THE MOST FAMOUS and horrific ghost
story of the last century must be that
of 112 Ocean Avenue, in Amityville,
New York. The terrifying tale has been
turned into a best-selling book and
successful film, and captured the public’s
attention like no other haunting. Indeed,
such is its place in the American consciousness
that most people assume that it is
a real story – and that is certainly how it was
publicised. There is no doubt that some
awful events did take place in the building,
but were they really caused by ghostly
actions?
The now infamous three-storey Dutch
colonial house was built in 1924. The
owners lived happily in the building for
many years, raising a family and leaving the
house to their daughter who had such fond
memories of her childhood home that she
moved her own family into it. In 1960 the
building left the care of the original owners’
descendants and was bought by a couple
who lived in the house until they sold it
following their divorce in 1965.
In June 1965 the DeFeo family bought the
house. They were an unhappy family and the
father, Ronald DeFeo Sr., was known to be
abusive. Over a period of nine years the
family was not said to experience any type of
frightening event other than those inflicted
by paternal forces. However that all changed
on the night of the 18th of November 1974
when one son, Ronald DeFeo Jr., shot and
killed his mother, father, two brothers and
two sisters.
Just over a year later, in December 1975, a
young couple bought the house. George and
Kathy Lutz, and her three children moved in,
knowing the building’s terrible history.
Almost immediately they began experiencing
strange phenomena. Doors and
windows would open by themselves, bizarre
noises were heard, and a Catholic priest who
had come to exorcise the house was ordered
to get out by a devilish voice.
Things rapidly grew worse. Blood and
sticky goo oozed from the walls, clouds of
flies appeared on windows, ghostly hooded
apparitions manifested, and one of the
children started communicating with a
demonic pig called Jodie. One night Kathy
Lutz was even thrown from her bed by a
supernatural force, and it was famously
claimed that the face of the devil appeared in
the brickwork of the fireplace.
After 28 days of this horror, the Lutzes
moved out. They soon went to the media
with their story. In February 1976 two of
America’s most famous celebrity paranormal
investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren, were
filmed by a television news team whilst
conducting séances at the house. The
Warrens stated the house was indeed
haunted with evil spirits, but other investigators
were not convinced.
Dr Stephen Kaplan, the executive director
of the Parapsychology Institute of America,
based in New York, initially had great doubts
about the story, and discovered some very
interesting facts about the Lutzes. However,
his studies were ignored, and it transpired
that the couple had already collaborated
with an author, Jay Anson, and had written a
book, The Amityville Horror – A True Story.
An instant best-seller on its release in 1977,
a blockbusting movie version of the tale was
released in 1979.
As Kaplan suspected, there were some
dubious actions and motives behind the
Amityville tale. It was revealed that Ronald
DeFeo Jr’s defence lawyer had met with the
Lutzes before their story was released.
Kaplan found no evidence to support many
of the claims written in their book, but he did
discover that the Lutzes were able to return
to the house to hold a garage sale only a
couple of weeks after apparently fleeing in
terror. Similarly, many investigators noticed
that the Lutzes were holding contracts for
book and film rights as soon as they decided
to publicise their account.
Since the Lutzes left, three different
families have lived in the house with no
reports of ghostly experiences. Dr Stephen
Kaplan’s in-depth report and its subsequent
revelations about the house were never
viewed with as much interest as the dramatic
original story, but his book, The Amityville
Horror Conspiracy, was eventually
published some years after his death. Many
investigators and cynics have been led to
conclude that the whole case really revolved
around money, rather than the popular
perception of paranormal influences. It
seems the evil forces in this story have less to
do with supernatural unknowns, and more
with all too common, base human instincts
