A couple who says they own the home that inspired the 2013 horror film “The Conjuring,” claims they’re being haunted by constant unwanted visitors — and it has nothing to do with paranormal events.
Norma Sutcliffe and Gerald R. Helfrich are suing Warner Bros., New Line Productions, the Safran Company and others, claiming that ever since the release of the film, their Harrisville, Rhode Island, home has been besieged by trespassers.
“Within days of the July 19. 2013, theatrical release of ‘The Conjuring,’ the Property was inundated by curiosity seekers and trespassers who, at all hours of night and day, come to and onto the Property, approach and seek to enter the house, take photographs and videos, ignore the ‘no trespassing’ signs, fences, and barriers installed,” the couple, who bought the house in 1987, claims.
The pair say that they have been “harassed and threatened” by the unwanted visitors.
Sutcliffe and Helfrich contend that the film’s makers should have realized that people would flock to the house when “they chose to market the movie as based on a true story and identified and published prominently the Harrisville, Rhode Island location of the house depicted in the film and in the marketing and promotion of the movie.”
The film, starring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, revolved around a pair of paranormal investigators who experienced disturbing events at their Rhode Island farmhouse in 1971.
The flood of visitors has caused the couple “extreme physical, mental and emotional harm and significant damage to their property interest,” the lawsuit, filed in Rhode Island, reads.
Alleging negligence, the couple is seeking unspecified damages.
Warner Bros. had no comment when contacted by TheWrap.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.