Travel Channel Paranormal Investigator Dies Suddenly While on Annabelle Doll Tour: Dan Rivera Was 54

A paranormal investigator at Travel Channel has died.

Dan Rivera, who has been leading the viral Annabelle doll tour, passed away unexpectedly while in Gettysburg over the weekend.

The lead investigator for the New England Society for Psychic Research was 54 at the time of his death. Ryan D. Buell, host and executive producer of A&E’s Paranormal Estate, broke the news of Rivera’s death on Facebook, reflecting on the “amazing memories” they have together. He noted that just two months ago, they “traveled around the country and introduced a whole new generation to Ed & Lorraine Warren’s legacy.”

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“Dan helped Lorraine during her final years and devoted his time, passionately, to keeping Ed & Lorraine’s legacy alive,” Buell continued. “He was a loving father, husband and a LOYAL and CARING friend. When I got clean and entered recovery and decided to show my face again, hardly anyone wanted anything to do with me. But Dan believed in me. He wanted me to ‘come back home,’ to return to being a part of NESPR and the Warrens family. He believed in me when I struggled to believe in myself. That’s who he was.”

“And what many of you may not know is, privately, he and NESPR helped families who were haunted, just as Ed & Lorraine did,” he wrote. “One of the (many) things I loved about Dan is that he was a dreamer, with big, bold (and sometimes ballsy) ideas. I loved that I got to play a small role in that vision. And just as I mourn him, I also mourn his unfinished dreams and ideas for the future.”

NESPR also confirmed Rivera’s death with a separate Facebook post. Rivera and other members of the Society had been bringing the allegedly haunted Annabelle doll to various sites across the country. According to Evening Sun, firefighters and medical personnel were called to a hotel in Gettysburg Sunday evening for a report of CPR in progress on a male patient the same age as Rivera. Adams County Coroner Francis Dutrow confirmed to the outlet that the cause of death is still pending as of Tuesday afternoon.

Born and raised in Bridgeport, CT, Rivera was a U.S. Army veteran. He’s appeared on Travel Channel’s Most Haunted Places and served as producer on a number of shows, including 28 Days Haunted on Netflix. He founded his own investigation group two decades ago and worked closely with the Warrens, who are behind the inspiration for the Conjuring franchise.