Dan Rivera, a paranormal investigator, passed away suddenly on Sunday night, as confirmed by his tour organizer. He was in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania participating in a fully booked “Devils on the Run Tour,” when emergency services were called to his hotel, according to reports.
Despite the efforts of paramedics who performed CPR, Rivera, aged 54, was pronounced dead, though the specific cause of his death remains unclear.
Rivera had appeared on the Travel Channel’s “most haunted places” series and produced various other shows, including Netflix’s “28 Days Haunted.” During his tour, he traveled across the U.S. with other members of the New England Association for Psychic Research (NESPR), where they showcased the infamous Annabelle doll.
The tour in Gettysburg took place over three days, ending just before his passing. He is survived by his wife, Sarah, and their four children. Rivera often used social media to garner international interest in his work.
Fellow investigator Ryan Buell shared his condolences, reminiscing about their travels together and their efforts to introduce new audiences to the legacy of renowned paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.
The Annabelle doll, which initially belonged to a nursing student in Connecticut in 1970, has a notorious history linked to paranormal occurrences. Ed and Lorraine Warren famously claimed the doll exhibited frightening behavior, including being physically active and even attacking a police officer.
Psychic mediums suggest that the doll is inhabited by the spirit of a deceased six-year-old girl named Annabelle, while the Warrens believed it was demonically possessed. They eventually moved the doll to a museum in Connecticut.
The Warrens, who founded NESPR in 1952, investigated many mysterious cases that inspired popular tales, including the Amityville Horror. After Ed’s passing in 2006 and Lorraine’s in 2019, their occult museum was maintained by their daughter and son-in-law, Judy and Tony Spera.
The museum was closed to the public in 2019 due to zoning issues and has since toured around the country. Earlier this year, some conspiracy theorists attempted to link Annabelle to an incident in Louisiana involving a fire, but Spera addressed these claims, clarifying that the doll was safely contained during their tour stop in New Orleans.
