The True Story behind The Amityville Haunting

The Amityville House

There has never been such a house that evoked such a reaction in popular culture. The legend of the Amityville Horror spawned a torrent of books, documentaries and films.

The Amityville Horror house hovers between a tricky edge of fact and fiction, but the spine-tingling tales of paranormal activity can't help but leave one afraid to sleep alone.

Nestled in the Long Island Town of Amityville stands the estate, which was a witness of a mass murder. On November 13th 1974, using a .35 Marlin rifle, 23-year-old Ronald J. DeFeo Jr. shot his parents and siblings to death in their beds.

Ronald DeFeo Jr

Initially, DeFeo told the police he had discovered the bodies in the locked house around 6.pm later that day. He said that when he found them; he fled the house to a bar down the street hysterically. Within two days of finding the bodies, he would be charged for six second degree murders. The police believe he committed the crimes because he wanted insurance money, which would have been $200,000 or $960,000 today.

However, despite his claims of innocence, his lawyer tried to argue the case that DeFeo was insane and that he was in a state of "paranoid psychosis" as he moved through the house and shot his family members, one by one.

The jury did not believe the claims of insanity, and DeFeo was sentenced to six concurrent life sentences. He is still living them in prison to this day.

DeFeo himself did not believe the state of paranoid psychosis, and he based his innocence on the claims that he was possessed. And the supernatural current forced him to murder his family.

He was one of the first known cases to base his innocence on a supernatural claim, and therefore no one took it seriously. He is still incarcerated.

Thirteen months later, the Lutz family purchased the home at a drastically reduced price of $80,000. They made sure the realtor did not tell the truth by omission; they knew everything there was to know about the macarbe history. However, they still only lasted in that house for 28 days, because of supernatural forces, forcing them out.

George and Kathy Lutz

In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and Kathy's three children moved into the house. The six-bedroom house, with a swimming pool and boathouse, was meant to be their dream home. Instead, it turned into  a nightmare. These are the events that forced them out of their home.

When moving in, the Lutzes got a priest to bless the house. After being the place of a murder, you can't blame them. Whilst he was blessing the sewing room, he was exceedingly cold, however it was winter so it can't have been much of a surprise. However, this is where things become peculiar, whilst the Priest, named Father Ralph Pecoraro (now deceased), was blessing the house he heard a deep voice behind him screaming "Get Out!" He was startled and slapped on the face, but nobody was there. He told the Lutzes to never sleep in that room of the house.

Whilst moving in, one son went into the playroom only to be swarmed by 400-500 flies, he swatted 100 of them and he goes downstairs to tell his family, only to come back and to find that the flies are nowhere to be seen, not even the carcasses.

This wasn't the only unexplained phenomena during their time living here. George claimed to wake at 3.15am every day - the same time the murders allegedly occurred. The men in the house would become more vicious and angry, their emotions heightened whereas the females would be in a trance where they felt cared for and loved in the house.

The Lutz family claimed to smell strange odors, see green slime oozing out of the walls and keyholes. They would experience cold spots in certain areas of the house.

Whilst outside, George and his stepson Daniel would look up to the second-floor window of one of the girl's rooms and instead of seeing her, they would see a pig-like creature with red eyes staring down at them, this same creature allegedly would leave the house every morning, leaving hoof like footprints in the snow.

George also discovered a small, red painted room, around 4ft by 6ft behind shelving in the basement that their labrador cross, Harry, refused to go near, he would cower in fear.

The dog would also attempt to harm and even kill itself. Attempting to throttle itself with its lead, trying to jump out of its outdoor pen.

One night, George awoke to Kathy levitating in her bed, the boys' Daniel and Christopher was levitating in their beds at the same time.

Another occasion, a window slammed down onto Daniel's fingers, crushing the bone to the point where his fingers were skin to skin. His hands needed complete reconstruction. Moments later when his mother was treating his hands, Daniel described an invisible spirit entering the kitchen and sitting at the table, making an impression of the padded vinyl seat. Then, suddenly, his fingers were healed, as if nothing had ever happened.

On January 14, 1976, the Lutz's had reached their breaking point. They left the house and all of their possessions behind, following a last night that they have refused to describe.

The Lutz family have since taken and passed lie detector tests to confirm the veracity of their claims. However, the following owners of the house have stated that they have never experience anything remotely similar to the disturbances the Lutz's were subject to.

The Warren's, very notable paranormal investigators and known for The Conjuring and the Annabelle doll, took part in an infamous "psychic slumber party" where they and several other investigators explored the house. They claimed to have obtained photographic evidence of a ghost. See the picture below.

This picture has been known as the most official evidence of a ghost haunting.

"This was no ordinary haunted house. On a scale of 1-10, this was a 10," said Ed Warren in the 2000 documentary, “Amityville: Horror Or Hoax."

Whilst many critics have claimed that their stories and experiences of the Lutz family are false, the Lutz kids; Danny and Christopher say they remember the events and are still telling their stories.

And what an interesting story the Amityville Horror is.

Since then, the Amityville House has been vastly remodeled since the late 70s and no longer resembles the structure depicted in the films, new owners purchased it in 2017 for $605,000.

And as for the Lutz couple, Kathleen died of emphysema in 2004 and George died of heart disease 2006 after the two divorced in 1980.