On September 5, 2025, the (hopefully) final chapter of The Conjuring film franchise, subtitled Last Rites, was released in theaters. It was advertised as “Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren take on one last terrifying case involving mysterious entities they must confront.” According to Amazon’s description, the film was “Inspired by the harrowing true story of the Smurl family haunting.” But was it really? (Spoiler: No.)
In October 1973, Jack and Janet Smurl, along with their two daughters (Dawn and Heather), moved into a house on Chase Street in West Pittston, Pennsylvania. Almost immediately, during renovations, the family reported strange events occurring: a stain on a new rug that reappeared once, “mysteriously” leaking water pipes, an exploding television set, and “unexplained” scratches on a new bathtub. Despite these strange experiences, the Smurls continued living in the house without blaming ghosts or demons. They even welcomed twin daughters Shannon and Caren to the family in 1978.
Things apparently took a dramatic change on the night of April 29, 1985, when the alleged activity dramatically increased. While the family was preparing to celebrate Heather’s Catholic Confirmation, Janet Smurl was in the kitchen attaching a special pin onto Heather’s dress collar while little Shannon (age seven) looked on. Suddenly, the three ladies heard a “massive tearing sound,” just before the four-foot kitchen light fixture came crashing down. There are three different versions of what happened to Shannon when the light fell:
- In a recorded interview, Janet claimed Shannon received a gouge on her forehead.
- In the first published newspaper account, the fixture narrowly missed Shannon altogether (MacMellan 1986).
- The book The Haunted reported that Shannon was struck in the shoulder.
There’s no physical evidence of anyone actually sustaining an injury; neither does the experience seem overly concerning, because according to The Haunted (the book detailing the alleged true account of the haunting), “the Smurls got their daughters ready to pile into the van and drive to Immaculate Conception Church for confirmation. They were already running seriously behind time” (Curran 1988). So, I guess demonic attacks aren’t really a big deal when you’re late for an event.
The next day, Janet was in the basement tending to the laundry when she heard a voice calling her name. In an on-camera interview recorded on February 14, 1986, Janet described hearing her name called twice (“Janet, Janet”) and thinking it was her sister, so she went upstairs but found nobody in the house. Interestingly, there is a different and much more dramatic (scary-ish) version described in The Haunted. Nevertheless, these two experiences, combined with several more incidents, prompted Jack and Janet to seek help. Unfortunately, they made a very poor decision.
Enter the Warrens
In December 1985, the Smurls contacted Ed and Lorraine Warren on the (bad) advice of a friend. The following month, the Warrens visited the Smurl residence for the first time and immediately declared the house infested with spirits—including at least one demon. Never one to decline an interview, Ed Warren spun wild tales of the “horrors” going on inside the house, while simultaneously thwarting any scientific investigation from taking place in the house. He blocked CSI representatives Richard Busch and Milton Rothman, who were invited by Jack Smurl, from entering the house.
Keeping with their usual “investigation” routine, Ed and Lorriane were hardly onsite at the Smurl house, instead sending two separate teams (consisting of their friends and family) to stay at the house and “investigate.” Even with approximately seven additional team members, the Warrens continually failed to provide any physical evidence of the alleged supernatural events, offering only personal (and fantastical) anecdotes.
To keep the press frenzy going, Ed Warren announced an exorcism would be performed. This religious rite would not be conducted by the local diocese but instead by an excommunicated priest the Warrens brought in themselves from Connecticut, Robert F. McKenna. In total, the rogue priest performed a total of three exorcisms on the house—not on any particular individual, which is usually the case. None of these antiquated rituals were successful, according to everyone involved.
Nevertheless, the media interest came to an end when Jack and Janet Smurl gave a statement to the press on October 27, 1986, claiming, “for several weeks now all has been quiet in our home and it would appear that our problem has been resolved.” They credited the “intercession of the blessed virgin Mary, St. Michael the archangel, and the sacred heart of Jesus” for eliminating their supernatural problems. They conspicuously failed to credit or thank Ed and Lorraine Warren. However, a week later, St. Martin’s Press announced a book deal based on the Smurls’ story.
The book, The Haunted: The True Story of One Family’s Nightmare, provided a highly embellished retelling of the experiences inside the house on Chase Street, taking much more than the stated “minor liberties” (mentioned in the beginning of the book) when recreating the timeline of events, scene and experience descriptions, and the dialogue. Robert Curran, the main author, even went so far as to include an entirely fictional character who, as best I can ascertain, was included simply to pad the book with additional pages.
So how much of the film was really inspired by the “harrowing true story of the Smurl family haunting”? None of it. Seriously. Aside from using the Smurl family’s names, the film completely abandons the source material and instead tells a fictional story focused squarely on Ed and Lorraine Warren in a glorified subplot of “passing of the torch” to their daughter, Judy, and son-in-law, Tony Spera—neither of whom had anything to do with the Smurl case. The Smurl family members were relegated to something less than secondary characters in the film, barely more engaging than background extras.
The film also provides a new fabricated origin for the alleged “demonic” tormenting of the Smurl family: a mirror. We’re now told an antique mirror is the source of all the evil spirits, which the film-version Warrens encounter at the start of the movie and then reappears later on and in the anti-climatic supernatural battle at the end.
The mirror plot was inspired by a real mirror that has been in the Warren’s Museum for quite some time. Ed Warren, in an interview conducted by his son-in-law, Tony Spera, relates the story of the mirror: “That’s a magic mirror that a gentleman in New Jersey used to conjure up spirits” (Official Ed and Lorraine Warren Channel 2020a; 2020b). Ed goes on to say that the unnamed (of course) man ended up in a mental institution. It has no connection whatsoever to the Smurl family or even the state of Pennsylvania, nor does Ed mention an evil encounter with it years earlier as is portrayed in the film. It’s nothing more than a thrift store find with a vague, unverifiable story from Ed Warren (which is pretty much what he did for most of his museum objects).
To be fair, we do see three scenes in the film that are loosely “inspired” by the original source material in varying degrees. First, we do see the kitchen light fixture crash down from the ceiling—but it’s while the Smurl family is sitting around the table having dinner, long after the day Heather celebrated her Confirmation. Next, we see a generic, rather forgettable version of Janet Smurl’s experience in the basement where she claims to hear her name called. However, in the film, Janet just gets creeped out by a dark corner of the basement and subtle whispers that seem meant more for the audience rather than the character.
Lastly, in the film, the family dog (a Labrador retriever, not the Smurls’ actual German shepherd) gets picked up and tossed aside by a possessed Judy Warren as she rampages through the house during the third act. According to The Haunted, “Janet was in the kitchen doing dishes, Simon sprawled out by her feet, when suddenly she saw Simon lifted from the floor by invisible hands and smashed against the kitchen door. The dog howled in pain as it crashed to the floor.” This is quite different from what is portrayed in the film.
When it comes to the film version versus the documented events and the likely explanations, I’m only giving you an appetizer here. I invite you to check out the Ghosts in the Machine video, “Investigation of the Smurl Family Haunting,” on the Center for Inquiry’s YouTube channel for a deep dive into the claims that separates facts from fantasy.
References
Curran, Robert. 1988. The Haunted: The True Story of One Family’s Nightmare. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
MacMellan, Minnie. 1986. West Pittston family fights ‘supernatural.’ Sunday Independent, p. 9.
Official Ed and Lorraine Warren Channel. 2020a. EXCLUSIVE: Lorraine Warren interviews Jack and Janet Smurl. Relates horrifying demonic attack. YouTube (September 16). Online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBTaY-hsRLI&t=621s.
———. 2020b. Exclusive! Ed Warren gives actual tour of the Warren Occult Museum! YouTube (September 26). Online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaPgA12CPjw&t=4591s.
