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Author says Ed and Lorraine Warren are frauds


stereologist

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Ray Gorton was hired by the Warrens to write the book "In a Dark Place." The book is about a haunting in Connecticut. The author states that the book is fiction and he made it up at the request of the Warrens.

This is his website: http://raygartononline.com/

He has this in his blog: http://preposteroustwaddlecock.blogspot.com/

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For the last two decades, I’ve been denouncing a book I wrote called In a Dark Place, which was initially published as “the story of a true haunting.”  I’ve been denouncing it because the book and the two “demonologists” who "investigated" the "case," Ed and Lorraine Warren, were frauds.  (I made all of those quotation marks in the air with my fingers.)  I made every effort to make the book entertaining and scary and I encourage people to read it for that, but it's certainly not a "true story."  (It has been reprinted without those claims at my insistence.)  In the process of denouncing the book and the Warrens, I’ve also expressed my feelings about the entire paranormal industry, which are no different.

 

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So here is an interview with the author

http://www.damnedct.com/damned-interview-ray-garton/

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Ray Garton: I was offered the job, and because I used to read of Ed and Lorraine Warren's exploits in the National Enquirer when I was a kid, I took it. I went to Connecticut and spent time with the Warrens and the Snedekers. When I found that the Snedekers couldn't keep their individual stories straight, I went to Ed Warren and explained the problem. "They're crazy," he said. "All the people who come to us are crazy, that's why they come to us. Just use what you can and make the rest up. You write scary books, right? Well, make it up and make it scary. That's why we hired you."

There it is clear as day. Gorton states that the Warrens told him to write a fake story.

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Their son, around whom their entire story centered, was nowhere to be found. I never met him. I was allowed to talk to him briefly on the phone, but as soon as he started telling me that the things he "saw" in the house went away after he'd been medicated, Carmen abruptly ended the conversation.

So the story is just a story. Was it imagined? Was it due to some mental illness? Was the story a scam such as the interstate lottery scam the Snedeckers were involved in?

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34 minutes ago, stereologist said:

Ray Gorton was hired by the Warrens to write the book "In a Dark Place." The book is about a haunting in Connecticut. The author states that the book is fiction and he made it up at the request of the Warrens.

 

@susieice   What did I always say? :yes:

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This would be easy to fix for the Warrens. They had years between the book publishing when Gorton started to complain about the pair being frauds and when they died.

http://www.damnedct.com/damned-interview-ray-garton/

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The Warrens repeatedly told me they had videotape of actual supernatural activity shot in the house and they were going to show it to me while I was there, but they never did. They said they couldn't find the tape.

How convenient. They pretend they have hard evidence and they lost it.

If I had hard evidence of the paranormal I do not think I would lose it. That would be so important because it would show everyone in the sciences that there is actual hard evidence for the stories.

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There might be those that suggest maybe this author's situation was unique. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't.

Here is what the author has to say:

http://www.damnedct.com/damned-interview-ray-garton/

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I've talked to other writers who've been hired to write books for the Warrens -- always horror writers, like myself -- and their experiences with the Warrens have been almost identical to my own.

That makes it abundantly clear that the Warrens have a long history of fraud and that their stories so celebrated by the believers are nothing more than made up fiction for entertainment and the enrichment of the Warrens.

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They did a big "investigation" of the Amityville house also. Didn't they have a museum?

 

Edited by susieice
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32 minutes ago, susieice said:

They did a big "investigation" of the Amityville house also. Didn't they have a museum?

 

They did have a good sized museum. When Steve Novella and his group went to visit the Warrens wanted to get the blessing of the New England Skeptic Society. They would not allow the skeptics to see the museum because they said that those who do not believe in god would not be protected from the demons locked in the objects in the museum.

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Was there a reason that the Snedeckers created this hoax of demons? You bet your bippy there was.

http://www.damnedct.com/damned-interview-ray-garton/

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I've learned that the "supernatural" problems in the house didn't start until the landlord, frustrated after months of being unable to get rent out of the Snedekers, made moves to have them evicted. Then all of a sudden the house was infested with demons.

Just like all of these tales the story was based on greed and fraud, lying and had a financial underpinning.

 

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You might wonder why the author has been undermining his book.

http://www.damnedct.com/damned-interview-ray-garton/

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I have been telling my story since In A Dark Place was published because my name is on that book, and it disturbed me that it was being sold as "non-fiction." I wanted to make sure I had a clear conscience, so I've given my account at every opportunity, and it's all over the internet. Over the years, the true believers have accused me of holding some kind of grudge, or "cashing in" on all this by denouncing the book I wrote. That's nonsense. The Warrens and the Snedekers did nothing to me personally. I hold no grudge toward them. And I haven't made a penny by telling my story. I've done it in the interest of full disclosure.

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After I learned that the whole thing had been concocted by people looking for a book deal and a possible movie deal, I was locked in. The publisher had no interest in anything I had to say. I was contracted to write this book, and the book was always meant to be "non-fiction." It wasn't really my book, I had no control over it.

And that's is why the author has gone public.

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i never rhought the warrens were not frauds

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Let's move onto another interview with Ray Garton. In this interview he talks to MonsterTalk and discusses some of the harm these fictional books did.

In it he says that the Warrens had him disgrace the people that ran the funeral home by claiming they were have sex with the dead.

https://skeptic.libsyn.com/a-connecticut-haunting-in-a-keen-author-s-court

The podcast goes into a lot of the fraudulent claims made.

https://www.skeptic.com/podcasts/monstertalk/11/08/10/

 

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Let's move onto another interview with Ray Garton. In this interview he talks to MonsterTalk and discusses some of the harm these fictional books did.

In it he says that the Warrens had him disgrace the people that ran the funeral home by claiming they were have sex with the dead.

https://skeptic.libsyn.com/a-connecticut-haunting-in-a-keen-author-s-court

The podcast goes into a lot of the fraudulent claims made.

https://www.skeptic.com/podcasts/monstertalk/11/08/10/

 

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One of the bizarre moments of their career was a visit to a TV show to act out the demons sodomizing both of the Snedeckers. I am not making that up.

https://skepticsboot.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-look-back-at-i-was-raped-by-demon-ed.html

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The title alone "I Was Raped By A Demon" should tell you the level of discussion on display here. A major part of the show's focus was the idea that both Carmen and Al were sexually abused, and even sodomised by demons. Ironically, Garton tells us in the above-linked interview, that Carmen hated that feature of his novel and petitioned hard for its removal. Yet here she is the same year, with her husband happily climbing on to a bed to demonstrate and recount in some detail how she was abused.

Here is the nasty stuff in which Ed Warren makes a horrible claim about the family that ran the funeral parlor.

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This is when Ed makes one of the most disgusting claims I've ever heard made concerning the paranormal, the reason for this haunting was that bodies had been subjected to ********** whilst the house was a funeral home.

 

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i cant speak for everyone but if you are a person who just gets a feeling from a person you will relate,

i got a feeling from ed warren and it sure wasnt good or positive,

 

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8 hours ago, stereologist said:

Let's move onto another interview with Ray Garton. In this interview he talks to MonsterTalk and discusses some of the harm these fictional books did.

Ok. Just to play devils advocate for a second.

Since nothing the author is saying is corroborated isnt it entirely possible his "crisis of conscience" is actually a hoax itself in an attempt at getting his 15 minutes of fame, or perhaps payback for not getting the royalties he expected?

 

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18 minutes ago, Farmer77 said:

Ok. Just to play devils advocate for a second.

Since nothing the author is saying is corroborated isnt it entirely possible his "crisis of conscience" is actually a hoax itself in an attempt at getting his 15 minutes of fame, or perhaps payback for not getting the royalties he expected?

That's a good question. There were no royalties that he missed out on. Coming forward he is just stating that the story is a made up story and should never have been marketed as non-fiction.

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Here is  fun little item few people seem to be  aware of, the house the Snedekers rented was more than one apartment. There was a unit above and they never experienced anything like the claims of the Snedekers.

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1 minute ago, stereologist said:

That's a good question. There were no royalties that he missed out on. Coming forward he is just stating that the story is a made up story and should never have been marketed as non-fiction.

Im definitely not making the argument that is the case here, its just something that regularly pops in my head when I see a headline about debunkers, their credibility or motives rarely seem to be examined.

 

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1 minute ago, Farmer77 said:

Im definitely not making the argument that is the case here, its just something that regularly pops in my head when I see a headline about debunkers, their credibility or motives rarely seem to be examined.

 

I agree and that is why I stated your question was a good question.

In the podcast Garton states that the reason he went through with writing the book was that he was in a contract he could not get out of. He felt he had to finish the book. His complaints begin with the completion of the book which is when the publisher accepts the manuscript. It's at that point that he reports that the book is fiction.

His book, according to him, had a single printing. No one asked for another printing. Instead the Snedekers met with the Warren's nephew and they put together another book.

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Here is commentary on some of this:

https://skepticsboot.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-look-back-at-i-was-raped-by-demon-ed.html

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Don't worry though, Ed has brought along an eye-witness to the occurrences in the house. Unfortunately, he fails to mention that this "eye-witness" whom he refers to as "that gentleman" is well-known to him, it's his apprentice and nephew, John Zaffis.

Zaffis has since made a killing, and career, on the Connecticut case. He has authored a book with Chip Coffey regarding the story and has worked with Carmen Snedeker, now Reed, in retelling her experiences in book form. Zaffis is often, also credited with being the lead investigator on the case, but it's clear from his appearance here that he has no real sway in the case. Ed refers to him only to offer back up and corroboration and he is never made a part of the main dialogue.

 

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In this discussion of the case we see someone determining an inconsistency in Carmen Snedekers' statements.

https://exemplore.com/paranormal/The-Real-Haunting-In-Connecticut

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Carmen says that she has always known she was special, and could feel when things are about to happen. Apparently her Grandmother was the same. Carmen's management page says

"Perhaps it was pre destined that she can see a spiritual side of life that others can only comprehend."

But wait! Wasn't it her son that could see these things? Didn't Carmen say that it was Phillip who knew from the very first day that the house was evil?

In fact and I quote, "Well it was the kids being tormented, I was unaware of it." Doesn't really sound like someone who knew things were about to happen does it.

Interestingly her management page goes on to say "While looking for an apartment, she stumbled onto a large home that seemed perfect for the extending family. They learned that it had been a funeral home early on but since no one had died there she felt it would be ok."

I didn't understand this, as Carmen has always maintained that she never knew the house used to be a funeral home until after she moved in with her family.

I am not saying that everything Carmen says is a lie, but I do think there are a lot of inconsistencies in her interviews, and I still do not understand why she would allow her children to remain in that house.

The material is out there and when people look they see the same types of issues that Garton says he ran into when writing his book.

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Let's see if we can find material outside of Garton that would support some of his allegations.

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Among their most effective critics was Mrs. Kathy Altemus, who lived across the street from the Snedekers during their entire residence in the Hallahan House. Beginning in mid-July 1988, Mrs. Altemus kept a journal of events relating to 208 Meriden Avenue. As she told Sally, “I discovered that there were usually things going on in the neighborhood that explained the things they put in the newspaper.” The journal—which she generously shared with me to help “expose the truth” (Altemus 1993)—juxtaposes her written records with news clippings arranged chronologically. The result is revealing. For instance, the television program A Current Affair mentioned the sound of clanking chains in the house, presumably from the coffin lift in the basement. But Mrs. Altemus’s journal shows that the noise most likely was from a truck that passed by, making a sound like it was “dragging a chain.” Other events also had credible explanations, some attributable to various passersby mentioned in the journal as “pulling pranks on the ‘haunted house’” (Nickell 1995, 137, 147 n. 98),

http://www.ghosttheory.com/2009/03/26/more-dirt-on-the-the-haunting-in-connecticut-case

If you read this link you will see that this is a blog entry from an author who is reporting what he received from Joe Nickell.

The important issue is that Garton reports the existence of a neighbor across the street keeping a diary of sorts of events during this time. IIRC, Garton says he never saw this material, but that the material showed the case to be a hoax. In this quote, Nickell reports seeing the material and speaking with the neighbor.

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It seems that the Warrens had their eyes on this case to make a buck.

http://www.ghosttheory.com/2009/03/26/more-dirt-on-the-the-haunting-in-connecticut-case

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Bringing with them two “psychic researchers” (the Warrens’ grandson and nephew), Ed and Lorraine Warren moved into the house for nine weeks. While denying there was any book deal in progress, the researchers had in fact made just such an arrangement. Mrs. Snedeker had already told her upstairs neighbor about the deal, saying she and her husband were to receive one-third of the profits (Carpenter 1988; Corica and Smith 1988a, 1988b).

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suddenly we are told about these alleged ghosts and then read in the paper that the Warrens will be conducting a seminar and will be charging the public for it.

Speculation is that they felt they had missed out on the Amityville hoax to make a buck so they were going to make it here.

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if a person is someone i wouldnt buy a used car from that i can inspect and as a life long gear head know what to look for i sure am not going to put anything into claims of paranormal supernatural malarkey when and here i go saying it...they have zero proof.

the warrens were to me just another Vincent McMahon jr, promoting their own fantasy show for $$$

Edited by the13bats
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