Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@madison.heizen
Topics: Film and TV, Horror, Life
Rhianna Benson
The Conjuring franchise has quickly become one of the most widely-adored horror franchises of modern day movie-making.
The nine-movie 'universe' - which also includes spin-offs like the Annabelle instalments, The Nun, The Nun 2 and one-off, The Curse of La Llorona - boasts a huge fan-base, famed for consistently reinventing paranormal storytelling, with many aspects of the films being based off true events.
Though some film buffs believe there's a correct, chronological order for first-timers to watch these movies that diverts from the order they were released to cinemas, the first movie from the franchise to hit the silver-screen was The Conjuring.
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Directed by horror mastermind James Wan and released in 2013, the chilling flick stars Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, who play the roles of the very real self-professed demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren.
As well as the two central characters playing non-fictional people, the central storyline of The Conjuring is also partially based on events from history.
The movie tells the story of the 1970s Perron family, who sought the assistance of paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine after experience increasingly disturbing events in their newly occupied Rhode Island farmhouse.
Though some of the events from the movie have understandably been dramatized for cinema purposes, one social media star has revealed she used to live in the farmhouse that inspired the haunting blockbuster.
Madison Heinzen, 23, has even opened up on the bizarre sightings and terrifying sounds that she has experienced at the property over the years.
Speaking to The Sun, she claims to have come face-to-face with unusual figures, such as horror film character Slender Man while at the horror house, and regularly heard growling.
"The most scared I have ever been was in the earlier days," Madison recalled. "We were checking out different parts of the house and I heard this, what sounded like a growl to me, it was above my head and I was looking through stuff the owner left behind.
"It freaked me out because I was like, maybe I'm not meant to be touching that stuff, maybe they don't like that."
Madison - who now runs tours at the 19th century farmhouse that her parents used to own - said another horrifying moment came when she was sitting at the kitchen table, suddenly hearing two claps come out of nowhere.
"We all looked at each other cause we were all standing still and I was like, 'Oh my God', because that was something that happened in the movies that they would play hide and clap," she said.
In a scene from The Conjuring, the Perron family play a blindfolded game as they try to tack down the other players by listening for a clap.
But the sounds soon start coming from strange places, including the basement.
Madison claims this a real feature of the house, and that she 'hates to be down there alone' because 'it's pretty creepy'.
Reminiscing of an occasion where she was working down in the eerie cellar one day, she says that a ball 'completely rolled off on its own'.
Madison said: "I have heard spirits say my name, I have had them ask and answer questions and we have heard child's laughter."
Taking to Instagram in July this year to mark the 10 year anniversary of The Conjuring's release, Madison gushed: "It’s so surreal to think that the first time I watched this movie was in theaters with family at just 13 years old, not knowing what was ahead in the future to come.
"To say this movie changed my families life, is just an understatement. Never in a million years did we think that we would be involved with a house that inspired the first film for the Conjuring Franchise series."
She added: "It turned out to be everything and more than we would have ever dreamed of. It has been a complete honor getting to learn more about the paranormal, history and Perron’s experiences throughout the years at the house that started it all."