For a horror fanatic, Halloween isn’t a mere holiday – it’s the ENTIRE month of October. Binge-watching terrifying movies that keep me up at night and engulfing candied applies is a major mood. I figured this would be an ideal time to put on my detective hat and chase the trail on one of the most hyped horror movies of this year; ‘The Nun’.
This movie is so scary that its trailer had to be banned from certain online forums for being too traumatizing.
One would hope a movie as terrifying as this would be pure fiction, but noooope. This horror flick is actually inspired by a few real-life events.
Let’s do a quick recap. Serving as an extremely disturbing prequel to The Conjuring; The Nun follows Sister Irene travelling to Romania to investigate a creepy incident at a monastery involving a “creature” named Valak. Much like its successor, it is also based on the real case filed of demonologist Ed and Lorraine Warren.
The couple’s son, Tony Spera, told Esquire that his parents had actually encountered a phantom nun on their visit to a haunted English church. The nun had apparently been buried alive in the church walls to serve as punishment for having an affair with a monk – sure gives her a valid reason to haunt the place.
Upon learning about a series of eerie events at the church—including bells ringing randomly, rumors of a headless monk leaving cryptic messages on walls, and a ghostly nun walking around at night—the Warrens recruited photographers to accompany them in a mission to capture evidence of the spirit. They ended up coming face-to-face with the churchyard’s ghost as Lorraine apparently told the group, “I feel the presence of a nun in this church,” around midnight. It was pitch black in the night, and there were no sources of light.
The photographers took pictures on a 35mm camera with infrared film. Upon developing the images, there appeared to be a spectral nun walking down the aisle, praying.
It was pitch black in the night, and there were no sources of light. The photographers took pictures on a 35mm camera with infrared film. Upon developing the images, there appeared to be a spectral nun walking down the aisle, praying.
Director James Wan also says that the Nun was inspired by a demon that had haunted Lorraine’s home. She described it as a ‘swirling tornado vortex with this hooded figure’. Talk about stuff of nightmares…
After some more digging, I came across the origins of the demon Valak itself…and let me tell you it is definitely ‘the darkest chapter’. Though it has never taken the form of a nun before, Valak has appeared in various grimoires (books of magic that have instructions on how to conjure demons). It is described as a child with angel wings, riding on a two-headed dragon; definitely not as scary as gaunt looking Nun.
One of the most notable mentions of this demon is in the mid-17th century grimoire ‘The Lesser Key of Solomon’, named so as the demons that it places focus to were summoned by the Biblical figure King Solomon. The book describes Valak as the Grand President of Hell who commands 38 legions of demonic minions. Definitely not an entity you would want to invite over for dinner.
The Sixty-second Spirit is Volac, or Valak, or Valu. He is a President Mighty and Great, and appeareth like a Child with Angel’s Wings, riding on a Two-headed Dragon. His Office is to give True Answers of Hidden Treasures, and to tell where Serpents may be seen. The which he will bring unto the Exorciser without any Force or Strength being by him employed. He governeth 38 Legions of Spirits, and his Seal is thus.
Spera did further mentioned that he believed Hollywood takes bits and pieces of different stories and fuses them together, after all there is no way they could have just thought up the entire story line of these movies.
I wish everyone reading this a good night’s sleep, I know I won’t be getting any after this investigative work.
