10 True Ghost Stories That Inspired Horror Films

James Wan's Conjuring Universe is supposedly entirely steeped in reality - drawing inspiration from Ed and Lorraine Warren, two famed paranormal investigators that have allegedly worked on over 10,000 cases in their time together. Their work with the Perron family, the infamous haunted doll Annabelle, and the Enfield Poltergeist have all been covered in the franchise, with another film coming based on their exorcism of a demonic spirit that manifests itself as a werewolf.

The original Conjuring film looks at the Perron family case, of which a family of seven were haunted by spirits that varied from harmless ghosts to homicidal witch demons. There really is no in between here.

Stuck in their farmhouse for nine years due to financial restrictions, the parents and their five daughters had the majority of their problems with Bathsheba, a real life woman accused of being a witch and sacrificing her children to the devil in the 19th century. Appearing 'in person' regularly to terrify the house's occupants, Bathsheba focussed her aggression on Carolyn, the mother of the family, in a bid to assert her dominance as the woman of the house.

In the real story, Bathsheba possessed Carolyn and became further enraged by the Warren's investigation into the haunted property - resulting in the Perrons asking them to leave immediately rather than get the exorcism depicted in the movie. Whilst the family managed to move away in 1980, new residents have all corroborated having encounters with the sprits in the home, though none have been haunted as aggressively as the Perrons.