Renewed speculation is swirling around the infamous Annabelle doll after the sudden death of paranormal investigator Dan Rivera in July 2025. Rivera, who had been leading a ghost tour featuring the allegedly haunted doll,

Annabelle became a household name in 2014 when a horror film followed the story of a doll that became possessed, haunting a couple nearly to their death. Now, the real doll that inspired the movie and its sequels — also called Annabelle — is in the spotlight.

The infamous Annabelle doll has mysteriously disappeared after paranormal expert linked to its ghost tour was found dead. The unexplained vanishing has reignited conspiracy theories and fears tied to the doll's dark paranormal history.

Pennsylvania State Police said officers found 'nothing unusual or suspicious' in the hotel room where paranormal investigator Dan Rivera was found dead.

The 2014 film, which sees the eponymous evil doll causing havoc for all, was hatched from a supporting character in James Wan’s The Conjuring (2013). Annabelle’s debut was so terrifying that she arguably stole the spotlight from much more established ghosts in the franchise’s first entry.

While Annabelle the doll is real, the movie is not a true story. In Annabelle, a female cult member named Annabelle Higgins kills herself while holding the doll, and the demon she helped summon possesses it afterward.

In the film series, Annabelle is depicted as a porcelain doll. In real life, the Warrens claimed that spirits had possessed a Raggedy Ann doll. At one point in Annabelle Comes Home, Judy Warren ...

Ed and Lorraine Warren were renowned for their exploration of the paranormal and wrote about some truly remarkable cases.