Hello all.
I just rented the remake of The Amityville Horror, and there seem to be more scenes in here that I don't remember in the book or the original.

While I know the story of the Defeo's(I did a lengthy study on this for school many moons ago), this movie brought up some information about the house's past.

Do any of you know the house's past? Of 112 Ocean Avenue? Were there REALLY indians tortured there before the house was built? I thought it had been a sanitorium before, and some people said witches had lived there.

Just curious to know the true history of the house, and if anyone currently lives in it now, problem free?

i have seen specials on the house the history in a nutshell is that butch defeo killed his family with a shot gun and then later on made up stories about demons telling him to do it but only most likely to preserve his hide with an insanity defense. as for now the people in the town hate visitors coming asking about the house and yes i believe people do now live in it.

The last time I checked, there was nobody living there still, they can't seem to sell the house. I have a book written by one of the original investigators of the house, I will look it up and see if I can find out anything about the land and get back to you.

Okay, from what I have read, there was an indian burial ground under the house, but isn't the house that has pissed off the spirits, I guess that before the house was built a man dug up one of the skeletons, and it was never returned. All of that has not been proven though. I also read that other owners of the house have reported paranormal activity, but only the sound of foot steps and slamming doors and such, nothing like the happened with the Defoe family. And his name was Robert Defoe Jr.

Hello Darkhorse:

This question seems to come up A LOT! The remake is total fiction. The original is total fiction. The house is being lived in. I saw an interview with one of the former owners of the house and they showed the inside of it. It was a beautiful home, they remodeled the inside of it. AND there was nothing supernatural or paranormal going on. It has changed hands a few times, stictly for the reason of privacy. The owners seem to have NONE, because people continue to seek the house out to get a look at it.

There were never any indians tortured, etc.... It all comes down to Butch DeFeo slaughtered his parents while high on drugs. What happened after that is not really known. There is some evidence to implicate Dawn DeFeo in the murders. Butch claims she killed the children, then he killed her in a rage over it. No demons, no voices, just a very dysfunctional family. The sad thing is, it is the victims that are being forgotten about, the children that were murdered.

A good book to read is The Night the DeFeo's Died, by Ric Osuna. Butch DeFeo himself has a web site that his current wife keeps. No one will know for sure what happened that night, I'm sure Butch will take it to his grave. One thing is for sure, Amityville was a HOAX. A man named Weber, who offered the Lutz' a book deal even confessed it was a hoax made up over several glasses of wine.

Here are some sights you may find helpful, including Ronald (Butch) DeFeo's):

http://www.amityvillemurders.com/

http://www.thenightexposed.net/articles/articles01.html

It's all been exposed as a fake.

Hi,

I am from Queens, NY and I don't live to far from Long Island..I've seen the house many times and YES, there are people living in it and they have never heard or saw anything. No one on the block has ever heard or saw anything either. The story is a big hoax!

Sorry If I bursted anyons bubble

I too have heard from many different sources that the whole story was all a hoax. That most of the story which was shown in the second movie was actually a way of the owners getting out of a mortgage on a house that they no longer wanted to reside in after finding out that there were murders in the home.

The Amityville Horror was a hoax invented to make money, as William Weber, de Feo's attorney admitted in a radio interview.

The hoax spawned lawsuits. Weber sued the Lutzes for his share of the profits. The Cromarty's, susequent owners of the house sued. Father Ralph Pecararo, Mancuso in the book and Anita Gregory, a British parapsychologist sued. All either won or settled out of court.

Thanks everyone. I figured the remake was no more valid than the original.

I did a paper on the Defoe's, and Defao Jr's problems. He was highly into drugs/LSD(popular at the time) and it was well known his (I think it was his step father) was very hard on him. They did NOT get along, and Ronnie(Butch) had actually claimed, in one book, that God told him to do it. I think on LSD, you will pretty much hear anyone tell you anything. Bottom line, I think he was a very messed up young man with a very dysfunctional family. I had also heard reports that his sister, Dawn had possibally been involved, as she had gunpowder residue on her night gown.

However, there seems to be a speculation of why they were all found in the same position, and no one woke up.

What was the story with the Warrens?? I remember reading that they said it was a hoax one minute, then became total advocates for it's validity?

The sad story here, was the loss of six people, and four of those being children. . I have read the website on the actual Amityville site, and they basically said that the Lutz's had decided to do this BEFORE moving into the house, to make money. I'm not sure what is real, and what is fiction, but I wonder if they made it up, but that ALSO, something strange DID start to happen.

Wouldn't that be ironic?

So, there was no indian burial ground(Realistically, native americans would not build a place of rest right near the water, for their people)? No witchcraft?

So many stories on this!

I am actually a little surprised that there is no activity at all. Not because of all of the stories of burial grounds and witch craft and all of that, but just from the tragic murders that did happen there, that would be enough for a haunting.

I saw a special on city confidential on A&E before about the murders at the house, those of course are the true part, the rest is speculation.

Ronald DeFeo was his actual father, not step-father. The reason they believe all the bodies were found in the same spot was because in police reports Butch stated that he and Dawn told the younger kids there was a burglar in the house and to stay in their rooms no matter what. Butch then proceeded to shot his mother, then father, who got out of bed, came towards him and Butch shot him a second time. They then dragged the body back to the bed.

Butch states a friend witnessed the whole thing and ran out of the house. When he went to find this third party and bring him back, that is when he states Dawn killed the siblings. They were in the rooms frightened that there was a burglar. One of the boys was actually in a wheelchair from an injury he sustained playing football. That is why there was no struggle. Butch then stated when he came home, found what Dawn had done, became enraged, went upstairs to her room where she was on the bed and shot her.

Very gruesome, horrible act. I read up on it after hearing the Warrens speak one time (by the way, I believe NOTHING these people say - I feel they are complete frauds), I was curious because there was an entire story, a real one, being missed because of the hoax. After I read up on it, I was sorry I did.....extremely heart-breaking story.

oh my! How utterly SAD!
Of course, the forensics of then vs now would have limited their knowledge of what actually happened. But, for Dawn to kill the sibilings...she must have been very upset herself. Women/females are rare to kill as it is, let alone children. I know that the police have always suspect that Ronnie didn't do this alone. I believe that they retested Dawn's nightgown and found gunpowder residue, making her a suspect/accomplise. Regardless of what happened, it is a horrifically SAD story, and one that Ronald Defoe Jr has to live with for the rest of his life.

So, so tragic. Did any of you know that the author of the book, Jay Anson DIED of a heartattack at 36, writing a book about the devil called 666?? ?That creeped me out!

This is a fasinating story. HOAX yes, Good movie YES! I lvoe the movie even if it was total fiction.

I have seen the Warrens speak twice. The second time I had the opportunity to ask Ed about the Amityville house because I had read "the book" and the "hoax exposed" book. He became very angry and cut off my question before I could finish it, saying that the author of the hoax book was just upset because he wasn't allowed to investigate the house himself so he did it for revenge. Then he just turned away from me and wouldn't answer any other question I had.

Hoax, hoax, hoax...but to this day I hide under the covers if I happen to wake up at 3:15 am...

attention amy butts
there were no drugs found in butchs system, read about it
the owners now are the wilsons and they dont go public with anything. actually he and his wife are divorced now
maybe everyone should go here
www.amityvillehorror.com

FOR EVERYONE SAYING IT IS A HOAX. WERE YOU THERE?? HOW DO YOU KNOW??
STEPHEN KAPLAN, A GUY THE LUTZ ASKED TO GO INTO THE HOUSE AFTER THEY FLED, CLAIMED IT WAS A HOAX. HE WAS MAD CUZ THE LUTZ READ HIS CREDENTIALS AND GOT SOMEONE ELSE TO GO IN IT.
THE WARRENS NEVER SAID IT WAS A HOAX. THEY VERY MUCH BELIEVE THE HOUSE HAD PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. I WISH ALL OF YOU PPL WOULD READ THE FACTS AND QUITL LISTENING TO BS

WWW.AMITYVILLEHORROR.COM
WWW.WARRENS.NET

THANKS AGAIN

Been to the house definately a hoax.

If it wasn't a hoax, then why is it that the current owners have lived there for the last 13-15 years and claim that nothing has ever happened while they've been there.

i'm not going to say i totally believe evrything i've heard about this. but i will say its possible with all the emotional "charge" from the killings and perhaps something involving George and his wife themselves that its possible something did happen. as far as the question why haven't the current owners had anything happen. well, for one thing its possible for two people in the same house to see a ghost and another not to as some are able to see them and some not to be effected. its also possible that after lutz's left and after all the items that were left in the house between them and the DeFeo's that that in effect "cleared" out the house. not saying the items were haunted....just saying that perhaps the atmosphere of the house changed without the items of the murdered people being there to always play on their minds....

Just in case anyone wanted to know, there are 10, that's right count them 10 threads on Amityville. Can we please, please do a search on thread topics to see if one already exists prior to starting one? Just revive the older one with your new post/question/thoughts. Is this so hard?

Maybe one of the moderators will just merge them together. (Wink, wink)

Ummm.. yeah, he was arrested a few days AFTER the murders...It came out of his own mouth that they had been doing drugs that night. There have been too many owners of that house after the the Lutz' that said there was nothing paranormal about the house, the only reason they moved afterwards was because they couldn't get away from nosey, pesky Amityville obsessed people.

That being said, I'm not getting into a debate over something so minute.

I have mp3's of the Coast to Coast AM interviews with George Luts, the actual owner of the Amtyville home. Anyone who wants it, send me an e-mail. It's 3 mp3's totalling about 15 megs each so make sure your e-mail is capable of recieving that. I'll send one batch out tonight and one tomarrow night to give people enough time to read and reply to this. Put Amtyville Horror in the subject line.

djchrisgeo at hotmail dot com

Reviving an oldie here

For those who think that the haunting experienced by the Lutzes was a pre-meditated hoax to make money I have a few questions to pose to you.

It's a matter of record that George and Kathy Lutz married and then sold their respective homes to purchase one together. They contracted for and purchased the former DeFeo home for the sum of 80,000. In order to accomplish this, the Lutzes put up front all of the cash that they had, $24,000, in order to obtain the new mortgage for the home. These are facts that are a matter of public record.

Let's play devil's advocate for a moment. Let's say that you are a freshly married couple looking to start a life together and you have $24,000. You have a well established business, a good reputation in the area, and you want to find a nice home in which to install your new family. At what point do you think to yourself "Hmmm, I could part with this $24 grand by buying the old DeFeo home, living in it for a short amount of time, and then risk my business, my reputation, my cash and my family on telling a ghost story that most likely no one will pay attention to". ??

Does that even add up to you? Remember there was no Amityville Horror prior to the Lutzes moving in to the house.

Questions:

1). Would you take the kind of risk (detailed above) that George Lutz would have had to have taken if he had knowingly gone into this situation with the intent of making money?

2). At the end of it, Lutz not only left his cash, his business and his reputation in Amityville but all of his and his family's personal possessions. Would you gamble everything on such a whim?

3). If Lutz had gone into this knowingly, then why were his rights to the story not protected? Why did Jay Anson make millions from the book and the Lutzes make just over $230,000 (which was reduced signifigantly by legal entanglements)? Sounds like a bad deal to me.

4). How did the Lutzes pass a lie detector test? Yes it is possible to pass a lie detector test, which is why they are inadmissable as evidence. HOWEVER, it is not easy to fool the machine and the people who can do it are much rarer than the people who cannot. The police routinely use the test as a means of elimination because it is historically very accurate. How do two people telling the same story pass the test with lies? I think they believed that they were being truthful.

All in all, for this to be a hoax, the Lutzes would have had to agree to trade their lives for the possibility that a ghost story that they would tell would become popular enough to replace all that they risked. That's just the accounting side of it too. They also would have had to agree to being personally ridiculed for life and then also agree to that for their children. I just don't buy it.

I believe that the Lutzes had a paranormal experience in that house. I believe that Mary Pascarella Downey had it right when she described the house as a vortex (which explains the dormancy). I certainly don't believe in the fiction that was presented in the movies and the books but I believe that the Lutzes believe they were being honest and that they really believed the horror happened to them.

[/soapbox]

I respect your opinion and you're entitled to it, but if George and Kathy were advised by a lawyer as is now stated by the lawyer and he put down paperwork showing them how much money could be made by a hoax it wouldn't be any different than investing your money in the stock market really. Just my opinion.

If you mean William Weber he was Ronnie DeFeo's lawyer and he says that he was contacted by the Lutzes after their 28 days in the house. The inquiry was as to whether young DeFeo had ever had any paranormal experiences inside of 112 Ocean.

IMHO you can't really compare a stock to a ghost story. Sure there are famous ghost stories but how much money was ever made from one prior to this case? A case couldn't have been made that would convince a successful business owner to take a risk like this as there are no precedental cases in which to base an argument on. The stock market has trends and statistics to back up forecasts. A venture like this would involve one party (the Lutzes) putting up everything based on a whim. My own 'horse sense' just tells me that this wouldn't have smelled like a good deal then and it really isn't a good deal now. That the story did well is a statistical abnormality and will likely never be repeated.

Anyways, there are lots of reasons to be skeptical (as you are) and I respect your opinion as well. Just presenting my take on things!


-C

Amittyville has already been prooven to be a hoax. People who have lived there after the Kutz family have stated that they have never experienced anything paranormal. Of course people like Ed and Lorraine (phonies) will say it's because they exorcised it. Let's face it when it comes to the Lutz family they had motive and a backround story of a psychopath to work with.

Let's look at where it started.

The DeFeo family was quite disfunctional Ronald sr. (Father) was quite an abusive man often beating his wife and kids etc. Of course Butch the oldest of the kids took most of the abuse from his father and was teased at school for being fat etc. Of course as Butch got older he also got bigger and stronger displaying many of the same violent tenancies as his old man. By the time he was 17 he was kicked out of school for 'drug' use and his temper became out of control like his fathers was. Shortly after he had staged a robbery from his fathers dealership and was busted by his father and his erratic behaviour and lack of cooperation made him a prime suspect in the theft of the money he was supposed to deposit in the bank. The night of Wednsday, November 14 after everyone had gone to sleep Butch had snapped grabbing his rifle killing his parents then his brothers and sisters after that.

In conclusion to this many serial killers, sociopaths and psychopaths come from abusive dysfunctional homes. Butch just fits the description of a cold blooded sociopath who never had a positive male role model in his life.

There is nothing about this particular case to indicate anything of paranormal nature.

Of course several years later the story was glorified as a possession and the Lutz family helped contribute to this for their own gain. Stephen Kaplan was approached by Lutz on febuary 16 1976 and had asked about an investigation into paranormal activity within the house. He had also asked about a fee but Kaplan had said they charged no fee and that if it was a hoax they would find out. Lutz of course had called back and cancelled just a few days later and cancelled arrangements with Kaplan. He then had contacted the Warrens shortly after this and paid their fees to conduct an investigation. They of course claim that the house had demons until they had exorcized them. Kaplan however insists that Lutz's motives and the way he had went about things were suspicious in nature and that he had never really trusted him.

============

I conclude based on the evidence at hand that this was a hoax designed to make money through book deals, movies and likeness rights etc. No other haunted house story captivated North Americans like this one did. Of course because this is a real house people were more inclined to think that this was real. Which is what made this hoax so lucrative.

Who proved it? When? How can anyone prove or disprove an individual account?


This is true of every ghost story you've ever heard. Some feel it, some don't. the Lutzes were practicing transcendental meditation at the time. Maybe they were more susceptible because of it.


The Warrens never claimed to have ejected the spirit.



No disputing the DeFeo tragedy. I do wonder what Ronnie meant though when he said that 'black hands' placed the rifle in his hands.


Lutzes lived in the house in late 1975. Kaplan and crew began calling it a hoax in early 1976.


Lutz was concerned with aligning himself along side a hokey charlatan who claimed to be a "Vampirologist". Back then the Warrens had much more credibility than the Kaplan did.



Kaplan was looking for a meal ticket. The Warrens were also looking for a meal ticket. Mary Downey is the one to listen to in this case, in my opinion.

============


If it was, then how did the Lutzes know that it was going to be lucrative before putting everything they had on the line? How come the Lutzes never got rich?

The hoax for cash line of reasoning isn't.. well... reasonable.

But the Lutz family did make money on this. They might not have made millions, but they did make money. $25000.00 to $250000.00 is quite a jump.

They did make money, and then subsequently had to spend it to protect themselves legally. I think George Lutz says on the ghostly talk interview that they ended up with 230k and had to spend over half of that in the courtroom.

Still, they couldn't have known they would have even ended up with a penny because the book and movie didn't come out until two years after they left the property. That's a long time to have to survive without a check.

George Lutz only owned partial rights to the first book and movie, btw. He never collected anything from any of the other books and/or movies including the most recent one.

I'm no apologist for Lutz, by the way. I think that some things got embellished and he let them slide for the benefit of a buck.

There are many facts that are always seemingly brushed aside in these conversations though. Putting myself in his shoes, I wouldn't have gambled my life for a would be ghost story.

This may sound silly but I have been wondering about the Lutz's children. So many years have gone by without a word from them (that I know of). Seeing the ridicule their parents went through it would seem (just my opinion) now that they are older one of them would speak up at least once to defend them if this all happened. I am not saying it didn't. In fact I am inclined to believe some of it did. I know a lot would be at stake speaking out loud but it could be done through a representative so none of the childrens (now adults) faces would be shown or any clue where they maybe living. What are the opinions of why not one of them has spoken?

I have posted a few times with Chris 'Lutz' (Quaratino) who used to be active in the old Amityville Truth forums. He had a website for a brief bit called "War on Horror" where he aimed to expose all of the embellishments of the horror story. Apparently he and George went into litigation over it and soon the waronhorror site was gone.

Chris said that George was a showman who pursued The Amityville Horror brand at the expense of family.

He also said that he had paranormal experiences in the house.

Just a thought... wasn't the killings in the house the cause of the paranormal activity, this happened .fact. the lutz buy house where lives were lost (cause of activity) fact.
It is known that brutal murders can cause bad energy or what ever to remain.
what ever has been added to the story is hearsay... it doesn't change the facts.

I suppose that would depend on who you talk to. Mary Downey (link in my post above) says that the area immediately surrounding the house is and has always been a spiritual vortex.

One local writer (who looks non-credible at first until you look at how he cites his sources) says Amityville is a hotbed of weirdness and has been for many years (before DeFeo was born). Check out True Legends.


You mean added by the Lutzes or beyond that?

I have just been reading 2003 interview by lutz , where he refuses to tell what happened on final day in house, why would he do this when , telling all before.
The question is was the house evil before the murders or as a result of said murders.
Hollywood is mainly to blame for embellishing the truth.

I guess like the late Mr lutz says untill you live through it you can not truly beleive one way or the other.
I lived in a 100 year old cottage that had doors that would open and close by themselfs.
and i would hear footsteps. This is a very small 4 room cottage 10sqm and just me living there.
Yeah I had ghosts.

But he did. I mean you said it yourself that he was a showman and that his son said he embellished the facts. I'm not trying to argue with you but I don't want to have to defend my opinion either. I just don't believe him.

There certainly could have been paranormal activity in the house, I can't dispute that, what I have trouble with(as did Chris Lutz is seems) is the sensationalism and propagating of nothing more than exaggerations to OBVIOUSLY make a buck.....if that's not the case...why did Chris Lutz have such a "War On Horror"? Nobody else who lived in the house reported anything troubling enough to talk about...and definitely nothing on the sensational scale of "The Amityville Horror".....just a load of sensationalized crap.

Well I've got nothing to prove either way, so we can just agree to disagree

I cannot see where Lutz could have been able to predict the future. I think no one human can do this with the exception of a very few gifted psychics (George Lutz isn't one of those).

I think he acted, in the beginning, like anyone else would in his situation. He bought the house, something scared him out of it (I don't think it was money). I don't think for a minute that slime poured out of the walls or that a black robed entity appeared at the top of the stairs or that a ceramic lion came to life and bit anyone. I do think they experienced something much subtler and were frightened enough by it to flee.

After that happened then I think what was reported was a paranormal cornucopia that is ridiculous in many capacities.


By the by, I'm not trying to be argumentative either. I like this case and enjoy batting around ideas. Thanks for participating!

Well I don't think he predicted the future per se, but I do think that he had a plan. I think he took what he considered to be a calculated risk. And it wasn't really a no win risk if you think about it because if no one believed the horror story and if enough publicity couldn't have been drummed up, he still would have the house to sell or go back to.

Yep, I agree with most of what you said, Onyxdk. Your comment below, though, to me isn't surprising. I don't think any two people have exactly the same experience in any paranormal situation (or maybe even in most normal situations). If someone were particulary susceptible to the paranormal then they might get a much more dramatic reaction to something than would someone who is a skeptic.

You're right though, if there was a ceramic lion running around biting folks then you'd think it wouldn't limit itself to a single person

Hi Dark Horse!

First let me say I also rented the remake and even though the original has that 70's cheesy way of filming I have to say I truly like the original for many reasons.

I do believe what the Lutz's claimed happened there truly did happen...I know a couple of years ago one of the detectives on the force that was on the case at the time tried to debunk everything that happened by saying that the Lutz's had been put up to it by a Hollywood Production Company for the popularity of the film when it was finally finished...that doesnt make sense on many levels and recently the Lutz's whom are now Divorced and Mrs. Lutz is suffering from severe Emphesima have come back to say that everything they experienced truly did happen and that for a time legally they had no choice but to let the rumors of them being a part of a Hollywood plot to just simmer.

You see once the movie came out and it was an instant hit, Amytiville no longer was the same quite little town in Long Island NY, there were Christian Groups of all sorts along with curiosity seekers surrounding the house on a daily basis day in and day out praying or just hanging out, other religious groups also participated in huge prayer groups trying to eradicate the "Evil: that the house fermented. The town was up in arms, the police there were going crazy trying to keep order everyday...it literally became a mad house!
The Detective that wrote all the degoratory stuff about the Lutz's was proven to have a personal vendetta against them and thus he wrote all the unfavourable things he did trying to make them out as shisters.
I was 14 at the time all this happened, I remember both the mass muder by Mr. Defeo against his own family, and I do remember some of the History, it seems that someone from Salem Mass (this is historically documnted) by the name of John (cant recall the last name right now) who was basically run out of town in Salem by its town people came to Amytiville and bought the house and property, there he dabbled in the "Dark Arts" but way before he came the land had been used by the local Indians to infirm their dying and sick and basically what they considered "Crazy" people in their tribe, the land has had a history of torment and negativity for many generations.

The Lutz's were this run of the mill family with little money and a big family that saw a bargain and jumped on it, they were aware of the murders there but felt they could put that behind them and make that place a home for themselves and their children, the Priest who tried to help them indeed suffered an array of misfortunate accidents and indeed went blind and transfered to an unknown monastary, the Lutz's lasted in that house for 33 days...leaving every belonging behind that they ever owned excluding family pictures in an album, they lost everything they had invested in. Being no starnger to the paranormal and experiencing a lot myself in this field I can tell you a lot of what they went through was very typical of a severe haunting though devastating as it was.
Everyone has their own opinions on the Amytiville Horror I am one of those who truly believe in what happened to those folks and my heart will always go out to them for the experience they went through.

Rent the original...its much more intense !

^^^
Uh, first of all Mrs. Lutz (the former Mrs. Lutz) is dead.

Secondly this thread isn't about the movie per se, but the actual experience and whether or not it happened.

Thanks for answering that Carnivale. Do you think Chris (was he actually George's son, noticed the last name change) was saying that everything George said was true and that George played on it at the family expense or that only some of the things George said were true? Am very interested because this is the first I have heard of this. Have you seen the photograph of the little boy upstairs? If so, what do you think of it? Everybody's opinion is welcomed and am looking to forward to them.

Hello RollingThunder
After George and Kathy Lutz were divorced Chris took back the name of his biological father. They got the adoption parts right in the movies

Chris's stance was that there were paranormal events that happened to the family. Chris himself said that he saw 'shadow' people. Paranormal events are notoriously different for each person who experiences them (we all have different filters) and I don't recall Chris ever saying that he thought George Lutz was lying. I think the media circus that enveloped the family once the news broke was what Chris was really upset about. I think the fact that it was allowed to go as far as it did with the national coverage, the ridicule, etc. really upset the home life of the family and it was resented within the family circle.




Ah, the infamous ghost boy picture. I have seen it/studied it at length. I think it's probably one of the investigators that was at the house that night. To me, the eyes look very clearly like glasses with light reflecting off of them. Some people are truly convinced that it's an authentic picture of a demonic entity and I don't fault them for thinking so. To me, though, it looks like a young lady with glasses on.

I think that the pic is someone with glasses on too. It doesn't look remotely paranormal to me either.

Amityville is possibly the most talked about book in modern ghost-hunting history. You might want to go to www.asup-texas.com, the site of the Association for the Study of Unexplained Phenomenon, who first researched the book and later debunked its claims. rick Moran did a follow-up piece on the DeFeo case and original murders for Fortean Times magazine a while ago, that does go into the case history. As for the claims of Indian burial grounds, previous history about the site, etc. It is all in the screenwriter's imagination, much like the original book by Jay Anson.

ASUP

Thanks for replying Carnivale. Having now heard one of the children backed up the story gives it more creditability. Has the wife ever commented in public about it? Strange, it would seem that with all the media, movies, and books that they would have made out better. All this did center around their life in the house. It seems like the whole situation took a nose dive right from the start. Wonder if it had to do with it happening in the 1970's and maybe the public just wasn't ready to believe it.

Pretty much everyone involved comments on these two documentaries, including George and Kathy Lutz, Ronnie DeFeo, various members of the Suffolk County Police Dept, the medical examiner, an Indian Chief etc.

History's Mysteries: Amityville - Horror or Hoax
History's Mysteries: Amityville - The Haunting

They are available seperately on A&E's website or you can buy the Amityville box set and both of these come with it (on a single disc). I think they sell for $24 each seperately and I bought the box set of DVD's for $25 at Best Buy. You could toss the movies and keep the documentaries

Tim Yancey has some great interviews up on his site in MP3 format that you can save and listen to (bottom right of page, Ghostly Talk links):

Amityville Horror Website

Also, Shadoe Steele has put up his Amityville CD set to download for free. this has interviews with Tracey DeFeo, George Lutz, Mary Downey, the Warrens, etc. If you want it you'd better go get it because I don't know how long these will be up.

Madpod's Amityville Horror Podcast

I think it really was a haunting that snowballed into a media circus. I believe only a small part of the story and even then not every single thing George Lutz said. I think he believed it though.

Thanks for all of the info, and the story itself IS one of the most interesting paranormal(if you truly believe that is what it is) recountings ever.......but the thing that puzzles me the most about the whole situations is with regards to the "original" slayings in the bedroom....If my information is correct, all of the victims were killed with a gunshot from a high-powered rifle while they lay in their beds. If this is correct, why were no gunshots reportedly heard? Why diddn't the other potential victims wake-up from the sound of the shots and try to escape?

That is a whole other ball of wax!

Hans Holzer and the Warrens said that no one heard the shots because the 'evil' put a protective energy around the house. Take that as you will.

The autopsy report showed that all but Dawn Defeo were in the same state of rigor mortis upon the time of autopsy. that could suggest a small spread in the times of the murders.

Both the prosecutor (Sullivan) and the ME said that they believed it entirely possible that DeFeo didn't act alone (ie one person to shoot, one to two to control the scene).

In fact Sullivan's quote to the jury from the trial transcripts is:

"Ronald DeFeo committed this crime with two other people, but we will never know who they are, because Ronald will not tell who they are."

Nothing about this case is clear. The version that was sold to the public is a cover up and a railroad job. DeFeo is absolutely guilty, don't get me wrong, but there is a bigger picture that he is still, 30 years later, hiding.

Look at what the lead investigator, Herman Race, said at trial:

Herman Race Trial Transcript

I'm not clear about why the gunshots weren't heard. I have a plethora of possibilities though