"Now, we know that a demon can take any form, but they choose their form to challenge your faith and to weaken your spirits.”
- Sister Amara
The Nun II is the 2023 follow-up to The Nun and the ninth installment in The Conjuring series. For those who have seen the first one, this movie makes total sense. If not, there may be some catching up to do. The story follows most of the main characters from The Nun - minus Father Burke as we learn he’s passed away in the time that’s passed.
Sister Irene has made her way to Italy, while Maurice, or “Frenchie” has been traveling to various places working as a handyman. His latest location is a boarding school in France. Summoned by the Cardinal, Sister Irene is tasked with investigating a series of mysterious deaths within the church, suspected to be the work of the malevolent demon Valak.
As she delves deeper, Sister Irene pieces together a chilling puzzle, tracing the demon's possession back to Maurice during their harrowing encounter in the Abbey years earlier. The Nun II escalates from hauntingly creepy to an intense level of terror, weaving a story that's as compelling as it is horrifying. And for those wondering about the realm of possibility within its frightful tale, it seems some elements might be eerily plausible."
“Save me, Sister.”
- Maurice
Time Slips
In certain moments of The Nun II, the intricate threads that connect The Conjuring series become strikingly visible. A pivotal scene unfolds as Sophie, initially trailing what she believes to be her mother, is instead confronted by Valak at the end of the Warrens' hallway. This revelation holds profound significance, given The Nun II's 1950s setting juxtaposed with The Conjuring's 1970s backdrop. It hints at Valak's prescient awareness of the tumultuous future awaiting the Warrens, offering Sophie a tantalizing glimpse into what lies ahead.
Sophie's encounter isn't the sole glimpse of the future; Sister Irene too experiences a vision featuring Lorraine Warren, deepening the enigmatic connection speculated between the two. Beyond demonic machinations, humanity has long grappled with instances of temporal displacement, where individuals perceive or inhabit times and spaces beyond their current reality.
The phenomenon of Time Slips remains shrouded in mystery, evading definitive explanations. Yet, certain locales, like Bold Street in Liverpool, emerge as hotspots for these temporal anomalies. Amidst its many popular shops and restaurants, unsuspecting visitors have found themselves transported across decades. One such tale recounts a man named Frank's bewilderment in the 1990s when, mid-shopping trip, he stumbled into a decade that wasn’t his own. The sights, sounds, and even the vehicles around him belonged to a completely different time until, as mysteriously as it began, he returned to familiar surroundings.
Such inexplicable occurrences are not isolated incidents but occur worldwide, yet Bold Street stands out as a hot spot for these journeys through time. Whether these episodes happen so briefly that they go unnoticed as we experience them, or last long enough that they linger in our collective consciousness, they highlight our fascinating, yet frightening reality, where past, present, and future occasionally converge in fleeting, mysterious and seemingly impossible to comprehend glimpses.
“There’s something wrong with this school. There’s something that doesn’t feel right. It’s like there’s something here that’s not meant to be.”
- Sophie
The Goatman
Black goats, like the one in the stained glass window that comes to life and terrorizes the students in the night, have long been associated with dark subjects including witchcraft, demons, and the devil himself. I’m not here to tell you that an anthropomorphic goat is going to chase you down a flight of stairs (but if it happens, don’t blame me), but there is an actual tale of a black goat appearing to a student at a boarding school.
There was a large boarding school for boys on the Continent, in which the dormitories were divided up into “partitions”—every bed being separated from the next and from the passage in front, by curtains running on long rods. Everybody on going to rest could thus shut himself up in a sort of tiny room. Dim lights burned in the dormitories all night.
One of the boys, of active brain no doubt, could never succeed in falling asleep, as boys generally contrive to do the moment they get into bed; he nearly always lay awake for an hour or more ere “an exposition of sleep fell upon him.”
On nights when he remained awake longer than usual, he used to notice a strange thing. Out of the deep stillness that surrounded him, he would hear a small faint sound, arising far off in the long corridors outside the dormitory, and gradually approaching the door (which remained open all night) till he could distinguish a tripping, tapping step, like that of some small-hoofed animal. The step would enter the dormitory, come towards him along the passage between the rows of partitions, stop just short of his own, and enter the next one. In a short time he would hear the strange visitant leave the other partition and go down the passage again; the sound at length dying away in the corridors outside.
The listener, who seems to have been a silent and self-contained boy, said nothing to any of his companions of the mysterious sound. But it greatly excited his curiosity, and one night he determined to try and see the strange visitant of the dormitory.
Waiting therefore till the steps were receding down the passage and had got some distance away, the boy threw back the bedclothes, got to the foot of his bed, and as noiselessly and possible drew back the curtain a little way and peeped out. As before observed, there was a faint light burning, and the boy was able to see what the visitant was.
It was a small black goat.
In the morning the boy, with some justification, “reported sick,” and was sent to the infirmary. In the course of the day he told the authorities the cause of the nervous shock from which he was suffering. The matter was kept from the knowledge of the other boys, and that night, when the partitions were closed, a master very unostentatiously entered the sick boy’s partition and got into bed.
The master kept watch till he heard the tapping step come along the corridor, draw near, and enter the next partition. He waited a moment or two, and then slightly pushed aside the curtain at the head of the bed.
The boy in the next partition was lying on his back in bed. A black goat was standing on the bed, its forefeet on the boy’s throat, and it was looking into his face with red, fiery eyes.
The master let the curtain fall again. Soon he heard the being in the next partition get down from the bed, and walk away down the dormitory, till the faint sound of its steps was lost in the night.
Next morning the boy in the other partition failed to get up with the rest. When they came to call him, they found him lying on his back, dead, with black marks, as of small hoofs, on his throat.
This story was related to me many years ago, as a fact, by a person who had means of judging as to the truth of it. Beyond this I am unable to go; though the very bizarre quality of the story speaks in its favour.
The Occult Reader, Vol. 34, 1921
What kind of entity attacked this boy, and why did the master do nothing upon seeing it? The truth is, there’s a lot about paranormal experiences that isn’t understood. However, it isn’t uncommon for people to recall almost not even minding an entity when seeing in throughout the night. As if whatever intruder has the ability to keep people calm when necessary. Which may be even more frightening.
"She did not think she had anything to confess. For that alone, she should be confessing.”
- Reverend Mother
Paranormal Children
In a chilling twist, the demon Valak sheds its customary nun guise to assume the form of a child, exploiting a mother's grief to ensnare her in a horrific and violent fate. To many, her decision to pursue the haunting echoes of her deceased child's laughter may seem like an obvious bad choice, yet the profound power of a mother's grief can defy any rational caution.
The realm of paranormal children is rife with unsettling tales, particularly on the topic of demons. It's common for malevolent entities to masquerade as innocent children, ingratiating themselves or fostering familial ties to drain a family's vitality, weaponizing their own emotions against them. Tragically, countless individuals fall prey to these insidious forces year after year.
These eerie child manifestations extend far beyond demons and spirits, finding their place in urban legends as well. The infamous Black Eyed Children epitomize this dread-inducing lore, their spectral presence haunting encounters in the dead of night. These enigmatic figures, spanning a wide age range, knock on doors long after the sun has set, seeking assistance. They’ve also been known to ask lone drivers for a ride, only to reveal eyes devoid of soul, entirely consumed by darkness.
The consequences of inviting these eerie children into one's space remain shrouded in mystery because either no one has ever let them inside, or because it’s impossible to trace any incidents back to an entity. Even still, reports of encounters note them leaving lasting scars of dread, anxiety, agoraphobia, and even physical manifestations like sleep paralysis. Are these manifestations truly demonic entities camouflaged as innocents, or are they something else entirely?
While The Nun II unfolds as a fictional narrative, it serves as a potent reminder that the line between imagination and reality blurs when confronting the unknown. The unsettling truths embedded within such tales caution against dismissing every scary occurrence in a high-budget horror movie as mere fiction. Remember, many of your deepest, darkest fears are entirely possible in some way even after the movie ends.