The true story of the Annabelle doll which sparked a horror franchise is far more chilling than in the movies.
The doll features in flicks set in the Conjuring universe, created by horror director James Wan.
Annabelle appears as an unsettling porcelain doll supposedly haunted by an demonic spirit.
But the real doll - a Raggedy Anne toy with red yarn for hair - looks nothing like the one in the films.
Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren said Annabelle belonged to a student nurse who took her to a psychic medium after ghostly phenomena started happening around her home.
The medium told the young woman the doll was inhabited by the spirit of a little girl named Annabelle.
But after an inspection, the couple decided Annabelle was actually possessed by an "inhuman spirit".
This spirit is blamed for the death of a motorbike rider who tempted fate by ignoring the "positively do not open" sign attached to the doll's containment box.
Visitors to the Warren's now-closed Occult Museum in Monroe, Louisiana, were advised that an "inhuman spirit" inhabits the doll and that they should by no means touch her glass case.
But a motorcyclist who visited disobeyed the demonic rulebook - which brought him to a grisly end.
Curators were forced to escort him out for taunting Annabelle and tapping on her glass. He was later involved in a fatal crash with a car.
Speaking about the motorcyclist's fate, the demon-fighting couple's son-in-law Tony Spera said: “Never take things like this lightly, thinking it’s a joke."
Spera - who now owns the museum - refuted claims that the doll had escaped, a rumour that emerged from a Chinese mistranslation.
A Chinese YouTuber called Hi Tech was translating an interview with Annabelle actor Annabelle Wallis, who discussed getting to run with Tom Cruise on camera.
The mistaken translation turned her statement to "Annabelle escaped".
Fears of an allegedly possessed doll being released lit up social media but fears were quickly put out.
Spera - who now works as a paranormal investigator - uploaded a video from the museum to reassure people the doll was still behind her glass prison.
“I’m in here, in the museum, because of the rumours that Annabelle has escaped,” Spera said in the video.
“I gotta tell you something. I don’t know if you’re gonna wanna hear this or not, but Annabelle did not escape...
"She didn’t take a trip. She didn’t fly first class, and she didn’t go out to visit her boyfriend.”
