The Strangers (2008)
The fiction: A couple is harassed in their home by a group of masked intruders.
The fact: This beloved slasher was inspired by three separate sources: a personal experience of writer/director Bryan Bertino's in which strangers knocked on his door while his parents were away, and he later found out they'd been responsible for break-ins in the area; the Manson Family murders, in which followers of infamous killer Charles Manson murdered five people in a home invasion, including actress Sharon Tate; and the Keddie Cabin Murders, which involved a woman and her children staying at a remote resort in California.
The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)
The fiction: A family moves into a haunted house that used to be a mortuary.
The fact: The Reed family experienced strange events, including apparitions of a man with long black hair, after moving into a former funeral home in the '80s. The house was allegedly rid of the unfriendly ghost(s) after a three-hour exorcism, although the Catholic church denies having performed it.
The Rite (2011)
The fiction: An American seminary student travels to Italy to take a course on exorcism, and he eventually witnesses real supernatural events.
The fact: The Rite is based loosely on the life of a real priest, father Gary Thomas, who is one of the few to complete a 40-hour Vatican course on exorcism. Journalist Matt Baglio wrote about him in his book The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist, which served as the film's inspiration.
Silent House (2011)
The fiction: A young woman is terrorized in her family vacation home.
The fact: Silent House is a remake of a 2010 Uruguyan film called La Casa Muda ("The Silent House"), which was based on an incident that allegedly occurred in a village in Uruguay in the 1940s.
The Possession (2012)
The fiction: A young girl inadvertently purchases a haunted box at a yard sale. Scary stuff ensues.
The fact: The Possession was originally titled "The Dibbuk Box," after the story of a haunted box that supposedly terrorized multiple owners.
The Conjuring (2013)
The fiction: A pair of paranormal investigators attempt to rid a family of their home's irate spirits.
The fact: The Conjuring was famously based on just one of the many historical incidents involving real life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.
The Sacrament (2013)
The fiction: Journalists accompany a co-worker and document their attempt to rescue a relative from an abusive cult.
The fact: The cult was inspired by the Peoples Temple settlement Jonestown in Guyana, which made the phrase "drink the Kool-Aid" famous after its nearly 1,000 members died from drinking poisoned Flavor Aid in a mass suicide (although, it's been reported, some gulped it down less willingly than others.
Annabelle (2014)
The fiction: A couple is harassed by the soul of a cultist murderer that's trapped inside a creepy doll.
The fact: The doll Annabelle originated in The Conjuring, but it wasn't until the 2014 film Annabelle that she got her own backstory. The doll itself is based on a real life alleged haunted doll, also named Annabelle, investigated by the paranormal experts Ed and Lorrain Warren.
Deliver Us From Evil (2014)
The fiction: A veteran NYPD officer and a renegade priest wrestle with real evil.
The fact: The movie was based on Ralph Sarchie's book Beware the Night, which documents his work as a demonologist. The plot of the movie is entirely fictional, but it allegedly is true to the character of the writer himself.
The Conjuring 2 (2016)
The fiction: Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren reluctantly help a family haunted by demons in England.
The fact: Like the other movies in the extended Conjuring universe, The Conjuring 2 is based on a real case the Warrens investigated: the Enfield Poltergeist, one of England's most infamous hauntings.
Done - Baby Blue
