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Set in “The Conjuring” universe, the supernatural expanded universe centered around a fictionalized version of real-world paranormal investigators and self-proclaimed demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, “The Nun” is a prequel that expands on the “Conjuring” universe lore. Like many of the tales in “The Conjuring” universe, “The Nun” was inspired by the real Warrens’ accounts of their supernatural shenanigans. The film, which takes place mostly in the 1950s in a remote Romanian abbey and exists to build out the backstory of “Conjuring” universe demon Valak and stars Taissa Farmiga (sister of Lorraine Warren actor Vera Farmiga) as its main protagonist, Sister Irene, a young nun still in her novitiate sent with Father Burke (Demián Bichir) to investigate a death on the grounds. As the story progresses, we learn the abbey was once home to an occult-obsessed Dark Ages aristocrat whose fascination ultimately summoned the demon Valak by way of a rift on the grounds.
While “The Nun” exists as a complete work of fiction predating the in-universe Warrens’ encounter with the malevolent entity, the concept behind it was inspired by their real counterparts’ investigation of a haunting near Borley Church and Borley Rectory in Essex, England; events recounted by Ed Warren in Gerald Brittle’s biography of the pair, “The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren.” Referring to Borley as “the most haunted area in England” and a “virtual doorway to the supernatural,” Ed claimed. “Both Lorraine and I have seen the Borley nun walking along the road,” he said, adding he had plans to snap a photo of her on an upcoming trip.
Many of the Warrens’ experiences inspired the Conjuring movies
Many of the stories in the “Conjuring” universe are directly inspired by the real-world versions of “Conjuring” protagonists Lorraine and Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson). During their heyday, the Warrens claimed to have worked on more than 100 paranormal investigations, gaining publicity through books and media interviews as well as founding their own occult museum.
The world of spooky things has been central to the Warrens’ identity since 1952, when they founded the New England Society for Psychic Research (N.E.S.P.R.). In those early days, the couple would show up at houses that were rumored to be haunted, with Ed using his art skills to create a sketch of each abode as a ruse to get the pair invited inside to investigate. Although she was once skeptical of their ghostly research, Lorraine eventually claimed to be a trance medium, insisting she’d psychically known she would marry Ed from the first day they met at just 16 years old.
Although wildly fictionalized, several of their real cases feature heavily in “The Conjuring” universe. The Warrens met Annabelle, the allegedly cursed Raggedy Ann doll that inspired the fictional “Annabelle,” in 1970 in a strange set of events culminating in an Episcopalian exorcism. The 1971 Perron family haunting in Rhode Island formed the basis for the first “Conjuring” film, and the Warrens’ alleged encounter with an Enfield, England poltergeist inspired “The Conjuring 2.” “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” is based on the true story of “Demon Murder Trial” killer Arne Johnson, a 19-year-old who claimed demonic possession drove him to murder his landlord, Alan Bono, in 1981. The box office hit “The Conjuring: Last Rites” fictionalizes Pennsylvania’s Snurl family haunting.
Several other films were inspired by the Warrens’ experiences
“The Conjuring” films might be the most famous films about the Warrens’ experiences, but they’re not the only ones by a longshot. The 1979 film “The Amityville Horror” and the rather long list of related “Amityville Horror” movies was adapted from a book about the Amityville, New York home where, in 1974, Ronald DeFeo shot and killed his mother, father, and four of his five young siblings. Just shy of one month after moving into the DeFeos’ iconic Dutch Colonial home in December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz had moved their family right back out again citing supernatural events related to the DeFeo killings, prompting the Warrens’ investigation. The Warrens would eventually make the unproven, implausible, and culturally insensitive claims that the hauntings were caused in part because an alleged practitioner of black magic named John Ketchum once lived on the grounds and in part because the grounds contained negative energy from a Shinnecock Indian sanitorium. Although the Warrens don’t make an appearance in this film, their experience heavily influenced the story.
The 2009 supernatural horror movie “The Haunting in Connecticut,” a fever dream about a family with a dying teen as they take up residence in a seriously haunted former funeral parlor, was inspired by an incident with the Warrens and the Snedecker family. Lorraine Warren would claim the real case was far more frightening than any film could impart and involved the sound of coffins scraping across floors and rosary beads pulled apart by a ghostly hand midair. In addition to the Hollywood films, the Warrens’ tales also inspired the 1991 made-for-TV film “The Haunted” based on the Smurl haunting and appeared in a handful of paranormal documentaries including “In Search Of…,” “Scariest Places on Earth,” “Paranormal State,” and “A Haunting.”