There’s not much to the tiny community of Harrisville, Rhode Island. With a population of under 2,000, this part of Burrillville is quiet and peaceful… for the most part. But if you’ve ever seen the movie The Conjuring, you know that for at least one family, it was anything but. Believe it or not, that horror flick was inspired by real-life events that took place in Rhode Island. This little town has a dark history that is filled with the stuff nightmares are made of.
The Conjuring was released in 2013, and the audience was captivated by the fictional tale of an extremely haunted house.
Sean / Flickr But the scary tale gets even spookier once you realize it’s based on real-life events.
The Conjuring tells the story of the Perron family, namely Carolyn, Roger, and their five daughters.
Wikipedia The family moved into a four-room farmhouse in Harrisville not realizing it had a rather horrifying history.
Not long after the family moved in, they started experiencing strange paranormal activity.
Doug Kerr / Flickr It started with small things, like the broom going missing and mysterious piles of dirt appearing in the center of a newly cleaned kitchen floor. Then it escalated, with all five children claiming to have seen spirits.
When it became clear that something was happening, Carolyn investigated the history of the house and learned it had a horrifying past.
Doug Kerr / Flickr Several families had lived in the home for multiple generations, and each of them had been brutally tortured. Several of the children had drowned in a nearby creek, one was murdered, and a few of them hanged themselves in the attic. There was also a reported rape and a few people mysteriously freezing to death.
The family eventually brought in professional paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren, the same couple who investigated the Amityville home.
Sean / Flickr It was then they learned that the main evil spirit in the home was that of Bathsheba Sherma, an alleged witch who lived in the house in the 19th century and hanged herself in a tree in the yard. Bathsheba had been accused of being tied to an infant’s death, though nothing was ever proven.
According to the Perron family, a seance was conducted in the house, at which time Carolyn became temporarily possessed.
Jimmy Emerson, DVM / Flickr When it was over, the family asked Ed and Lorraine (who denied there was a seance until their deaths) to leave. Unfortunately, for financial reasons, the Perrons were forced to remain in the house for 10 years. Once they left, they never experienced paranormal activity again.
These days, the house in Harrisville is owned by a couple of paranormal investigators who claim that there is activity in the home, but no evil spirits. And just like that, Harrisville, Rhode Island, went back to being a quiet community.
Sean / Flickr
But the scary tale gets even spookier once you realize it’s based on real-life events.
Wikipedia
The family moved into a four-room farmhouse in Harrisville not realizing it had a rather horrifying history.
Doug Kerr / Flickr
It started with small things, like the broom going missing and mysterious piles of dirt appearing in the center of a newly cleaned kitchen floor. Then it escalated, with all five children claiming to have seen spirits.
Several families had lived in the home for multiple generations, and each of them had been brutally tortured. Several of the children had drowned in a nearby creek, one was murdered, and a few of them hanged themselves in the attic. There was also a reported rape and a few people mysteriously freezing to death.
It was then they learned that the main evil spirit in the home was that of Bathsheba Sherma, an alleged witch who lived in the house in the 19th century and hanged herself in a tree in the yard. Bathsheba had been accused of being tied to an infant’s death, though nothing was ever proven.
Jimmy Emerson, DVM / Flickr
When it was over, the family asked Ed and Lorraine (who denied there was a seance until their deaths) to leave. Unfortunately, for financial reasons, the Perrons were forced to remain in the house for 10 years. Once they left, they never experienced paranormal activity again.
If you want to experience a terrifying experience surrounding the ghosts found in stories of Rhode Island history then you can go on your very own ghost hunt. Walk through the creepy house that inspired the movie The Conjuring. Enter if you dare…
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Address: RI-107, Burrillville, RI, USA
The OIYS Visitor Center
Haunted Rhode Island December 15, 2022 Chris Dodge Where is Harrisville, Rhode Island? Harrisville, Rhode Island is located in Burrlliville, which is in the North Eastern part of the state; it is technically a village within the town of Burrillville. What is the Harrisville farmhouse’s history? The Harrisville Farmhouse history is filled with terrible stories of death, torture, murder, hanging, and more, so it is very easy to see why the legends make for one terrifying place. Learn more about the property and the story from these articles:
Find out why Harrisville is considered among some of the most haunted places in the world. Dig into the story of this terrifying property. Stay the night in the home that most people run from.
What are some other scary things found in Rhode Island? New England is filled with terrifying tales and spooky stories of its dark past and Rhode Island is filled with them as well. Here are some other spine-tingling stories we suggest for you:
Learn more about the most haunted mansion in Rhode Island. Check out photos of these creepy abandoned places. Watch some drone footage of a grim and disturbingly abandoned train station. Take a spooky ghost tour. Learn the story of this haunted house that is perfect for ghost hunters and history buffs alike. Try to get a good night’s sleep when ghosts roam the halls of this haunted hotel. Travel down a road that may be haunted, or an unknown creature is lurking in the shadows.
The OIYS Visitor Center
Haunted Rhode Island
December 15, 2022
Chris Dodge
Where is Harrisville, Rhode Island? Harrisville, Rhode Island is located in Burrlliville, which is in the North Eastern part of the state; it is technically a village within the town of Burrillville. What is the Harrisville farmhouse’s history? The Harrisville Farmhouse history is filled with terrible stories of death, torture, murder, hanging, and more, so it is very easy to see why the legends make for one terrifying place. Learn more about the property and the story from these articles:
Find out why Harrisville is considered among some of the most haunted places in the world. Dig into the story of this terrifying property. Stay the night in the home that most people run from.
What are some other scary things found in Rhode Island? New England is filled with terrifying tales and spooky stories of its dark past and Rhode Island is filled with them as well. Here are some other spine-tingling stories we suggest for you:
Learn more about the most haunted mansion in Rhode Island. Check out photos of these creepy abandoned places. Watch some drone footage of a grim and disturbingly abandoned train station. Take a spooky ghost tour. Learn the story of this haunted house that is perfect for ghost hunters and history buffs alike. Try to get a good night’s sleep when ghosts roam the halls of this haunted hotel. Travel down a road that may be haunted, or an unknown creature is lurking in the shadows.
The OIYS Visitor Center
The OIYS Visitor Center
Harrisville, Rhode Island is located in Burrlliville, which is in the North Eastern part of the state; it is technically a village within the town of Burrillville.
What is the Harrisville farmhouse’s history?
The Harrisville Farmhouse history is filled with terrible stories of death, torture, murder, hanging, and more, so it is very easy to see why the legends make for one terrifying place. Learn more about the property and the story from these articles:
- Find out why Harrisville is considered among some of the most haunted places in the world.
- Dig into the story of this terrifying property.
- Stay the night in the home that most people run from.
What are some other scary things found in Rhode Island?
New England is filled with terrifying tales and spooky stories of its dark past and Rhode Island is filled with them as well. Here are some other spine-tingling stories we suggest for you:
- Learn more about the most haunted mansion in Rhode Island.
- Check out photos of these creepy abandoned places.
- Watch some drone footage of a grim and disturbingly abandoned train station.
- Take a spooky ghost tour.
- Learn the story of this haunted house that is perfect for ghost hunters and history buffs alike.
- Try to get a good night’s sleep when ghosts roam the halls of this haunted hotel.
- Travel down a road that may be haunted, or an unknown creature is lurking in the shadows.
