Bathsheba Sherman

"She's already gone. And now you're all going to die."

- Bathsheba Sherman Bathsheba Thayer Sherman is the overall secondary antagonist of The Conjuring Universe, serving as the main antagonist on The Conjuring.

She is portrayed by Joseph Bishara.

Mentions
Bathsheba was mentioned in The Conjuring 2 by Ed saying that Valak was a much more powerful creature than Bathsheba.

Background
Bathsheba Sherman (born Thayer) was born in 1812 and was claimed to have been related to Mary Towne Eastey, one of the many executed for witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

51 years later in 1863, Bathsheba married a rich farmer under the surname "Sherman" and gave birth to a child. When he was a week old, her husband caught her attempting to sacrifice her baby to the Devil. Exposed, Bathsheba climbed to the top of a tree, proclaimed her love for Satan, and cursed all those who would take her land. Bathsheba then hung herself, committing suicide.

Bathsheba's spirit continued to reside in the land, haunting her former homestead. True to her curse, Bathsheba would haunt the families that would move into her house. Bathsheba would torment the family continually, and finally possess the family's mother to kill the children before forcing the mothers to commit suicide. The spirits of Bathsheba's victims continued to reside in the house, along with her, living in constant fear of her curse.

The Haunting of Harrisville and investigation
108 years later in 1971, Roger and Carolyn Perron move into Bathsheba's house with their five daughters Andrea, Nancy, Christine, Cindy and April, resulting in Bathsheba turning their attention to haunting them in retaliation for taking her land. Sadie, the family dog, senses the presence of the spirits in the house and refuses to enter. Though Roger bounded the dog, Sadie noticed Bathsheba's presence on the roof. At night, the witch killed the dog and vanished as her murder plan on the animal was successful.

For the next several nights, the Perrons experience multiple paranormal events as a result of Bathsheba and the other spirits. Though the other spirits wish no harm towards the family and only unintentionally invoke fear towards them, Bathsheba intentionally torments them, removing furniture and causing all the clocks in the house to stop at 3:07 AM, the devil's hour. One night, Bathsheba tugs on Christine's leg and reveals herself to her, prompting Christine to deduce that Bathsheba wants the family dead. At night, Carolyn is distracted by one of the other spirits in the house, to which Bathsheba uses the distraction to attack Andrea and Cindy. However, she vanishes when the parents investigate. Lorraine Warren notices Bathsheba's presence in the house, including seeing a brief appearance in the tree behind Ed Warren. Lorraine immediately told Roger and Carolyn that they have a lot of spirits in the house, but Lorraine is worried about Bathsheba because she is full of hate == Personality == Very malevolent, sadistic, unpleasant, temperamental and murderous, Bathsheba is the most dangerous spirit in the Perron household. Whereas the other spirits were heavily tormented and wracked with guilt after their actions as a result of Bathsheba's influence, Bathsheba is bloodthirsty, unsympathetic, remorseless, uncaring, and cruel. She is very vengeful and retaliatory, targeting any family that would take her land, and also when the Warrens were investigating the household, leading Bathsheba to attempt to murder their daughter. She is also an enthusiastic and fanatical follower of Satanism, which led her to sacrifice her own child to Satan and was willing to die for her twisted beliefs.

Bathsheba appears to have some knowledge of events transpiring outside of her homestead, as she was aware of the deadly Annabelle doll and the demon possessing it (which is led to be a demon named Annabelle Higgins). She also shows an ability to cooperate with the demon, as the two briefly collaborated in an attempt to murder Judy.