The Conjuring Comparison

So.  I did it.  I went and saw The Conjuring.  And while it was probably the scariest movie I've seen in the history of forever, it did not remind me of my house.  Well.  Not too much. 

Without giving away too much to those who haven't seen the movie, I'll just say this: if anything even as remotely awful as what happened in that house on their first night ever happened in our house, we'd be gone without another thought.  Like for real.  Lucky for us, most of the similarities between the Perron family's ghost story and ours are on the surface, right down to the green front door.

In the movie, the Perron family moved out to the country, into an old white farmhouse with green trim, with their five girls.




Haunted movie farmhouse on the left, our real farmhouse on the right.


In real life, the C family moved out to the country (but not too far, we're still less than two minutes from civilization), into an old white farmhouse with green trim, with our four boys.




Haunted movie family on the left, haunted C Family on the right.


Their house had a huge yard and a bunch of creepy, old trees.  Our house has a huge yard and a bunch of creepy, old trees.  They had a pond at the edge of their yard.  We have a marsh at the end of ours.




Haunted movie yard on the left, our real haunted yard on the right.


They had a creepy basement/cellar full of lots of weird stuff.  We have a creepy basement/cellar with an incinerator and a weird, arched door that leads to nowhere.  Their basement is haunted.  Our basement is haunted.  They had a little boy ghost, "Rory."  We have a little boy ghost, "Bobby."

Creepy movie basement on the left, creepy C Fam basement on the right.

Oh, and did I tell you?  The Conjuring is based on a TRUE STORY.  How true?  I've posted a couple of links to stories on that exact topic so that you don't have to go hunting for the info yourselves.

Here is an excellent breakdown of fact vs. fiction on all things related to The Conjuring: The Conjuring True Story.

Here is a letter that the eldest Perron girl, Andrea Perron, wrote to a website that posted a review on the movie.  In her letter, she says: "There are liberties taken and a few discrepancies but overall, it is what it claims to be — based on a true story, believe it or not."  Read the full letter HERE: Family Members Reveal The Conjuring True Story.

Now that the movie is #1 at the box office, USA Today decided to do a little digging into how true the story is.  Read their story here: USA Today- True Story Behind The Conjuring.

As an author, I was so excited to learn that one of the family members, Andrea Perron, wrote a series of books about her family's experience in their haunted farmhouse.  Upon getting home after the movie, I logged into my Amazon account ready to purchase at least the first of the three books.  But the reviews stopped me.  They are AWFUL.  The book is expensive (over $20 for a paperback and almost $10 for the Kindle version), long (528 pages), and I found myself struggling to even read all the way through the synopsis.  House of Darkness, House of Light is definitely not for me.  But here's the link if you want to check it out: House of Darkness, House of Light by Andrea Perron.  Just please, before you buy, read the reviews.

Bottom line: the movie is awesome and at least somewhat true.  But not necessarily an accurate depiction of what goes on in haunted houses.  And definitely nothing like what goes on in ours.