13 Terrifying True Stories Behind Hollywood’s Scariest Horror Movies

Published August 26, 2022
Updated June 10, 2024

Scary Movies Based On True Stories: Valak, The Demon In The Nun

Valak Rendering

Warner Bros. picturesA rendering of the demon, Valak, possessing a nun.

The horror movies based on true stories of Ed and Lorraine Warren are virtually endless. Take the case of Valak for instance.

The demon Valak has reached international fame thanks to movies like The Nun and The Conjuring 2 but the legends and stories surrounding this demon actually stretch back centuries.

The first reference to the name “Valak” was in a medieval grimoire titled The Clavicule of Solomon, which was a book that contained spells, conjurations, natural secrets, and ancient wisdom.

The book contained the names of 72 demons that King Solomon supposedly vanquished during his reign, and number 62 on the list was Valak. But the demon is described to have a look far different than its cinematic counterpart.

Valak is described as a demon which “appeareth like a Boy with angels wings, riding on a 2 headed dragon.”

According to the director of The Conjuring 2, James Wan, the real Lorraine Warren had told him about a “spectral entity” that appeared as a “swirling tornado vortex with this hooded figure.” Wan then decided to have the figure don the costume as a nun to put it more directly in conflict with Warren’s Catholic faith.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=1Ms9GncsEgw

The Clavicule book was labeled as heretical by the Catholic church and placed on their 1599 “Indexes of Prohibited Books.” However, the book remains very popular in Europe and thanks to The Conjuring franchise, so does Valak.

author
Caroline Redmond
author
Caroline is a writer living in New York City who holds a Bachelor's in science from the University of Florida. Her work has appeared in People, Yahoo, Bustle, Entertainment Weekly, and The Boston Herald.
editor
Maggie Donahue
editor
Maggie Donahue is an assistant editor at All That's Interesting. She has a Master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and a Bachelor's degree in creative writing and film studies from Johns Hopkins University. Before landing at ATI, she covered arts and culture at The A.V. Club and Colorado Public Radio and also wrote for Longreads. She is interested in stories about scientific discoveries, pop culture, the weird corners of history, unexplained phenomena, nature, and the outdoors.
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Redmond, Caroline. "13 Terrifying True Stories Behind Hollywood’s Scariest Horror Movies." AllThatsInteresting.com, August 26, 2022, https://allthatsinteresting.com/horror-movies-based-on-true-stories. Accessed June 26, 2024.