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