3. Annabelle (The Conjuring Franchise)
The breakout star of The Conjuring franchise, Annabelle, actually exists in real life. The creepy porcelain doll originally featured in The Conjuring who later starred in her own spin-off film is actually based on a real doll. The real life Annabelle is actually a Raggedy Ann doll – whose appearance was changed both to make the doll scarier and to avoid having to obtain permission to use the Hasbro product in the film – and is supposedly possessed by a demon.
Ed and Lorraine Warren (fictional versions of which appear as the protagonists of The Conjuring and its sequels) investigated Annabelle, who supposedly was exhibiting malicious and frightening behavior to the student nurse that owned her. The Warrens removed the doll, and she came to find a place in the Warrens’ Occult Museum – much like her on-screen counterpart.
The real story behind Annabelle lacks any real concrete proof, other than the existence of a doll in the Warrens’ museum. Even though the real Annabelle looks decidedly less creepy than the porcelain doll in Annabelle, she is very much a real doll that many believe to be possessed.