‘The Conjuring’ house soul’d for $1.5 million, way over asking price – National

A Rhode Island farmhouse that was the real-life setting of a story that inspired the 2013 horror movie The Conjuring has sold for more than US$1.5 million, 27 per cent above the original asking price.

The Colonial-era home was the site of an alleged haunting that plagued the Perron family in the 1970s. The details of their account were dramatized for director James Wan’s beloved flick.

The Conjuring depicts a family moving into their dream home in Rhode Island, but they soon find themselves haunted by supernatural activity. The family hires paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren to deal with the malevolent — and violent — spirits.

The house at 1677 Round Top Rd. in Burrillville, R.I. is where the Perron family experienced the now-famous haunting. The property has supposedly been the site of murders and suicides and a number of spirits are said to still haunt the grounds.

But that didn’t dissuade Boston real estate developer Jacqueline Nuñez one bit.

Nuñez made one of 10 offers for the three-bedroom, approximately 3,100-sq.-ft. house in September 2021. The original asking price was $1.2 million, but after some negotiation, the bill of sale was signed for $1.5 million on Thursday.

The sellers, Jenn and Cory Heinzen, bought the home in 2019 for S$439,000, meaning the sale was almost 250 per cent more than the price they paid for it.

When the Heinzens moved in, they told the Wall Street Journal that they “spent four months keeping themselves to one room” as “a sign of respect for the spirits, letting them get used to us instead of barging in.”

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But still they experienced paranormal happenings. The Heinzens described seeing a black-coloured figure one night.

“Once we realized we were both awake and both seeing it, it was gone,” Cory told the Wall Street Journal.

The pair say they also witnessed flashes of light in rooms that didn’t have lights in them, and heard unexplained footsteps and knocking.

When the Heinzens sold the home to Nuñez, they had one unique stipulation.

“That was one of the conditions of the sale: whoever bought this could not live here year-round,” Nuñez said via The Providence Journal.

Instead, Nuñez will carry on the Heinzens business of running day-time tours and allowing paranormal investigators to occupy the house at night, as well as running live-streamed events.

“This is a very personal purchase for me,” Nuñez told The Wall Street Journal. “When it hit the market, I thought, ‘This is a property that enables people to speak to the dead.’”

“I’m not afraid of the house,” Nuñez added before jokingly saying, “Ask me again in a year.”