Monroe’s Supernatural Sanctuary

Warrens’ Occult Museum: Inside the World’s Most Infamous Haunted Archive

Monroe, Connecticut, United States

By the Wicked Cool Places editors · Published Thu, Mar 19, 2026 · Updated Fri, Aug 28, 2026

Why it’s cool

This basement archive houses the cursed relics of Ed and Lorraine Warren’s career, ranging from the notorious Annabelle doll to artifacts from the Amityville and Conjuring hauntings.

Northeast Historic

A red light bulb illuminates a table with a Ouija board, a large curved knife, tarot cards, and a Victorian doll.

Deep in a residential basement in Monroe, Connecticut, lies a repository of the macabre that has fueled decades of nightmares and blockbuster horror films. This is the inner sanctum of Ed and Lorraine Warren, the husband-and-wife duo who became the face of paranormal investigation in the mid-20th century.

Established in 1952 alongside their New England Society for Psychic Research, the museum serves as a high-security vault for objects the Warrens believed were tainted by demonic influence or malevolent spirits.

Why It Stands Out

The collection is a chaotic blend of genuine folk-horror artifacts and atmospheric set dressing. The centerpiece is undoubtedly Annabelle, a Raggedy Ann doll encased in glass and bathed in a red glow, which the Warrens claimed was responsible for a string of violent incidents.

Those interested in eerie dolls might also appreciate the Doll's Head Trail. Beyond the doll, the shelves are packed with a disturbing variety of cursed items: a child’s gravestone allegedly repurposed as a satanic altar, an alleged vampire’s coffin, and an array of demon masks and psychic photographs.

The Woolly Mammoth Antiques and Oddities similarly features a collection of morbid artifacts. The museum chronicles the Warrens' involvement in some of the most famous hauntings in American history.

From the Amityville case to the Perron family haunting (immortalized in The Conjuring), these artifacts represent the tangible remnants of their most high-profile investigations. While some visitors might see a basement filled with plastic Halloween props and oddities, believers view it as a necessary containment zone for objects too dangerous to be left in the world.

Before You Go

Following the deaths of Ed in 2006 and Lorraine in 2019, the museum has remained closed to the public. However, a new chapter is beginning.

Comedian Matt Rife and paranormal investigator Elton Castee have acquired the property and the collection, with plans to relaunch the museum for tours and overnight stays in the fall of 2026. Currently, physical access to the basement is prohibited, but fans can often find video tours or special events hosted by the estate.

For those looking to pay their respects to the investigators themselves, Ed and Lorraine rest at Stepney Cemetery, under a mile from the museum.

Questions worth answering

Can we walk through the museum today?

Physical entry is currently off the table. You'll have to settle for video tours or the occasional special event until the new owners relaunch the space.

What's the story behind the doll everyone talks about?

The glass-encased Annabelle is the main draw here. The Warrens kept this Raggedy Ann under a red light because they believed it caused several violent episodes.

Who is running the archive now?

Matt Rife and Elton Castee have taken over the property. They're planning to open the doors for overnight visits and tours starting in autumn 2026.

Where can we find the founders' gravesites?

Ed and Lorraine are buried at Stepney Cemetery. The site is less than a mile from their former residence and museum in Monroe.

Visit Snapshot

The museum is currently closed for in-person tours, with a scheduled reopening for the fall of 2026. In the meantime, you can access the collection through paid video tours or occasional special events.

The Warrens' gravesite is located nearby at Stepney Cemetery.

Location

Monroe, Connecticut

Know before you go

You cannot tour in person. There are special events and you can purchase or rent a video tour of the collection.

Editorial source

The Warrens’ Occult Museum

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren operated for decades as the preeminent voices in the believer community, and their strange career of ghost-hunting and demon-busting is on display in their very own Occult Museum. Open since 1952, when the Warrens founded the New England Society for Psychic Research, the ever-expanding collection of knick-knacks and artifacts that had been touched by evil is kept in the basement of their own home.

When they weren't delving into high-profile cases of demonic mischief as the Amityville haunting (the murderer who claimed demonic possession as his defense) and the exorcism of the witch Bathsheba (a case which was most recently portrayed in the film, The Conjuring , which also featured a version of the museum), the Warrens were popular lecturers in their day. Throughout these cases, the Warrens collected trinkets and totems they claimed were defiled by evil, locking them in the museum to keep them safe from the public.

The eccentric collection contains everything from an alleged vampire’s coffin to a child’s tombstone used as a satanic altar. Death curses, demon masks, and psychic photographs line the museum’s walls accented by a Halloween store’s bounty of plastic props (assumedly for mood).

However, the most prevalent item seems to be the cursed Raggedy Ann doll by the name of Annabelle, which was said to have killed a man. Annabelle sits in her glass case, backlit by a haunting red light.

Looking at the Warrens’ collection, one might begin to think that Hell has a thing for dolls. Ed and Lorraine Warren have both passed away—Ed in 2006 and Lorraine in 2019—and the museum has been closed since Lorraine’s passing.

(The pair are buried less than a mile away at the Stepney Cemetery .) However, in August 2025, comedian Matt Rife and celebrity ghost hunter Elton Castee announced that they have purchased the house and a five-year guardianship over the collection and plan to re-open it in the fall of 2026 for museum tours and overnight stays. Whether or not one believes in the paranormal, the Warrens’ Occult Museum may be one of the preeminent chronicles of modern culture’s obsession with the supernatural.

And soon, this collection will once again be open to the public.

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