Learn the true and chilling story that inspired ‘The Conjuring 3’

One of the events that most impacted fans of the franchise The spell was knowing that the third installment, which premiered on June 3, is based on a real case that occurred during the 80s.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return as paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, and like the previous films, The Conjuring 3 It is inspired by a crime that caused controversy by having connections with the supernatural world.

The case in question is that of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, a 19-year-old who was accused of murdering his landlord, Alan Bono, in February 1981. During the trial, the defense gained notoriety for becoming the first to allege demon possession in a United States court.

The defense was able to sustain the case because of the testimony of Debbie Glatzel, Johnson’s fiancée, who stated that her 11-year-old brother had been possessed by a demon months before the murder.

The story begins in July 1980, when 11-year-old David Glatzel was helping Johnson clean up the new property he was renting to live with Debbie. In this place, David felt and witnessed a dark presence that threatened him.

Over the next several months, David began to behave strangely, to such an extent that the Warrens were hired to diagnose and cure the evil that surrounded the little boy. The famous couple declared to have witnessed different paranormal events.

While Ed was interviewing the boy, I saw a dark, blurry figure next to him, which gave me to understand that we were dealing with something negative in nature. Almost immediately, the boy complained that there were invisible hands trying to choke him, there were red marks on his neck. David said he felt someone hit him.

Lorraine also said that David spoke in strange tongues, with unrecognizable voices and quoted passages from the Bible that he had never heard before. For her part, Debbie Glatzel stated that her brother spat, hit and cursed everyone around him.

The Warrens performed three exorcisms on little David, under the supervision of different local priests. According to different witnesses, Johnson tried to help them during one of the exorcisms, begging the demons to leave his fiancee’s brother alone.

After this moment, David’s erratic episodes began to stop, but around the same time, Johnson’s behavior began to deteriorate, hallucinating, barking, and even losing his memory for long periods of time.

On February 16, 1981, Johnson went out with Glatzel and Bono for lunch, where the latter drank too much. Later that day, Johnson and Bono began to argue, and according to testimony at trial, Johnson pulled out a five-inch razor with which he repeatedly attacked Bono.

Bono died in hospital from his injuries. Meanwhile, Johnson was found three miles from the crime scene and was subsequently taken to jail in police custody. The next day, Lorraine reported that Johnson had been possessed when he committed the crime, drawing media attention to the case.

The trial began on October 28, 1981 and Martin Minella, Johnson’s lawyer, alleged that Johnson had not been guilty of the murder, since in fact he had been possessed by a demonic entity who had forced him to do it.

But even with the evidence, testimony and recordings of the Warrens and Debbie Glatzel, Johnson was sentenced to a minimum of 10 to 20 years for the first degree murder of Alan Bono on November 24, 1981. In the end, Johnson only remained in prison for five years.

The Warrens were criticized by the media and the press, as well as questioned by the events that occurred during their participation before and after the murder. However, the couple maintained that Glatzel and Johnson were actually possessed by demonic entities.

Ed died on August 23, 2006, while Lorraine passed away on April 18, 2019.