The daughter of renowned paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, Judy Spera, has gained recognition following the success of The Conjuring film franchise, which depicts her family’s work in the supernatural realm.
For a portion of her life, Judy stayed away from both the spotlight and the paranormal activities that defined her parents’ legacy. However, in recent years, she has begun to embrace her family’s heritage.
Reflecting on her upbringing during a 2020 interview with Den of Geek, Judy revealed that she spent a lot of her childhood living with her grandparents due to her parents’ extensive travel for work.
Reflecting on her upbringing, Judy reveals her childhood spent largely with her grandparents away from the paranormal spotlight
While she did experience a brief period living with Ed and Lorraine, she found it uncomfortable. “I was terrified there, in their house, so I just didn’t sleep there. I couldn’t sleep in a room by myself,” she shared.
Throughout most of her life, Judy felt apprehensive about the paranormal, a sentiment she still harbors to some extent. In the same interview, she stated, “I don’t pursue it. I back away from it.”
However, as she matured, Judy recognized the importance of preserving her parents’ legacy and safeguarding their reputation. “I still get discouraged reading negative articles about my parents,” she expressed to USA Today in 2019.
Currently, Judy collaborates with her husband to manage a paranormal investigation organization, continuing the Warrens’ tradition of exploring the strange and unexplained. Judy Spera is married to Tony Spera.
While working as a police officer in the late ’70s, Tony Spera had a chance encounter with Judy that left a lasting impression. In a self-published essay on his website, he recounted how he spotted her driving by while on duty and was immediately captured by her beauty.
“I sat in my police car, writing a report, and glanced up from my notepad, only to see a beautiful, young woman passing by. She gave a wave and a big smile, then drove quickly by and out of sight,” Tony wrote.
Feeling an instant connection, Tony reached out to Judy through a mutual friend later that evening to ask her out. Their first date involved sharing fried chicken and French fries, a memory Tony fondly recalls, saying, “And now, 40 years hence, she is somehow still saying ‘yes.’”
Together, Judy and Tony operate the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR). This organization is dedicated to conducting paranormal investigations and facilitating interviews and panels at conventions.
The NESPR website serves as a central hub for fans of the Warrens, featuring archival footage of their interviews and case files from their most investigations, including the Annabelle doll, the Amityville house, and the Perron family.
As stated on the NESPR website, the team aims “to continue the legacy and work of the Warrens through their passionate involvement in paranormal phenomena and desire to help families afflicted by haunting experiences.”
Despite her preference for privacy, Judy took a prominent role in the 2020 Travel Channel documentary Devil’s Road: The True Story of Ed and Lorraine Warren. The documentary offers an authentic portrayal of the Warrens’ lives and careers, stripping away the Hollywood embellishments of The Conjuring films and presenting the real couple behind the phenomenon.
Judy expressed her motivation for participating in the documentary was to provide an authentic account of her parents, especially in honor of her mother. “Because it involved my mother, and I felt I owed it to her to get on there and speak because I never do this,” she explained.
When asked why she chose to participate, Judy remarked, “They were interviewing people that I didn’t know or I hadn’t met. I thought, ‘Well, who knew her better than I did?'”
Her extensive interviews made Judy a central figure in the documentary, where she shared her experiences growing up as a Warren. Judy claims to possess some supernatural abilities akin to those of her mother.
Lorraine, renowned for her clairvoyance, utilized her abilities during investigations. Lorraine once recounted, “From the time that I was about seven years old, I remember seeing lights around people. I realized that I was communicating.”
In her interview with Den of Geek, Judy mentioned that she has experienced some abilities of her own. “I had things happen that I’ll say, ‘Oh, my gosh. How did that happen?’ I don’t know if you want to attribute it to being anything to do with my mother’s gifts, but I have had some things happen. It’s a lot of dreams that are very strange, and warnings – from my father,” she noted.
Judy believes that The Conjuring franchise has played a vital role in keeping her parents’ memory alive. Beyond spawning eight films to date and becoming one of the highest-grossing horror franchises, Judy feels that The Conjuring has contributed to preserving her parents’ spirits.
“I just read a quote, and I’m not going to have it exact, but it was so perfect about ‘a person is not really dead until the ripples in the stream stop,’ to that effect,” she told ComicBook.com. “And I thought, ‘Well, that’s actually how their after-life is.’ They’re still here because of that, because people are still interested in everything they’re doing, and they’ll quote them and read about them.”
The couple no longer manages the Warren Occult Museum. The Conjuring films transformed the Warren Occult Museum, which housed their haunted memorabilia, into a major tourist attraction.
However, due to increased visitor traffic causing litter, noise, and property damage in the residential neighborhood where it was located, the museum closed in 2019, and there are currently no reports of its reopening.
Despite the museum’s closure, Judy and Tony retain ownership of many haunted items, including the infamous Annabelle doll, which they occasionally showcase at paranormal conventions.
