Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Conjuring: Last Rites

Michael Chaves’ series-ending The Conjuring: Last Rites dramatizes one of Ed and Lorraine Warren’s final cases, and while it departs from the true story in many places, the real haunting is spine-chilling. The box office record-breaking fourth movie of The Conjuring series (and ninth in the expanded Conjuring universe) once again features Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the real-life paranormal investigators.

Each of the four Conjuring movies has depicted a real haunting or demonic possession that the Warrens investigated over the course of their careers. While there is documentation for each of these cases, many of the details are difficult to prove, which is where the movies often exaggerate or embellish the power of the respective specters, making for a more intense theatrical experience.

The Conjuring: Last Rites was advertised as the case that made the Warrens finally stop investigating paranormal cases, and while it did come on the back end of their career, the direct impact that it had on their family was less significant than the film depicts. Still, the true story behind the Smurl family haunting that inspired the movie is plenty disturbing in its own right.

The Conjuring: Last Rites Depicts The Real Smurl Family Haunting

The Smurl family depicted in The Conjuring: Last Rites was a real family that moved into a house in West Pittston, Pennsylvania in 1973. While the timeline and order of occurrences is significantly sped up for the sake of the movie, they first reported minor disturbances as early as 1974, long before the Warrens were called to investigate in 1986.

An important distinction to note is that there was no report of a mirror being the catalyst for the unsettling occurrences, as there is in the movie. That was added in for the sake of cinema to craft a pre-existing connection between Judy and Lorraine Warren that didn’t actually exist in real life.

However, the movie does get many of the more important details correct, or at least correct as the Smurls and Warrens have described them. There were reportedly four enтιтies that plagued the Smurls, including a younger woman, an old woman, a man who had died in the home, and an inhuman enтιтy.

The movie may have embellished the descriptions a bit, including the man’s axe-wielding, hideous visage and the elderly woman’s grotesquely large smile. However, the actual haunting elements were consistent. The Smurls experienced terrible odors, walls inexplicably becoming stained, black mᴀsses moving through the house, and disembodied voices imitating each other.

The instances grew more intense and violent over time. The light fixture falling from the ceiling and injuring one of the Smurl daughters reportedly did happen, as did the family dog being thrown against the wall. Both Jack and Janet Smurl have described instances of Sєxual ᴀssault at the hands of the enтιтies, and Janet alleges being levitated off the ground and then thrown across a room.

How The Warrens Became Involved With The Smurl Family Haunting

Per the Warrens’ own New England Society for Psychic Research, now run by their daughter Judy and her husband Tony (who both play key roles in the movie), the Smurls contacted the Warrens themselves seeking help. Prior to that, their case had received national media attention, as shown in The Conjuring: Last Rites, but it was reportedly the Smurls who reached out directly.

Lorraine Warren’s initial investigation yielded insight about the nature of the enтιтies haunting the house, including the notion that the three human spirits were being used by the demon to torment the Smurls. While Lorraine was the husband and wife team’s more psychically-sensitive member, Ed Warren reported feeling a mᴀssive temperature drop upon entering the house, and saw a black mᴀss form right away.

As all The Conjuring movies do, The Conjuring: Last Rites depicts the Warrens as the main combatants against the forces of darkness plaguing the Smurl family, especially after the enтιтy supposedly caused the death of their friend and ally Father Gordon. In reality, the Warrens had virtually nothing to do with the final removal of the demonic enтιтies in the Smurl home.

Three exorcisms in total were reportedly executed in the home, including one from a priest that the Warrens recommended, with each proving ineffective. Finally, a local priest, Reverend Joseph Adonizio, rid the home of the powerful enтιтies using only the power of intense prayer. The Catholic Church does not claim to have sanctioned any exorcisms, likely due to the extreme skepticism that pervaded the case.

The Smurls moved out of the house in 1987, reportedly still experiencing minor disturbances like knocking on walls and unexplained shadows. The house eventually sold, but the next tenant never reported any paranormal experiences.

The account of the Smurl family haunting was encapsulated in a book, The Haunted: One Family’s Nightmare. The book contained real accounts from Ed and Lorraine Warren along with Jack and Janet Smurl, and many of the stories reported therein acted as the basis for The Conjuring: Last Rites‘ narrative, even though it isn’t actually an adaptation of the book.

The main departure from reality that The Conjuring: Last Rites takes is the level of the Warrens’ involvement, especially concerning their daughter Judy and the pre-existing connection via the antique mirror. However, many of the most terrifying elements of the movie are faithful to the accounts of the people who experienced the haunting, including the Warrens themselves.