The Alleged True Story ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’ Is Based On

Home is where the heart is… unless home is infested with demonic entities. Possessions and hauntings have been a favorite topic of horror for decades. Audiences tend to come to demonic movies in droves, ready for the horror but comforted knowing they’ll return to the safety of their homes after the credits role. For the family that inspired The Haunting in Connecticut, however, their alleged horror was worse than anything portrayed in the movies.

Loosely based on the supposed haunting of the Snedeker family, The Haunting in Connecticut tells the story of the Campbells. While taking their son, Matt (Kyle Gallner), home from cancer treatments, Sara (Virginia Madsen) and her husband, Peter (a recovering alcoholic brought to the screen by Martin Donovan), find a house to rent closer to where Matt is receiving care. The family discovers the house was a former funeral home where the undertaker, Ramsey Aickman, practiced necromancy to bind the spirits of the dead to the house. The film culminates with a battle against a possessed Matt. After Matt burns down the house, the spirits escape, Matt is saved, and his cancer is cured. While the film was successful enough to garner a sequel, it has its share of criticism, including from the Snedekers themselves as well as two of the world’s most famous and controversial paranormal investigators.

The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)

After a family is forced to relocate for their son’s health, they begin experiencing supernatural behavior in their new home, and uncover a sinister history.

Release Date

March 27, 2009

Director

Peter Cornwell

Runtime

92

Writers

Adam Simon , Tim Metcalfe

Studio

Lionsgate

The Real ‘Haunting in Connecticut’ Family Claims Their Experience Was Worse than the Movie

For the most part, The Haunting in Connecticut gets several details from the Snedeker family’s alleged experience correct. According to People magazine, Carmen Snedekerand her husband, Allen, moved their family to a house on Meriden Avenue in Southington, Connecticut in 1986 to be closer to the hospital where their son, Philip, was receiving treatments for cancer. The controversial book, In a Dark Place, co-written by the Warrens, Allen Snedeker, and others, claims that Carmen awoke in the night shortly before their move after having a dream that their new home was a former funeral parlor.

The book alleges that when the Snedekers arrived, Carmen asked Allen if they could look around. When they entered, they were met with “Alien, sinister tools. Frightening, unspeakable tools. Steel devices darkened with age.” They ventured down to the basement, where they claim to have found a platform “hooked to chains that were attached to a large hoist.” The Snedekers indeed confirmed that the house was formerly a funeral parlor. However, for the sake of Philip’s health, they decided to move in with the condition that they would not tell the children. However, Carmen claims that it didn’t take long for them to find out.

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According to People, just three hours after the family moved into their new home, Philip approached Carmen and claimed, “Mom, this house is evil. We need to leave here right away!” Carmen says she told her son, “Evil is in the heart of man. Not in a house.” She dismissed the claim, but Philip is said to have soon begun seeing a spirit with long hair and a thin face. The spirit would allegedly say Philip’s name and target the teen. Carmen claimed “My son started seeing this young man with long black hair down all the way to his hips… He would talk to my son every day. Sometimes he would threaten him, other times he would stand there and just say his name, which was enough to scare him.”

How Similar Is ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’ to the Real-Life Story of the Snedekers

Unlike the film, it didn’t take the destruction of the family’s house to rid Philip of cancer. Over the course of his treatments, his cancer went into remission. However, the claims that he was haunted by the malevolent man led to a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Carmen says that Philip started playing harmful jokes on the family, such as locking his brother inside a trunk. Philip would claim to have no memory of doing such things after they happened. Carmen and Allen sent Philip to live with relatives and said that, once he moved out, he immediately stopped seeing spirits and hearing voices. The Snedekers claim that, with Philip out of the house, the spirit turned its attention onto them.

Carmen’s 18-year-old niece was living with the family at the time and, according to Carmen, was molested by the spirit, its hand seen making its way up the girl’s nightgown. “That is when I knew for sure I was dealing with something supernatural,” Carmen told People. Carmen and Allen reached out to the clergy and several paranormal investigators. According to researcher John Zaffis, he saw a spirit who said to him “Do you know what they did to us?” Zaffis went on to tell People that all he wanted to do was “get my car keys and get out of the house.” Both Carmen and John alleged that two priests visited the home and left frightened. Desperate to get rid of whatever force was haunting them, Carmen contacted demonologists, and future characters in their own “based on a true story’ franchise” Ed and Lorraine Warren.

How Ed and Lorraine Warren Were Involved in ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’

Now well-known movie heroes thanks to the Conjuring franchise, Ed and Lorraine Warren were involved in many prolific supposed hauntings from the 1950s through the mid-2000s. Their controversial work includes popular cases among paranormal fanatics, from the Annabelle doll to the Amityville Horror. The alleged Snedeker house haunting was among one of their more publicized investigations.

Carmen contacted the Warrens and asked them to come investigate the house. According to her, the rosary beads she was holding onto during their phone conversation were coming apart. The Warrens arrived the next day with a priest who they say conducted a blessing on the house, though they claim it had no effect. The Warrens researched the home and allegedly found that, when the house was used as a funeral home, one of the employees was convicted of necrophilia and performing satanic rituals. After conducting their initial investigation, the Warrens sought out an exorcism. The Bishop is said to have assigned two priests who conducted another blessing and said a Mass in the home. During the Mass, Ed Warren claimed to suffer from heart issues that were resolved once the rite had been completed.

Of the film, Lorraine Warren commented that it was greatly exaggerated, telling NBC Connecticut: “The movie is very, very loosely based on the actual investigation.” Remarking on her distaste for the film, she added: “It’s embarrassing. Do you know the amount of time and effort that we put into that case? Do you know how many meetings with the clergy we had to finally bring closure to the family?” The Snedekers moved out of the house after more than two years as residents. Paranormal activity in the house was alleged to have stopped after the exorcism, though Carmen recalled a priest warning her to live her life carefully. In the years that have followed, no other residents are said to have reported any demonic activity.

The world may never know what really happened in the house on Meriden Avenue. Skeptics claim to have debunked it, while paranormal investigators and the family that lived through it swear by what they saw. One certain thing, however, is that The Haunting in Connecticut and other horror classics that claim to be based on true stories will keep audiences entertained, not to mention awake at night, for many generations to come.

The Haunting in Connecticut is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

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