Owners of The Conjuring house sue Warner Bros. over legions of trespassing superfans

(Image credit: YouTube/Warner Bros. Pictures)

published 6 October 2015

For the owners of the Rhode Island farmhouse that inspired the 2013 horror film The Conjuring, it's not the supernatural that scares them — it's the superfans. Norma Sutcliffe and Gerald Helfrich are suing Warner Bros. over legions of trespassing ghost hunters inspired by the film, citing "threats of physical violence and harm, sleepless nights, and worry that one day, one of the many trespassers will commit an act of destruction, violence, or harm," according to court documents reported by Entertainment Weekly and The Guardian.

The "Conjuring-instigated siege of their property" began in 2013, after the film was released; before then, Sutcliffe and Helfrich had lived in the house since 1987 without any spooks, terrestrial or otherworldly. However, the owners maintain that Warner Bros. released the film without ever letting them know or asking their permission — with the studio going as far as "to market the movie as based on a true story" as well as to "prominently" identify the location of the house in promotional materials.

The court documents added that, "The property was inundated by curiosity seekers and trespassers who, at all hours of night and day, come to and on to the property, approach, and seek to enter the house, take photographs and videos, ignore the 'no trespassing' signs, fences, and barriers installed." Up to 500 such trespassers are mentioned in the report. For Warner Bros., it might turn out that The Conjuring was truer than they realized: Sometimes it is better to keep the genie in the bottle. Jeva Lange

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.