The Lying in Connecticut

In March, Lions Gate Films released A Haunting in Connecticut, a film based on a true story, to mostly negative reviews, but decent box office returns. The ghost genre has always been a popular form of soliciting scares. Whether compelled to look or terrified enough to keep the lights on, the things that go bump in the night seem to be constantly attractive to the movie going public. Peaking from behind raised fingers the ghost story has captured the minds of movie lovers, film makers, scientific researchers, and paranormal enthusiasts for countless years.

Added to all of this, is the splendidly misleading tag line “based on a true story”. Now, it’s no secret that a studio’s marketing team loves to use that phrase, especially for a horror film, since it’s a quick sell for the audience. If the events are real, it seems more terrifying. But more often than not, that tag line is false. This brings me back to A Haunting in Connecticut. from the posters, to the trailers, to the first few seconds of the film, “based on a true story” is boldly proclaimed, and that brings us to today. Ray Garton has been a novelist for many years, and was the one who originally wrote the book that inspired A Haunting in Connecticut, but as you will learn, Garton is out to tell the true story behind the true story of A Haunting in Connecticut. Keep your lights on, as Killer Film talks with author Ray Garton about The Lying in Connecticut.

The Book Deal

“I was hired to write In A Dark Place, the original book about this story”, Ray Garton explains. The book has been long out-of-print. “My agent arranged this for me. One day, she said to me, “Would you like to write a book for Ed and Lorraine Warren about a haunted house?” I used to read about Ed and Lorraine in the National Enquirer when I was a kid, and I was always entertained by their stories, so I thought it would be fun to meet and work with them. I went into this thinking I would be dealing with people who GENUINELY BELIEVED they’d had a supernatural experience, and I had no trouble with that.”

Despite this seemingly nice introduction to each other after an informal meeting, when Garton started preparing the novel, he realized it wasn’t going to be an easy assignment. Garton explains “first, there were the conflicting details in the individual stories. The Snedeker family was a mess and couldn’t keep their stories straight. The son, Philip was diagnosed with schizophrenia after he molested his cousin. He was removed from the house to be institutionalized. He was also a drug addict. I was not allowed to meet him when I was working on the book, but spoke to him briefly on the phone while Carmen monitored the conversation. The second Philip began to tell me that the bizarre things he saw and felt in the house went away as soon as he was medicated, Carmen abruptly ended the conversation.”

This differs significantly from the film.

Garton continues “these people had a long history of weaseling out of rent and other debts, and the owner of the house at the time knew very well, that’s what they were trying to do. They were behind on their rent, and when they were threatened with eviction, suddenly they were haunted. The Snedekers got an attorney who then told them not to pay their rent because of the situation in the house (they weren’t paying it anyway). They knew very well that the house was a funeral home when they moved in – the real estate company involved made no secret of that.”

Ghosts for Money

To make matters worse, Garton couldn’t even tour the Snedekers “haunted” house, as the current residents firmly told his publishers to stay away. Garton never went into the house. “I wanted the book to be published as fiction rather than non-fiction, because it clearly wasn’t non-fiction,” explains Garton, but his publishers weren’t having it.

They told Garton to use what he could, and just make the rest of the stuff up. “And another big fat paranormal lie was born, like Amityville.” Garton was getting angry. “These people are lowlifes who shamelessly exploited their children to get this story in the press, and follow it up with a book deal with the help of other lowlifes, Ed and Lorraine Warren. While I was with them working on the book, Carmen (Snedeker) repeatedly asked, ‘Do you think there’ll be a movie? How much money do you think we’ll make from that?’ That was her only concern.”

Focusing on the book, and writing it as a non-fiction tale, was extremely hard for Garton. “It was a very unpleasant experience. It wasn’t hard to do the writing itself because writing fiction is what I do. But the idea that it would be published as non-fiction with my name on the cover really bothered me.”

Garton knew the whole thing could be debunked and when it was, he was deeply afraid of people calling him a fraud for writing such nonsense. “I decided while working on the book that I would tell everything I knew as soon as the book was published. I wanted to clear my name, and I wanted people to know that it was “not” non-fiction.” This was 1992.

Movie and Aftermath

17 years after the book’s publication, the film went into production. “I wasn’t surprised because I knew that had been Carmen’s ultimate goal all along,” Garton said.” But I was a little surprised that it happened this much later.” Garton has not seen the film, nor does he wish too. Anyone who has seen the film, now knows how much of it was false. The family wasn’t a nice wholesome unit, as Garton pointed out earlier, nor was the son dying of cancer, like in the film. Certainly, there wasn’t any supernatural activity, just a bunch of eager opportunistic folks.

When it came time to work on the DVD and Blu Ray, the company was planning on a so-called re-investigation of the case with Daniel Farrands, and Ray Garton was asked to participate. They didn’t want any bashing, just Garton’s side of the story, along with other interviews, in an unbiased format. Seeing an opportunity to tell his story, like he has here, Garton quickly agreed to be involved. The next day, Garton received an email from Susan Trotta-Smith, the current resident of the Snedeker’s apparent haunted house. She told Garton that in 10 years since they bought the home, there was absolutely no paranormal activity, but she was growing concerned.

Her concern was with the growing number of visitors who were coming by because of the film. Prior to the film’s release, Lions Gate posted the address on the film’s official site. After she complained, they removed it. “It’s a sign that these people have never approached this as a ‘true story’, because they simply don’t give a damn about any of the “real” people involved,” Garton says.

That wasn’t all. Farrands also had contacted Susan, wanting to interview her, film a tour of the house, and also wanted a group of paranormal investigators with their equipment to see if there was any activity going on still. All of this seems fine, and you can see it on the DVD and Blu Ray, but issues perked up when Susan forwarded Garton the email from Farrands.

“As I read it,” Garton tells, “I began to realize that his claim that he didn’t want to “bash” anyone was not genuine. From the snide way he referred to me repeatedly in the email, it was obvious that he had very definitely formed an opinion, and there was a bias at work.”

Garton called Susan, and they weighed in on the pros and cons of participating in this documentary. After thinking about it, they assumed no matter what, Farrands would edit them to his liking. Garton was especially concerned since he has been outspoken about this event as a hoax. He felt that Farrand could benefit from this by having it edited to present Garton and Susan as they saw fit for the documentary. Farrands still persisted, even offering money.

Eventually, Farrands made the documentary, and you can see that on the 2-disc DVD and the Blu Ray.

What should have been the end of this story, continued on the Pat and Brian Show, a paranormal-themed talk show (here), as Carmen was featured on a particular episode, discussing the haunting she claims to have witnessed. When the hosts brought up Ray Garton, she began telling lies about how he approached the writing of the book. She claimed Garton had an uppity attitude when he visited them as he was researching for the book, making little eye contact, being rude, as if all of this was beneath him.

“All of these things were utter lies”, Garton reaffirms. “I immediately called the show and confronted Carmen on the air. It was the first time we’d spoken in more than 17 years. I was amazed when she continued telling complete lies about our time together even while we were talking. The hosts kept me on the line for over an hour and as the show went on, Carmen repeatedly contradicted herself and left gaping holes in her story, saying things that made no sense at all.”

Later in the show, Carmen resorted to crying about all of the horrible things she went through.

For 17 years…

As for the supposed haunting, Ray Garton has been happy to talk to people and tell them the truth. “I’ve simply been telling my story when the opportunity comes up, and that happens a lot because people are interested in this,” explains Garton. “There are some people who want so desperately to believe in this that they will continue to believe no matter what, and those people have nothing nice to say about me, because I’m interfering with their paranormal fantasies. But most people want to know, “Is it true?” And I’m happy to tell them. As I said, neither Carmen Reed nor the Warrens have ever responded to me in any way, It’s only been recently, with the release of the movie, that both Carmen and Lorraine have commented on what I’ve been saying, and they’ve lied.”

Ray Garton just released his newest novel, Bestial, a sequel to 2007′s Ravenous. The werewolf tale has been getting rave reviews, and now Garton is ready to push this whole “haunting” behind him. A similar themed sequel, A Haunting in Georgia, is being prepped. For those who are wondering if Garton has seen the film, he has not, and has no intentions too.

You can visit Ray Garton on his official website here. If you would like to add anything more on this story, the film, or the book, feel free to leave a comment or email me at jon@killerfilm.com