The Perron family haunting refers to a series of alleged paranormal events experienced by the Perron family after they moved into a 14-room farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island, in January 1971. The family, consisting of parents Roger and Carolyn Perron and their five daughters, reported disturbing phenomena almost immediately upon taking residence. These events began with small, inexplicable occurrences—objects moving or disappearing—and escalated into more terrifying encounters, including physical assaults, apparitions, and disembodied voices.
The case gained wider notoriety when the Perrons sought help from Ed and Lorraine Warren, self-styled paranormal investigators and demonologists who had founded the New England Society for Psychic Research. The Warrens claimed the farmhouse was plagued by a malevolent spirit, which they identified as Bathsheba Sherman, a woman who had lived on the property in the 19th century and was rumored to have been a witch who sacrificed her infant child. The Warrens conducted a séance in the home, which they described as one of the most terrifying experiences of their careers.
The Perron family haunting remains a controversial and debated account within paranormal circles. While the Perrons and the Warrens maintained the events were genuine, skeptics have pointed to a lack of physical evidence and the Warrens' history of sensationalized cases. Regardless of its veracity, the story has become one of the most famous modern haunting narratives in American folklore, serving as a foundational case study in the Warrens' extensive catalog of paranormal investigations.