The
Harrisville Haunting
In December 1970 Roger and Carolyn Perron purchased
a farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island. Following events at their previous
address, Carolyn decided she did not want to rear her children there and felt a
house in the country would be a more suitable location for her 5 young girls to
grow up. What Carolyn thought would be her dream home turned into a living
nightmare.
The house they purchased was the old Arnold farm
which was over two centuries old. Eight generations of families had lived and
died in that house and some of these spirits never left. Previous residents of
the farmhouse included Mrs John Arnold who at the age of 93 hung herself in the
barn and Bathsheba Sherman who had an extremely hard life. She lost all of her
children before the age of four. When she was a young woman, Bathsheba had a
young child in her care (it is uncertain if this was her child or if she was
caring for the child for a friend) that died. Upon examination of the baby’s
body it was found that a needle had been impaled into its skull and the baby had
died from convulsions. Bathsheba was charged with manslaughter but due to lack
of evidence the case was dropped. However, in the court of public opinion she
was found guilty. She was a very beautiful woman whom men loved and women
envied. Following the death of the baby rumours began to swirl that Bathsheba
had sacrificed this baby as an offering to the devil for eternal beauty. Due to
the belief of the locals that she was a witch she lived a life of solitude.
Eventually she married and it is unsure if she lived all her days at the Arnold
farm or the adjacent Sherman farm. She died in 1885 and the coroner made a note
in his report stating that he had never seen anything like it that it was like
her body had turned to stone. The Perron family spoke to a man who knew
Bathsheba and he said she was a very angry and bitter woman who would beat and
starve her farmhands.
From the very first day the Perron family moved into
the farmhouse the paranormal activity began. When the family first arrived at
the house the old tenants were packing up the last of their things. As they did
so a man stood in the corner watching them. Three of the five girls seen this
man but the parents did not. It was an apparition. The family continued to see
spirits some of which did not even notice the family were there, they were the
quiet ones who lived peacefully at the farmhouse and did not bother the family.
One of the girls made friends with a spirit whom she called Manny. He was a
sympathetic soul whom the Perrons believed was the spirit of Johnny Arnold who
had committed suicide in the house in the 1700’s. He would watch over the
family. He would appear to the children but as soon as they made eye contact he
would disappear. Many peaceful souls resided at the farmhouse but there was
also dark forces. Every time the father was home machinery in the house began to
breakdown that he would have to go and fix. All of this machinery was located
in the cellar for example the boiler and the heating. When he would go to the
cellar he would be approached by a spirit who seemed very attracted to him. She
would touch him on the back of the neck and run her hands across his back. Over
time he developed a kinship with this spirit and this was the spirit who caused
most of the problems in the house. It is believed this was Bathsheba (although
it is possible it could have been one of the many other spirits) and that she
seen herself as the mistress of the house and Roger and the kids were hers
which led her to put Carolyn Perron through what her daughter Andrea describes
as ‘Something no human being should endure’. She wanted to drive Carolyn from
the house and when this did not work she tried to claim her from within and
this is when the true terror of Harrisville began. One of the children, Cindy,
one day decided with her friend that they would try to drive the spirits from the
house which resulted in a brutal attack on the two children and then Cindy
began to suffer at the hands of the evil spirits also.
After four years of living in the house a family
friend decided that an intervention was needed and Ed and Lorraine Warren the
original paranormal investigators were called in to help. Unfortunately this
only made matters worse and even with all their experience they could not free
the family of this haunting. In the end the father kicked the Warrens out of
the farmhouse. Their relationship did not end well. The Warrens have stated that
in their 50 years of paranormal investigations that this was the worst and most
significant case they had come across.
The family remained in the house for ten years. Every
time the mother would suggest leaving the children would get so upset as they
loved this house despite of the activity and they would cry and beg her not to
leave. Also, during this time there was a recession and the family were not in
a financial position to move to a new house. Everyone who has lived in this
farmhouse both before and after the Perrons have reported paranormal activity in
the house and the current residents claim there is always activity in the house
but not to the extent the Perrons endured.
The eldest daughter Andrea always knew that one day
she would tell this story and she waited 30 years to do so. Andrea has written
a trilogy of books entitled ‘House of Darkness, House of Light’ volumes 1, 2
and 3. When I asked Andrea why she waited so long she stated that there was a
number of reasons. Her family had to process what they had been through and
also she did not feel the world was ready yet for this tale of terror at a
farmhouse in Harrisville. The books are a collective memoir of the family’s
memories and reactions. Hollywood also became interested in the story and New
Line Cinema have made a movie named The Conjuring directed by James Wan
(Insidious) which tells the tale of Harrisville from the point of view of Ed
and Lorraine Warren using their personal files. This movie opens in the states
on July 19th and stars Lili Taylor, Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson.
The movie was given an R rating, not because of sexual content or bad language
but because it is that scary. Andrea stated in my interview with her that they
are extremely happy with the way their story was conveyed and that the movie
although it has some fiction is a quite accurate account of the haunting of the
Harrisville Farmhouse.
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