Is Annabelle Actually Cursed?

She’s been called a demon in cotton sleeves, the OG haunted doll, a pop culture myth, and now? A possible killer. Annabelle, that Raggedy Ann knockoff with the vacant stare and cursed energy, is back in the headlines after her longtime handler Dan Rivera died suddenly on July 13. The twist? It happened mid-tour, during NESPR’s “Devils on the Run” haunted object showcase. The doll had just been taken out of her case. Days later, Rivera was found dead in a Gettysburg hotel room.

If your horror movie writes itself, you’re probably not in the director’s chair. You’re just next.

Raggedy Ann Was Never Supposed to Slay Like This

It started in 1970 as a birthday present. A nursing student named Donna received a cute, floppy redhead to decorate her apartment. Then the weird began. The doll moved. Notes that said “HELP ME” appeared. A medium claimed the ghost of a little girl named Annabelle Higgins was inside. Donna felt bad for the ghost. The demon felt otherwise.

Cue: scratches on human skin, night terrors, voices, violence. The Warrens showed up, rejected the child-spirit theory, and declared the thing demonic. They caged the doll behind glass with scripture etched into the wood and placed it in their Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut. Think Build-a-Bear meets biblical terror.

A Haunted Roadshow and a Body Count

The museum shut down in 2019, but capitalism adapts. NESPR hit the road in 2025 with the “Devils on the Run” tour featuring haunted artifacts, photo ops, and Annabelle finally out of her case. Dan Rivera, lead investigator and Annabelle’s unofficial handler, fronted the tour. Until he didn’t.

On July 13, he was found dead in his hotel room. No signs of trauma. No substances. No obvious cause. The police said nothing was suspicious. But this is Annabelle we’re talking about.

Cue full internet meltdown. TikTok went wild with claims that the doll had escaped. Threads lit up with conspiracy theories about fire outbreaks, freak accidents, and unexplained deaths in cities the tour visited. Rivera’s final video showed the doll back in her case. But that didn’t stop the hysteria.

Urban Legend or Something Worse?

Believers say she’s cursed. A priest once mocked her and crashed his car. A biker laughed at her and later died in an accident. Tony Spera, who now runs the Warren legacy, has called her the most dangerous item in the museum.

Skeptics call it a ghost story with good PR. Scholars argue it’s American folklore dressed up in horror movie drag. The real Annabelle is just a Raggedy Ann doll. The porcelain version from the movies? Pure Hollywood.

But something about her sticks. Maybe it’s the old photos. Maybe it’s the way people still won’t touch the glass case. Maybe it’s Dan Rivera.