The Conjuring series of films have brought in hundreds of millions of dollars<\/a>, and the ninth installment, \u201cThe Conjuring: Last Rites,\u201d opened in theaters this weekend.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Maxim Furek, an author of several books on paranormal events, released \u201cThe Smurl Haunting: When Ed and Lorraine Came to Town\u201d<\/a> in August.<\/p>\n The book documents the event surrounding the Smurl family of West Pittston, Luzerne County, who claimed a demon had taken residence in their home.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI live in Luzerne County, a tiny little mountain community called Mocanaqua, and West Pittston was right up the road for me,\u201d Furek said. \u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cEd and Lorraine Warren are known in the community, and they were sort of the ambassadors [for paranormal investigations],\u201d Furek said. \u201cThey were the ones who introduced educated America to a demonology, and they were very successful.\u201d<\/p>\n The era was full of pop culture fascination with the occult and the paranormal, Furek said, thanks to films like \u201cRosemary\u2019s Baby\u201d and \u201cThe Exorcist.\u201d<\/p>\n The Smurl family\u2019s story of demonic presence has been dubbed by some as \u201cPennsylvania\u2019s Amityville Horror,\u201d since that famous haunted house was also investigated by the Warrens, and was the inspiration for several films, including \u201cThe Conjuring 2.\u201d<\/p>\n While Furek didn\u2019t interview the Smurls directly in the 1980s, he did speak to the Warrens and has visited the home several times since.<\/p>\n \u201cI stayed in touch with Ed and Lorraine over the years,\u201d he said. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI told him I was working on my Smurl haunting book, and he agreed to an interview on Monday, July the 14th,\u201d Furek said. \u201cDan Rivera died the night before he died on Sunday, July the 13th.\u201d<\/p>\n The timing was coincidental<\/a>, though Furek noted in his field, there are those who say \u201cthere\u2019s no such thing as a coincidence.\u201d<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n And as recently as 2016, their daughter Carin Smurl said in an interview with the Pittston-Progress<\/a> that the family didn\u2019t profit from the notoriety, and that \u201cwe wouldn\u2019t wish our experiences on anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Furek\u2019s book documents their accounts, the Warren\u2019s findings, and the involvement of other investigators, including priests and other exorcists. <\/p>\n While he hadn\u2019t seen it at the time of the interview, he does hope to see \u201cThe Conjuring: Last Rites\u201d and compare Hollywood\u2019s version of the story to what he found in his research.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that these motion pictures are going to be a little bit dramatic and overblown, emphasized to a larger extent,\u201d Furek said. \u201cBut again, it\u2019s, it\u2019s entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n Furek is a fan of the \u201cConjuring\u201d series generally, and thinks that the scary movie and his book can pair together nicely.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to be entertained, go to see \u2018The Conjuring: Last Rites\u2019,\u201d he said. \u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Furek said that while he\u2019s written books on several supposed Pennsylvania paranormal events, he\u2019s particularly proud of this one \u201cbecause it really does encapsulate the topic in a comprehensive way.\u201d<\/p>\n And as an investigator, he notes that when it comes to Pennsylvania, \u201cthere\u2019s something in the water\u201d that seems to draw these stories in.<\/p>\n \u201cPennsylvania is just filled with these stories, you know?\u201d he said, whether it be ghosts in Gettysburg, hex signs and braucherei of the Pennsylvania Dutch<\/a>, the Bigfoot-UFO connection in the western portion of the state<\/a>, or even Hollywood movies like \u201cThe Conjuring: Last Rites\u201d or \u201cNight of the Living Dead.\u201d<\/p>\n For more information about his new book or his other works, visit Maxim Furek\u2019s website.<\/a><\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.pennlive.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Conjuring series of films have brought in hundreds of millions of dollars, and the ninth installment, \u201cThe Conjuring: Last Rites,\u201d 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[368859,368860,364340,368861,368862],"class_list":["post-2013783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-368859","tag-9-27-24","tag-mia-tomlinson","tag-photographer-select","tag-vera-farmiga-lorraine-warren"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2013783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2013783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2013783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2013783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Maxim](\"https:\/\/www.pennlive.com\/resizer\/v2\/OSDK3EZKYVGKRL27ERQFR4CEV4.jpg?auth=2dd74bda7f5870ca42d6dafd8ac3d3a3e4dea668ede481c07fef42340abb8cac&width=1280&quality=90\")
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