The real story behind the infamous Amityville Horror house

Table Of Content

• Amityville Horror House: Unveiling the True Story Behind the Legend
• Amityville Horror Real House – Where The Movie Was Filmed
• Everything to Know About the Abigail Movie Soundtrack
• How true is The Amityville Horror book and subsequent movie adaptations?
• Clowning for Novices: History and Practice With Rose Carver

He sold it in September of 2010 to Caroline and David D'Antonio for $950,000. The D’Antonios lived there for 6 years before they put the home on the market with an asking price of $850,000. Not a single owner since the Lutzes has reported experiencing paranormal activity in the home. The three-story home was originally built for John and Catherine Moynahan, who purchased the property from the Ireland family in the early 1920s. The Moynahans removed a small, existing cottage from the lot and commissioned local builder Jessy Purdy to construct the five-bedroom, four-bathroom house complete with a gambrel roof and two quarter circle windows overlooking Ocean Avenue. In October of 1960, the Moynahans’s daughter sold the home to John and Mary Riley, who lived there for five years before they sold the house to Ron and Louise DeFeo in June of 1965.

Amityville Horror House: Unveiling the True Story Behind the Legend

The True Story of The Amityville Horror - Syfy

The True Story of The Amityville Horror.

Posted: Tue, 12 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Everything you thought you knew about the famous haunted house in New York is wrong. The only absolute truth is that the Amityville home has had multiple owners since the Lutzs left. Most recently, it was sold in 2010 and 2016, and in all that time there have been no repeat complaints from subsequent owners about hauntings, evil possessions, or anything else even remotely nefarious. Weber claimed that several of these details were spun into the book and the movie. Soon after the Lutzes abandoned the house, they met with William Weber, the lawyer who represented Ronald DeFeo, the convicted killer. Weber, it turned out, was already shopping around the idea of a book about the DeFeo family murders called "Devil on My Back."

Amityville Horror Real House – Where The Movie Was Filmed

As Anson's eventual The Amityville Horror stresses, money was tight for the Lutz family. A wave of fellow Catholic-tinged, counterculture-combating horror films emerged in the wake of The Exorcist, like The Omen and The Sentinel. But perhaps the story most indebted to The Exorcist is that of the "Amityville Horror," which is why it's not surprising to discover that the author of The Amityville Horror had a connection to the making of The Exorcist. Because the "true" story of the Amityville Horror is really the story of three mid-century movies. Weber told the Lutzes that a neighbor's cat would peer into the DeFeos' window at night. Ronald DeFeo's father had once smacked his mother while she held a plate of red-sauced spaghetti.

Everything to Know About the Abigail Movie Soundtrack

Several paranormal investigators have investigated the Amityville Horror House, each bringing their unique perspectives and findings. Their work has added layers to the mystery, with some supporting the Lutz family’s claims of paranormal goings on. This theory only worked to increase the lore surrounding the area, despite being largely speculative. It’s since been proven to be a myth, with the people alleged to have called the land home, the Shinnecocks, having never actually lived in the area, nor did they use it as a burial site. The ‘paranormal’ phenomena experienced by George and Kathy Lutz served as inspiration for Jay Anson’s 1977 book, The Amityville Horror, as well as for the original 1979 movie and the 2005 remake (you’ve seen it, Ryan Reynolds stars as Ronnie DeFeo).

How true is The Amityville Horror book and subsequent movie adaptations?

One year later, director Stuart Rosenberg's adaptation of the same name came out and became a modern day horror classic. And then, the subsequent owners, the Cromartys, refuted much of the stories about the state of the house when they bought it, including the book's stories of "greenish-black slime" and a hidden "Red Room" which was just a closet. Independent investigators then proved the cloven hoof prints that were said to be found in the snow would be impossible because there was no snow during the time the Lutz's lived in the house. Most damning was a very messy lawsuit about the ownership of the story that had Ron DeFeo's defense lawyer, William Weber, admitting that the events were entirely made up by him and the Lutzs.

Storyline

You'll spot an Amityville flag that astronaut Kevin Kreger brought to space and back. And you'll even find remnants of a building that George Washington once visited. He was ultimately sentenced to six sentences (for each victim) of 25 years to life. Bartholomew is convinced that the Lutzes abandoned the house because they couldn't keep up with the mortgage and tax payments and created the haunting story as an excuse and a lucrative side hustle. "They wanted to make some money off of it," says Bartholomew, who co-authored a 2016 article in Skeptic magazine marking the 40th anniversary of the "myth." "It's funny, almost nobody ever says to me, 'Hey that book of yours is a bunch of bull. I didn't believe a word of it.' Instead, they ask if I think what the Lutzes told me is true," said Anson.

In the New York village of Amityville sits arguably the most infamous murder-scene house to have ever stood. The Amityville Horror House has been the subject of over twenty movies, and a number of different books and documentaries. The cliche became so pervasive that people tend to ascribe it even to stories that don't contain that element. But in 1979, attorney William Weber, who represented Ronald "Butch" DeFeo, came forward with a claim that not only said the Lutz family contrived the entire haunting, but that he was an instrumental part of its creation. Trying to reopen the case and have DeFeo plead insanity, Weber claimed to have approached George and Kathy with the idea that, if they also claimed to experience strange things in the house, they could get a book deal and the story could aid his client's case.

What Happened To The Real Amityville Horror House?

The ‘eye windows’ on the top floor have long been removed and replaced with square ones. He admitted that he had taken a bath and changed his clothing, also detailing where he had discarded crucial evidence such as blood-stained clothes and the Marlin rifle and cartridges he had used to carry out the killings. A picture on the wall of the DeFeo family home, Ronald DeFeo Jr. with his father Ronald DeFeo Sr. The Amityville Horror House as it looked in 1974, the year of the murders.

Forget the fact the 23-year-old mentally unstable murderer changed his story several times, even implicating the Mafia, before he came up with the voices-in-his-head story. Or that many heroin addicts find God in prison when they get a good first fix from the crucifix. The possession story begins with the priest’s interpretation of a man on the stand.

Its enduring legacy also underscores the psychological impacts of legends and urban myths, and shows the power of storytelling coupled with human fascination. His attorney argued for an insanity defense, but DeFeo was convicted of all the murders and sentenced to six consecutive sentences of 25 years to life in prison. The notorious Long Island house last sold in February 2017, following the passing of David D’Antonio. The new residents’ names have never been disclosed, but all has been quiet on the Amityville front since the new owners entered the picture. It’s all been quiet on the Amityville front since the new owners entered the picture, which we think is a good sign that the house might be shedding its dark past at last.

The Amityville Horror House doesn’t give any definitive answers, but it doesn’t skimp on creepy conjecture. Stylistically, this could have been made soon after the original crimes and hauntings began. It eagerly carries the vibe of the time, and happily gives up the ghosts for god-fearing demon-worshippers of all generations.

"And I answer them the same way I answered you when you asked the question. I tell them that I have no idea whether the book is true or not. But I'm sure that the Lutzes believe what they told me to be true." Weber and the Lutzes parted ways after a fight over how money from the book deal would be split. The Lutzes took their story to Jay Anson, a journalist and filmmaker who had made a short documentary on the making of "The Exorcist."

The judge sentenced DeFoe to six concurrent life sentences of 25 years to life. DeFoe is currently housed at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, New York. His defence lawyer, William Weber, mounted an affirmative defence of insanity. DeFoe claiming he killed his family in self-defence because he heard their voices plotting against him. The bedroom of Ronald DeFeo, you can see the distinctive ‘eye’ window(s) which were later removed from the house. However, the following day he confessed to the killings, while the mob hitman Falini had an alibi, proving he was out of the state at the time.

Six members were found brutally murdered, each having been shot while they slept. The crime scene was chilling, setting the stage for the dark events that followed. The house itself, with its distinctive gambrels and upper-story windows framing the brick chimney into something like a face, has become a horror icon and may be the distinctive ideal of a “haunted house” in American culture. The house at 112 Ocean Avenue is still a privately owned residence, and while signals of the paranormal have all but disappeared from the site as the years have passed, the memory of its tragic past will linger forever. On the tragic evening of November 13, 1974, a young man shoots and kills his entire family with a 35-caliber Marlin rifle as his parents, two brothers and two sisters apparently sleep. The gruesome murder of the DeFeo family shakes up the sleepy Long Island town of Amityville—and leads to decades of horror storytelling.

This also gave us a better look at the many merits of the house — beyond its bone-chilling history. And yet nobody else ever complained about strange, paranormal happenings at 112 Ocean Avenue. This makes one wonder if George and Kathy Lutz truly did just take advantage of the events surrounding their new house. TIME Magazine even included the house on their list of the top 10 haunted places in America, which certainly didn’t help anyone forget about all that happened. This is something that we have seen at other murder properties, such as Cielo Drive, where the Mason Murders took place.