The Conjuring Universe has spawned many monstrous, notorious icons. The haunted doll Annabelle who first appeared in The Conjuring, has spawned three standalone films, with a fourth Annabelle movie reportedly underway. The demon Valak, better known as The Nun, was initially featured in The Conjuring 2, as it lurked about both the Amityville House and the haunted home the Warrens would be called to investigate in Enfield, England. Not long later, the demon that takes an irreverent form received its own movie, titled The Nun, and The Nun 2 is expected to release sometime in 2023.

Other monsters spawned by the Conjuring Universe and revered by fans include

• The Crooked Man, The Conjuring 2
• The Ferryman, Annabelle Comes Home
• La Llorona, The Curse of La Llorona

Amongst the infamy, one is, surprisingly, overlooked.

The formidable antagonist, with a body count that spans two centuries. A malignant force that manipulates people to commit the most heinous of acts. A triple threat, part witch, part demonic presence, part vengeful spirit… The one who started it all: Bathsheba Sherman.

Ghastly Origins of The Conjuring’s Bathsheba

It didn’t take long for paranormal researchers Ed and Lorraine Warren to determine the identity of the specter wreaking havoc at the Perron family home in The Conjuring. Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) explains that Bathsheba Sherman lived where the Perron’s house now stands in the 1800s.

The Warrens believed her to be a descendant of Mary Eastey, who was infamously persecuted for witchcraft, along with her sister Rebecca Nurse, during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

Lorraine Warren explains that Bathsheba lived with her husband, Judson Sherman. Seven days after the birth of their child, Bathsheba sacrificed the newborn in front of the fireplace, where “she proclaimed her love to Satan, cursed anyone who would try to take her land, and hung herself.”

Given her time of death being declared at 3:07 AM, she committed this most heinous of acts precisely at the time of the demonic witching hour. With so many impious acts perpetrated at once, the witch made her curse a reality as she continued to take lives long after her death.

Bathsheba’s Curse on the Land

While her continued presence went undetected for some time, Lorraine and Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) began to piece together the trail of victims Bathsheba had claimed in her wake. The Warrens were able to determine that on her original plot of land, the following tragedies occurred:

• Child, Rory Walker, missing in the woods
• Mother, Mrs. Walker, suicide in the basement
• Child, unknown, drowned in a pond
• Maid, unidentified, dead by suicide in a neighboring home

As events unfolded in the film, it became painfully clear that the witch did not just kill these children. In the most horrific of nightmares, Bathsheba possessed the mothers or caregivers and had them enact every parent’s worst nightmare themselves. This perversion of maternal instinct, as she overrides a person’s claim to free will and makes them act against their nature, is just one of the facets that make Bathsheba so terrifying.

Generating Ghosts

As the movie would later indicate, through the appearance of one haunted mother exclaiming, “Look what she made me do,” these women are forced to do the witch’s bidding. More than that, they are condemned to an afterlife of heartache as they haunt future tenants and relive their torment. But it is not just the mothers that are barred from moving on to an afterlife, as evidenced by Rory, a murdered boy who continues to haunt the grounds.

Building a Haunted House

When Bathsheba kills, she entraps her victims in one place, ensuring that the more people she can ensnare, the more haunted the house and surrounding land will become.

Because of this and Bathsheba’s contribution, the Perron family suffered from a wide range of paranormal activity within the home, including but not limited to:

• Doors opening and closing on their own
• Phantom clapping
• Knocks that come in threes
• Clocks that stop working at 3:07
• Full-body apparitions
• Leg pulling
• Birds swarming and dying
• A girl dragged by her hair
• Possession

…and a family dog that succumbed to the evil of the property before the family’s boxes were unpacked, RIP Sadie.

Though Bathsheba may have been a witch in life and genetics, her allegiance to Satan seemingly granted her demonic powers as the Perron home’s haunted occurrences indicate a demonic infestation.

The Demon, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

The Warrens took great care to explain at the film’s beginning that a demon is an evil force that has never walked the Earth as a human being. However, Carolyn Perron’s experience at the hands of Bathsheba checked all three boxes that the Warrens presented for stages of demonic activity: infestation, oppression, and, ultimately, possession.

Given this, Bathsheba is unique in her evil, as she held a human form, haunts the grounds as a vengeful spirit, yet has the powers of an unearthly demon. Her humanity gives her intimate knowledge of human weaknesses, and her demonic abilities allow her to use them against her intended victims.

When it comes to opponents, she is, without a doubt, a formidable one.

From her harrowing backstory, sinful acts, and lasting, haunting impacts, the demonic witch’s ghost is a malevolent force to be reckoned with and should be recognized.

Team “Bathsheba should get her own movie next.”  #BathshebaOriginMovie