Paranormal investigator Dan Rivera’s cause of death has been revealed nearly two months after he died suddenly on tour with the infamous and supposedly haunted Annabelle doll.
Rivera, 54, who had been featured on the Travel Channel’s “Most Haunted Places,” died of cardiac-related issues on July 13 that were ruled natural, Adams County Coroner Francis Dutrow told People.
“Mr. Rivera had a known history of cardiac issues, which were consistent with the findings,” Dutrow said.
“It is also confirmed that Annabelle was not present in the room at the time of his passing.”
The US Army veteran was found dead in his Gettysburg, Pennsylvania hotel room hours after finishing a three-day stint of his sold-out “Devils on the Run Tour” at the Soldiers National Orphanage with the allegedly cursed Raggedy Ann doll.
Part of Rivera’s tour included traveling around the US with other members of the New England Society for Psychics Research — founded in 1952 by the famous paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren — to show off the creepy plaything.
The Annabelle doll has been tied to a series of supposed hauntings in 1970 after it was given to a Connecticut nursing student named Donna. The Warrens claimed the toy physically lifted its own arms, followed people around the apartment, and would display other frightening and malicious behavior.
The couple, whose story inspired “The Conjuring” horror movie series, also claimed Annabelle was demonically possessed and had stabbed a police officer and caused a car crash involving a priest, later moving it to their museum in Connecticut.
A psychic medium believed the doll was inhabited by the spirit of a dead 6-year-old named Annabelle.
After Rivera’s unexpected demise, conspiracy theorists speculated the tragedy was linked to the eerie relic.
Police at the time confirmed that “nothing unusual or suspicious” was found at the grim scene and the giant supernatural doll was nowhere in sight.
Rivera, who is survived by his wife, Sarah, and four children, also served as a producer for a number of shows, including Netflix’s “28 Days Haunted.”
Stand-up comic Matt Rife has since become the “legal guardian” of Annabelle, purchasing the Warrens’ Connecticut home and occult museum shortly after Rivera’s death.
The notorious doll is kept in a locked case inside the museum labeled “Warning: Positively Do Not Open.”
Read the full article here
