AMC has been running a lot of lousy horror movies,for Halloween week. I saw bits and piece of this POS…it wouldn’t scare a 3-year old!
Anyway, I heard that the story was made up by a young couple who bought the actual house in Amityvill, LI (NY). I heard they made quite a bit of money…anybody know the whole story?
As I understand it, it’s like this:
A horrible double murder really did take place there.
After the killer (the victims’ son) was convicted, his defense attorney got drunk with George Lutz and they hatched a cock-eyed scheme to exculpate his client. (The guy had originally claimed there was a demon or something in the house – presumably as part of an insanity defense.)
George Lutz and his wife bought the house on the cheap, moved in, and started “corroborating” the story of a demonic presence in the house. How this was supposed to help with an appeal is anyone’s guess. “Oh, I guess it really was a case of demonic possession. Release the prisoner!” :dubious:
Anyway, they moved out after a couple of months, did the talk-show circuit, and then they hired a hack to work with them on a book. The book was quite successful. (This was the early seventies, mind, when Chariots of the Gods was on some bestsellers lists.) Based on the book’s popularity, Dino DeLaurentis got behind a movie effort.
You know how that went.
Depends on who you ask. On the one side are those who think it was a complete hoax and on the other are those like Ed & Lorraine Warren, who think something odd was definitely going on in that house but “Dr.” Steven Kaplan’s vendetta and the hack job by writer Jay Anson muddied the waters.
I once met a man who lived in Amityville, who was a distant relative of my ex-wife. He told me that the couple bought the house, and immediately started complaining that it was haunted. The business about the water in the toilets turning black was real-the Amity water department had been flushing the water lines, which released a lot of black sediment into the water pipes. The business about the flies was exaggerated as well…hat fall they had an unusual number of house flies.
Anyway, after the poorly-written book came out, people swarmed in to Amityville to see the house (it got so bad that the town had to put up a chain link fence around the house).
All ofthis is a testament to human stupidity…but the couple who bought the house made a ton of money!
Interesting link regarding the Warrens. Written by a ghost hunter. Even though ghost hunters are well into the realm of woowoo, some have a bit of sense and they reject this case entirely.
The short version is that the Lutz’s made up most of the details of their haunting. ONe reason is that they were financially unable to afford the house and were looking for some kind of way to get out of the morgage.
The lies the Lutzes told are innumerable, from claiming it the land it was built was an Indian insane asylum, to finding devils footprints in the snow (on days when there was no snow on the ground.) Other fun things like car hoods flying open (on cars whose hoods open with a front hinge),etc. etc.
The house still stands and the present day owners say it was a hoax. The only ‘curse’ comes from drunk teens buzzing the house. The house has had a few modifications so that it does not resemble the creepy looking house on the book cover.
His name was Ronald DaFeo, Jr.
Hate to nitpick, but it’s DeFeo and he killed his entire family; six people total.
By a bizarre coincidence, there’s a huge feature article on the subject in the new issue of Fortean Times. It sheds quite a bit of light on things like the Red Room, George Lutz’s shady dealings and evidence that may prove that Ronald DeFeo didn’t commit the murders alone.
Did they ever pin a motive on DeFeo? Was he just plain psychotic? Or did he wake up one early morning and have nothing better to do than kill his family?
Here’s an interesting take on the Amityville murders: The Night the DeFeos Died .
This site (and book) convincingly debunks the Lutzs and the Warrens’ claims of paranormal activity.
(See? Even some believers in the paranormal can still remain skeptical about some things. 
)
Oddly enough, I actually know the Warrens, and [separately from them] had been inside the “Amityville Horror House” back in the early 80s before I met the Warrens.
I never found anything remotely scary or spooky about the house, other than the owner of the time couldnt make coffee to save his life…and had been told at that point in time all the discrepancies from the book and published claims, and shown around the whole place. I pointed out a number of discrepancies to Ed and Lorraine, and was totally dismissed out of hand on the grounds that I am pagan…go figure.
Other than they are seriously christian, and barely tolerated me because I wasnt, the do have some vested interests in maintaining certain stands on several ‘hauntings’ If Amity is fake, then their whole ‘investigation’ was delusional, which can call into question other investigations …
And for the curious, one of my very good friends was for many years a student and fellow investigator with them. They can be gracious hosts and very nice socially as long as you don’t challenge them or their investigations…so I stopped bothering to discuss Amity with them.