What Not-To-Do When Interacting With Annabelle From a Man Who Knows, Dan Rivera

When I learned CT's infamous Annabelle doll would be on display this fall (2022) at Mohegan Sun, I needed to get a lot of questions answered, like how does anyone even move Annabelle?

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After we got that answer, I wanted to talk to one of the folks responsible for her care, to learn more about what makes Annabelle so dangerous. Enter Dan Rivera, Dan is the Senior Lead Investigator for the Warren's and co-owner of TCD Paracon.

In short, Dan is one of the people responsible for caring for Annabelle, along with the doll's owner Tony Spera. Dan agreed to join us on our sister station on Wednesday (5/11/22), and we asked him what could happen to someone if they owned Annabelle, this is what he had to say:

"You'd have to see what their intentions are, towards this doll. What are they seeking out of this doll. You know, it could harm them, it won't harm them today or tomorrow, it could harm them, you know a year down the road, it could affect their family. We're talking about a demonic presence here that does not like the human form."

Dan told us he takes great precautions so he is able to deal with the doll, he goes to church, confession and gets blessings from his priest, and there are still consequences after he comes into contact with Annabelle. He recalled an experience he had recently, after helping move Annabelle, saying:

"After I moved that doll from the case that I built back into Ed's original case, because I needed to do repairs on it, I had to leave the museum that evening because my leg started shaking really bad. And, I started getting these cold sweats so I had to leave the museum and I never felt anything like that before."

The "museum" Dan referred to is the Ed and Lorraine Warren Occult Museum in Monroe, CT which has been closed for some time, due to zoning regulations. The museum, and the Annabelle doll are now owned by Tony Spera, Ed and Lorraine Warren's son in-law.

When Ed and Lorraine were still alive and in charge, there was a famous incident related to the doll and the museum. A story about a young man and his girlfriend. We asked Dan about what happens to people when they are not nice to Annabelle and he recalled the famous tale, saying:

"This was back in 1980, a couple that came to the museum, and they wanted to view Annabelle. Well, this one guy came in and started knocking on the glass and challenging the doll. Ed saw what he was doing, Ed told him, son you need to leave the museum. Well, the guy left with his girlfriend from the museum and they were riding their motorcycle down Route 25, heading towards Bridgeport and they got into a motorcycle accident. He died in that motorcycle accident, his girlfriend survived but he challenged the demonic and you know, he paid the price for it."

Below is a segment we did about Annabelle on Thursday (5/12/22) where we used portions of our interview with Dan Rivera.

Dan had his own personal connection to that motorcycle accident, which you can hear about in our full interview with him below.

What have we learned:

• Don't tap on the glass
• Don't taunt Annabelle
• Don't challenge Annabelle
• Do - go to church and use Holy Water liberally

Below is video of Tony Spera, Dan Rivera and the team carefully moving Annabelle.

Below is Tony Spera making the announcement about Paracon 2022.

Below is a video of Lorraine refusing to look directly at Annabelle.