A deed is not an admission ticket. In June 2026, Jason Hawes was listed on a recorded deed for the Rhode Island farmhouse marketed as The Conjuring House. Regional reporting also described an unresolved Superior Court fight over that conveyance and the property’s mortgage. Separately, Burrillville had declined to renew the attraction’s entertainment license in 2024.
Those facts can coexist. They answer different questions: whose name appears in the land record, who controls the debt, what a court has restrained or challenged, and whether the town authorizes a public entertainment business. A trustworthy reopening claim should identify who has lawful control, show current municipal authorization and disclose any court order that affects public operation. A mortgage dispute belongs in the ownership context; it is not another operating permit.
Four documents can describe four different powers
| Record | What it can establish | What it does not establish by itself |
|---|
| Recorded deed | The grantee shown in the town land record. | Unchallenged title, a discharged mortgage or permission to admit visitors. |
| Mortgage or note assignment | Who controls the debt and related enforcement rights. | That the note buyer owns the farmhouse. |
| Superior Court order or docket | Which claims are active and what conduct a judge has allowed or restrained. | A final ownership verdict unless the court has actually entered one. |
| Town entertainment license | Whether the attraction has municipal authority for the licensed public operation. | Who owns the real estate or whether haunting claims are true. |
This distinction matters because “sold,” “saved” and “open” are not synonyms. A buyer can acquire a mortgage without receiving a deed. A deed can be recorded while its validity is contested. A property owner can possess a house without holding the local authorization needed to run tours or events there.
The canceled auction transferred debt, not the farmhouse
Jacqueline Nuñez acquired the property in 2022 and operated the paranormal-tour business. In 2024, according to later regional reporting, the Burrillville Town Council declined to renew her entertainment license after disputes involving neighbors, former employees and police. The selected sources do not support upgrading that municipal decision into a timeless claim that the property is “permanently closed.” They do show why an old ticket page cannot prove current authorization.
After a reported loan default, a foreclosure auction was scheduled for Halloween 2025. It did not take place. On October 8, Needham Bank assigned the note and mortgage to Summit & Stone, a company controlled by Elton Castee, and the auction was canceled.
That sequence is easy to misread as a completed sale. It was a change in control of the loan. Contemporary reporting still described Nuñez as the property owner immediately after the assignment. Buying the paper behind a foreclosure can change who may enforce the debt; it does not automatically write the note buyer onto the deed.
The next proposed sale became a court dispute
A later agreement sought to transfer the property to Hawes. In January 2026, Providence Business News reported that the sale was off for the time being after an agreement in Rhode Island Superior Court. A suit brought by Nuñez’s sister challenged the transaction through claims about competency, power of attorney and notarization.
By July, PBN reported a new development: Burrillville land records now listed Hawes on the deed. That recording did not end the conflict. Summit & Stone challenged the conveyance, arguing among other things that the corporate grantor, Bale Fire LLC, had been administratively revoked when it purported to transfer the property. Hawes disputed the mortgage, while the court was also weighing access and procedural questions.
The responsible status line is therefore dated and narrow: in the latest selected report, published July 14, 2026, Hawes appeared as the deed holder, while deed and mortgage issues remained in active Superior Court litigation. A recorded transaction existed; clear, uncontested ownership was not yet established by that report.
A restoration promise is not a reopening record
Public fundraising and statements about repairing or preserving the farmhouse describe an intention. They do not substitute for a final court order, a clean title chain or a current entertainment license. Nor does a former operating history prove a present right to sell tours, investigations or overnight access.
The address also should not be confused with the screen farmhouse. The Conjuring lore combines different places: the 2013 production used a house near the Black River in Currie, North Carolina, for exteriors and built interior spaces at EUE/Screen Gems in Wilmington. The legal question here concerns the Rhode Island parcel and the business attached to it.
How to test the next “The Conjuring House is back” headline
- Read the deed. Confirm the grantor, grantee and recording date in Burrillville land records.
- Trace the mortgage. Look for assignments, releases and foreclosure notices rather than assuming the deed eliminated the debt dispute.
- Read the current court posture. A complaint is an allegation; a temporary agreement or restraining order is not a final judgment.
- Check the town license. Public fundraising, a booking page or an owner’s announcement is not municipal authorization.
The useful question is not “Who says they own The Conjuring House?” It is “Which right do they hold, and which document proves it?” A recorded deed and a preservation plan do not by themselves establish a legally reopened attraction. The operating claim still needs current municipal authorization and must account for any court order that restricts public use.
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