Lorraine Warren spooks Southern with ghost stories

Ghost hunter Lorraine Warren spooked and thrilled students of Southern with a multimedia presentation and lecture about her encounters with ghosts, demons and spirits this past Friday at the Lyman Center.

Warren, with her son-in-law and fellow ghost hunter, Tony Spera, detailed Connecticut’s rich history of haunting and worldwide spiritual experiences to a crowd of over 500 people.

The audience was a diverse crowd of Southern students and members of the public of all ages.

Many people came to be thrilled by Warren’s photographic and video evidence of the supernatural, while others came out of fascination for Warren’s clairvoyant skills. When Warren asked the audience how many of them believed in spirits or ghosts, the majority of the audience raised their hands.

Southern student Heather Evarts was the Southern News contest winner, and had dinner with Lorraine Warren before the show. Evarts saw Warren present two years ago, and was eager to have the chance to meet and talk with her.

“I have always been fascinated by ghosts and the things you can’t explain, and I am amazed at how Warren can connect her spiritual beliefs to her work,” said Evarts.

Warren has recently been featured in the show “Paranormal State” on the A&E channel, and has appeared on the Discovery channel series, “A Haunting.” New Line Cinema is currently working on a adaptation of her investigation of a haunted barn in a film to be titled “The Conjuring.”

From a young age, Warren knew that she possessed clairvoyant skills when she could read peoples’ auras and glean personal information about complete strangers just from being in their presence. But it wasn’t until the 1960s that she embraced her skills, and used her talents to assist people tormented by spirits. According to the Warrens’ website, they have investigated over 10,000 hauntings.

The Warrens were heavily sought after by people seeking relief from ghosts or spirits. To vanquish ghosts from a property, Lorraine would try to communicate with the spirits. The Warrens have also worked with priests to perform blessings and even exorcisms at haunted locations.

During her lecture, Warren said they never charged for their services from people being disturbed by ghosts and they would only seek reimbursement for their travel expenses. Warren also said that her purpose in life is to help other people, and at 84 years old, she admits that she’ll probably never retire.

Over the past 50 years, Warren has been working as a ghost hunter investigating supernatural phenomena, and has also worked as a teacher, instructing students about supernatural phenomena and giving lectures. The audience was treated to ghost hunter insider information about how to take spirit photos and even the locations of secluded haunted locations in Connecticut.

Warren admits that she never envisioned having a career as a trance-medium and supernatural investigator, but her husband Ed Warren’s fascination with haunted houses is what began her lengthy career.

Ed Warren grew up in a haunted home and began painting haunted houses as a hobby, and before the Warrens knew it they were investigating haunted locations across the country. They became well known for their investigations into the Amityville haunting case in New York, a case that most of the audience were familiar with, but were visibly shocked by her photographs depicting ghostly children apparitions.

Jillian Tobin, a senior, said she was surprised by how much she enjoyed the show.

“I came here thinking that it wasn’t going to be that great, but I found the pictures and stories very fascinating and I would definitely see Lorraine Warren again,” said Tobin.

Warren resides in Monroe, CT where she has an occult museum featuring a possessed doll and satanic headstones among a large selection of peculiar artifacts. Warren traveled straight to Southern from Tennessee, and said that presenting at Southern “is similar to the warmth of being with family.”