The real story behind the infamous Amityville Horror house

Table Of Content

• For $1.7M, you can buy an entire Wild West-themed town in Montana
• Feeding time! Here are the best vet-recommend dog food brands in 2024
• Georgetown Castle
• What happened in the Amityville Horror house in 1974?
• Real-life Stranger Things houses & how much they’re worth
• Clowning for Novices: History and Practice With Rose Carver

The Amityville Horror House today has undergone quite a transformation; it has even changed its address from 112 Ocean Drive to 108 Ocean Drive in an attempt to stop people from visiting the house. After the DeFeo’s, George and Kathy Lutz moved into the property and then moved out in 28 days. Their stay was so short that they did not even make a payment on the $60,000 mortgage they had on the house.

For $1.7M, you can buy an entire Wild West-themed town in Montana

Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the photo had been from a separate crime scene. Some patrons followed him back to the home and found the bodies of DeFeo’s family, all shot and lying face-down in their beds. A relatively normal-looking family that recently relocated from Brooklyn to Long Island – the DeFeo’s. The dining room has a new chandelier, but still features a red wallpaper very similar to the original. There aren’t any modern images of the upper levels in the home – likely because this was where the murders were committed. We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the world’s hidden wonders.

Feeding time! Here are the best vet-recommend dog food brands in 2024

As the days get shorter and the leaves fall, it's the time of year to work on curating your Halloween viewing list of scary season favorites. In the category of "haunted house" stories, a modern favorite remains The Amityville Horror. After the film's release in 1979, it didn't take horror fans long to start traveling various distances in order to gawk at what they believed to be a real hellmouth of demonic phenomenon. It was James and Barbara Cromarty who, while living in the house at the time, chose to change the address from 112 Ocean Avenue to 108 in an attempt to thwart unwelcome observers. It was last listed on the market in 2016 for $605,000 and sold in 2017 (via New York Post).

Georgetown Castle

Researchers Rick Moran and Peter Jordan rejected the claim of cloven hoof prints in the snow on January 1, 1976. Their investigation revealed that there had been no snowfall at that time.[2] No neighbor reported anything unusual during the time that the Lutzes were living there. Police officers are depicted visiting the house in the book and 1979 film, but records showed that the Lutzes did not call the police.[13] There was no bar in Amityville called The Witches' Brew at the time. On November 13, 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot and killed six members of his family at 112 Ocean Avenue, a large Dutch Colonial house situated in a suburban neighborhood in Amityville, on the south shore of Long Island, New York. He was convicted of second-degree murder in November 1975 and sentenced to six terms of 25 years to life in prison.

The DeFeo family met a tragic end at the Amityville Horror House

But it wasn't until after the Lutz family moved into the house in December of 1975 that the purported haunting of the Amityville Horror house allegedly set in. George and Kathy Lutz believed their purchase of the 4,000-square-foot house at $80,000 was a steal — but moved out 28 days later after terrifying incidents allegedly forced them to flee. DeFeo Jr. changed his alibi several times, from claiming he was at the bar during the time of the murders to mob hitman Louis Falini killing his family while forcing DeFeo Jr. to watch. He eventually confessed that he gunned his own family down, and stood trial on Oct. 14, 1975. It was this claim, and the murders themselves, that spawned the notion that 112 Ocean Avenue itself was haunted — and that the DeFeo family as a whole were victims of the house.

Much of the paranormal happenings that allegedly took place in the real life Amityville house were reported by the Lutz family. George and Kathy Lutz purchased the home, dirt cheap, less than a year after the horrific murders took place. Thirty miles outside New York City, in the town of Amityville, resides a Dutch Colonial-style home with a dark history. Dubbed the Amityville house, this residence was the site of a mass murder in 1974. Given its past and the rumored dark energy that some believe inhabit it, the real Amityville house has fascinated skeptics and paranormal enthusiasts alike for years. The Lutz family claimed to have experienced a barrage of supernatural phenomena, including mysterious noises, odors and even physical encounters with unseen entities.

Meanwhile, the purportedly paranormal occurrences that happened here have spawned a slew of books and films like The Amityville Horror, which have kept tourists flocking to the house ever since. The waterfront house, in Toms River, New Jersey, has all of the cachet and none of the sinister history, having been used as the set for “The Amityville Horror” movie in 1979. The actual house where the horrors allegedly transpired is located on New York’s Long Island. The paranormal investigator Jeff Belanger admits he’s scared of seductive demons. He goes into these hauntings with the fear of being charmed by the most interesting man in the room. The House has that effect on the Lutzes, who buy it with hardly a thought in the world about how they might exploit it.

Chucky Just Crossed Over With A Major Horror Franchise - ComicBook.com

Chucky Just Crossed Over With A Major Horror Franchise.

Posted: Wed, 18 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

That became the mysterious red goo on the wall that morphed into green slime bubbling from keyholes. The next day, the kids awoke traumatized, saying they were unable to move or leave their rooms. A persistent coldness in the house, despite roaring fires in the fireplace. Drops of gelatinous goo (red in some versions, green or black in others) appearing on the walls and carpet. Early on the morning of Nov. 13, 1974, a 23-year-old auto mechanic named Ronald DeFeo took a high-powered rifle and killed all six members of his family — two parents and four siblings — as they lay drugged in their beds. But how much of the Amityville horror story is fact and how much is fiction?

Clowning for Novices: History and Practice With Rose Carver

The first three Amityville films received a theatrical release, while the fourth film was made for television by NBC. The sequels from the 1990s were released direct to video and contain virtually no material relating to the Lutz family or the DeFeo murders. Instead, they concentrate on paranormal phenomena caused by cursed items supposedly linked to the house.

One of the better known features of the Amityville Horror films is the distinctive jack-o'-lantern-like appearance of the house, which was created by two quarter round windows on the third floor attic level. The windows are often illuminated in the films, giving the appearance of menacing eyes. The first three films were filmed at a house in Toms River, New Jersey which had been converted to look like 112 Ocean Avenue after the authorities in Amityville denied permission for location filming. Although not all of the films in The Amityville Horror series are set at the former Lutz home on Ocean Avenue, the distinctive Dutch Colonial house is traditionally used as the main image in promotional material. By mid-January 1976, after another attempt at a house blessing by George and Kathy, they experienced what would turn out to be their final night in the house.

The real story behind the infamous Amityville Horror house - New York Post

The real story behind the infamous Amityville Horror house.

Posted: Tue, 16 Mar 2021 07:00:00 GMT [source]

The Lutzes declined to give a full account of the events that took place on this occasion, describing them as "too frightening". The notorious house has passed through the hands of several owners since the Lutzes lived there — and no one else has reported any spooky happenings. The team took several photos inside, including a now-infamous image apparently showing a “ghost boy” peering out from one of the bedrooms. The psychics agreed that there was some kind of demonic force present in the house. The couple’s terrifying tale of demonic possession inspired the 1977 book “The Amityville Horror,” a hit 1979 movie of the same name and several sequels, including a 2005 remake.

Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month. Ronald DeFeo died in March 2021 at age 69, while serving a life sentence at the maximum-security Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, N.Y. He had made multiple appeals to the parole board throughout his prison term, but all were denied. Built in 1925, the Dutch Colonial house at 108 Ocean Drive in Amityville NY has a total of 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, and sits on a 0.25-acre waterfront lot.

Though their story is now widely thought of as a hoax, the Lutz’s so-called horror house continues to fascinate the public. It was next owned by James and Barbara Cromarty, the owners of Riverhead Raceway. The Cromartys changed the Amityville Horror house address from 112 Ocean Avenue to 108, hoping to stave off stalkers and retain its fluctuating value. We get crime photos of bloodstained sheets, and other tawdry bits to keep true crime aficionados happy, and enough dire Catholic Church warnings to titillate fans of The Conjuring series.

Or was the world's most famous haunting nothing more than an amateurish hoax? Bartholomew is a sociologist in New Zealand, specializing in mass hysteria and amazed that nearly 50 years after the alleged haunting, we're still talking about Amityville. By December of 1978, the constant barrage of visitors proved to be too much for the family, who decided to move out and put the house on the market for $100,000. By the time The Amityville Horror starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder hit theaters in July of 1979, the Cromartys had yet to find any serious buyers.