Deconstructing The Conjuring

Photo: Courtesy of Scott Shumas

In the 1970’s a story so outrageous and so terrifying sprang up out of thin air in a small town known as Burrillville, Rhode Island. The story was that a demonic entity was terrorizing a family living in a small farmhouse on the outskirts of town, near the Rhode Island/ Massachusetts border. The entity was quickly labeled as a woman by the name of Bathsheba Sherman and from there on out, this story, continuously added to, snowballed out of control into the monstrosity that is the demonic villain in the film known as “The Conjuring.”

Bathsheba Sherman was not a witch, nor was she descended from Mary Towne Easty as Lorraine Warren’s character claims in the film. Bathsheba was simply a decent Christian woman, who lived her life in that small town for 73 years, never having one bad accusation made against her in her lifetime. She was never accused of causing any sort of death or injury to anyone. There were no infants delivered up to Lucifer. There were no murders, and she did not hang herself either. She died of a stroke of paralysis, as an old woman, warm in her bed.

Bathsheba also never lived at the home on Round Top Road, which has been dubbed in recent years as “The Conjuring House.” In reality this farmhouse already had a name, The Richardson-Arnold House or simply the Old Arnold Estate. In later years, it also went by the name the Old Brooke Farm, or simply the Farm. At no point in time has it ever been known as the Dexter-Richardson house as one very popular podcast has claimed.

For the record, Bathsheba lived elsewhere in town and was not affiliated with the Arnold’s home in any way. She never lived nor worked at that property at any time in her life. The lies spread about Bathsheba seem to have started in the 1970’s shortly after the death of Mr. Kenyon (the last owner prior to the Perron family).

This was around the same time period that the Perron family purchased the home. Prior to that, no one in town had ever heard or read anything that insinuated any sort of accusations or rumors about Bathsheba in any manner. For the record, there are NO recorded documents of any sort of accusations made against Bathsheba anywhere during her lifetime in any historical records.

As time went by, the stories about the home and its alleged evil entity spiraled into a life of its own. It didn’t help matters that a book was written further slandering Bathsheba, and later the film, "The Conjuring," was made, and said to be based on the case files of Ed and Lorraine Warren. With the release of the film, the story sullying Bathsheba spread even more, like wildfire, moving about out of control, and now millions upon millions of people have become familiar with the fictional villain from the movie, believing that the story was true, when in fact, it was all a lie from the very beginning.

On the precipice of the 10th year anniversary of the release of this film, to date there has been only a handful of people trying to set the facts straight to clear Bathsheba’s name, myself being one of those people. I published my very first blog shedding light on the truth and debunking the false history in 2014, and later in my chapter “Bathsheba Sherman’s Vindication” in one of my books "Stories of the Forgotten: Infamous, Famous & Unremembered," published in 2016. Now with the GoFundMe fundraiser that I created to help the Burrillville Historical and Preservation Society raise funds to replace Bathsheba’s headstone in 2021, finally we are starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. It has been a long road, and at times a very lonely one.

Let me be very clear, besides my own research, as well as my good friend and former owner, Norma Sutcliffe, the late historian Kent Spottswood, and author Shannon Bradley-Byers, no other people had published anything on paper or online in the way of clearing Bathsheba's name whatsoever. Later on, my friend and researcher Kenny Biddle joined us in the "good fight" to separate fact from fiction regarding both Bathsheba Sherman and the house on Round Top Road in his piece in the Skeptical Inquirer. Another researcher and historian, Elise Giammarco Carlson who worked with Carl Johnson, also researched and wrote her findings on the property's history as well as Bathsheba's history, and lastly my friend Betty Mencucci from the Burrillville Historical & Preservation Society has been sharing the truth and striving at protecting Bathsheba's grave for years.

Again, over time it appears more and more people are starting to see the truth, but you have to understand, those of us who spent tireless hours, days, months, years researching this, did so with one purpose in mind, clearing Bathsheba's name, not to gain fame or fortune.

In the recent weeks, I have learned of several different people jumping on the bandwagon, claiming to have done extensive research about Bathsheba, planning projects to tell her true story once and for all, when in fact, the true story was already shared nearly a decade ago.

The facts are that the earlier researchers who did the ground work, the ones who laid the foundation sharing Bathsheba's true history, debunking the false claims not only about Bathsheba but of the house on Round Top Road, their work is being copied now, and newbies coming along are trying to use that information to make names for themselves because of the infamy the entire "Conjuring" story is known for.

So for those out there who are planning to write about this story, do me a favor and really dig into the research and do not piggy back off of other people's work. It not only reflects badly on you for being lazy, it also is disrespectful to those you chose to steal from, by not giving them credit where credit is due. If you plan to use any of our research, cite us as sources plain and simple. It only takes a second, and in the long run your work will be more respected for doing so.

Going back to the subject at hand, it appears that although time and the elements contributed to some damage to Bathsheba’s original headstone, it was vandalism that eventually did it in, causing the stone to be irreparable and forcing the historical society to place it in permanent storage.

As of February of this year, we finally reached our goal to replace Bathsheba’s stone and hopefully also implement additional measures for added security to protect this new stone from further damage in the future. Although this part of our journey has reached the finish line, there is still so much more to be done.

Like water slowly wearing down a boulder, I am beginning to reach a larger audience to inform them of the facts regarding Bathsheba’s true history, and I am beginning to correct this egregious wrong, slowly but surely. Unfortunately though, this fight to share the facts will never truly be finished. So I will continue to push on, sharing her true story so that the entire world may eventually know the truth.

What was said about Bathsheba in the book, “House of Darkness, House of Light,” and the film, “The Conjuring,” not to mention multiple paranormal television programs, blogs, podcasts, news articles and social media posts is complete and utter slander.

I have decided now that it is time for me to compile my research, my posts from all my other blogs and my book, and also keep adding to this story with further research and added information by colleagues as well, so that we can take apart this story, piece by piece to uncover the truth behind the Conjuring once and for all.

From sharing the truth about Bathsheba, to the real history of the farmhouse, I will bring you the truth, all the while I plan on exposing the charlatans pushing the "haunted history."

By reading this blog, and sharing my posts, you will also in turn help Bathsheba by sharing the facts, and once and for all helping vindicate her name, clearing it of all the horrific lies that she has been accused of. What if it were your grandmother or great grandmother that the world was slandering? Wouldn’t you want to right this wrong?

Well, Bathsheba was someone’s grandmother, and she and her family are no longer here to defend their family name. That is why I am here, to give a voice to the voiceless, and defend the defenseless, so that her name will be cleared once and for all. 

I also want to protect the memories of those who were actually attached to the history of the farmhouse: the Richardson, Arnold, Butterworth and Kenyon families. 

Please join me as we deconstruct The Conjuring.

 

J’aime Rubio, Author & Historian

(Copyright 5/20/2023) -- www.jaimerubiowriter.com