MONROE, Conn. — Curious souls have a chance to spend the night at the former home of famed paranormal researchers Ed and Lorraine Warren, exploring rooms inside the house and taking a tour of the private museum area, which holds relics from the duo’s investigations into hauntings.
Co-owners of the Knollwood Street property, online influencer Elton Castee and comedian Matt Rife, who turned the house into an Airbnb, are donating the night of Oct. 30 as the prize for the Monroe Police Union’s raffle, which will raise money for community organizations and events.
Since buying the property last year, Castee and Rife named the rooms and focused on trying to make the house as authentic to the Warrens’ time there as possible, right down to the desk, chair and painting in Ed’s Den to the furniture in Lorraine’s Bedroom.
“I think for anyone who has any interest at all in the paranormal, or in Ed and Lorraine Warren, it’s a wonderful experience to stay in the home for the level of detail we put into it to make sure every room feels the way it did then,” Castee said. “Each room feels like it’s own mini-museum. We kept as many original pieces in the home as we could — and if they’re too scared to sleep in the house, they can sleep in the apartment upstairs.”
Proceeds from the fundraiser will benefit the Monroe Night Out, a family-friendly event police offer at Wolfe Park every year, as well as Special Olympics Connecticut, the Masuk Booster Club, Think Pink Monroe and Ciara’s Light.
“We appreciate the collaboration,” said Monroe Police Officer Francisco “Frankie” Jimenez, “and 100 percent of the money will be donated to community events and community groups. As always, we appreciate the public’s generosity and we wish them good luck.”
Jimenez, who is part of his department’s community resource unit, also expressed Monroe police officers’ appreciation to all of the other local businesses that agreed to sponsor the Monroe Night Out.
Raffle tickets are $50 each and sales are limited to 666 tickets. The deadline to purchase tickets is Aug. 1. To buy a ticket, click here. The winner will be announced in a live drawing on the Monroe CT Police Union Facebook page on Aug. 2, as well on Castee and his wife Ginger’s YouTube channel “Overnight.”
Good neighbors
Prior to Rife and Castee’s purchase of the Warren house, neighboring residents resented the constant trespassing onto the property from those interested in the occult, which disrupted their quiet street. Officers were called to the Warren property to ward off the unwanted visitors, some from faraway places.
Castee empathized with their concerns, sharing how he also values privacy and a peaceful atmosphere at home.
“From my perspective and knowledge, I think we’re on great terms with everyone in our neighborhood,” he said, adding one was hired to help out with the Airbnb business. “We do try to help our neighbors in every way we can. We gave them our phone numbers and went door-to-door.”
The collaboration with the Monroe Police Union for its fundraiser came about when Officer Nicholas Puglisi approached the manager of the Warren House. Castee said he, his wife Ginger and Rife immediately agreed.
“I saved October 30 and 31 for something special,” he said of the two most coveted dates around Halloween. “We always try to do some kind of charitable event at least once a year.”
Since they bought the Warren House, Castee and Rife have raised $50,000 for an animal shelter. A portion of the money, $16,666 was donated to the Catherine Violet Hubbard Foundation in neighboring Newtown, according to Castee.
Nights at the Warren house are not easy to come by. Castee said only five nights in December are still available this year, and the Airbnb is nearly sold out for all of the winter and spring of 2027.
A museum in Salem
Castee said some significant changes are coming to the private museum area of the Warren property.
“As of now, everyone gets four hours in the museum,” he said. “On August 24, Annabelle and a couple of other marque items are going to the Warren Museum in Salem, Mass. As of Sept. 1, guests will have six hours in the museum.”
He said they will replace the items with other ones after moving the infamous haunted Raggedy Ann doll. Once Rife and Castee announed the limited time to stay at the Monroe Airbnb with the Annabelle doll there, he said all of those nights, for the entire year, were sold out within 24 hours.
Rife and Castee had initially eyed a property on Main Street in Monroe for the Warren Museum, but Castee said state codes on fire safety made that site — and any other place in Connecticut — impossible for them to have the museum the way they wanted it to be.
The business partners found a home for the Haunted Warren Museum at 259 Essex St. in Salem, Mass., which is scheduled to open by the end of August. The signs that Salem was the right place seemed to be there all along, according to Castee.
“We found a lot of Warren items related to Salem,” he said of their time in the house. “The only T-shirt Ed kept in his closet was a gray Salem T-shirt from an event called Freak Week. They weren’t even the headliner of the event.”
Castee said the only woodcarving they had come across that Ed Warren made was a recreation of a sign for Salem Witch Village and Rebecca Nurse Homestead, done on two pieces of driftwood.
Your own investigation
Castee said the winner of the Monroe Police Union raffle will have the same experience other visitors of the Warren House do, including use of night vision cameras and paranormal investigations equipment. The house, which has four bedrooms and seven beds, can accommodate up to eight people.
The stay allows access to the entire house from 5:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. the next day.
Most often, guests are greeted by the house manager, Rick Clark, who had worked with the Warrens as a paranormal investigator. He will present them with waivers, explain how things work, including the wifi, and take them on a room-to-room tour of the house, while answering any questions they may have about its history.
The manager can also give a tour of the museum, though Castee said a tour is optional because some people prefer to investigate a house without knowing as much beforehand.
“Everyone who’s ever stayed there has had nothing but amazing things to say,” Castee said.
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