Dan Rivera, handler of 'possessed' doll Annabelle, dies suddenly
Dan Rivera, the 54-year-old man best known as the real-life handler of the infamous Annabelle doll, has died unexpectedly while touring with the haunted toy.
His tour organisers confirmed the news.
The paranormal investigator had been the primary caretaker of the original Raggedy Ann doll.
According to the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR), which organised Annabelle’s ‘Devils on the Run’ tour, Rivera passed away suddenly over the weekend at a stop in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
The exact cause of the death remains unclear.
Doll 'possessed' by spirit of a 6-year-old girl
Annabelle has been tied to a series of supposed hauntings in the 1970s, after being given to a Connecticut nursing student named Donna. Ed and Lorraine Warren, the famous paranormal investigators, claimed the doll physically lifted its own arms, followed people around the apartment, and would display other frightening and malicious behaviour, per the New York Post. The couple also claimed that the doll had stabbed a police officer and caused a car crash involving a priest.
It is believed that the doll has been inhabited by the spirit of a dead 6-year-old girl called Annabelle. Warrens said that it was demonically possessed and moved the doll to their museum in Connecticut.
The demonic doll has inspired the movie 'The Conjuring'.
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