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Thirty miles outside of New York City, nestled in the Long Island town of Amityville, stands the house forever linked to the Amityville Horror phenomenon. Using a .35 Marlin rifle, 23-year-old Ronald J. DeFeo Jr. murdered his entire family while they were asleep, which included his parents and four siblings. Ronald went on to change his telling of events several times and even tried to claim his family had been murdered by a mob hitman. Finally, out of stories to tell, Ronald DeFeo confessed to murdering his entire family. He was convicted on 6 counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to 6 back-to-back sentences of 25 years to life. Since the grisly 1974 slayings of the Defeos, the Amityville house has circulated throughout the market, a home to numerous different residents, the most recognizable being the Lutz family.
Amityville Horror House – The Scene Of The 1974 DeFeo Murders
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. 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. On August 30, 1976, the Lutz family returned the house to Columbia Savings and Loan. Weber told the Lutzes that a neighbor's cat would peer into the DeFeos' window at night.
Movie #1 That Made the Amityville Horror: Castle Keep (
The films are mostly comedic, have micro budgets and have little continuity with the original. 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. What they said is that whatever dark forces were in the house, they followed them that night; they never went into detail about what happened, but they never returned to 112 Ocean Avenue either.
THE MURDERS
Christopher, however, did admit that the hauntings depicted in the book were greatly embellished. The work was created using roughly 45 hours of audio recorded from George and Kathy Lutz. It’s first, and most memorable, film adaptation being the 1979 horror flick The Amityville Horror starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder as the Lutz. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the photo had been from a separate crime scene.
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. During the period in which the Lutz family was living at 112 Ocean Avenue, Stephen Kaplan, a self-styled vampirologist and ghost hunter, was called in to investigate the house. Kaplan and the Lutzes had a falling out after Kaplan said that he would expose any fraud that was found.
Because the "true" story of the Amityville Horror is really the story of three mid-century movies. In 1979, the film-adaptation of The Amityville Horror was released, it became the highest-grossing independent film of all time, holding the record until 1990. This was followed by many sequels and other movies that had no connection to the original movie other than its reference to the town of Amityville. In 1990, Ronald DeFeo Jr. filed a 440 motion, a proceeding to have his conviction vacated. In support of his motion, DeFeo asserted that Dawn and an unknown assailant, who fled the house before he could get a good look at him, killed their parents and Dawn subsequently killed their siblings.
The brutal truth about Amityville: It wasn’t ghosts but something worse - EL PAÍS USA
The brutal truth about Amityville: It wasn’t ghosts but something worse.
Posted: Mon, 10 Jan 2022 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Their spine-tingling tales of paranormal activity are what propelled the legend of the Amityville Horror and spawned a torrent of books, documentaries and films. 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. But while the actors who played the Lutz family have admitted to fabricating the hauntings they once claimed to experience, the real George and Kathy Lutz maintained that it was all true.
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Up until his death on March 12, 2021, Ronald DeFeo continued to tell different versions of what happened on that night in 1974. In one version of events, DeFeo said that it was in fact himself, his sister Dawn, and a friend that committed the murders. Amongst an array of spine-tingling paranormal cases that have rocked the globe, the unforgettable Amityville horror house is undoubtedly one of the most popular real-life spooky cases. A couple named John and Catherine Moynahan started building their dream home here in 1924, and they lived in the house happily for many years.
Amityville Horror Real House – Where The Movie Was Filmed
Michael Natale is the news editor for Best Products, covering a wide range of topics like gifting, lifestyle, pop culture, and more. His past journalistic writing can be found on sites such as Yahoo! and Comic Book Resources, his podcast appearances can be found wherever you get your podcasts, and his fiction can’t be found anywhere, because it’s not particularly good. Had that been the only occurrence of note at 112 Ocean Avenue, it's possible DeFeo's claim of "watching a violent movie" would have been the myth that some would have built around why he did it. Or perhaps, with his scruffy visage recalling that of Charles Manson, they would have leaned into blaming it on the LSD. Butch's trauma would manifest itself in violent outbursts, which his parents tried to quell with therapy, and later, expensive gifts (like a "$14,000 speedboat"), and Butch himself would try to treat by self-medicating with LSD and heroin. Biography describes one incident wherein Butch "attempted to shoot his father with a 12-gauge shotgun during a fight between his parents. DeFeo pulled the trigger at point-blank range, but the gun malfunctioned."
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.
Ronald DeFeo's father had once smacked his mother while she held a plate of red-sauced spaghetti. That became the mysterious red goo on the wall that morphed into green slime bubbling from keyholes. 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."
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. This is something that we have seen at other murder properties, such as Cielo Drive, where the Mason Murders took place.
Of course, those curious about Amityville history can visit the actual Amityville Historical Society. You'll find antiques and memorabilia from decades of very real history from the village of Amityville. Stand on the steps of that museum, and you can see the site of the St. Mary's Chapel, built in 1888 by Wesley Ketcham (the real Ketcham legacy in Amityville).
Scroll through the photos below to see both past and present shots of the infamous home. Kathleen Theresa Lutz (October 13, 1946 – August 17, 2004) died of emphysema and George Lee Lutz (January 1, 1947 – May 8, 2006) died of heart disease.
Nevertheless, the ‘house with the evil eyes’ now has new owners, and they are reportedly undeterred by all the dark tales and hype surrounding their new home. Ocean Avenue was littered with empty beer bottles, popcorn boxes, and other trash left behind by looky-loos whose disrespect applied to every house and homeowner on the street. As the crowds grew larger, extra police details were hired and paid them overtime, a costly expense for a small village like Amityville. Though public officials had considered ways to monetize the crowds, like running bus tours or charging admission to see the house, none of these ideas were approved, out of respect for the DeFeo family.
But this was no "filmed at a distance" ethnographic film like the kind that would become more prevalent in the latter half of the 20th century. These men, listed as Last Horse, Parts His Hair, and Hair Coat, amongst others, were performers in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, a massively popular traveling show of the day, and their dances were a part of their performance therein. Two years prior, across an ocean, at Thomas Edison's Black Mariah studio in West Orange, New Jersey, filmmaker William K. Dickson was documenting two dances performed by members of the Sioux nation.
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