NEED TO KNOW
Ed and Lorraine Warren’s grandson thinks people are being flippant with some of his grandparents’ most notorious artifacts.
Chris McKinnell, son of the Warrens’ daughter, Judy Spera, appeared on the Reel Appreciation podcast. There, hosts Maria Elizabeth Darnell and David Clair-Bennett asked about his reaction to comedian Matt Rife revealing he “officially purchased” the Warren home and museum, which included the famed paranormal investigators’ “entire haunted collection” along with the infamous Annabelle doll.
“I’d never even heard of him until he bought it. I didn’t know who he was,” McKinnell began.
The 61-year-old noted that he “was far more concerned” that his “mother’s husband,” Tony Spera, was “allowing” paranormal objects, such as the doll, “out on tour.”
Together, Judy and Tony run the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR), which was founded by the Warrens, and often hold paranormal conventions.
McKinnell called Tony “an entertainer,” adding that a character playing his stepfather is going to be in the next Conjuring movie.
“I was willing to allow him to do that and just live his moment, for my mother’s sake,” he added. “But then he started wanting to bring this thing on tour, and that to me was so dangerous, such a betrayal of everything my grandparents spent their lives doing.”
McKinnell condemned what he saw as attempts to commodify the Warrens’ legacy, pointing out that some people getting involved in the paranormal space might not understand what they’re getting into.
“One of the worst parts of my grandparents’ legacy is that my grandfather ever made the mistake of calling it a museum. It was never open to the public. That’s a misconception,” he said.
The Conjuring films turned the Warrens’ home and basement museum, called the Warrens’ Occult Museum, into a tourist attraction, but given its location in a residential neighborhood, it was closed for good in 2019.
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“It was always by special invitation, one or two people, very small groups with specific instructions — don’t touch anything, don’t treat anything with disrespect, do not try to communicate with anything,” he said of his grandparents’ home.
“And yet, what are they doing now? They’re doing TikTok videos where they’re talking to these things. They’re trying to communicate with these things,” McKinnell claimed. To me, that place is the Chernobyl of the paranormal and it bothers me to no end what can happen.”
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On Aug. 1, Rife announced on TikTok that, along with his friend, YouTube creator Elton Castee, he had “officially purchased” the Warren Occult Museum.
In the TikTok, Rife sat down to explain his “super random” purchase of the Connecticut home and museum, as well as the collection of haunted artifacts, which have been fodder for modern horror hits like Annabelle and the Conjuring films.
“This might be the most important and prominent piece of paranormal history in the world. Ed and Lorraine Warren are who took demonology and ghost hunting and paranormal investigating and made it mainstream,” Rife said in the TikTok. “I know a lot of you guys don’t know [what] any of this means whatsoever, but if you follow ghost stuff, this is about as big as it gets.”
The comedian went on to explain that he and Castee are now the “legal guardians and caretakers” of the Warrens’ home, as well as the museum and its collection of 750 artifacts. But they don’t have permanent ownership, he clarified.
“I must go on record and say we do not legally own the items, but we are the legal guardians and caretakers of the items for at least the next five years,” Rife said.
A rep for Rife confirmed the purchase as “legit” in a statement to PEOPLE in early August, while reps for the museum and Tony did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
