Matt Rife Warned by Demonologist’s Grandson About Haunted Doll Annabelle

The grandson of famous demonologists who inspired The Conjouring franchise of films has blasted anti-woke comedian Matt Rife after he bought his grandparent’s house and the world’s most haunted doll Annabelle.

Rife stunned fans when he revealed he had purchased paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren’s home and Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut, subsequently becoming the legal guardian of the famed ‘demonic’ Annabelle doll.

Now, the grandson of Ed and Lorraine Warren, Chris McKinnell, has taken aim at the 30-year-old comedian during an appearance on the Reel Appreciation podcast as he said: ‘I’d never even heard of him until he bought it. I didn’t know who he was.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to Rife’s representatives for comment and has yet to hear back.

McKinnell has also sent a chilling warning about the paranormal objects being taken on tour.

He is the son of the Warrens’ daughter Judy Spera who runs the New England  Society for Psychic research, which was founded by her parents, alongside husband Tony Spera.

McKinnell said that his stepfather is an ‘entertainer’ who has never worked a paranormal case as he blasted him by saying: ‘I was willing to allow him to do that and just live his moment, for my mother’s sake.

‘But then he started wanting to bring this thing on tour, and that to me was so dangerous, such a betrayal of everything my grandparents spent their lives doing.’

Rife’s representatives clarified to Entertainment Weekly that there are ‘no plans and there have never been plans to take any of the artifacts on tour.’ 

McKinnell continued his tirade by claiming that by doing these things so publicly, they are ruining the legacy set forth by his grandparents.

He said: ‘One of the worst parts of my grandparents’ legacy is that my grandfather ever made the mistake of calling it a museum. It was never open to the public. That’s a misconception. It was always by special invitation, one or two people, very small groups with specific instructions — don’t touch anything, don’t treat anything with misrespect, do not try to communicate with anything.

‘What are they doing now? They’re doing TikTok videos where they’re talking to these things. They’re trying to communicate with these things.” He added, “To me, that place is the Chernobyl of the paranormal, and it bothers me to no end what can happen.’

The Raggedy Anne Doll’s paranormal legend dates back to the 1970s when it was apparently given as a gift to a nurse in Hartford, Connecticut, before it began exhibiting disturbing behavior.

When the Warrens took ownership of Annabelle, they locked her in a specially built glass case in their museum to contain the ‘evil spirited entity’, and warned that she should never be moved. 

However, Annabelle recently toured the US as part of the exhibition called Devils on the Run – and Rife now plans to reopen the house for overnight stays and museum tours.

Veteran ghost hunter Dan Rivera, died in July at age 54 while touring with Annabelle. The mysterious death ignited fierce speculation that the doll was to blame.

But authorities revealed that Rivera died from ‘natural causes’ and that there was ‘nothing unusual or suspicious observed at the scene’. Though, that hasn’t stopped folks from wondering if something more powerful was at play. 

According to biographer Gerald Brittle’s book The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren, the Warrens first came across Annabelle in 1970 after a priest called and asked for their assistance.

They were told that two young nurses believed a human spirit was possessing their doll and were desperate for help.

During a taped meeting with the Warrens, one of the nurses named Deirdre explained that the doll was a 28th birthday present from her mother, according to Brittle’s book.

She told the couple that it started ‘moving around their apartment by itself’ soon after, and left eerie, handwritten notes that said ‘help me’. It was further claimed the doll had attacked someone.

The women said they had hired a medium who told them a little girl named Annabelle had died on their property years prior.

They came to believe she was possessing the doll, but after investigating, Ed said they had been ‘duped’ and that there was no Annabelle. He believed the doll was ‘taken over by something inhuman’ and ‘demonic’ instead.

The Warrens performed an exorcism before taking the doll away. They claimed their car brakes failed on the drive home and they had to throw ‘holy water’ on the doll to get home safely.

The Warrens alleged a priest nearly died after he did not take the doll seriously. 

He reportedly ‘picked up the doll’ and said, ‘You’re just a rag doll, Annabelle, you can’t hurt anything,’ before he ‘tossed it back on the chair,’ according to the Warrens’ biography.

That night, he is said to have called Lorraine and told her, ‘The brake system failed [in my car on the way home]. I was almost killed in a traffic accident. My car is a wreck.’

And according to a family member of the Warrens, tragedy struck when another visitor failed to treat the doll with respect.

It’s been said that the guest knocked on the glass case and taunted the doll before he was thrown out of the museum.

But on his way home, he got into a fatal motorcycle accident, per the Warrens’ son-in-law Tony Spera.

It wasn’t until the release of the 2013 horror film The Conjuring and the 2014 sequel named after and based on Annabelle that the legend became popular in mainstream media – proven by the subsequent release of two more movies.

The topic remains hot to this day. 

Paranormal fans recently went into a frenzy when visitors claimed the doll was missing from her case – however this theory was later debunked and Annabelle was shown to still be in her box.

Even renowned paranormal investigator and Ghost Adventures star Zak Bagans was not immune to Annabelle, claiming he was left ‘very affected’ when he crossed paths with her in 2017. 

‘It was a demonic infestation and severely affected me, and I was literally in the hospital the next day’ he claimed.