The Conjuring series of films have brought in hundreds of millions of dollars, and the ninth installment, “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” opened in theaters this weekend.
But the Hollywood blockbuster was based on a haunting that took place here in Pennsylvania, and a Pennsylvania author has recently released a book on that very incident.
Maxim Furek, an author of several books on paranormal events, released “The Smurl Haunting: When Ed and Lorraine Came to Town” in August.
The book documents the event surrounding the Smurl family of West Pittston, Luzerne County, who claimed a demon had taken residence in their home.
“I live in Luzerne County, a tiny little mountain community called Mocanaqua, and West Pittston was right up the road for me,” Furek said. “And during the frenzy of the 1980s, I went up there numerous times just to check it out, to to talk to the neighbors, just to get a sense of what was going on.”
The haunting led to a visit from famed paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren in 1986. And that visit is the inspiration for the new movie.
“Ed and Lorraine Warren are known in the community, and they were sort of the ambassadors [for paranormal investigations],” Furek said. “They were the ones who introduced educated America to a demonology, and they were very successful.”
The era was full of pop culture fascination with the occult and the paranormal, Furek said, thanks to films like “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Exorcist.”
The Smurl family’s story of demonic presence has been dubbed by some as “Pennsylvania’s Amityville Horror,” since that famous haunted house was also investigated by the Warrens, and was the inspiration for several films, including “The Conjuring 2.”
While Furek didn’t interview the Smurls directly in the 1980s, he did speak to the Warrens and has visited the home several times since.
“I stayed in touch with Ed and Lorraine over the years,” he said. “I would ask Ed specifically how he did battle with these demonic forces. And they always underscored the fact that they were Christians, and that even though the power of the devil is great, the power of God is greater.”
The power of faith was also a conversation Furek had with Dan Rivera, a protege of the Warrens and handler of the famed Annabelle doll (also featured in the Conjuring films). Furek and Rivera met in Gettysburg earlier this year. Rivera died suddenly soon after.
“I told him I was working on my Smurl haunting book, and he agreed to an interview on Monday, July the 14th,” Furek said. “Dan Rivera died the night before he died on Sunday, July the 13th.”
The timing was coincidental, though Furek noted in his field, there are those who say “there’s no such thing as a coincidence.”
Jack and Janet Smurl claimed that over the course of several years, they and their family suffered from things like unexplained loud noises and bad odors in their home, and that members of their family were shaken or assaulted by malevolent presences.
And as recently as 2016, their daughter Carin Smurl said in an interview with the Pittston-Progress that the family didn’t profit from the notoriety, and that “we wouldn’t wish our experiences on anyone.”
Furek’s book documents their accounts, the Warren’s findings, and the involvement of other investigators, including priests and other exorcists.
While he hadn’t seen it at the time of the interview, he does hope to see “The Conjuring: Last Rites” and compare Hollywood’s version of the story to what he found in his research.
“I think that these motion pictures are going to be a little bit dramatic and overblown, emphasized to a larger extent,” Furek said. “But again, it’s, it’s entertainment.”
Furek is a fan of the “Conjuring” series generally, and thinks that the scary movie and his book can pair together nicely.
“If you want to be entertained, go to see ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’,” he said. “If you want to be educated as to the right of exorcism and demonology, and how does the Smurl house compare with other haunted houses? Then read my book.”
Furek said that while he’s written books on several supposed Pennsylvania paranormal events, he’s particularly proud of this one “because it really does encapsulate the topic in a comprehensive way.”
And as an investigator, he notes that when it comes to Pennsylvania, “there’s something in the water” that seems to draw these stories in.
“Pennsylvania is just filled with these stories, you know?” he said, whether it be ghosts in Gettysburg, hex signs and braucherei of the Pennsylvania Dutch, the Bigfoot-UFO connection in the western portion of the state, or even Hollywood movies like “The Conjuring: Last Rites” or “Night of the Living Dead.”
For more information about his new book or his other works, visit Maxim Furek’s website.
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