• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Amityville Horror: Where Do You Stand?

Did Something Supernatural Happen in Amityville?

  • No, it's a Hoax all the way and the Lutz family lied through their teeth

    Votes: 42 46.2%
  • No, but the Lutz family convinced themselves & the Warrens it was real over the years

    Votes: 27 29.7%
  • Yes, but it wasn't at all to the level of the book, just a minor haunting

    Votes: 20 22.0%
  • Yes, and it was exactly what was in the book

    Votes: 2 2.2%
  • Yes, but only the psychic impressions of the case were real - no material haunting

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    91
I've been watching the first season box set of the classic Mission Impossible series when I got to the episode Zubrovnik's Ghost. The shocker: a number of scenes from The Amityville Haunting seem to have been taken from this episode, and I can't help but wonder if it influensed Jay Anson when writing the novel (the believer's position) or the Lutz family when they made it all up (the skeptic's position).

Specific scenes in Mission that were replayed in Amityville:

1) Bees. Specifically, bees congregating on window paines while there is a heightened HUMMM on the soundtrack. The shots are quite similar to AH, and even though AH used flies, the method they used to get them to slowly build in number around the glass is the same. More interesting still is that the sound effect is the exact same one used in the film (or, the effect of multiple fly and multiple bee wings sound the same).

2) The bees eventually break in and cause one fellow to fall to his death, and another is stung to death. In AH, the flies congregate and frighten the priest and the family.

3) A large menacing dog who moves in and out of the story, similar to the prominent role the dog played in AH (both indicate detection of supernatural presences).

4) The basement factors in briefly in MI, and in particular the dog goes under a little room under the stairs when the MI psychic deduces a character is dead. Similar to the "red room" under the stairs in AH.

The bees are the big connection here. Were loudly buzzing bees &/or flies used to indicate a haunting presence before MI?
 
'Amityville Horror' house on market for $1.15M

The real estate listing for the house that went on the market today at 108 Ocean Ave. refers to it as a “legendary” home,” but most people would know the sideways Dutch Colonial on the canal as the so-called Amityville Horror house.

Listed for $1.15 million, the picturesque and pristine five-bedroom, 3-1/2-bath home looks very different from the home where Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered six family members as they slept in 1974. The crime spawned the 1977 book “The Amityville Horror: A True Story” about alleged supernatural happenings at the house and a series of scary movies starting in 1979.

Even the address is different. Previous owners James and Barbara Cromarty, who own the Riverhead Raceway, said they had it changed from 112 Ocean Ave. to protect their privacy.

James Cromarty, 77, bought the house in 1977. By that point, a bank had foreclosed on the house. It had been owned by George and Kathleen Lutz, whose experience living there for 28 supposedly haunted days the bestselling Jay Anson book is based upon. (The Lutzes have since died, and DeFeo is at the Green Haven Correctional Facility, serving 25 years to life for the murders.)

“Nothing weird ever happened, except for people coming by because of the book and the movie,” said Cromarty, who lived a decade in the house.

He and his wife, Barbara, sold the house in 1987 to Peter and Jeanne O’Neill. Reached today, Jeanne O’Neill said, “I loved it. It was a beautiful home.” They sold the house in 1997 for $310,000 to the current owner, which records identify as Brian Wilson.

Wilson has renovated the boat house, added a new bulk head, central air conditioning and gas heating system and installed a new roof, in-ground sprinklers, central stereo system, deck and patio.

“It’s one of the more beautifully redone houses in the neighborhood,” said listing agent Laura Zambratto of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty.

The Cromartys visited the house last summer after a mutual friend introduced them to Wilson. “It’s amazing how many changes he’s made,” said James Cromarty, who said he was particularly impressed by how the back porch was turned into an enclosed sunroom. “He did a beautiful job,” he said. “He put a lot of money into that place.”

Jerry O’Neill of Coldwell Banker Harbor Light, who has been selling Amityville real estate for 38 years and whose brother, Peter, used to own it, said he thinks the asking price is fair. “It’s a gorgeous, big center hall Colonial with a finished basement,” said O’Neill, with “nothing spooky about it.”

Neighbors said that there are the occasional gawkers, mostly on Halloween. One resident said she believes the legend is “garbage” and was a moneymaking scheme. Another neighbor, who grew up in the neighborhood, said people still come by, especially anytime the movie is re-aired or the media writes about it.

It’s not the only notorious Long Island house on the market. Recently, the East Meadow expanded ranch where serial killer Joel Rifkin used to live, sometimes bringing victims back to the house, was listed for $424,500

LINK

The house today looks pretty AMAZING...

PICS

PICS2
 
It's not the same since they changed the windows at the side. Mind you, you'd have to be pretty morbid to want to change them back.
 
Exhibit Would Show the Terrifying Treatment of Animals Who Are Used for Food

For Immediate Release: May 27, 2010

Long Island, N.Y. -- Today, PETA sent a letter to the current owner of the house that inspired the book The Amityville Horror (and its subsequent film adaptations) asking to lease the property for a haunted house-style exhibit titled "Amityville Slaughterhouse of Horrors" while the house is up for sale. Instead of ghosts, zombies, and witches, the planned display would graphically depict the horrors that animals who are raised and killed for meat, milk, and eggs must endure on factory farms and in slaughterhouses--horrors such as intensive confinement, filthy conditions, mutilations, neglect, and other acts of cruelty that would be illegal if dogs or cats were the victims.

"While some question the authenticity of The Amityville Horror, factory farms and slaughterhouses are all-too-real houses of horror," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Witnessing the cruelty that is inflicted on farmed animals could haunt visitors for life, so we'll also make sure that they know how to help stop these abuses by simply choosing humane and healthy vegan foods."

Exhibit visitors would be able to see and touch actual instruments that are used on factory farms and in slaughterhouses, including wire battery cages that hens are crammed into, branding irons that are used to inflict third-degree burns on cows and electrified prods that are used to force sick animals to walk to their deaths at slaughterhouses. Visitors would also have the opportunity to be "locked" inside a tiny metal-and-concrete pig gestation crate, and kids would receive a free crazed and knife-wielding Ronald McDonald doll.

http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=14717

I'm sure PETA know this will never happen, but are nonetheless enjoying the publicity.

Click above to read their letter to Mr Wilson, where "in our horror house, the sound of slaughterhouse blades whirring while animals scream for their lives would play over loudspeakers" and "kids would receive a doll that resembles a crazed, knife-wielding Ronald McDonald" :shock:
 
The Unheard Amityville Horror

Since the Lutz family left, there have been people who have tried to debunk this horror story. The Lutz family, specifically parents George and Kathy Lutz, have always insisted that they were haunted by ghosts, ghosts of the DeFeos or some other family. Of course, some people didn't believe George and Kathy and there has been no one who could really corroborate their claims.

This year, all that changes, as Eric Walter brings in his upcoming documentary, which he started shooting in July, the one person who is probably the best eye-witness to what happened in that house. This one person saw and heard a great deal and can say better than anyone else if the ghost stories were true or not. He hasn't talked openly about any of this for over 30 years. It was with surprise that Walter got a call from this person about a year ago wanting to finally break his media silence.

That person is Danny Lutz. He's the eldest son of George and Kathy. He's one of three children who for thirty-five years has not talked about what went down in that Amityville house. Eric Walter got an exclusive interview with Danny Lutz who is now 44 after seeing Walter's website.

Whether or not, it corrobates his parents' story is only tangential. For Danny, this is more about trying to explain something that had a profound effect on him when he was younger and explain it, especially to his children.

Besides providing an unheard testimony to something that has become a great, American urban legend, Walter says this film is less concerned with proving whether or not the Amityville story is true. Of course, when Walter initially went to Danny to talk to him, it was in the hope that he would get something new and compelling about the infamous ghost story, but, after meeting Danny, Walter says that's not really what the focus of his film will be.

Walter told me that his documentary will not be about the ghost story per se. His documentary will be about the ghost story-teller. It's not the events themselves but the effects. Walter believes that whether or not ghosts haunted the Lutz family is not the point. Walter says that something haunted Danny.

No matter if there were real ghosts in that Amityville house or if it were all just fabrication, the aftermath has had an effect on Danny. Like any person, Danny has issues, a lot of issues. Walter believes that the root of those issues are unique and has stuck with Danny for decades.

Walter says that Danny has described reoccurring dreams of terrifying happenings linked to that Amityville house. Danny's siblings, save for one, have been able to move on and not dwell on Amityville but Danny seemingly hasn't. Walter says that Danny has a tough guy facade, but people around Danny, current friends and co-workers, reveal that it's a mask for a man who is still scared of something.

Whether he's scared of something supernatural or something internal and within himself, Walter's documentary seeks to explore that. He's not only talking with Danny but with people closely connected to Danny's experience at Amityville to get at what's truly been haunting him.

Stay tuned for continuing posts on this production. For more information, go to http://www.myamityvillehorror-movie.com/blog/# or http://www.ericwalterfilm.com/

http://www.wboc.com/Global/story.asp?s=12861004
 
On a tangent, I've just read Algernon Blackwood's short story, Max Hensig (1907), set in New York, in which the eponymous murderer lives in Amityville. Could the place have had an odd resonance before the most famous case?

Amityville was a scattered village some twenty miles away on Long
Island, where Dr. Hensig had lived and practised for the last year or two, and where
Hensig had lived and practised for the last year or two, and where
Mrs. Hensig No. 2 had come to her suspicious death. The neighbours
would be sure to have plenty to say, and though it might not prove of
great value, it would be certainly interesting. So the two reporters
went down there, and interviewed anyone and everyone they could find,
from the man in the drug-store to the parson and the undertaker, and
the stories they heard would fill a book.

it's an interesting story, actually, although too drawn-out. It's almost like Blackwood meets Raymond Chandler in places. If you have a spare 45mins-1hr:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17146460/Alge ... ax-Hensige?
 
Their website promotes "An Intamite Evening with Lorraine Warren".

I prefer Vegemite.
 
For me the whole thing balances on whether or not the fact that they abandoned the house, leaving all their stuff behind can be substantiated. There's no way anyone would do that to promote a book.
 
Their furniture, clothes, even the contents of a full fridge were still there during the televised investigation a month after they left.

Later they hired a professional auctioneer to sell off the stuff, which was briefly attended by Stephen Kaplan, their biggest critic at the time. And he never reported anything amiss.

In the meantime:

L.I.’s Infamous Intersect in ‘Amityville Horror’ Sale
Six degrees of Amityville Horror house links Amy Fisher, Billy Joel

In a strange new twist for the Amityville Horror house where Ronald DeFeo murdered his parents and four siblings in 1974, the news that the Ocean Avenue home went into contract this week is a virtual intersection for some of Long Island’s most infamous.

The house was put on the market in May and realtors with Massapequa Park-based Exit Realty Premier were reported Thursday to have found a buyer. The real estate company is owned by Robert Buttafuoco, brother of Joey Buttafuoco, who served time for the statutory rape of then-17-year-old Amy Fisher, with whom Buttafuoco was having an affair.

Fisher became known as the “Long Island Lolita” after she shot Buttafuoco’s wife in the face at the couple’s Massapequa home in May 1992. After her release from prison, she wrote for the Long Island Press and later launched a career in porn.

But the connections don’t end there. Robert Buttafuoco’s son, singer-songwriter Cass Dillon, is currently dating Alexa Ray Joel, daughter of Bill Joel, who had a few run-ins with the law himself over the years. Dillon’s first single was Christmas in Fallujah, which was written by The Piano Man himself.

http://www.longislandpress.com/2010/08/06/l-i-s-infamous-intersect-in-amityville-horror-sale/
 
Moving Sale At ‘Amityville Horror’ House

Floral rugs, leather sofas, a chandelier, and a piano are just some of the items that will be up for sale at the famous house at 108 Ocean Ave. on Saturday, as WCBS 880?s Sophia Hall reports

Amity Galleries of Long Island is holding the tag sale from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Remember, there are a few rules. No minors, cameras, or cell phones allowed.

The current owner is selling the fancy items because the house is under contract. It’s a moving sale.

The five bedroom home is where Ronald DeFeo murdered his parents and four siblings in 1974. The deadly shootings inspired a best-selling book and a string of horror movies.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/08/20/moving-sale-at-amityville-horror-house/

Pics http://www.amitygalleries.com/_img/108Amityville/index.html


There's even a lamp for your own Amityville 4 experience... :twisted:
 
A Phoenix Man Wants to Get the "Truth" Out -- And Cash In -- on What Happened in America's Most Famous Haunted House

The 28 days Christopher Quaratino spent in a spooky-looking house in Amityville, New York, defined his life.

Now, at 43, he's still creeped out.
Once, he and his older brother, Daniel (9 at the time), noticed that one of the signature quarter-circle windows on the second floor kept opening, even after they had latched it several times. The family dog seemed to sense malevolence from day one, he says, and tried to jump over a fence while still leashed. His dad rescued the spasming animal as it hung from its neck.

Then, one night, a dark, human-like figure appeared in his bedroom doorway. He could see what seemed like the outline of a head and body.

"It was as large as a man, as definite as a shadow, but not against the wall," he says. "I saw no feet, and it petrified me.

"I remember being so scared [that] I wanted to cry out, 'Mommy!' but I knew Mommy was too far away to get to me before it did."

He says the shape advanced toward his bed.

LINK

“It’s a traumatic experience that I went through as a kid, so it’s not a pleasant experience to sit and try to write about,” he says, explaining his reluctance after four decades. “I was moving along peacefully in life to see that this was gonna get rehashed once again… I can’t remain silent and feel that I’m doing the right thing.”

But Lutz stops short of getting into specifics. He doesn’t want to give the competition any ideas while he’s still writing his book, although he is selling a $5 fireside webcast preview Sunday, Oct. 30 via tvoop.com.

His working title is The Creepiest Story of All Time, and comes, he says, “with a creepy or your money-back guarantee.” Lutz challenged those behind the other four movies to an American Idol-style competition where viewers vote for the scariest version. He says none have accepted the offer.

http://www.longislandpress.com/2011/10/ ... s-silence/

We profiled the 43-year-old Phoenix man in this week's edition of New Times and mentioned his plans to tell the story in a live Webcast at 6 p.m. this Sunday. What our article didn't say is that Quaratino told us his story after we promised not to be spoilers and reveal it before he did. Since we're one of the biggest skeptics on the planet, we're not about to endorse the truth of his tale -- though Quaratino says it's based on actual, recent events in his life that involve the paranormal.

But we can tell you truthfully that we found his macabre story entertaining. Whether it's worth the five bucks he's charging -- well, he promises it'll be "creepy or your money back."

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/10/christopher_quaratino_aka_amit.php

Link to the "fire-side chat"...

http://www.tvoop.com/channel/2787-amity ... -challenge
 
i would like to look into this a bit more, can anybody recommend a non biased book?
 
"My Amityville Horror" Offers New Perspective On Classic Story

We’ve all seen The Amityville Horror, or at least we all should have by now. I highly recommend correcting any possible woeful oversights on your part in this regard. Those who have seen it are most likely aware that the film was based on a true story. The Lutz family moved into a house in Amityville, a suburb on Long Island, in 1975. The house was rather affordable largely due to its sinister history. The previous owners of the house were the DeFeo’s. A little over a year before the Lutz family moved in, Ronnie DeFeo shot and killed six members of his family in a brutal massacre that still haunts the local community. Shortly after they arrive, the Lutz family experience a series of unexplained events that seem to suggest a paranormal presence. Twenty-eight days later they flee the house, leaving all personal belongings behind. Later they would come forward and make their story public, a movie based on their experiences is produced and would go on to be a horror classic.

Over time however, aspersions have been cast on the validity of the Lutz family’s story. A paranormal research team was unable to uncover anything strange in the home in the aftermath of the Lutz exodus, and none of the subsequent residents experienced anything out of the ordinary. The word “hoax” began to creep about. As time separates us further and further from the tale of that notorious homestead, the more dubious the reaction to the Amityville story seems to become. Enter filmmaker Eric Walter and his documentary My Amityville Horror, which just saw its world premiere at Fantasia Fest. Eric convinced Daniel Lutz, one of the children in that iconic haunted house, to come forward and tell his story after all these years. The doc tracks Daniel’s troubled relationship with his stepfather George Lutz, the events of those fateful twenty-eight days, and how Daniel has been unalterably changed by the entirety of the legend of his former home.


The most face value approach to watching My Amityville Horror is to settle in with the expectation that all doubts about the haunting will either be confirmed or dashed by some eerie, incontrovertible firsthand proof. That would speak to an exploitative and cheap motivation for making this documentary that I honestly don’t feel is possessed of Eric Walter. This is not as insubstantial and fleetingly thrilling as some Unsolved Mysteries episode. Instead, this is the story of the complete destruction of a human life at the hands of tragic events, however sensationalized they may have become. Sure, it’s creepy to hear his accounts of beds levitating and apparitions, both formless and strikingly specifically formed, the real emotional weight of the documentary is delving into this man’s shattered existence. It’s a character study, a profile of a man burdened with unimaginable pain and a nightmarish past. A man whose very identity was molded and dominated by darkness. We empathize with him even as we smile at his oddball behavior. In this way, and I mean this as a compliment, My Amityville Horror reminded me very much of Winnebago Man.

For those whose primary interest in My Amityville Horror stems from fandom of the 1979 horror film, those who crave that tingly feeling on the back of the neck, you will not be disappointed. The exploration of the mythos of that house is thorough, nearly every incident that found its way from the Lutz account into the film is discussed on a more first-hand basis. Some of the actual newscasters, therapists, paranormal researchers, and distant Lutz relatives are interviewed, and several original family photographs are showcased. There is even a photograph taken from inside the house in which we see a ghostly, child-like figure standing in a doorway. Daniel is reluctantly, but overwhelmingly, forthcoming. He is angry, he is filled with bitter spite for his late stepfather, and he reveals insights about this supposedly perfect family that paint a very different portrait of the Lutz’s. Sadly, there is clearly psychological shrapnel embedded deep in Daniel and it can make accepting his every confession and assertion a difficult task. But whether you believe all he says or not, it’s clear that A.) he really does believe it and B.) something very ominous and dark did happen in that house whether it was the fault of ghosts, demons, or simply troubled individuals on this plane of existence.

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/film-f ... -bsali.php
 
This is a story which has fascinated me since I was about 11

My mum read an article out of our local rag before they had even thought of making the film. The article was in the 'Paranormal' section of the paper and we were both fascinated by it. Of course, when the film came out we went to see it
I have often wondered whether or not it had any basis in reality.

A couple of years ago I bought a copy of the book The Night The DeFeo's Died - Ric Osuna. It goes into minute detail from the police records and witnesses point of view. I came to the conclusion that there was a lot of drink, drugs and family dysfunctionality involved and resigned myself to the fact that, as scary and thought provoking the film was, it wasn't based on any supernatural influence
 
Unfortunately TNTDD is the worse source of information you can get on this subject. Written by an ex-producer of an Amityville doc who jumped ship when told his tie-in book wasn't good enough, who then discovered the "secret" wife of Amityville-killer Ronnie DeFeo and wrote her story instead.

None of which is true, as she met him the 1980's and not in the 70's like she claims. The story of there being multiple killers in the house is essentially a mid-80's invention of Ronnie's to take blame away from him killing the kids.

And when this book came out, Ronnie sued the author!

Currently the documentary version of this story is being released - Part 3.1 came out just two weeks ago - and the entire thing will be a sprawling 8-hour mess which contradicts not only the book it's based on, but also it's own narrative now that DeFeo was recently interviewed was spliced into Part 3.1 at the eleventh hour.

The documentary is called Shattered Hopes: The True Story of the Amityville Murders if you wish to go down that rabbit-hole...
 
I've heard that the house is now used for office space. I wonder if the offices are haunted :shock:
 
The documentary mentioned above (^^), 'My Amityville Horror' is actually super interesting (and features interviews with Daniel Lutz and Lorraine Warren). It's mainly about the effect the whole experience had on DL's mental health later in life. For now at least you can catch it on Youtube... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5PA5AZ0DCM

Definitely an alternative perspective.
 
I found that doc pretty depressing, the whole affair, true or otherwise, has obviously messed up Daniel completely. It's consumed him to the point of ruining his life, he just doesn't have any perspective on it. Felt really sorry for him.
 
gncxx said:
I found that doc pretty depressing, the whole affair, true or otherwise, has obviously messed up Daniel completely. It's consumed him to the point of ruining his life, he just doesn't have any perspective on it. Felt really sorry for him.

Me too; I felt really sad for him, and I think it's an important doc because it's easy to lose sight of the human element with the whole Amityville story :(
 
The 2005 remake was the film that finished me off with modern horror films, took my glasses off so I couldn't see what was happening and shuffled right down in my cinema chair waiting for it all to end. :oops:
 
McAvennie_ said:
The 2005 remake was the film that finished me off with modern horror films, took my glasses off so I couldn't see what was happening and shuffled right down in my cinema chair waiting for it all to end. :oops:

Ha! Was that through fear or bitter disappointment? There are still some gems these days. Ti West is my new favourite horror director. He's doing some excellent stuff.
 
sweetnessbentdouble said:
McAvennie_ said:
The 2005 remake was the film that finished me off with modern horror films, took my glasses off so I couldn't see what was happening and shuffled right down in my cinema chair waiting for it all to end. :oops:

Ha! Was that through fear or bitter disappointment? There are still some gems these days. Ti West is my new favourite horror director. He's doing some excellent stuff.

It is what I would call the 'CGI scare-face' phenomenon. The proliferation of the blacked out eyes, elongated features and scream at camera effect that is just too easy and over-used in horror films these days. Used to be that filmmakers had to use things like story and practical effects to keep you thinking you had seen something just out of sight. Now it is all open bathroom cabinet mirror, close, nothing there, open again, close, demon with CGI scare-face stood there.

There are some exceptions. I loved 'The Orphanage' and 'The Others'. A Spanish film called 'Sleep Tight' in English was really good too, though not conventional horror. I enjoyed 'The Conjuring' too and 'When The Lights Went Out' was not bad.

I used to love horrors in my younger days. Maybe I'm just old and my heart can't take it anymore! :lol:
 
sweetnessbentdouble said:
Check out 'The Innkeepers' - even a disappointing wee splash of silly SFX couldn't ruin it :)

That one did intrigue me when it came out. Sadly, I think I've overheard the concept so that one is maybe a bit ruined for me :(
 
I dunno, I think Ti West is pretty good at taking tired concepts and doing something different with them. I've enjoyed all his stuff so far anyway, and I'm pretty horror-jaded these days :)
 
sweetnessbentdouble said:
I dunno, I think Ti West is pretty good at taking tired concepts and doing something different with them. I've enjoyed all his stuff so far anyway, and I'm pretty horror-jaded these days :)

When I say concept I mean more the 'twist'. Maybe I'm wrong but I think I know what happens and it does sound like a good spin. I'll probably get round to it eventually.
 
Back
Top