The real story behind horror movie ‘The Conjuring’

Real life horror stories, things that happened to real people

Most of us love a good horror movie, but sometimes there is more of a story behind what’s shown on screen.

Of course the movies are embellished by the studios to make them scarier and more exciting, but finding out these events actually happened to people, gives the movie that extra creepy vibe!

The real life details

The Conjuring is ‘loosely’ based on the case files of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.

Ed and Lorraine Warren

Actors Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga who play the Warrens in the movie

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1970, the Perrons, Roger and Carolyn and their 5 daughters, moved into their new farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island. They started experiencing strange and disturbing events such as hauntings and spirit possessions.

After 4 years of living in the house they decided to contact the Warrens. The Warrens investigated the Perron’s home and found that they were indeed being haunted.

The Warrens claimed that the main entity haunting the property was a witch from the 19^th century, Bathsheba Sherman. They claim she had cursed the land so that anyone who would live there after her would meet their demise.

Unfortunately, the Warrens couldn’t help the Perron family and the father eventually asked them to leave.

The Perrons lived in the house for 10 years, due to their children loving the house despite all of the paranormal activity. Their financial situation also stopped them from finding a new home.

Other movies based on true stories

There are so many horror movies that are based on true stories, for example The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Open Water, The Amityville Horror, Wolf Creek and Annabelle are just a few of the many films. To find out more try having a look at the ‘Horror Movies Based on True Stories‘ Facebook group.

Bathsheba from the Conjuring Movie

For more in depth information on the true story behind The Conjuring check out either of the links below

• History vs Hollywood page; or
• Westport Crypt Blog

 

 

 

 

 

Image of ‘The Conjuring’ retrieved from Factoflife.net

Image of Ed and Lorraine Warren retrieved from https://tribzap2it.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/ed-lorraine-warren.jpg?w=769&h=432 

Image of Actors Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga retrieved from https://virtualborderland.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/srill-2-from-the-conjurin-008.jpg

Image of Bathsheba retrieved from https://darrenendymion.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/conjuring.png

A quick look at educational apps for kids

Why use apps for kids?

Parents may think that spending time on devices is silly and time-wasting, but computers and tablets are being used to educate children in schools for research and homework.

There are many educational apps coming through to improve home learning. Using the technology is fun and can encourage learning even for the most unenthusiastic learners.

The types of apps for kids available

There are so many apps out there these days, for example apps for

• colours
• letter and numbers
• reading or e-books
• maths and money
• learning different languages
• meditation and mindfulness; and
• even apps to teach kids about the world and how their actions can affect it

Here is a quick run though of some of the different types of apps for kids

1. Basic colour, letter and number apps

There are plenty of free and easy to use apps for all ages, though the letter and number apps are generally targeted towards preschool children.

As children get older there are phonetic and reading apps, maths and money skill apps to help that are based on a recommended age or the child’s year level.

2. Kids foreign language apps

Do your have children that have immigrated to a new country? Kids who want to learn a second language? or even want to learn sign language? There are a variety of apps for kids to help them learn just about any language easily.

Have a look at Babbles list of 10 apps to help teach your kid a foreign language.

3. Green or environmental apps

These apps are great for teaching your child how to look after the environment, they teach things like sustainability, renewable energy, growing plants and about ideas like pollution and why it’s important to recycle.

Check out Mindshift and  look at Know Whats Inside for a few examples of some of the different environmental apps available.

4. Meditation and mindfulness apps

These apps can help your children relax their body and mind, often helping children to fall peacefully to sleep at night.These sort of apps have easy to follow audio instructions for teaching kids how to meditate.

A great example of this type of app is the Mindfulness for children the app.

Of course these are all things that you can teach your kids without apps, but if the technology is available to you it could be worth a try!

 

 

Images courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How to store your leftover cake

Do you want to have your cake and eat it later?

Sometimes you can’t quite manage to eat the rest of your cake, or perhaps you’re saving it for a special reason like the top tier of your wedding cake. Whatever the reason here is a quick guide to help you store that leftover cake.

Iced cakes

You can leave your cake under a cake dome or an overturned bowl for 4-5 days as long as it is completely covered in butter cream or fondant icing.

The icing keeps the cake moist and fresh, but covering with a bowl or dome will keep out dust and if there is children or pets around, fingers and paws out of cakes!

If you have a cake that has been sliced, try to cover the exposed cake with icing to seal it, otherwise press plastic wrap directly onto the sliced part of the cake to seal and make sure that it sticks to it.

If you need to store a cake for more than 5 days, or if it’s iced with cream cheese or whipped cream, it will need to go in the refrigerator.

• place the cake in the fridge for 15 minutes to harden the icing
• wrap as tightly as possible with plastic wrap to keep those weird fridge smells from getting to your cake.
• Cakes kept in the fridge will keep for 7-10 days.

Also if it is a hot day, it’s probably best to keep your cake in the fridge to stop the icing from melting and to keep bacteria from growing, causing the cake to form mould quickly.

To keep your cake for longer than 10 days? The traditional top tier (or piece of) of wedding cake to be eaten a year later for example.

• put the cake into the fridge to firm up for 30 minutes
• cover completely with plastic wrap to seal
• cover with a layer of aluminium foil
• place the whole lot into an air tight container, or freezer bag if you don’t have one

Non-Iced cakes

Non-iced cakes will go stale a lot quicker than iced cakes since there is no icing to keep the moisture in.

A non-iced cake can be kept a room temperature for about 5 days if you completely cover tightly with plastic wrap making sure all sides are covered.

Again if the house is hot it can be stored in the fridge to keep bacteria from rapidly growing.

What else can you do with the leftover cake?

How about a cake milkshake? Or crumble and mix with icing to make cake pops? Check out Craftsy’s Saving Cake: 15 Incredible Uses for Leftover Cake for some awesome ideas on what you could do with those leftovers.

Images courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Trend alert! Mirror Glaze Cakes

Image found at https://nz.pinterest.com/pin/529454499925245551/

Image found at https://nz.pinterest.com/pin/344736546459046520/

Image found at https://nz.pinterest.com/pin/AQvf6Ctth7ktZD2nsWKavLgBCG5xwg2_W3KTFOAKnsODBELk3Bx9b8o/

Mirror Glaze cakes, the new craze in cake decorating

These stunning cakes are going viral. Why is everyone going crazy over such a simple cake? The flawless mirror finish.

There’s something about the perfectly flawless cake that seems to amaze everyone, and if done right you should be able to see your reflection in the cake.

Would you like to try a mirror glaze cake? We’ve found a basic Chocolate Mirror Glaze recipe for you to have a go with at home!

Chocolate Mirror Glaze

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons powdered gelatine
• 3.5 ounces (1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon) cold water
• 3.5 ounces (1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon) heavy cream
• 5.25 ounces (3/4 cup) white sugar
• 1.75 ounces (1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon) cocoa powder

Method

1. Pour half the water into a small dish and stir the gelatine into it. Allow it to sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients
2. Combine the remaining water, cream and sugar in a small saucepan and bring it to a simmer
3. Take the pan off the heat and add the gelatine, stirring until it’s fully dissolved
4. Whisk in the cocoa until the mixture is smooth
5. Strain the glaze into a glass bowl (metal will affect the taste)
6. Allow it to cool for five minutes or so, until it’s right about 26° Celcius, before applying
7. The pre-made glaze can be stored in the refrigerator and re-melted in a double boiler or in the microwave (a few 5-second bursts on high heat) for later use

 

Did this recipe work for you? Or do you have your own mirror cake glaze recipe that you would like to share? Leave us a comment and let us know!

 

Recipe courtesy of Joe Pastry 

Chocolate Cake Image found at https://nz.pinterest.com/pin/398076054537133318/