In fact, looking through the contents page of the book will soon make you realise how long and distinguished a career that the Warren’s have had as paranormal investigators. The Warren’s have been involved with many a high profile case; from being the first investigators to go into the house of the infamous Amityville haunting, and witnessing the events that inspired the Haunting in Connecticut films as well as the horrors suffered by the Perron family – which The Conjuring is based upon. As paranormal investigators go, this couple is as established and respected as they come.
Founded in 1952, the Warren’s set up the New England Society for Psychic Research, and also opened The Warrens’ Occult Museum, where they would display items that they had removed from supposedly haunted locations.
As the title of the book by Gerald Brittle suggests, the Warrens are trained demonologists, who had trained many other leading paranormal investigators – including their nephew; John Zaffis, best known for his television series The Haunted Collector.
Gerald Brittle here attempts to comprehensively cover the Warrens’ careers, spanning many decades. It is not long before you realise that this book is not only fascinating, but equally terrifying. The subject matter – as you would expect – is approached with the utmost tone of seriousness, and we’re not just talking about tales of ghosts and spooky goings-on, but full-on battles with the demonic.
This is very much a gripping read for those who have an interest in the subject matter. In addition to giving the detail of each case that the Warren’s have experienced, the book goes some way to offer explanations of why these things occur. You discover the differences between ghosts and demons (and their limitations in what they can and can’t do), the chain of events that lead up to the worst cases dealt with by the Warrens, and how to read the signs of infestation; oppression and eventual possession. This is not merely a collection of creepy stories to make your skin crawl, but also tries to educate you on the topic.
Television programmes such as A Haunting, Paranormal Witness, or the already mentioned Haunted Collector, all owe a great debt of gratitude to the work of Ed and Lorraine Warren, who throughout their career, have toured America to educate people on the dangers of dabbling with the spirit world - as portrayed in The Conjuring where the Warren's deliver a seminar on their experiences to a captivated audience.
The book is highly informative – if a little repetitive in places – and it certainly opens debate regarding the world of the supernatural. Reading the specifics of each case is interesting and fascinating, both for the believer and from the perspective of story telling for the skeptic.
Brittle offers a good balance between the cases and the evidence to hand. The Warren’s have purportedly witnessed and experienced a lot in their careers as paranormal investigators, and you do find yourself thinking if everything you read is in fact true.
Review: The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren
By Andreas Charalambous - 19th November 2013
Following the recent success of James Wan’s The Conjuring, many readers with an interest in the paranormal may have investigated further the names of Ed and Lorraine Warren. This is of course the famous paranormal investigator couple as portrayed in the film by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga.
Although a fictional tale, The Conjuring does have an element of fact in its narrative. Although visually leaning on artistic license, the opening scene of the film introduces us to the case of Annabelle – a doll that appears to be host to something paranormal. This is just one of the real-life cases that Ed and Lorraine Warren had actually investigated, and one of the early chapters of the book, The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren.