Everyone knows that I’m a scaredy cat who can’t watch horror films, right? Well, did you also know that I’m really superstitious and I refuse to invite the bad spirits into my life? I’m not looking to beef with any paranormal energies and if I accidentally invade a spirit’s house or area, I will leave swiftly. Well, Dan Rivera did not feel the same way. Rivera was a paranormal investigator/expert. He was leading a national tour of haunted/possessed objects, objects including the infamous Annabelle doll, which is a “demonically possessed” Raggedy Ann doll. Rivera passed away while the tour was in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, one of the most blood-soaked and ghost-ridden towns in America.
A paranormal investigator died at a hotel while on a tour showcasing a supposedly “possessed” Raggedy Ann doll named Annabelle. Dan Rivera, 54, a senior lead investigator for the Connecticut-based New England Society for Psychic Research, died on Sunday, July 13, during his visit to Gettysburg, Pa., as part of the Devils on the Run tour, the Evening Sun reported.
According to Adams County dispatch records, emergency crews responded to a Gettysburg hotel where CPR was administered on a male of Rivera’s age, the paper reported.
The organization also confirmed Rivera’s death on Monday, July 14, in a Facebook post, describing him as a friend and partner.
“We are heartbroken and still processing this loss,” the society said. “Dan truly believed in sharing his experiences and educating people on the paranormal. His kindness and passion touched everyone who knew him. Thank you for your support and kind thoughts during this difficult time.”
The Gettysburg stop of the Devils on the Run tour was hosted by the tour group Ghostly Images of Gettysburg at the Soldiers National Orphanage, this past weekend, the Evening Sun reported, with final tour stops in September. (Tickets remain on sale.)
Local authorities also confirmed that Rivera was found by his colleagues in his hotel room and “Nothing unusual or suspicious was observed at the scene.” His colleagues also said that Rivera was “feeling sick” earlier in the day. The autopsy is still pending. I’m not saying it was the doll, but I’m not NOT saying it either. Like… there are legitimately bad spirits out there, and why would you travel around with these possessed items?? Also: I grew up around Civil War battlefields and for the most part, they’re treated as “places to stage reenactments.” But Gettysburg is different. The bloodiest battle of the Civil War, and generally considered to be one of the most haunted towns in America. It was like a perfect storm of paranormal activity.
Photos courtesy of Dan Rivera’s social media.
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I don’t watch anything or any shows like the dead files or any of the others like that because I don’t want to invite evil into my home. I’m paranoid I know but I’m not the only one.
Right? Why risk bad juju!
100% the same.
So I’m currently in St. Augustine and just went on a haunted pub tour, lol. But it was very much grab a drink and sit outside to hear stories. I really like haunted or historical walking tours. There’s a haunted trolley tour here also. But I’m very big about not going into certain haunted spaces. I’ll hang out on the sidewalk thank you. There’s a haunted tour of a jail here where you go inside and I’m like nope, no thank you. The walking tour guide we had used to work in the haunted jail. And she said she would always enter and speak to the spirits first, Like hi guys, how’s it going. And introduce herself and have respect for the spirits before the tour started.
I’m with you and there’s a difference between hearing the history and invading spaces you’re not welcome.
We did one in Baltimore recently and it was more about history than anything. Very entertaining.
Oh i bet a Baltimore one would be interesting.
In the words of Dean Winchester: Don’t!
Annabelle is a Raggedy Ann doll and she’s evil?! 😳
Well, her name’s Ann, not Annabelle. If, just to choose a totally out of the blue, never happened, random example, your name was Annette, and people called you Anita for some reason, after a while it might get on your nerves. Sometimes there’s just a breaking point. Just sayin’. 😬
It was a Raggedy Ann doll given to a young woman by her mother who found it in an antique shop. After it was observed moving around the house on its own with no explanation, the young woman consulted a medium. The spirit told the medium that its name was Annabelle and she was a little girl who had died on that property a hundred years ago and she just wanted someone to play with. Cut to the doll being connected to more sinister things happening in the house, the Warrens stepped in. They concluded that the spirit was lying to get the young woman to accept it so it could eventually possess her. They got the doll out of there before that happened. But the name Annabelle stuck.
Speaking of haunted places. When I was a uni student years ago, I traveled to Ottawa, Canada and stayed at an International Youth Hostel that was converted from an old jail. It was creepy as the building is still the same and all the cells are used as rooms.
They also provided a night tour around the hostel telling stories about which criminals were hang back in the days. In fact, the same hanging spot is still there.
I was young and now wouldn’t even want to share a room with a stranger. Those were the days. Ha
When I was a teenager, I took a school touring trip to Europe. After our first night in London, we met up for breakfast and people commented how creepy our hotel was, how they’d had nightmares and heard what sounded like shrieks during the night (I had a nightmare about someone climbing the walls and hanging from one of the light fixtures). We thought it was weird that so many of us had independently had these creepy experiences. Then, as we were walking around the corner to go to breakfast, we saw a plaque attached to the building saying that our hotel had once been an asylum.
I’m guessing no one thought to thoroughly cleanse the space before repurposing it.
After reading this story yesterday, I read the whole story on the Annabelle doll and I felt completely creeped out even knowing about it. I had to put it out of my mind at bedtime last night. It doesn’t help that this happened in Gettysburg. I’ve visited there and still get goosebumps thinking about it – very eerie and unsettling feelings you get there.
I also learned yesterday how many horror movies have been adapted from the Warrens’ investigations. Wow. Annabelle, Amityville Horror and A Haunting in Connecticut were all their cases.
Both Gettysburg and Antietam are super creepy to me. Maybe because they seem so peaceful now, 160 years later? Other battlefields don’t have the same feel to me but both Gettysburg and Antietam freak me out.
The Warrens are complete grifters, please don’t buy anything that has their name attached to it. I loved the Conjuring and some of the others in the universe, but when it comes to them specifically, they are pure fiction (and total creeps too, especially the dude).
I posted below but PLEASE PLEASE do a little more looking at the warrens. They are grifters that preyed on vulnerable people and got away with it, with an entire cinematic universe upholding their fiction.
I still have never seen The Exorcist. Some things you just know to nope out of. That said, can we arrange for the Mad King to go on one of these creepy tours?
I feel like this is the conundrum- of you believe in paranormal stuff enough to make it your job, don’t you believe in the power of this doll thing? It sounds reckless. Couldn’t be me.
That’s where I landed too.
If you belief this stuff, why would you purposely gather haunted, possessed stuff that may be malicious and then travel around with it. Oh and also expose many many other people to it by selling tickets.
Not saying there’s a direct cause and effect between the doll and the death, but there’s some strong cognitive dissonance between beliefs and actions there.
Greed for money is the root of all evil.
I think these spirit hunters are often Christians or have some good-vs-evil techniques that they believe will protect themselves.
People need to stop going where they should not. It’s up there for the people who keep going to Lake Lanier.
Yes! What kind of idiot goes willingly to Lake Lanier?
To my fellow scaredy-cats! There is a podcast called “Too Scary, Didn’t Watch”–three women host it; one who loves watching horror movies and two who do not. The brave one (Sammy) watches a movie and tells it to the scareds (Henley and Emily)–it’s so good! I’ve learned so much about horror as a genre, and the “stories” of the films are really compelling. And the reactions are perfection…it’s funny, insightful, interesting, and heartwarming…and not really scary. At all. It’s like they’ve pulled all the terror out and left the interesting bits for us…
Okay that’s actually sounds pretty funny.
Gettysburg IS different. I don’t even believe in this stuff but there is NO denying that there is an aura, a chill – and sometimes even an evil feeling on and around those battlefields. That area is carrying so much horror and sorrow it is palpable.
I’m with Beech on this and Sue, I’m actually surprised you know so much about this doll. That’s not to say I won’t read her story the minute I finish writing this post.
The part of the story that scared me the most was the doll “moving on her own, changing positions and writing notes on parchment.” I am a doll collector and seller. There is a sub-genre in the field of sellers claiming their doll does have demonic power and there are some buyers who are attracted by that. I once sold a doll I bought from Argentina for $10 by simply writing that she looked “creepy” to me. She did, too. I sold the doll for $90. I truly hope the buyer got what she wished for, whatever that was.
I’m back again to say Annabelle looks so innocuous. What the actual f-ck?
Im a scaredy cat too, don’t watch horror movies and also superstitious. Years ago we stayed a night at the Queen Mary(thought it would be interesting to stay at a historic grand luxury liner)- this was also me being very naive and didn’t really know it was haunted. Never again, you can definitely feel many spirits present – good and bad. After staying the night, I read more of its history and how she was used during WW2 carrying military and troops and after WW2 carrying war brides. That night – prayed almost the whole time(we should have left I know, but we had a family event nearby the next morning).
Went to a convention on the Queen Mary. As we’re rounding a corner and I catch a first glimpse, I satrt saying “oh no oh no oh no oh no!” My friend is like, “What is wrong with you?” I couldn’t explain it, but then you get on the ship and it’s like you’re breathing i dead people. It has the craziest vibe. I was up praying all night too. Next day, my friend and I are walking around the deck. We’re walking past the café and the really loud freaking horn thing goes off. I black out. My friend is trying to get my attention aand I come to and the people at the cafe are staring at me. I ask what happened and she says, “when the horn blew, you slammed your back into the ship.” I said, “i heard someone screaming.” She says, “that was you.” So now im super curious and I go to the bookstore on the main floor. I’m looking at one book on ocean liners (by the way, I was afraid of ocean liners long before this. Thought I was safe because it wouldn’t sail.) Anyway, I open one of the books and I see a picture that looks pretty darn similar to my husband! turns out this man was a German boat builder who committed suicide because one of his ships (not Titanic but another) sank!!!! Bought the book to show people and most people said they thought the ship builder looked like my husband too. I will never take a cruise and will never step onto a liner. I do like sailing on lakes though.