Episode 24 of Our First Fears has creepy middle-grade author, Lorien Lawrence chatting with Dan about Ed and Lorraine Warren, the real life “ghost hunters” who were played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in James Wan’s 2013 film THE CONJURING and its many sequels and offshoots. Lorien’s childhood experiences growing up near the Warrens’ infamous Connecticut home has inspired her own work about a ghost-hunting family, and the stories she shares about living in their shared hometown provide insight into a possible darkness hiding underneath the wholesome image that the Warrens built up for themselves in the media over the course of the latter half of the twentieth century.

Lorien Lawrence is the author the middle-grade Frightwatch series, which includes the novels The Stitchers, The Collectors, and Unmasked. Her latest book, The Many Hauntings of the Manning Family, is out March 18th, 2025. Horror-master Stephen King had this to say about The Stitchers: “The chills come guaranteed!” Find all of Lorien’s books now at your favorite local bookshop.

Dan Poblocki is the bestselling author of the recent novels Tales to Keep You Up at Night and More Tales to Keep You Up at Night, along with Ghost Hunter’s Daughter, Liars’ Room, The Stone Child, The Nightmarys and others. His picture book with James Rey Sanchez, My Brother’s Butt is Haunted, is arriving July 29th, 2025 from Penguin Workshop. Pre-order your copy RIGHT THIS MINUTE by visiting danpoblocki.com.

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