Ghost Hunter Dies In Eerie Circumstances Traveling With Annabelle Doll

A paranormal investigator has passed away while touring with the real-life "haunted" Annabelle doll. Dan Rivera, a producer for Netflix's "28 Days Haunted" and an investigator for the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR), died at the age of 54 in his Gettysburg, Pennsylvania hotel room while touring the United States with the alleged demonic doll. Sadly, this isn't a clickbait-y promotion for the upcoming "The Conjuring: Last Rites," but an all too real tragedy.

The "Devils on the Run" tour took Annabelle, which served as the inspiration for the doll featured in "The Conjuring" film series and "Annabelle" spinoff movies, from city to city for the first time ever, so that people from all over the country could see the famous horror toy. In an interview with I95 Rock earlier this year, Rivera spoke about having an unusual experience after he handled the doll: "After I moved that doll from the case ... I had to leave the museum that evening because my leg started shaking really bad," he recalled. "And I started getting these cold sweats so I had to leave the museum and I never felt anything like that before."

Fellow NESPR member Ryan Buell posted a tribute to Rivera on TikTok: "We are all currently grieving the loss of our friend, and we ask people to respect his friends and family during this time." Rivera's exact cause of death remains unknown, and he is survived by his wife Sarah and their four children.

While she's a horror movie icon, there's a dark history to Annabelle that's rooted in reality, going back to 1970 when a nurse acquired a Raggedy Ann doll. She felt a sinister energy from the doll and noticed strange events following her arrival, like the words "help me" written on paper scattered across the floor. The case attracted the attention of Ed and Lorraine Warren — famous paranormal investigators whose exploits are the inspiration for the "Conjuring" movies — who determined that the doll contained an entity that wished to acquire a human host.

The Warrens took the doll from the nurse and added it to their collection of haunted artifacts, with Annabelle becoming a fixture of the Warrens' Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut. Over the years, the Warrens have largely been dismissed as frauds who didn't possess any otherworldly abilities, despite what their Hollywood adventures might have the general public believe. They naturally still have their fans, and anything with their name attached is bound to attract attention, especially a doll like Annabelle. 

In 2019, following Lorraine Warren's death, the museum closed to the public due to zoning problems. A tour kicked off in 2025 to bring the Warrens' artifacts on the road, with Annabelle being a main attraction despite prior warnings from Lorraine that no one should ever move the doll. With everything that's transpired, perhaps that warning should have been heeded.

Dan Rivera's death is a tragic occurrence, but despite what many folks online want to believe, this is just a horrible happenstance and there's likely no curse actually associated with the doll. However, it's understandable that a lot of people think something supernatural is afoot, since this isn't the first ruinous event to befall the "Devils on the Run" tour.

The Annabelle doll made an appearance in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 13 and 14, 2025. Despite the NESPR taking precautions for the tour, including traveling with a Catholic priest, many believed the doll's visit to the bayou unleashed chaos. On May 15, a fire burned down the Nottoway Planation House, while the following day, 10 inmates escaped from the Orleans Parish Prison. As of this writing, nine of the inmates have been recaptured while one remains at large. It almost sounds like a concept for another "Annabelle" film, with the demonic doll possessing an on-the-loose criminal. 

Are malevolent forces at play? Or are these just coincidences? Either way, the public's fascination with evil dolls isn't going away anytime soon.