AP Photo/Wilkes-Barre Times Leader/Carolyn Bauman The Conjuring: Last Ritesis based on the alleged 1986 haunting of the Smurl family Janet and Jack Smurl claimed a demonic presence had terrorized their home and sexually assaulted Jack for over a year Ed and Lorraine Warren investigated the haunting and concluded there were four demons who terrorized their home The real account behindThe Conjuring: Last Ritesis almost as terrifying as the film itself. Released on Sept. 5, the final film in the horror franchise is set five years after the events ofThe Devil Made Me Do Itand tackles one of the most prominent real-life cases from paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. As the Warrens contemplate retiring from the demon-hunting business, a desperate Pennsylvania couple reaches out for help with a violent presence hellbent on destroying their family. Reluctantly, they agree to lend their exorcism expertise one last time. Patrick WilsonandVera Farmigahave played Ed and Lorraine, respectively, sinceTheConjuringpremiered in 2013. The franchise announced in 2022 that another installment was in the works, and Wilson confirmed withEntertainment Weeklythat it would be his last. The actor said that he didn't want his character to be "on death's door" for the final movie, considering that the real-life Ed didn't die until 2006. "But retirement was interesting to me," Wilson said in a May 2025 interview. "It was important to show the skeptics. We're not in the middle ofAmityville, when [hauntings were] everywhere. What is it like when they're not playing to big crowds? What does that do to them?" In reality, the self-professed demonologists continued their paranormal work up until their deaths (Lorraine died in 2019). One of their most prominent cases to date was that of the Pennsylvania-based Smurl family, who reached out to the Warrens in 1986 and claimed that a demonic presence had been terrorizing their home for over a year. Here's everything to know about the real-life Smurl family haunting that inspiredThe Conjuring: Last Rites. Warner Bros. Yes,The Conjuring: Last Ritesis based on the real-life alleged haunting of the Smurl family that the Warrens investigated in 1986, perPenn Live. Executive producer Peter Safran toldEntertainment Weeklythat the case had "percolated on a regular basis" as a potential plotline since the beginning of the franchise, as it's "one of the more Googleable ones." "We've known about this one for a long time," Wilson told the outlet. "Then writers are playing around with how it affects the family and what's going on in the family's life. That's where we can really theatricalize it. We're not making a documentary." AP Photo/Wilkes-Barre Times Leader/Fred Adams Jack and Janet Smurl were parents who moved into a duplex in West Pittston, Pa., with their two young daughters in 1976. Jack's parents later moved in and occupied the other half of the duplex. The couple also eventually welcomed twins. Life in the house was mostly uneventful — until one night in 1985, when a light fell from the ceiling and left their daughter, Shannon Smurl, with a gash on her forehead. Over the next year and a half, the Smurls claimed to experience a range of supernatural activity from blood-curdling screams and odd smells to witnessing their German shepherd, Simon, get thrown against the wall and their daughters pushed down the stairwell. Jack also claimed that a demonic presence had sexually assaulted him. "Up until a year ago, I thought that these type of things only happened in movies," Jack told Lorraine ina 1986 interview. "And I always felt, of course, that movies were, you know, always overstated to begin with, so I wasn't really a believer." InLast Rites, Rebecca Calder and Elliot Cowan play Janet and Jack, respectively. AP Photo/Wilkes-Barre Times Leader/Carolyn Bauman After two allegedly failed exorcisms, the Smurls decided to go public with their story in hopes of attracting more help in ridding their home of demons. They were interviewed on TV programs likeLarry King LiveandEntertainment Tonightand their alleged paranormal nightmare was covered closely by national media. Their efforts paid off in 1986, when their case caught the attention of Ed and Lorraine. The famed paranormal investigators concluded that the Smurls' home had been invaded by four spirits: an elderly woman, a young girl with the potential for violence, a man who died in the home and a demon. According to theNew England Society for Psychic Research— Ed and Lorraine's organization, now run by their daughter and son-in-law,Judy Speraand Tony Spera — the demon was using the other three spirits to "destroy" the Smurls. Ed told theTimes Leaderin 1986 that he encountered the presence during his first night in the Smurls' home and that furniture began to jump around when he tried to expel the demon with holy water, holy oil and a crucifix. "I did not have to wait moments when the very thing I felt was a drop in temperature of at least 30-some degrees," he said. "Then, a dark mass formed about three feet in front of me. There was a sound in back of me, I could hear rattling around." Warner Bros. With the help of the Warrens, the Smurls wrote a book about their story in 1986 titledThe Haunted: One Family's Nightmare. Five years later, it was adapted into a TV movie starringSally Kirkland. As for the demon, it wasn't Ed and Lorraine who allegedly rid it from the family's home but a pastor of a nearby church. Rev. Joseph Adonizio told theTimes Leaderin October 1986 that "intense prayers" are what "chased the foul smells and violent demons from the West Pittston home." However, Janet told the outlet in 1987 that she still heard knocking around her home and occasionally saw shadows. The following year, the Smurls moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pa. In 2017, Jack died from diabetes complications at the age of 75. Though his daughter, Carin Smurl, told thePocono Recordthat her dad had put their supernatural nightmare behind him, she occasionally worked as a paranormal investigator. "We had such a hard time and nobody to turn to," she told the outlet in 2017. "He was happy I was a voice out there for people who need help." Google Maps In 1987, the family put the house up for sale, per theObserver-Reporter. After they moved out, a man named Richard Bridle purchased it as a rental, but claimed to have difficulty finding a tenant because of the residence's haunted history. That same year, Debra Owens moved into the duplex in West Pittston and told theTimes Leaderthat she never encountered anything supernatural. Read the original article onPeople
