Chilling warning for paranormal fans flocking to see world's most haunted doll Annabelle: 'Say your prayers'

Paranormal fans flocking to visit the world's most haunted doll at Matt Rife's new museum have received an ominous warning about opening a portal to 'evil energy.'

Last year, comedian Rife, 31, 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. 

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, which has been blamed for numerous accidents, injuries and even a fatal motorcycle crash, is now being visited by hordes of guests at the newly-opened Haunted Warren Museum in Salem, Massachusetts – in a move which has left believers, and an acclaimed psychic medium, reeling. 

After Rife posted a video bragging about the museum's $100 flashlight tours, before theatrically revealing Annabelle, some fans accused the star of being too afraid to even glance at the doll in her case, and questioned why he would expose the public to her.

'This is significantly bigger and more terrifying than I think any of us anticipated,' a giddy Rife said.

'We have collected over 1000 of the world's most haunted objects and added them to the Warrens' already historic collection.

'If you manage to make it through the entire museum without s******g your pants or projectile vomiting which we've already had happen a few times, and those are the people who didn't leave crying, we still have Annabelle herself... have fun!'

Matt Fraser, known for Don't Wait Till You're Dead: Spirits' Advice from the AfterLife, has grave fears over the public interacting with Annabelle, whose power he believes will increase now that the item is housed with scores of other allegedly haunted items.

Fraser said: 'My concern is that evil energy loves attention. Dark energy wants to be acknowledged. It wants people talking about it, challenging it, fearing it and feeding it with their attention.

'That’s why Annabelle concerns me. She isn’t sitting forgotten in a locked room anymore. She is becoming a celebrity. 

'People are traveling to see her, taking pictures, talking about her, challenging her and wondering whether something will happen to them. In my experience as a medium, that kind of attention doesn’t weaken negative energy. It feeds it.

'And now you’re taking Annabelle and bringing her together with an entire collection of objects that reportedly carry their own histories and energies, all under one roof, while thousands of people continuously walk through that environment.

'Every visitor brings their own energy with them, whether that is fear, grief, curiosity, skepticism or even the desire to provoke whatever might be there.

Fraser has encouraged paranormal fans to not feed their curiosity by visiting Annabelle, and has even sworn off visiting the doll himself. 

He said: 'People sometimes think they can walk into these places, challenge whatever is there, laugh about it, ask for signs and then simply walk away. I would never recommend doing that. When you open a spiritual door, you don’t necessarily get to decide what comes through it or how quickly that door closes.

'Ed and Lorraine Warren took them seriously and contained them for a reason. When you turn something that was once contained into an attraction, you completely change the relationship people have with it.'

With tickets for the haunted attraction rapidly selling out ahead of Halloween, Fraser has stark advice to protect those gearing up to face the doll.

'Before entering, I would say a prayer and very clearly set the intention that nothing negative is allowed to communicate with you, attach itself to you or follow you home. If your faith includes wearing a cross, carrying a religious medal, holy water or another blessed object that makes you feel spiritually protected, absolutely bring it,' he said.

'But don't make the mistake of thinking that carrying something sacred gives you permission to provoke something negative.

'Do not challenge Annabelle. Do not ask for a sign. Do not speak directly to these entities. Do not touch anything you aren’t supposed to touch, and most importantly, don’t say anything that could be interpreted as an invitation.

'If you go, observe. Don’t participate. Don’t provoke. Say your prayers before you enter and after you leave, and make it very clear that nothing has permission to leave that building with you.'

As for Rife, Fraser says: 'My message to Matt Rife is simple: I would be extremely careful about what you’re giving attention to.'

He urged Rife to never 'become so comfortable around these objects that you stop respecting what they potentially represent.

'You don’t have to be afraid of evil, but you do have to respect it. There is a very big difference,' Fraser said.

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Matt Rife and The Haunted Warren Museum for comment. 

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.

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.

Veteran ghost hunter Dan Rivera died in July 2025 at age 54 while touring with Annabelle, igniting fierce speculation that the doll was to blame.

Authorities revealed that Rivera died from 'natural causes' and that there was 'nothing unusual or suspicious observed at the scene.' But that hasn't stopped fans of the paranormal from wondering if something more powerful was at play.