Lorraine Warren is a psychic who worked along side her recently deceased husband Ed Warren, a demonologist, to investigate hauntings. The Warrens were the paranormal investigators who worked on the Amittyville haunting and the Snedeker house haunting, both of which were later made into movies, "Amittyville Horror" and "A Haunting in Connecticut." Warren said the latter representation of the Snedeker haunting wasn't even close to the real events that went on in that Southington, Connecticut house.
Ms. Warren visited Naugatuck High School for a show which consisted of videos, a lecture, slide show featuring ghosts and apparitions captured on camera and a film of a real Catholic exorcism, on October 25, 2010. At the end of the show, the audience was allowed to ask Warren questions pertaining to the images, videos, etc. I'm pretty open minded, or I wouldn't have attended. I thought that since Ms. Warren was so famous for her psychic abilities, I would have learned something from her lecture. Instead, I left a tad bit offended and confused.
As we entered the auditorium, Warren, now a frail elderly woman, sat quietly at the corner of the stage. A laptop was set up so that the videos and images would be displayed on the large screen on the stage. The show was set to start at 7:00 p.m. and just a few minutes later, fellow psychic investigator Tony Spera opened the show asked how many in the audience believed in ghosts. Most in the auditorium raised their hands. He asked if anyone had ever seen a ghost or lived in a haunted house. Again, most of the auditorium raised their hands. Being that the show was in Naugatuck, an old town with quite a history, he wasn't surprised one bit.
Spera then went on to explain the difference between spirits who've passed on and became "earthbound" and demons, or evil entities who've never lived a human existence. The latter are those that cause havoc, like poltergeists.
Then he introduced Lorraine Warren and explained how she could see auras around every living creature. Warren grabbed the microphone and pointed to a man in the audience. She said that by looking at him she could tell he was very "compassionate" and a very nice man. She asked what he did for a living and he said he was a physical trainer. Nodding, Warren grinned as if she was on to something...and again praised him for being such a good man. From where I was sitting, he looked a bit taken back that he'd been chosen for this spur of the moment psychic reading. Spera explained that sometimes, Warren just "does this".
Ms. Warren, who said she'd worked with priests, monks and even Buddhists over the years spoke about how sad it was that "college educated parents" had not have had their children baptized and aren't involved in church. Warren is Catholic and says her prayers protect her during her investigations. She explained that she could only tell you through her psychic ability about those who'd passed in a house but if there were demons, she called on priests to conduct an exorcism. She went on to warn the audience about Ouiji boards and said if anyone has them, they should bury them. (Later we come to find that Ms. Warren has a museum of haunted items in her basement, but she's protected by her prayers.)
After Warren spoke they played an old video about her psychic investigations throughout the years featuring her and her husband Ed Warren, who passed in 2005. Then there was a brief film from a 'religious' program called "Crossroads" where Ms. Warren talked about her psychic abilities and how Ed was a demonologist.
Next came a slideshow of images of ghosts in graveyards, houses and even a picture taken a week after 9/11 where there was a red 'aura' where the buildings once stood. Warren and Spera narrated the slideshow. They talked about ghost 'orbs', 'ectoplasm' and showed pictures from the Amittyville house.
One of the stories Warren told was about the exorcism of Maurice Theriault, a tomato farmer who was possessed by a demon. As the story goes, when Theriault was a little boy he walked in on his father doing the unthinkable with a farm animal and the father forced him to do the same. She said Theriault's entire life was tragic and he later developed superhuman strength, which was 'proven' with a picture of him lifting a heavy statue of the Virgin Mary, followed by another man straining to lift the statue. He also bled spontaneously and there were images of crosses scratched into his back. The video of the Catholic exorcism of Maurice Theriault followed. Warren insisted that the exorcism was "successful" although in 1992 Theriault shot his wife with a 12 gauge shot gun and killed himself.
After the exorcism film was shown, it was question and answer time. Someone asked her why she keeps all the evil relics, instead of burying them, like she suggested everyone do if they had a Ouiji board. She answered that she keeps the massive collection, which includes a haunted Raggedy Ann doll encased in glass, was because they are "evidence." Someone else asked her to read their Aura and she said she couldn't do that, though she just did it out of the blue about an hour earlier.
Sometime during the lecture part of the show, Warren said that family members who've passed on can become earthbound and 'haunt' a person or family. Demon's on the other hand most always torment those who haven't been baptised or aren't involved in church. She said it was rare that a family who goes to church will be afflicted with demons. This leads me to wonder why Athiests, Agnostics, Jews, Muslims, Wiccans, Buddhists are rarely tormented by demons. I wanted to ask her that but a young man in the back of the auditorium asked her where he could get a Ouiji board and she got pretty upset so the show was pretty much over after that.A few others shared similar feelings about the whole 'show'.
Here's a quote from a local audience member:
"I thought it sucked! I thought Tony Spera was very difficult to understand when he was speaking it sounded like he was mumbling. The videos they showed were poor quality and I also had trouble understanding what they were saying especially the exorcism video. The pictures they showed weren't impressive, I could have looked them up on the internet. I was expecting something totally different and I was disappointed. Plus I didn't like all the religious preaching- I dont believe in any of it and I dont like being told about it. It was very odd!"
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