This article is dedicated to my love of horror movies and how chairs affect the scares
Rocking Chairs are one of the most PROMINENT chairs in horror movies. Every horror movie fan can see this. Rocking chairs...
- Shows Ghost Activities
- Creates Mystery
- Builds Suspense
- Symbol of age and morality
The rocking chair is a good indicator of the age of the house. As a matter of fact, one of the most haunted items is indeed... a rocking chair.
The Devils Rocking Chair
This chair was made famous by Arne Cheyenne Jackson’s possession case
Jackson claimed that he killed his landlord under demonic possession in the 1980s. The case was so intriguing that a film adaptation was made about it, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021). This case involved supernatural detectives, Ed and Lorraine Warren. But, before we can get into Arne's case, we must first understand the origin of this chair.
The Gatzel family first owned this chair. Among that family was 11-year-old David Gatzel, Jackson's fiancee's younger brother. The family received the chair in the 1950s and has kept it since then. David claimed that he was “ seeing visions of what he described as a "man with big black eyes, a thin face with animal features, jagged teeth, pointed ears, horns, and hooves.” To sum it up, The Devil was sitting in the rocking chair. When the Warrens were exorcising David of his demons, Arne traded with David, and the demon jumped into Arne's body. From there, the infamous case came about.
Where’s The Rocking Chair Now?
Even after all that, the Glatzels placed it in storage and took the chair with them when they moved. The Warrens then placed it in their museum, Warren’s Museum, which is where the Annabelle doll resides. After Lorraine's tragic death in April 2019, someone purchased the chair for $67,000. The chair was then displayed in Haunted Museum in Vegas
However, due to supernatural occurrences, the display was closed There were claims that people were suffering from nightmares, started weeping, and were even collapsing. The chair is no longer on display nor have there been any updates about the chair since then. Since horror movies insist on having chairs in the films, this got me thinking about something, does the position of chairs add to the fright?
Face-To-Face
*watch the clips before reading the explanation*
This clip is from the film Smile (2022). In this clip, the therapist and patient is face-to- face, which makes them equal. You could see both of their faces. The chair was used as a calming mechanism. Once seated, the patient was calm and was able to speak clearly to her therapist. Once they moved from the chair, things became intense and unsettling. This adds to the suspense of the movie. Plus, the mystery is still not solved, what did she see?
One Is Looking, One Isn’t
This clip is from The Conjuring 2 (2016). In the clip, the girl is looking at Ed, portrayed by Patrick Wilson, but Ed isn’t looking at her. As a matter f fact, you can’t see her. She is out of focus and as she is slowly disappearing the ghost of 'Mr. Bill' is appearing. Since she is blurry the power dynamic is unequal and Ed is the main focus. That makes the horror even more amplified.
One Is Higher
This is from the film Jaws (1975). The lifeguard is elevated in a chair which brings him power. If you pay close attention to the clip the people didn’t start to pay attention until the whistle was blown. As people are swimming away, the lifeguard is still heard yelling instructions. The lifeguard is also a good distance away from the water so that he can keep an eye out without getting affected by the danger.
One Is Lower
This clip is from Jurassic Park (1990). In this clip, The man is sitting on a toilet which means he is powerless. The dinosaur has all the power because he is higher and the two are unequal
It was a quick death but I can't help but wonder. If he wasn’t sitting down, would he have gotten away? Because if he was standing he could have just turned around and run away.
Back Facing
This clip is from the 2017 film, Annabelle: Creation, the second film i the Annabelle Trilogy.
If you notices,The mother has the power, at first. She is standing over the demon disguising itself as her daighter. Then, the power shifts. With all these clips and anaulis, one thing is true...height equals power.The demon stands up from the chair and faces the mother, now has power. Once the mother realizes this she stops what she is doing and all she can do is watch in shock. I think that that's very interesting.
Wow this is super creepy and well written