Summary

• Despite the portrayal in The Conjuring 3, Ed Warren did not actually have a heart attack during the exorcism of David Glatzel.
• The movie takes creative liberties with the real Warren cases, including the involvement of a fraudulent satanist in the plot.
• Ed Warren did later suffer from heart issues, leading to his eventual death in 2006 at the age of 79.

Patrick Wilson's character is almost killed by a demon in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and many wonder if the real Ed Warren had a heart attack when working on a case. Directed by Michael Chaves, the third movie in the main saga of the Conjuring universe is based on the trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson (Ruairi O'Connor), who in 1981 pleaded not guilty to murdering his landlord on the basis that he was possessed by a demon at the time and not in control of his actions.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It opens with the exorcism of a little boy called David Glatzel (Jullian Hillard). Psychic investigator Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) and her husband, demonologist Ed Warren, have been called in to consult on the case and are taking part in the exorcism when the possessed David breaks free from his restraints and attacks Ed. The demon attempts to use its powers to stop Ed's heart, triggers a heart attack that lands him in the hospital. While Ed doesn't die, many have wondered if the heart attack is based on true events and what the cause of death for the real Ed Warren was.

The Truth Behind The Ed Warren Heart Attack

There Was A Heart Attack During The David Glatzel Exorcism - But It Wasn't Ed Warren Who Suffered From It

While there was a heart attack during the real exorcism of David Glatzel, it wasn't Ed Warren who had it, but David. The Conjuring franchise makes several changes to real events in all the Ed and Lorraine Warren cases it documents, and "true story" is always going to be a gray area with tales of ghosts and demonic possession. However, while the real David Glatzel did undergo several exorcisms with the Warrens present, Ed Warren did not experience a heart attack during any of those exorcisms.

Ed Warren wasn't even present at the exorcism where Johnson invited the demon into his body — though he did still have a terrifying encounter with "the beast" while the exorcism was taking place.

Gerald Brittle's book about the case, The Devil in Connecticut (which was based on interviews with the Warrens and the Glatzel family), says that Arne invited the demon into his own body in order to save David's life, not Ed's. According to Brittle, the demon had repeatedly attempted to force an end to the exorcisms by pushing David to the brink of death and making him beg his mother to spare his life. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It's depiction of David's violent exorcism, and Ed's heart attack, is based on this part of the book.

It appeared as though David had actually experienced a heart attack. The pulse and heartbeat were nil. The boy's skin grew white. His body lay motionless, seemingly depleted of life. By the time a full minute had ed, those in the room could not help but take it for real... Desperate to save David's life, Arne declared, "Let David live! Take me on! Come into me!"

So, while the scene in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It was somewhat accurate to Brittle's book and s of what happened during the real exorcism, Ed Warren's heart attack was fictional. The Devil in Connecticut states that Ed Warren wasn't even present at the exorcism where Johnson invited the demon into his body — though he did still have a terrifying encounter with "the beast" while the exorcism was taking place. Ed was at home in his study and performed a ritual to summon the demon, with the intention of binding it.

Sure enough, he received a visitation from the entity possessing David Glatzel. According to Ed, the entity showed him the many demonic faces that David had described, and he realized that it was actually just one devil with many faces. He also realized just how powerful it was. "As a whole the entity was overwhelming," Ed told Brittle. "It could not be dealt with. Binding was impossible. If I had started, it would have killed me."

The Real Ed Warren Did Have Heart Problems

The Conjuring 3 Twisted Events To Foreshadow Ed Warren's Eventual Cause Of Death

The Conjuring movies are based on the real paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, as many fans know. While he didn't suffer a heart attack during the real exorcism of David Glatzel, Ed Warren did have issues with his heart in later life that were tied to his eventual death. This came decades after David Glatzel's exorcism in 1981 though, and the real Ed Warren died aged 79 in the 2000s.

Ed Warren did suffer heart failure many years later, in 2001.

Ed Warren did suffer heart failure many years later, in 2001. Although the attending paramedics were able to restart his heart, he remained in a coma for 11 weeks afterwards. His health continued to deteriorate in the years that followed, and he ed away on 23 August, 2006, in his home with Lorraine at his side. His obituary says that Ed was once asked if he feared death, and he replied: "No, I don't fear it, not one iota. I know I'll be going to a beautiful place."

Times The Conjuring Changed Real Events

Ed Warren's heart attack in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It isn't the only time that The Conjuring franchise made significant changes to the true story of Ed and Lorraine Warren's many cases. While this doesn't detract much from the franchise overall, since they're horror movies and not documentaries, it is nonetheless something that many critics have pointed out. The most notable example of this is during The Conjuring 2, which focused on the case of the Enfield Poltergeist.

The Conjuring 3 also had several fabricated moments outside of Ed Warren's heart attack.

While Ed and Lorraine are present throughout the haunting in the movie, in real life they reportedly spent little time with the family in real life. Their presence during the haunting that plagued the Hodgson family in the UK and the 1970s was greatly exaggerated for the film. What's more, unlike in the movie, the Warren's weren't invited to investigate — Ed Warren made the trip of his own volition, surprising the real Hodgson family when he appeared.

The Conjuring 3 also had several fabricated moments outside of Ed Warren's heart attack. The Satanist who targeted Ed and Lorraine Warren, for example, was completely made up. The real-life subjects of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It also sued Gerard Brittle and Lorraine Warren in 2007, which throws further doubt on the accuracy of the source material the third movie in the franchise is based on.