She grew up as the only child of the most famous paranormal investigators in America, yet for most of her life Judy Spera wanted nothing to do with the family business. Judy, also sometimes referred to as Judy Warren, is the daughter of Ed and Lorraine Warren, whose life’s work was chronicled in The Conjuring film franchise — and her story, as PEOPLE lays it out, is one of fear first and duty second.
Because Ed and Lorraine traveled constantly for their investigations, Judy spent most of her childhood living with her grandparents. For a brief period she lived with her parents, but she felt uncomfortable in their home. Speaking to Den of Geek in September 2020, she recalled: “I was terrified there, in their house, so I just didn’t sleep there. I couldn’t sleep in a room by myself.”
(Karen Seto / 司徒嘉蘭 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0))Afraid of the Very Thing Her Parents Chased
Judy was scared of the paranormal for most of her life, and she still feels some trepidation about it today. “I don’t pursue it. I back away from it,” she has said — a striking admission from the heir to an occult museum and a case archive famous around the world. Yet she was never skeptical of her parents’ claims. “I was so afraid of it,” she explained. “As I got older, I could see proof of it or proof enough for me.”
Like her mother, who was known for her claims of clairvoyance — Lorraine said that from about the age of 7 she remembered “seeing lights around people” — Judy believes she picked up abilities of her own. “I had things happen that I’ll say, ‘Oh, my gosh. How did that happen?’ I don’t know if you want to attribute it to being anything to do with my mother’s gifts, but I have had some things happen,” she told Den of Geek. “It’s a lot of dreams that are very strange, and warnings — from my father.”
(Montclair Film / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0))Love at First Sight, Parked Outside
In the late 1970s, Judy met police officer Tony Spera. In a self-published essay on his website, Tony wrote that Judy drove past him one day while he was on duty, and he was instantly taken. “I sat in my police car, writing a report, and glanced up from my note pad, only to see a beautiful, young woman passing by,” he wrote. “She gave a wave and a big smile, then drove quickly by and out of sight.” Thanks to a mutual friend, he connected with Judy that same evening and asked her out. Their first date was fried chicken and French fries — and, as Tony put it, “now, 40 years hence, she is somehow still saying ‘yes.'”
Running the Family Agency — Her Way
Today Judy and Tony run the New England Society for Psychic Research — NESPR — the organization the Warrens founded in 1952 to conduct psychic research and investigations. The team, in NESPR’s words, “carries on the exploration and investigation of paranormal and demonic entities as initiated by Ed & Lorraine Warren,” holding interviews and panels at conventions. Its website is a hub for fans, with archival footage of the couple’s interviews and case files for their most famous cases, from the Annabelle doll to the Amityville house and the Perron family.
Both Speras are co-directors, though Tony largely leads the organization. NESPR notes that Judy “does possess psychic ability” but “has not developed it to a high degree, due to her aversion to becoming too involved in the supernatural realm,” and that she instead “serves as our voice of reason, offering useful insights into methods and techniques” used during investigations — demonology kept at arm’s length, on her own terms.
(Joella Marano / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0))Stepping Into the Spotlight for Her Mother
Born in 1951, Judy stayed away from the spotlight for most of her life. That changed with the Travel Channel’s 2020 documentary Devil’s Road: The True Story of Ed and Lorraine Warren, in which she became a central figure. She told Den of Geek she joined because she wanted to give a firsthand account of her parents that had never been given before — especially for her mother. “Because it involved my mother, and I felt I owed it to her to get on there and speak because I never do this,” she said. “They were interviewing people that I didn’t know or I hadn’t met. I thought, ‘Well, who knew her better than I did?’ “
She also believes the horror franchise her parents inspired — 11 films so far, and one of the highest-grossing in horror history — has kept their spirit alive. “A person is not really dead until the ripples in the stream stop,” she told ComicBook.com in September 2020, adding that her parents’ afterlife endures because people are “still interested in everything they’re doing.” Judy herself appears in 2025’s The Conjuring: Last Rites, portrayed by Mia Tomlinson.
The House, the Museum and 2025
The Conjuring films turned the Warrens’ Occult Museum, in their old house in Monroe, Connecticut, into a major tourist draw — so much so that it closed in 2019, citing local zoning violations amid visitor noise, litter and property damage. In August 2025, comedian Matt Rife announced that he and YouTube creator Elton Castee had purchased the Warrens’ Connecticut home and museum, becoming legal guardians of the haunted collection, including the Annabelle doll, for at least five years. The Speras explained they could no longer afford to maintain both homes and had not taken the decision “lightly,” while clarifying the artifacts are leased, never sold, and that NESPR still oversees the museum to ensure the artifacts are “safe and treated with respect.” It is, in every sense, the Amityville-era legacy passing carefully into new hands — with Judy, as ever, watching over it.