A 54-year-old paranormal investigator died suddenly while touring with the supposedly haunted Annabelle doll, his tour organisers said. According to the New York Post, Dan Rivera, a US Army veteran, was in Pennsylvania on his sold-out "Devils on the Run Tour" when the incident took place. He died on Sunday, shortly after finishing a three-day sellout stop in Gettysburg, hosted by "Ghostly Images of Gettysburg Tours" at the Soldiers National Orphanage, the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR) said.
According to the Post, Mr Riveria died unexpectedly after completing his tour, in which the group brought the allegedly haunted doll, Annabelle, across the country to various sites. Firefighters and medics were rushed to his hotel in Gettysburg on Sunday evening for a report of CPR in progress on a male patient. But by the time the medics reached the scene, Mr Rivera had died.
The exact cause of the death remains unclear. According to the Evening Sun, coroner's office personnel said that the death did not appear suspicious, and that Rivera was found alone in his hotel room. An investigation is ongoing.
Notably, Rivera was featured as a paranormal investigator on the Travel Channel's "Most Haunted Places" and served as producer for a number of other shows, including Netflix's "28 Days Haunted." As part of his tour, he was travelling around the US with other members of NESPR to show off the allegedly demonic doll.
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Annabelle has been tied to a series of supposed hauntings in the 1970s, after being given to a Connecticut nursing student named Donna. Ed and Lorraine Warren, the famous paranormal investigators, claimed the doll physically lifted its own arms, followed people around the apartment, and would display other frightening and malicious behaviour, per the Post. The couple also claimed that the doll had stabbed a police officer and caused a car crash involving a priest.
It is believed that the doll has been inhabited by the spirit of a dead 6-year-old girl called Annabelle. Warrens said that it was demonically possessed and moved the doll to their museum in Connecticut. The demonic doll has inspired the movie 'The Conjuring'.
Earlier this year, Annabelle was in the headlines after conspiracy theorists linked the doll to a prison breakout and devastating fire in Louisiana. However, experts later clarified that the doll was never "out of control".
