Will The Real Bathsheba Please Stand Up? Separating Fact from Fiction in the Paranormal
It is quite easy in our world for an incident, a person, or a place to be embellished or have a legend grown surrounding them. The paranormal field is notorious for this sort of thing, as locals throughout the world and throughout all of human history have told tall tales of evil spirits and monstrous creatures looking to feast on human blood. Yet rarely does this match the reality of a situation. The greatest example in modern times of this has to be the spirit of Bathsheba.
For those who don’t know the story, Bathsheba was the name of the evil and malevolent spirit that began terrorizing the Perron Family from 1970–1980. Their story became infamous after legendary paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren became involved in the Perron Family’s case. Upon hearing the claims from the family and learning of the local legends around the area surrounding Bathsheba, Lorraine Warren made the claim that she was indeed the evil spirit haunting the area, saying she was a witch who had killed herself on the property. If this is sounding familiar, that is because this was the basis for James Wan’s The Conjuring, the acclaimed horror film that recounted the events that took place at the Perron family home. To read more on the film and case, click here.
However, while the film and the events recounted in it make for an entertaining and fun film, the truth of the matter is far from the claims made in the film. The truth to anyone who takes the time to research this case will realize there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest Bathsheba was an evil witch who killed children and hung herself. Yes, Bathsheba was a real person, and the basis for the local legend in the area was based upon the fact that a child in her care was found to have perished, and evidence showed the child suffered a wound on the back of their head, which was consistent with a sewing needle. As the child had been in her care, the locals believed she had sacrificed the child to Satan, but after going to trial no evidence was ever found to support this claim, and she was found not guilty.
The real Bathsheba, named Bathsheba Sherman, was also rumored to have killed herself on the land where the Perron Family’s home would be located. However, all records point to Bathsheba having died in May 1885, four years after her husband. Having lived to be an old woman, she lived long enough to see her adult son get married, and was buried next to her husband and was given a Christian burial, which would not have happened had she been found to have been practicing witchcraft of any kind.
All of this evidence adds up to the conclusion that Bathsheba was a perfectly normal woman who was vilified by the local townspeople and had her “legend” grow as a result over the course of several years. Her “legend” grew when the Warrens came along and added weight to the claims of her actions both in life and death. In essence, Bathsheba’s life and legacy were tarnished by rumor and superstition and have become the face of “evil” in a haunting that very likely held very little evil, to begin with.
One thing that interests me is the concept I’ve explored in other articles and episodes of the Phenomenon Paranormal Podcast, and that is the concept that people sometimes create their own hauntings. From the myths of the “evil” Dybbuk Box to every state having a myth about a weeping woman on or near a bridge or several hauntings featuring a lady in white, stories mixed with emotion and belief can often pour a lot of energy into an area, and it is not that hard to believe that this kind of large-scale belief and emotional pull of a legend could bring something to life on some level. Could the growing fear that the Perron Family was pouring out into the home they lived in, combined with the knowledge of the local legend of Bathsheba and later the insistence of her wrongdoings by the Warrens have created an “evil” presence that took on Bathsheba’s name like an actor wearing a mask? Or could the haunting have been exaggerated after years of rumor and Hollywood retellings?
I don’t think anyone will ever truly know what happened all those years ago to the Perron family, or what the actual cause was. However, it does seem quite apparent that Bathsheba was not to blame. She was by all known accounts an innocent woman, and it's about time that we all in the paranormal field began acknowledging this. Modern investigators like Amy Bruni and Adam Berry from Kindred Spirits have already led the charge on this in their hit show, and hopefully, soon others will begin to see the same. Bathsheba serves as a prime example of why it is so important to not just take legends and myths at face value all the time. Take the time to research and investigate claims like this, because you never know when an innocent person will become the villain of a story they were never part of.
As always, don’t fear the unknown.
