Mysterious occurrences plagued the cast and crew of ‘The Conjuring’ behind the scenes. Coincidence? We think not.

Movies aren’t always what they seem. It is all a production manufactured for the audiences’ amusement. Just like how love scenes aren’t romantic, scary scenes in movies aren’t all that scary for the actors. Between hours of rehearsing, the use of special effects, and long days in makeup chairs, it is typically another day on the job for actors. Except in a handful of cases. The Conjuring is one prime example of art imitating life.

The 2013 James Wan horror film is based on a hotly-contested true story in which the Perron family is depicted being terrorized by the ghost of a demonic witch. It is consistently ranked as one of the scariest movies in American cinema. As scary as the movie was for the audience to watch, it was supposedly just as scary behind the scenes. The set was rumored to be haunted. Both the cast and crew reported many strange occurrences on set, including ones eerily similar to the ones the family sustained.

What Happened Behind the Scenes of ‘The Conjuring’?

In the film, a married couple with five daughters reach out to husband and wife team Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren, secular demonologists affiliated with the Catholic Church, about strange happenings at their new home. The mother, Carolyn (Lili Taylor) is bearing the brunt of the ire, but the daughters are experiencing much as well. The Warrens agree that it could be demonic and decide to investigate the home.

Cast members described seeing mysterious breezes, ghostly faces and strange animal behavior. One writer, Carey Hayes, said that his wife, who stayed behind during filming, reported strange puddles of water around the house. At first, they blamed their senior dog; however, it was just water, and it was forming in places where the dog had not been. Warren suggested that it could be poltergeist activity.

In a move baffling to many, some of the crew, including Kendall and Vera Whelpton, stayed in the real-life property. It was so spooky, they made a documentary about it called The Sleepless Unrest.

Ed Warren passed away in 2006 before the movie came into its full existence. Lorraine Warren was still alive to see her handiwork on the screen. She was there to give advice, to consult, and provide guidance. With the real-life Lorraine Warren by her side, Farmiga alleges that after she was researching Warren for the role and expressing her desire to work with Wilson, she opened her computer to find three-pronged claw mark scratches on her computer screen. On the day they wrapped filming, and she went home, she found three claw marks on her thigh. She produces a picture of said claw marks. To her everlasting credit, Farmiga took it in stride and calmly followed Warren’s advice to not give power to her fear.

Did “The Witching Hour” Affect ‘The Conjuring’ Cast?

Farmiga and Wilson also describe sleep disturbances such as waking between 3 and 4 a.m., or “the witching hour” every night, much like the Perron family.

The adults weren’t the only ones who couldn’t sleep at night. Shanley Caswell and Hayley McFarland, who played Andrea and Nancy Perron respectively, reported that they also had trouble sleeping or would wake up at the witching hour. Caswell alleged that she thought she was being “possessed” as according to some in the know, that is the first step in spirit possession. Caswell also claimed she felt as though she was being watched when she would awaken. Some nights the actors were so scared, they would bunk together.

There are several reasons why people think that the hour between 3 and 4 a.m. is a powerful time. Some believe it is because witches are more powerful. Some believe it is just biology. Demonologists believe that it is evil mocking the three-person Holy Trinity. In the case of this film, the witching hour is when the witch that haunts the home dies. Coincidence?

In interviews with Howard Stern and Drew Barrymore, Joey King, who plays adolescent daughter Christine, claims she was plagued by bruises all over her body. She went to a doctor and was diagnosed with a mysterious blood condition that strangely cleared after she was done filming. She was never involved in stunts. Yet, Carolyn was plagued with being covered in bruises.

The real-life Perron family was invited to come visit the set. The daughters, now middle-aged, all came, but at the last minute, Carolyn, their now-elderly mother, decided not to join them. Cindy had a visceral reaction to seeing the actor that plays the witch, Bathsheba (Joseph Bishara), done up in the garb. She hid behind Wilson in terror. He had to calm her. While on set, Andrea asserted that although it was a calm day, a gust of wind blew furiously through the set, and toppled over cameras and lights. Everyone on set had a bad feeling. One of the daughters said she felt as though their mother was in danger. When the daughters returned to their hotel, they found out that their mother had broken her hip and was being rushed into surgery.

Although one could argue that most of the events could be explained as phantoms of a sleep-deprived or terror-preoccupied brain, the events bothered the cast and crew enough that they asked a priest to bless the set of The Conjuring 2 & 3, just to be on the safe side. As the bishop who blessed the cast and crew of the third Conjuring installment says, “the cosmos does not know the difference between fiction and non-fiction.”

Regardless of whether The Conjuring was haunted behind the scenes or not, the tale lives on and has spawned a growing franchise that is still scaring audiences 10 years later.

In a move baffling to many, some of the crew, including Kendall and Vera Whelpton, stayed in the real-life property. It was so spooky, they made a documentary about it called The Sleepless Unrest.

Ed Warren passed away in 2006 before the movie came into its full existence. Lorraine Warren was still alive to see her handiwork on the screen. She was there to give advice, to consult, and provide guidance. With the real-life Lorraine Warren by her side, Farmiga alleges that after she was researching Warren for the role and expressing her desire to work with Wilson, she opened her computer to find three-pronged claw mark scratches on her computer screen. On the day they wrapped filming, and she went home, she found three claw marks on her thigh. She produces a picture of said claw marks. To her everlasting credit, Farmiga took it in stride and calmly followed Warren’s advice to not give power to her fear.

Did “The Witching Hour” Affect ‘The Conjuring’ Cast?

Farmiga and Wilson also describe sleep disturbances such as waking between 3 and 4 a.m., or “the witching hour” every night, much like the Perron family.