Yes. The original Annabelle doll belonged to a nurse. Strange things started to happen in her home with the doll present. There were signs of movement and unexplained phenomena. Eventually, the doll was taken in by paranormal investigators, and from these real - life events, the story of Annabelle as we know it in horror culture was born.
The real Annabelle doll was a Raggedy Ann doll. It was owned by a young nurse. She and her roommate noticed that the doll would change positions on its own. There were also some strange marks that appeared in their apartment that they couldn't explain. It all seemed to be related to the doll.
The real Annabelle story was relatively simple. It was about a doll that seemed to have some sort of presence or cause some odd things to occur. However, the movie 'Annabelle' has created a much more elaborate backstory for the doll. It has made it part of a larger supernatural world, with demons and other forces at play. The movie has also added a lot of action and suspense elements that were not present in the original real - life accounts.
Yes, Annabelle is based off a true story. The original doll was a Raggedy Ann doll. There were reports of strange occurrences around it, like it moving on its own or things happening in its vicinity. The movie creators took this concept and built a fictional horror narrative around it. They added characters, more complex backstories, and a whole lot of spooky elements to make it into the horror franchise we know today.
The movie Annabelle takes some inspiration from real-life accounts of supposedly haunted dolls, but it's embellished and fictionalized for cinematic purposes.
The concept of Annabelle has roots in real-life stories of supposed haunted objects. However, the specific plot and details in the movie are a creative interpretation and amplification of those underlying inspirations.