Allegedly possessed doll Annabelle visited San Antonio’s Black Swan Inn for the Psychic & Spirit Festival. Credit: Erik Gustafson

A paranormal investigator responsible for bringing the reputedly possessed Annabelle doll to San Antonio in May as part of a U.S. tour has died suddenly, according to the tour’s organizers.

Dan Rivera, paranormal investigator for the New England Society for Psychic Research, which displays the doll and put together the tour, reportedly died July 13 at a stop in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for the doll’s Devils on the Run tour.

NESPR didn’t publicly disclose Rivera’s cause of death. In a statement announcing his passing, the organization said he “believed in sharing his experiences and educating people on the paranormal.”

Dispatch records indicate that Adams County emergency crews responded to a Gettysburg hotel where they performed CPR on a male of Rivera’s age, People magazine reports.

Rivera, 54, was an Army veteran who had worked in paranormal research for more than 10 years. The Gettysburg event took place at the Soldiers National Orphanage, hosted by the tour group Ghostly Images of Gettysburg, which provided People with a statement calling Rivera’s passing a “profound loss.”

The Annabelle doll is one of the best-known objects collected by paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, whose adventures inspired numerous now-classic fright flicks, starting with The Amityville Horror and more recently extending to The Conjuring franchise and its spin-off, The Nun.

The 2014 movie Annabelle, also spawned a series of its own, including Annabelle: Creation and Annabelle Comes Home.

Rivera built the box that Annabelle toured in, which was marked with the words “WARNING — POSITIVELY DO NOT OPEN.” He also assured attendees at the San Antonio viewing that he had put a number of safeguards in place, such as blessings and binding rituals, to ensure the doll’s evil spirit would be contained.

Father Bob Bailey was also on hand to perform exorcisms at the Alamo City stop — if need be.

“If I’m going to be handling this, I’m going to put all my faith into it,” Rivera told one of the patrons in the presence of Annabelle at her San Antonio visit. “Is it 100% going to protect all of us? No, because we’re dealing with something that’s demonic.”

Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed

Related Stories

This article appears in Jul 10-23, 2025.

Stephanie Koithan is the Digital Content Editor of the San Antonio Current. In her role, she writes about politics, music, art, culture and food. Send her a tip at skoithan@sacurrent.com.