The true story behind ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’
The Haunting in Connecticut is a 2009 supernatural horror film about a family that decides to relocate to be closer to the doctors of their ill child. After moving in, they begin to have supernatural experiences in the home. The movie is based on the story of the Snedeker family.
In 1986, Allen and Carmen Snedeker moved into an old rental house in Southington, Connecticut with their daughter, three sons, and two nieces. The family moved to be closer to the doctors of their eldest son, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
As soon as the family moved in, they found tools and furniture used by morticians in the basement. Regardless of what the family found, they moved in and later learned that their home had previously been a funeral parlor.
After the family settled into the home, strange happenings began to occur. At first, they were small, like the mother noticing that items in the house were going missing. Then, the children started seeing people in their home, specifically, a man with long black hair. From then on, the eldest son started to see ghosts and have frightening visions. The family started to notice changes in his personality; he was having violent outbursts and didn’t seem like himself. The doctors diagnosed him with schizophrenia, but the family believed their eldest son was being affected by the ghosts in the home. The strangest occurrence that the family reported was that the parents claimed to have been “raped and sodomized” by demons.
Considering that things were only getting worse, the family invited paranormal investigators and demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren, to help get rid of the evil inside the home.
Following an investigation, Ed and Lorraine Warren discovered that the morticians that worked in the home practiced necromancy and had brought “deep evil” into the home. To end the paranormal experiences and remove the evil, the Warrens performed an exorcism on the house.
Many members of the public were skeptical about what the Snedeker family claimed happened in the house. Investigator Joe Nickell reported in an issue of Skeptical Inquirer magazine that the landlady found the family’s story absurd and mentioned that no other tenants had ever experienced any supernatural occurrences.
According to NBC News, author Ray Garton was working with Ed and Lorraine Warren on their book, “In a Dark Place,” and while interviewing the Snedeker family, he realized that their stories didn’t line up. Garton approached Ed Warren with the problem, and he said, “Oh, they’re crazy.. you’ve got some of the story — just use what works and make the rest up.. Just make it up and make it scary.”
Throughout all the skepticism, the Snedeker family stood by their story—that they lived in a haunted house in Southington, Connecticut.
