The Amityville Horror - Horrifying Fact or Historical Fake

If you’re an American who hasn’t heard of The Amityville Horror, you are probably five-years-old or live under a rock. The novel became a horror sensation in the 1970’s, Jay Anson wrote about the story of the Lutz family and their experiences living at 112 Ocean Avenue. The story goes that George and Kathy Lutz move their family into a beautiful home in New York. They purchase the house for a suspiciously low price, but soon realize why the sellers were so antsy to get the property off their hands when they begin experiencing terrifying events. The house once belonged to the DeFeo family and was the location of their murders, at the hands of their son, Ronald Defeo Junior. The new residents experienced physical and emotional changes before finally fleeing the place, lasting only 28 days.

Claims about the haunting, outlined in the book, ranged from objects moving, to fly infestations and doors being ripped off of their hinges. The newly married Lutz’s believed this house to be the start of a new life for them and their three children that Kathy had from a previous marriage. They brought a priest to the house to bless it, given its colored past. Father Mancuso of the Sacred Heart Rectory was happy to come into the Lutz house and bring blessings to their fresh start. Shortly after entering the home, he began to feel unwelcome, even hearing a voice whisper “get out” to him at one point, a detail he failed to share with the family. Father Mancuso returned to the rectory and began feeling ill. The feeling would linger and bring a plethora of symptoms from a high fever to severe blisters appearing on his hands.

The family moved in on December 19, 1975 and after their first blessing, attempted to have another one done on what was unknowingly their final night in the house. Kathy and George have declined to talk about the events that happened on that fateful January night, the last night they would sleep in the house, painting them as “too frightening” to relive. The family stayed with Kathy’s mom and claimed that whatever was haunting 112 Ocean Avenue had followed them when they left. They reported green ectoplasmic goo pouring onto the stairs at Kathy's mother's house. In their rush to flee, the family left behind all of their possessions. When movers arrived at the house the next day to begin packing, they experienced no paranormal activity.

Jay Anson published the Lutz's accounts of events at the home on September 13, 1977. Anson had reportedly never even met with the Lutz family regarding the book, instead receiving about 45 hours of videotaped recordings outlining the events they experienced. The book is estimated to have sold 10 million copies to this date. Many believe that Anson was inspired for the name of the story in part by the 1929 book “The Dunwich Horror” by H.P. Lovecraft.

Scrutiny of the Lutz’s account of events followed shortly after the book's release. Skeptics claimed that their many stories of terrifying paranormal activity were completely fabricated for the sake of saving the family from financial ruin. It’s rumored that Jay Anson concocted the story of The Amityville Horror with George and Kathy Lutz. The family as well as author, Anson, refute these claims saying that the account of what happened at 112 Ocean Avenue is completely and unequivocally true.

Evidence is stacked against some of the Lutz’s claims, such as their claims that windows in the house were broken by paranormal activity. The family that purchased the house after George and Kathy fled noticed that all of the fixtures in the house, including windows, were original to the home's construction. There was also the matter of a small room found down in the basement by the Lutz’s. They claimed to have no knowledge of it at move-in, but the official plans of the house show the room clearly marked as a storage closet. And, of course, the cloven hooves found in the snow by George early one morning after being awoken by the spirits of the home. Weather reports in the area show that there was no snow on the ground on the night in question, quashing the claim of freshly sunken footprints.

It seems as though George and Kathy have quite the story with no proof to back up any of the claims. So what continues to draw people to a potentially false claim of haunting? The simple answer is how the media portrayed the events at 112 Ocean Ave. Books and movies have been made and remade about the events, even the famous Ed and Lorraine Warren made a stop by the home to investigate and give it a blessing in March of 1976. Lorraine claimed that the land the home was built on was cursed, though she was unsure by who. They supposedly captured a picture of a young boy with glowing eyes while investigating. Lorraine said that Amityville is the case that haunted her the most, saying in a press conference for the 2013 movie, “The Conjuring”: It was absolutely horrible. It followed us right straight across the country... I will never go in the Amityville house ever again.”

Neighbors of the family reported no strange happenings at the home in question and local police, depicted visiting the house in the book, reported no visits to the home in the time that the Lutz’s lived there. A claim made in the book stated that the land the house was built on was used by the Shinnecock Native Americans to house the mentally ill and dying. Local Native authorities and history specialists deny those claims are true.

Residents who have lived in the home since the Lutz’s moved out claim no weird events have gone on, aside from some drive-by visits from fans of the books and movies. Reporters, lawyers, authors and historians have all tried to decipher the events at 112 Ocean Avenue, wanting to believe that it’s real. But few experts have come up with solid evidence that would suggest a violent haunting in the home. The Lutz family denies lying and admits that some areas of the books and films are exaggerated, but there has been no dishonesty on the part of the family.

Documentaries and books have explored the haunting in great depth, and although very little evidence suggests the truly terrifying events ever happened, The Amityville Horror remains one of the bestselling and well-known horror stories in the nation, captivating generations. Kathy and George Lutz even voluntarily took polygraph tests in 1979 in an attempt to clear their names - neither one showed deception.

Whatever happened at 112 Ocean Avenue will likely be lost to time. And while I’m tempted to believe in this unthinkable story of horror and haunting, it’s likely that this legendary tale will go down as one of the most famous fakes in history.