Zak Bagans has spoken out following the tragic passing of his fellow paranormal investigator, Dan Rivera, who was accompanying the purportedly haunted Annabelle doll at the time of his demise. Similar to Rivera, the star of "Ghost Adventures" had a harrowing encounter with Annabelle, an item deemed "demonically possessed" by the New England Society of Psychic Research (NESPR), which houses it in their collection.
"In 2017, I had the chance to examine Annabelle when her owner brought her to my museum," Bagans revealed in an interview with Us Weekly, published on July 16. "I was profoundly affected by her presence, which inadvertently led me to touch the doll." He added, "The owner wasn't particularly pleased with that gesture."
The eerie tale of Annabelle began in 1968, when a student nurse and her roommates started experiencing "bizarre phenomena" around the toy, according to the NESPR website. Ed Warren, a founder of the organization, and his wife Lorraine Warren—a demonologist and trance medium, respectively—were summoned to investigate. They eventually enclosed Annabelle in a glass case at their Connecticut museum to "contain the malevolent entity" believed to reside within.
The chilling mythology surrounding Annabelle served as the muse for The Conjuring movie franchise, starring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the Warrens.
Rivera, who had been associated with NESPR for over a decade, was midst a tour with the Raggedy Ann doll when he was found deceased in a Pennsylvania hotel on July 13. Although the 54-year-old's cause of death remains undisclosed pending an autopsy, local authorities stated that "nothing unusual or suspicious was noted at the scene."
In a statement issued on July 15, NESPR expressed that they were "still grappling with this immense loss" but had no immediate intentions of canceling their Annabelle tour, scheduled to reach Maine in September. "We are convinced, with all our hearts, that Dan would have wanted the work to proceed," they clarified. "We will honor his spirit in everything we undertake."
In the aftermath of Rivera's passing, Bagans told Us Weekly, "My heartfelt condolences go out to his loved ones."
