The Complete Conjuring Universe Timeline Explained: All Movies In Chronological Order

 

 Introduction: Conquering the Unknown

 They say we fear what we don’t understand. Ghosts, demons, and ancient curses prey on our lack of comprehension, lurking in the shadows of the unknown. But what if we could drag that fear into the light? The Conjuring Universe, with its web of interconnected films, has terrified audiences for years. Today, we're fighting back.

This is the definitive chronological explanation of the entire Conjuring saga, covering the mainline films and all the spin-offs. We will piece together every event, from ancient evils to the modern-day hauntings of Ed and Lorraine Warren. By the end, the timeline will be purged of its unknowns, and the evil will have nowhere left to hide. 

(Spoilers ahead for every movie in the franchise except Last Rites).

The Ancient Evils: Demons, Saints, and Curses

Before the Warrens, before Annabelle, and even before the Abbey of St. Carta, the seeds of this universe's greatest evils were sown.

 

 

 

 

 The Origin of Demons and Valak

In Christian theology, demons are fallen angels who joined Lucifer in his rebellion against God and were cast out, stripped of their holy power. Our focus is on one particularly malevolent entity: Valak, The Defiler, The Profane, The Marquis of Snakes. In the modern era, Valak often takes the form of a nun to mock the faith of its victims. While we see glimpses of its true, demonic form in The Nun and The Conjuring 2, the nun persona has become its terrifying signature. Interestingly, director James Wan came up with the nun look during post-production for The Conjuring 2 to make the threat feel more personal and grounded, replacing a more traditional-looking demon.

 

304 AD: The Bloodline of St. Lucy

 In a world of evil, there must also be good. In 304 AD, St. Lucy, the patron saint of the blind, was murdered by pagans. After surviving an attempt to burn her alive, her eyes were gouged out before she was killed. Her family escaped with her eyes, which became a powerful holy relic, and her descendants scattered across the globe. This sacred bloodline would eventually include two key figures in this timeline: Sister Irene and Lorraine Warren.

 

The Dark Ages & 1692: An Abbey and a Witch's Curse 

•  The Abbey of St. Carta: During the Dark Ages, a Duke obsessed with witchcraft built an abbey and used it to summon the forces of hell, opening a gateway for a great evil. The Church intervened, sealing the gateway with a relic containing the blood of Jesus Christ. To keep the evil contained, a continuous cycle of prayer was required, with nuns praying in perpetual vigil for centuries.

•  The Salem Witch Trials: In 1692 Salem, a woman named Mary Eastey was executed for witchcraft. Though her name was later cleared, one of her relatives, Bathsheba Sherman, was a different story 

• 1863: Bathsheba's Curse: Living in a farmhouse built by her husband, Bathsheba became a devout Satanist. Just seven days after her child was born, she sacrificed it to Satan. She then ran to a tree by the dock, proclaimed her love for the devil, cursed anyone who would ever take her land, and hanged herself at 3:07 AM. Her curse would linger for over a century, possessing and destroying anyone who lived on the subdivided land, causing drownings, suicides, and murder.

 

 The 1940s-1950s: A New Generation of Evil and Good

 The 20th century saw these ancient evils resurface, while the heroes destined to fight them began their journeys.

 

 

 

1943: The Birth of a Cursed Doll 

Toymaker Samuel Mullins creates a porcelain doll. A day after sharing a happy moment with his daughter, Annabelle, she is tragically killed in a car accident. Desperate, the Mullins pray to any power that will let them see their daughter again. A presence makes contact, claiming to be Annabelle, and asks for permission to move into the doll. They agree, but soon realize their mistake. The entity is not their daughter; it is a demon using her memory to manipulate them for a soul. After it attacks and tears out Mrs. Mullins's eye, they enlist the church's help and lock the possessed doll in a closet papered with pages from the Bible.

 

 World War II & The Warrens

• The Abbey is Breached: During WWII, bombings shake the Abbey of St. Carta, weakening the seal and allowing the demon Valak to cross over. It takes the form of a nun to stalk the convent.

•  Ed and Lorraine Meet (1944): A 17-year-old Lorraine meets Ed, who works as an usher at a movie theater. They bond over their shared, isolated experiences with the supernatural—Lorraine once saw an angel, while Ed was tormented by a creature under his bed as a child. This shared understanding forms the foundation of their lifelong partnership.

 

1952: The Nun - Valak's First Attack 

At the Abbey of St. Carta, the perpetual prayer has failed, and the nuns are all dead. The last surviving nun, Sister Victoria, hangs herself to prevent Valak from possessing her and escaping into the world. The Vatican dispatches Father Burke, an experienced investigator, and Sister Irene, a young novitiate plagued by holy visions, to investigate.

Guided by the delivery man Maurice ("Frenchie"), they discover the abbey is overrun by the malevolent spirit of Valak. With help from the ghost of a friendly nun and Maurice, they locate the holy relic containing Christ's blood. In a final confrontation, Irene uses the holy blood to seemingly banish Valak back through the gateway and reseal it. However, they fail to notice an upside-down cross on the back of Maurice's neck—Valak has successfully escaped by making him its vessel.

 

1956: The Nun II - The Hunt for St. Lucy's Eyes 

Four years later, Maurice, unaware he is possessed, is used as Valak's puppet to hunt for the eyes of St. Lucy, a relic that could restore the demon's angelic power. A trail of gruesome deaths follows Maurice across Europe, leading him to a boarding school in France.

The Church once again calls upon Sister Irene, now aware of her connection to St. Lucy's bloodline, to stop the demon. Teaming up with the skeptical Sister Debra, Irene tracks Valak to the school. Valak gets the eyes and briefly regains its power, but Irene and Debra turn barrels of wine into the blood of Christ, dousing the demon and seemingly destroying it. But once again, the victory is incomplete. Maurice is still possessed, though the demon will lie dormant for a time.

 

 

1958: Annabelle: Creation - The Demon is Unleashed

Twelve years after locking the doll away, the Mullins open their home to a group of orphan girls and their caretaker, Sister Charlotte. One of the girls, Janice, who suffers from polio, is lured into opening the locked closet and unleashes the demon. The demon terrorizes the household, ultimately possessing Janice by vomiting a dark fluid into her mouth. After murdering Mr. Mullins, the possessed Janice escapes the home, gets adopted by the Higgins family, and takes on a new name: Annabelle.

 

The 1970s: The Warrens' Most Famous Cases

This decade marks the height of Ed and Lorraine Warren's careers as paranormal investigators, where they confront the evils we've seen festering for years.

 

1970: Annabelle - A New Home, A New Horror

Twelve years after her adoption, a grown-up "Annabelle" Higgins joins a satanic cult called the Disciples of the Ram. She and a fellow cultist murder her adoptive parents before attacking their neighbors, Mia and John Form. Before taking her own life, Annabelle's blood drips into the eye of the porcelain doll John had just bought for his expectant wife, Mia. The doll is now a conduit for the demon Malthus.

The demon torments the family, setting fires and manifesting in terrifying forms, all in an attempt to claim the soul of their newborn baby, Leah. After a priest attempts to intervene and is gravely injured, the family's friend Evelyn sacrifices her own soul to save Mia and the baby, leaping from a window to her death. The doll mysteriously disappears afterward.

 

1971: The Conjuring - The Perron Family Haunting 

The timeline discrepancy between the films starts here. While The Conjuring states the Warrens took the Annabelle case in 1968, the Annabelle prequel film clearly sets its events in 1970, placing the Warrens' involvement one year later, in 1971. Warner Bros. officially confirms the 1971 date, making it the canon timeline.

•  The Annabelle Case: The Warrens are called in by two nurses being tormented by the doll. They correctly identify it not as a ghost, but as a demonic conduit used to manipulate people. On the drive home, the doll's evil power causes their car to stall and draws spirits from a nearby cemetery to attack Ed. They successfully contain the doll in a blessed glass case in their artifacts room

• Maurice's Exorcism: Around this time, the possession of Maurice ("Frenchie") worsens, requiring an exorcism attended by the Warrens. During the ritual, Valak gives Lorraine a horrifying premonition of Ed's death. The exorcism ultimately fails; Maurice attempts to kill his wife before taking his own life.

•  The Perron Farmhouse: The Warrens' next case brings them to Harrisville, Rhode Island, where the Perron family has moved into the old farmhouse once owned by Bathsheba Sherman. The witch's spirit begins to break down the mother, Carolyn, with the ultimate goal of possessing her to kill her children. After gathering evidence of the malevolent haunting, the Warrens realize they don't have time to wait for the Vatican's approval for an exorcism. Ed performs the exorcism himself—and though he is unauthorized, he succeeds by helping Carolyn find the strength within herself to fight off the witch by focusing on the love for her family.

 

1972: Annabelle Comes Home - A Night of Terror

While the Warrens are away on a case, their daughter Judy is left with her babysitter, Mary Ellen. Mary Ellen's friend, Daniela, grieving the recent death of her father, sneaks into the artifacts room looking for a way to contact him. Ignoring the warnings, she opens Annabelle's case, letting the demon out.

The Annabelle doll acts as a beacon for all the other evil spirits tied to the objects in the room, including the Ferryman, a Hellhound, and a cursed wedding dress. The girls, along with Mary Ellen's crush Bob, are tormented through the night but manage to get the doll back into its blessed case with help from a friendly spirit.

1977: The Conjuring 2 - The Enfield Poltergeist

The Warrens investigate the Amityville haunting, where Valak takes advantage of Lorraine's vulnerable state during a séance to show her another vision of Ed being impaled. Fearing the vision will come true, Lorraine is hesitant to take their next case in Enfield, London.

In Enfield, the Hodgson family is being haunted by the spirit of a man named Bill Wilkins, who died in the house. However, the Warrens soon realize that Wilkins is merely a pawn being used by a much stronger entity: Valak. The demon is weakening the family's daughter, Janet, in order to possess her and claim her soul. It even tries to trick the Warrens into thinking the haunting is a hoax to get them to leave.

In a final vision, Lorraine learns the key to defeating the demon is to know its name. Remembering she had previously seen the name in a trance, she checks her Bible and finds it: V-A-L-A-K. As Ed hangs precariously from a window, about to be impaled just as in her vision, Lorraine condemns the demon by its name, banishing it back to hell.

1981: The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

The Warrens are present for the exorcism of 8-year-old David Glatzel. During the violent ritual, Arne Johnson, the boyfriend of David's sister, begs the demon to take him instead. The demon accepts, and while David is freed, the curse passes to Arne. Ed Warren witnesses the transfer but suffers a heart attack and is unable to warn anyone

Days later, a possessed Arne stabs his landlord 22 times. His case becomes the first in U.S. history where the defense claims demonic possession. The Warrens must prove Arne was cursed, but the demon has already left his body. They discover a witch's totem and learn they are dealing with a Satanist's curse, orchestrated by a woman known as the Occultist. This curse requires three souls: a murder followed by a suicide.

The Occultist, revealed to be Isla, the secret daughter of a former priest named Father Kastner, had already completed the ritual once with a victim named Jessica Strong. She now targets Arne for the second, and secretly curses Ed Warren for the third. Lorraine is able to use her clairvoyance to locate the Occultist's hidden altar in tunnels beneath Kastner's home. In a final showdown, as Isla tries to force a possessed Ed to kill Lorraine, Lorraine's love for him breaks the spell. Ed destroys the altar, breaking the curse and saving Arne. Because she failed the ritual, the demon she summoned claims Isla's soul instead.

Arne Johnson is ultimately convicted of manslaughter but serves only five years.

 

Conclusion: The Tapestry of Terror is Complete 

From the Dark Ages to the 1980s, the Conjuring timeline is a sprawling tapestry of interconnected evil. Demons like Valak and Malthus patiently wait for centuries, while human curses like Bathsheba's fester for generations. Yet, through it all, the unwavering faith and love of individuals like Sister Irene and the Warrens provide a powerful light against the darkness.

Now that the timeline is laid bare, the universe feels a little less unknown—but perhaps, even more terrifying. What started with a single haunted house has become a generational battle between good and evil, proving that sometimes, the devil is in the details.

What's your favorite movie in the Conjuring Universe? And which entity scares you the most? Let me know in the comments below!