Zone | TRAILER/YouTube</p> The Perron family

The Conjuring House: A Homecoming | The Dark Zone | TRAILER/YouTube

The Perron family

After the now notorious events, the Perrons and their younger daughters moved to Georgia in 1980 while Andrea was away at college. Andrea’s sister Nancy remained living in the home for a year after her parents sold it and later moved to the nearby town of Chepachet.

In 2021, Andrea told The Providence Journal that different members of the family had different experiences with the spirits. "I always got along with the spirits right from the start," she said before admitting the hauntings sometimes scared her. "I had moments of fear because I saw what was happening to my mom and to my family."

In 2017, the youngest sister, April, died from an accidental prescription overdose after undergoing surgery.

Who owns the real Conjuring House?

<p>Barry Chin/The Boston Globe/Getty Images</p> The "Conjuring" house in Harrisville, RI, on Oct. 14, 2020. The house, a 3,100-square-foot farmhouse and eight-acre property made famous by the movie series that began in 2013 is open for overnight stays. The owners are Jennifer and Cory Heinzen, paranormal investigators.

Barry Chin/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

The "Conjuring" house in Harrisville, RI, on Oct. 14, 2020. The house, a 3,100-square-foot farmhouse and eight-acre property made famous by the movie series that began in 2013 is open for overnight stays. The owners are Jennifer and Cory Heinzen, paranormal investigators.

The real Conjuring House is currently owned by Jacqueline Nuñez, but she doesn’t live in the house. Instead, the farmhouse now has a team of caretakers who offer day tours, and ghost hunters can rent out the house to conduct their own investigations. If you’re brave enough, you can even rent the house for the entire night.

Where are the Perrons now?

<p>The Conjuring House: A Homecoming | The Dark Zone | TRAILER/YouTube</p> Andrea Perron, oldest daughter

The Conjuring House: A Homecoming | The Dark Zone | TRAILER/YouTube

Andrea Perron, oldest daughter

Andrea is still heavily involved in the supernatural field and since The Conjuring she’s appeared on numerous paranormal shows like Ghost Adventures (2019) and Mysteries Decoded (2019).

In 2021 she was joined by her sister Nancy and dad Roger for an interactive live-streamed event where the trio re-entered their old Rhode Island home in an attempt to communicate with the spirits that once haunted them. Sisters Cindy and Christine and mom Carolyn also joined in by livestreaming from their homes.

Aside from sometimes appearing in specials and documentaries related to their experience in the house, most of the Perron family live their lives outside the spotlight.

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