First and foremost I want to apologize to my readers, it has been a minute since I have posted on here. Let me bring you up to speed on what's been going on. Well, the past year has been pretty tough for me with some serious changes in my personal life as well as some serious health scares. After several surgeries and trips to the hospital, I believe that I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. With that being said, I have some good news for everyone. I am currently working on a new book, which will actually be my detailed research (with the help of a couple friends) to share the true history of the Richardson-Arnold House a.k.a Arnold Farmhouse or Old Arnold Estate -- but you may know it as, The Conjuring House.
I am slowly getting this done, all the while still trying to keep up with my history blogs and social media. I also have positive news coming up soon that is very exciting for me to share -- but I cannot share just yet! It has to do with the Burrillville Historical & Preservation Society. So, when it's time to make the announcement, I promise I will share it with all of you!
Getting back to the subject of this blog post today, I wanted to go over the episode that Josh Gates filmed for his television show, "Expedition X" that aired on September 3rd, of this year. The episode, (Season 10; Episode 3) titled, "The Curse of the Conjuring," really disappointed me in more ways than one. In this blog, I will share with you in detail why I was so disappointed, how the information provided within the program doesn't match the facts, and then I am going to share with you the real history of this particular house.
The Episode
To start, the episode opened up with Josh and his crew, Phil Torres and Heather Amaro sitting in his "office," discussing "The Conjuring," film. Of course the same ol' story is retold about the Perron family's alleged experiences in the home. Josh then talks about how Carolyn Perron was "targeted by a malevolent entity" in the home back in 1971, claiming she would "wake up with inexplicable bruises," and that "in one terrifying incident, a hay knife flies off the wall of their barn, slicing her neck and nearly decapitating her."
Then he goes on to say that by 1973, "the overwhelmed Perrons call in the pioneers of paranormal investigation, Ed & Lorraine Warren for help."
Let me first explain that I have been a big fan of Josh Gates for many years. In fact, my sons and I used to watch Destination Truth together when it first came out and we were hooked right away. We loved to see his travels to different places all over the world, investigating mysteries and legends. It was always a fascinating program. Unfortunately, I am not impressed with his recent television programs or their lack of factual research of locations.
Today, we will delve into some of the stories that are told on this episode regarding the Perron family and the Warren's experiences at the home, but first let's talk about the most recent claims about the "house next door."
In this episode, Phil and Heather interview the residents of the house at 1725 Round Top Road, owner, Shery Patrie, her boyfriend Patrick Boylan, and her two sons, Hunter and Tyler Fague.
The premise of this episode is that the residents claim that their house is now having paranormal activity that has "spilled over" from the property next door, and that Josh Gates' team is there to seek answers. The number one disappointment to me was the fact no one on the show did any rudimentary research on the history of that house, and if they had, it wasn't aired in the episode. Instead, they focused on vague experiences from residents, and interviewed Andrea Perron and Tony Spera as their "research."
When listening to the list of incidents the residents of the home had been allegedly experiencing, those sounded familiar, like recycled stories from Andrea Perron's books or her recorded family interviews over the years.
Examples: the Boylan/Patrie family claims of hearing footsteps in the attic; a kitchen table that they say they can hear moving around from the other room; alleged scratches on their bodies (no photos to show us); the step father claims he has been attacked by a female spirit in the middle of the night (which can easily be explained by sleep paralysis); and says he keeps getting pushed down the stairs, etc.
Remember, Roger Perron had claimed that a female spirit was bothering him, too. He even claimed the female spirit bothered him in the basement as well, just like Patrick's claim. Carolyn claimed a woman taunted her as she lay in bed. These stories are not new, but appear to be recycled. In fact, throughout my research on this story the similarities kept going on and on.
In the episode, Heather Amaro interviews Andrea Perron sitting on a pew in what looks like a church, while Andrea brings up various incidents, including the one Josh briefly mentioned at the introduction of the show, when Carolyn allegedly was attacked by a flying hand scythe. Then Andrea, pulls an antique hand scythe out from a backpack on the floor and overdramatically tells Heather not to be afraid.
First and foremost, why would Andrea be holding onto an old scythe that supposedly tried to kill her mother? Why would you keep an object like that? She herself said that the object had dark energy attached to it. That just doesn't make sense for someone who claims to be so interested in positive energies and love and light.
Andrea goes on to retell the story of what allegedly happened to her mother, Carolyn, while she was alone in the barn back in 1971.
"This is the object that almost claimed my mother's life.....it was hovering in the barn, spinning, and then crashed down across her neck, knocked her to the ground and then it was this way (point the scythe's blade outwards, shaking it violently)...and it trembled, and trembled, and trembled, and then fell on the floor and went silent." --- Andrea Perron's interview, Expedition X, Season 10; Episode 3.
Okay, so let's address a few things really quick.
Pages 99 through 101 of the book, "House of Darkness, House of Light," by Andrea Perron says:
"she had no recollection of seeing that hand scythe hanging overhead, dangling precariously from its highest beam more than thirty feet from the ground......a few weeks after moving in, while the children were in school, Carolyn slipped out of their house for a few minutes to admire their beautiful barn......she distinctly heard a strangely disquieting sound above her head, magnified by still, silent air....the rapidly repetitious noise startled her; "whoosh whoosh whoosh" slicing through acrid, stagnant air........This object appeared to be hovering overhead, literally defying the law of gravity. Suddenly it plunged toward her; the woman was in grave danger....it struck her slender form, its blade slicing hard across both her neck and shoulder, the violent force of a blow she expected was stunning nonetheless. There it lay beside her boots, on frozen planks of wood."
Andrea's story in her book never said that Carolyn was knocked to the ground, as she stated in the television interview. The story in Andrea's book goes on to explain that because Carolyn was wearing multiple layers of clothing, the leather protected her from the alleged incident, and that the scythe was unable to penetrate through the clothes she had on. So, from the book's explanation Carolyn didn't even get hurt, it was her clothing that was allegedly cut.
So what is all this talk on the television episode about nearly being decapitated?!
For the record, just so people understand, a small hand scythe, just like any other farm tool such as a shovel, saw, or even a pitchfork that was commonly kept in a barn, and would often be found hanging against the walls for easy access. I highly doubt it was 30 ft off the ground hanging on a beam as that would have been impratical for a small hand scythe, as someone would have to climb up on a ladder to retrieve it, unless there were many antiquated objects hanging up high for decoration. I know my dad had a large scythe in our yard as decoration, growing up out in the country. The one we had was so big, it was the type you imagine the "grim reaper" holding.
Now, a hay claw, as they are often called, which are part of a pulley system to lift up large amounts of hay were suspended from a rope/pulley on the barn ceiling. Could something like that have came loose from the ropes in which it were attached to and fell to the ground, nearly hitting Carolyn? That is a more plausible theory, and one that can be easily explained. It would also be more likely hanging from the top beams of a barn. The barn was very old, even in 1971, and any number of things could have happened while she was wandering around the barn, touching or leaning on things, that could have caused something that was already loose to fall. Do I believe that the scythe Andrea pulled out of the backpack on television is what allegedly hit Carolyn 54 years earlier? No. I do not believe so.
Remember still, there is no evidence whatsoever that any of this ever actually happened, as there were no witnesses present, and this story, according to Andrea, came from the mouth of her mother, Carolyn Perron whom I have already caught speaking "untruths" (to put it nicely) many times regarding her "research" on Bathsheba Sherman's history. It goes without saying that due to the fact that I have found serious holes in Carolyn's recollections, that her memories were not credible by any means, and thus can never be taken seriously.
I am not even going to get into the whole seance story in this blog, because there is just too much for me to say about that and the multitudes of descrepancies in that story that has been told over and over for years and years, and seems to continue to get larger and more elaborate with every telling. No. I am leaving that one for a chapter in my upcoming book, that you will not want to miss.
Going back to the episode, we get to the interview with Tony Spera. For the record, I am not a fan. Tony is not interested in the truth about anything -- if he was, he would not allow the slander of Bathsheba Sherman to continue to this day. I have written to him and asked him to remove that page about Bathsheba from the NESPR website, but it is still there. The photos on that site are not of Bathsheba as no photos of her exist. I also shared that information with Tony and asked him to remove them, but if you click on the link, you will see has has done no such thing.
In the episode he claims that Lorraine "felt scared in the house" and that Ed called it the "bewitched farmhouse." Interesting that he says that, because Lorraine had absolutely no problem traveling by herself to visit Norma Sutcliffe, the then owner of the house, and spent time visiting with Norma at the home many years ago.
In fact, Lorraine toured the home and spoke to Norma about how lovely it was, how wonderful Norma was decorating it, and that it was the perfect home for children (as Norma ran a daycare at the home for many, many years). When Norma asked Lorraine why the Perron's allegedly had experiences in the home, and how she and Gerry had not, Lorraine told her that she believed it was the family that was causing their own "problems" back then, due to the dysfunctional nature of the family and not the house itself. She told Norma that the house itself was fine. If Lorraine was so scared of the house, why did she travel to the home by herself, and then proceed to tell Norma that?
Back to the subject at hand, during the episode Tony also takes the opportunity to show Phil items in the Warren's museum and asks Phil not to touch anything. One of these days I will have to share with everyone the funny story Norma Sutcliffe shared with me about her visit to Ed and Lorraine's house many years ago, and her experience in the "museum," and no, it isn't a paranormal story, but it is funny.
Anyhow, Tony goes over to the glass and wooden case where the Raggedy Anne doll infamously known as Annabelle is locked away, and he gives the spiel about it being so dangerous. The television show begins to narrate how "supposedly" the doll, "sliced someone open in the 1970's, then caused a priest to nearly die in a car crash."
Please, DO NOT BELIEVE A WORD TONY SPERA SAYS ABOUT ANYTHING!
If you want to know the truth about the Annabelle doll, please watch/listen to Stevi Etes podcast where she literally dug deep all the way back to the beginning of this very sensationalized and fabricated story that has snowballed into paranormal legend and lore. No, Annabelle is not possessed, even Ed Warren said so! Yes, you read that right.
Please, once you have finished this blog, I encourage you to visit Stevi's podcast channel on Youtube for the facts surrounding Annabelle.
Annabelle (Part 1): https://youtu.be/4WiVWaMJQsk?si=MPrggAgqrCdP-OfQ
Annabelle (Part 2): https://youtu.be/EGchgX_HrWE?si=u5owS5faGpNCmX22
Annabelle (Part 3): https://youtu.be/d_N0E0zzr58?si=5BbWo9-K9NmWewym
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Back to this subject...
Going back to the episode, the gentleman that is interviewed claims that the "old stone foundation" is older than the house.
Actually, no, it's not.
The house at 1725 Round Top Way was built in 1941, and there was absolutely nothing on that part of the property before that point, it was just land. No old stone foundation was there predating anything. That is just a bunch of malarkey.
A funny coincidence though, when Sherry's parents purchased the home in 1971, the bank that loaned them the money to purchase the property was called "Old Stone Savings Bank."
Do you see the two houses marked with the red arrow above each one in the photo below? The one on the right is the Richardson-Arnold Farmhouse and the one on the left is the Patrie House. Now, I want you to take a look at the aerial photo from 1939, which is just below that one, and take a look at the same exact spots. You will see there was absolutely nothing on that spot of land prior to the building of that house in 1941, except for trees and dirt. There was no old stone foundation predating the house and there is nothing physically "connecting" the two houses to each other.
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| 2025 Aerial View |
1939 AERIAL VIEW
If Sherry Patrie and Patrick Boylan have lived there for decades, as claimed, and the house is so haunted, as they also claim -- then why is it just now that we are hearing about their paranormal experiences they have been having at this house?
I did a little research and found that Sherry's parents purchased the home in August of 1971, eight years before Sherry was born (October 1979). It is obvious that this was Sherry's childhood home, at least prior to her moving out as an adult and having her own family in Mapleville for a number of years.
What I am trying to say here is that during the televised interview you do not see Sherry mention any childhood memories of the house being haunted at all. Only stories of recent incidents in the home are mentioned, and even those are vague at best or retold by Patrick, Sherry's partner. Why is that? If she grew up in the house, and the house is haunted, certainly she would have shared some memories she had growing up there; At least one would think so.
Unfortunately, Sherry's mother, Claire Patrie just recently passed away in June of 2025, so no one is able to ask her about her home and if she herself had ever experienced anything supernatural or paranormal during the 54 years that she lived there.
Again, I just find it strange that the couple waited until one of the older owners of the house had passed on, before sharing the stories about the house being allegedly haunted and making all these claims. You see, the same thing happened with the Perron family, too. The Perrons waited until September of 1973, just one month after the death of Earl Kenyon, Sr., the gentleman they purchased the house from, before they started their "ghost stories" about the house.
Are you aware that there was absolutely no talk about the Richardson-Arnold home (Conjuring House) being haunted prior to the fall of 1973?
Why is that? Could it be because once Mr. Kenyon was gone, there would be no one to counter the Perron's stories with actual facts? (Or so they thought). Again, there are just too many similarities to ignore here.
Yes, this piece of land was once part of the original Arnold farm, but there are no documents that show any structure on that particular spot where 1725 Round Top Road was constructed had been there prior. When the house was built in 1941, the land belonged to Sarah Butterworth Kenyon and her husband, Earl Kenyon, Sr. Later, deed records show that the plat of land was conveyed by the Kenyons to Melicite Berube Vacher and her daughter Lula Vacher Bishop in June of 1945, meaning that the property was paid off as of June 1945.
The DeSourdy's had three sons, but by the time they purchased the house on Round Top Road their boys were already grown. The couple stayed there until 1971, when they sold the house to Maurice and Claire Patrie, on August 31, 1971.
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| Stillwater Worsted Mill, R.I. |
