After 12 years of trembling crosses, lurking shadows, and demons that just won’t quit, The Conjuring—modern horror’s most iconic saga—is preparing for its final act. Conjuring 4: Last Rites isn’t just closing a chapter, though—if Warner Bros. is to be believed, it’s about to slam the door shut.
In an exclusive with Entertainment Weekly, the studio released six chilling images, showing Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Lorraine and Ed Warren. And yes, they still radiate that eerie mix of faith, fear, and defiance that made them horror’s favorite ghost hunters.
But this time, it’s not just another haunting. This time, it’s the end—and it’s based on one of the real-life cases that may have haunted the Warrens long after the cameras stopped rolling.
The True Story Behind The Conjuring 4: The Case That Broke the Warrens
Set in 1986, five years after The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, the final chapter finds Ed and Lorraine stepping away from fieldwork after Ed suffers a heart attack. They turn to lecturing and public appearances, hoping to slow down.
The problem? Darkness doesn’t do retirement.
Their final case takes them to Pennsylvania—to the Smurl family. What happened in that house is, to this day, considered one of the most psychologically devastating cases the Warrens ever took on.
Jack and Janet Smurl moved into a duplex in West Pittston with their four daughters and grandparents in the mid-1970s. The move was supposed to be a fresh start after losing almost everything in the 1972 Hurricane Agnes flood. But the house they chose to rebuild their lives in had other plans.
It Started With Whispers. Then It Got Worse.
At first, it was the little things. Foul smells. Whispers in empty rooms. Water stains that reappeared after being scrubbed away. A TV that exploded on its own. Scratches on brand-new doors. Radios playing with no power source.
Then it escalated: loud footsteps, slamming doors, dragging furniture, phantom voices, bruises, and worse. Janet and Jack began to report something far darker—abuse at the hands of an unseen presence.
They went to doctors. Nothing. Investigators. Nothing. In desperation, they turned to faith. And that’s when the Warrens arrived.
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A Demon That Refused to Leave
Armed with holy water, crucifixes, and unwavering resolve, Ed and Lorraine stepped into the Smurl house—and into one of the darkest spiritual storms they’d ever faced.
According to them, they encountered not one, but multiple entities: a violent young woman, a trapped man, an elderly spirit, and a demonic force hellbent on tearing the family apart.
They tried everything. Prayer circles. Exorcisms. Public appeals. Nothing worked.
And the media frenzy didn’t help. The Smurls became national punchlines—“the ghost family,” stalked by cameras and mocked by talk shows. But behind those doors, the terror kept building.
By 1986, they fled the house. But the haunting followed. It wasn’t until 1989, after another exorcism, that the torment allegedly ended—though some say the family never truly escaped.
The Final Chapter Begins This Fall
The Conjuring 4: Last Rites is being billed as the end of the Warren saga—and if this case is any indication, it’s going out with a scream. Based on one of the only cases the Warrens were never able to fully resolve, the film promises not just a haunting, but a descent into pure spiritual warfare.
Catch it in theaters September 5—just in time for Halloween. And maybe… keep a light on.
This article was originally written in Spanish by Nayely Aguilera in Cultura Colectiva.
