The real-life “Annabelle” doll was blamed for a string of alarming incidents by conspiracy theorists that claimed it escaped while on tour in New Orleans — but its owner confirmed it’s safely back home and “was never out of control.”
The diabolical — and supposedly demonic — Raggedy Ann doll fictionalized in “The Conjuring” movie series made a pit stop at Ghost City Tours office in the Big Easy in mid-May — the same week of a dating prison breakout and a devastating fire at a former plantation nearby.
The timing led to speculation that the doll was behind the chaos.
But she’s “safely back” behind lock and key at the Warren Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut, owner Tony Spera told The Post.
“The doll was taken on a brief tour to several locations to show the doll to enthusiasts of the paranormal,” Spera said.
“The doll was never out of our control. We take extreme precautions when handling or transporting the doll.”
The precautions, which included having a Catholic priest traveling with Annabelle, apparently weren’t enough for some observers who believe the doll’s stint in New Orleans on May 13 and 14 was a bad omen.
An inferno destroyed the historic Nottoway Plantation House between Baton Rouge and New Orleans on May 15 and the next day 10 inmates escaped from the Orleans Justice Center. Most inmates have since been recaptured.
“I did not think people were taking it seriously, (because) I kept seeing jokes about it on Instagram and TikTok,” Ghost City Tours founder Tim Nealon told USA Today.
“But, I didn’t realize people were out here like, actually thinking that this was legit.”
He said some people are “absolutely convinced” Ghost City Tours is culpable in the prison break and fire.
“Why didn’t you just leave her where she was at,” one person asked the Ghost City Tours on their Facebook page. “Did it cross your mind maybe she was there for a reason. Some things are better left alone.”
“You shouldn’t have moved her,” another social media user chimed in.
Late husband and wife Ed and Lorraine Warren, the famous paranormal investigators, owned Annabelle along with other haunted relics before their deaths. The museum, which isn’t opened to the public, is in their former home.
Spera, the Warren’s son-in-law, has carried on their work as leader of the New England Society for Psychic Research.
He said in his email that one of his workers used blessed holy water and holy oil, which was mixed into the stain that was then applied to the wood case.
Other religious fixtures, including crosses cut into each side of the case, were also affixed to the case for the tour.
“The doll is blessed by a Catholic priest, before moving it, while on tour and after it is returned to the museum,” Spera said.
“On the tour, a Catholic priest, Father Bob, traveled with us the entire trip.”
The doll, which had reportedly been manipulated by a demon, was the basis of the very-different looking doll of the same name in “The Conjuring,” its sequels and “Annabelle” spinoff films.
With Post wires
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