Picture this: You finally arrive at your new house, excited for a fresh start, but soon unravel the frightening tales within its walls. Waking up each night at 3:15 a.m., encountering slamming doors, moving beds, a crucifix inverting itself, and strange smells swarming the place leaving you uneasy and terrified about the situation. On certain days, you catch a glimpse of frightening, red eyes peering at you and an ooze-like substance patching the carpets all around the house. With each passing day your nightmare gets worse. You hear whispers coming from the basement. As you follow the faint voices, you discover a hidden room, you were never informed about, painted red and completely barricaded. These were the many experiences that George and Kathy Lutz and their three children claimed to have faced during their stay at the residence at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York. Ultimately, these frightening events lead them to flee the house within 28 days.
As we dive deeper into the house’s history, we uncover the murders that occurred on November 13, 1974. The murders were led by a 23-year-old son -Ronald DeFeo Jr- who was found guilty of shooting both his parents and four siblings with a Marlin rifle. His motives were never truly determined, as he repeatedly altered his version of the story. Initially, he reported the murders to the police claiming that someone broke into the house and murdered his family. Later he, himself, claimed that it was, “the voices,” that gaslighted him into madness, forcing him to murder his own family. He then blamed his sister Dawn, and his mother, for the brutal killings. Eventually, the case closed after his death was announced on March 12, 2021.
Moreover, what seemed odd to most people was the fact that all of the family members were found fatally shot while sleeping in their beds. No one responded to the sounds of the gunshots, neither the family members nor the neighbors, leading to the creation of many conspiracy theories.
On that note, the real question arises: how reliable were the Lutz family’s claims? Though the house encountered a horrific incident, many experts do point out all the inconsistent details of their stories- calling it a hoax. They claimed that the family lied to earn fame and prosperity. Even the investigations of so-called, “paranormal investigators,’ including the famous couple, Ed and Lorraine Warren- didn’t find anything suspicious about the house. After the family fled, the house was passed down to several other owners. However, no one ever experienced any supernatural event or sensed any sort of evil presence in that house. Regardless of all the evidence found against the Lutz family, they continued to believe in the house’s hauntings, but without much social support.
Despite the reliability of the Lutz family’s stories, it captivated both readers and viewers alike, leading to the publication of the original, The Amityville Horror, and the production of over ten movies based on the incidents. Though the films consist of some original details- the DeFeo family murders- the plot and the supernatural elements were farfetched from reality. It was the house’s intriguing story that gave a unique twist to all the films/ books created by its inspiration. The suspenseful build-up of the story, to this day, continues to keep the audience on the edge of their seat, eager to discover what happens next….