Released in 2009, The Haunting in Connecticut is a supernatural horror film about a supposedly true paranormal event.  The movie is based around the Snedeker family who move into a rented house in Connecticut, where their son Matthew is undergoing an experimental treatment for cancer. They discover that the house they rent was previously a funeral home after making the gruesome discovery of the mortuary, complete with equipment, in the basement.  From then, it’s not long before strange events begin to take place. After some investigation, it becomes apparent that the house was used not only as a funeral home but also as a place for séances performed by the owner’s assistant, a medium. During one séance, ectoplasm coming from the medium’s mouth catches fire and burns the house down, along with its occupants.  Matthew asks a fellow cancer patient, who happens to be a minister, for assistance in dealing with the spirits in the house.

So what is the truth behind the movie? The story of the Snedeker family’s experience began as a book, titled In a Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting by Ray Garton. Garton was asked to write the novel after ghost hunters and demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren investigated the house and proclaimed it to be “infested with demons”. While researching for the book, Garton found considerable inconsistencies between the family member’s accounts of the events that took place. Garton claims that he went to Ed with the problem and was told “Oh, they're crazy … You've got some of the story — just use what works and make the rest up... Just make it up and make it scary.”

The Snedeker family stand by their claims; which include both parents claiming to have been sodomised by demons, and water turning to foul-smelling blood while Mrs Snedeker was mopping the floor.  Their story has been relayed several times on television, including a documentary on the Discovery channel.

The landlady of the house, however, has said that she thinks the story is “ridiculous” (although surely she WOULD say that, or she’d never get tenants again?!?!) and noted that no other tenants before or after the Snedekers had experienced any paranormal activities. She also noted that the Snedekers stayed in the house for two years before finally moving out.

It has been noted though that the morgue owner’s assistant, the medium, was added to the story in order to try to explain the supernatural events.  No séances were ever performed in the house.  The reverend was also fictional – any religious people who were involved in the haunting came from the Church and were not cancer patients.  Additionally, the fire at the end of the movie was added for dramatic effect – no fire actually took place.  According to the family, the “climax” of the story was an exorcism, not a fire.

Many other features were added for cinematic effect and the paranormal researcher, Lorraine Warren, who investigated the house for the family stated “The movie is very, very loosely based on the actual investigation.”  That statement sums it up – if you see the words “based on a true story” (or words to that effect) at the beginning of a movie, you can be sure that considerable creative license has been used in order to produce the desired Hollywood horror effect.

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