Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct the year the house was built. We regret the error.
BURRILLVILLE, R.I. (WPRI) — The owner of the famed Conjuring House in Rhode Island is setting the record straight on what caused a fire in the nearby barn earlier this week.
“Neither Bathsheba Sherman, the crooked neck lady, nor any other spirit caused this fire,” Jacqueline Nuñez wrote in a statement, referring to the house’s paranormal lore.
The fire broke out inside the 2,000-square-foot barn in Burrillville early Monday morning and took approximately three hours to knock down, according to Nuñez.
“We are relieved that the barn is still standing,” she said. “We will not know what is salvageable until advised by our structural engineers.”
The fire didn’t affect the house, which was built in 1736 and made famous by the 2013 horror blockbuster “The Conjuring.” The movie is loosely based off of the paranormal activity that the Perron family reportedly experienced while living in the house in the 1970s.
Nuñez said the barn fire was likely caused by “improperly disposed materials spontaneously combusting inside a trash bag left in the barn.”
“This was an accident,” she explained, emphasizing that it was not intentionally set.
The barn, which Nuñez said was originally built in 1801, had recently been renovated. No one was injured in the fire and the barn does not appear to be a total loss.
Nuñez bought The Conjuring House last year for roughly $1.5 million.