Most Haunted Places in America The Amityville House
If you’re over the age of 18, chances are, the word “Amityville” will chime resoundingly in your mind. Since 1979, there have been nine movies based on the story, starting with the original cult-classic film, “The Amityville Horror”.
This movie, and most of those following it, were based on true events that occurred in the town of Amityville, New York, in the 1970′s.
On November 13, 1974, police entered the home of the DeFeo’s, located at 112 Ocean Avenue. What they discovered was an astonishing and despicable act of violence. The bodies of the DeFeo family were found murdered – the father and mother, and four of their five children. Two days later, the New York Daily News headline read “Son charged in slaying of six.”
Thirteen months later, the hauntings reportedly began in the Amityville house when the Lutz family moved in on December 18, 1975. George and Kathleen Lutz, along with there three children, were not disturbed by the events that had occurred there. They did, however, have a priest, Father Mancuso, bless the home on the day of their arrival.
According the the chronicles of the Amityville haunting, as written by Jay Anson in the famous novel “The Amityville horror: A True Story”, the priest blessed each room of the home, but when he entered the room of Marc and John DeFeo, he heard an aggressive male voice say “Get out!” He did not relay the occurrence, but he did warn the family not to use the room for a bedroom, and they apparently heeded the warning, making it a sewing room instead.
The novel tells of the family’s first night in the home being surrounded by strange feelings. Immediately, their personalities began to change. The children turned into “brats” and the parents took to beating them with wooden spoons and straps.
It got worse as the weeks went on, reporting disturbing odors ranging from old perfume to the stench of putrid bile. One night, Mr. Lutz reported that he awoke in the middle of the night to find his wife had turned into an old hag, followed by her levitating off the bed the following night.
The Lutz family contacted Father Mancuso for help. Apparently, the priest had continued feeling the after effects of his first blessing of the house, and believed whatever tormented the home had followed him as well. When he refused to return to the Amityville house, the family took up crucifixes and chose to bless the home themselves. Repeating the Lord’s Prayer, they were returned with a chorus of disembodied voices asking, “Will you stop?”
The house itself suffered the wrath of the Amityville hauntings. Furniture was often found out of place, the front door was allegedly ripped from its hinges, banister railings were torn away, windows smashed, the garage door damaged and even water damage from that of hurricane force winds. Local meteorologists claim there were no such natural forces in the weather at that time.
During the trial of Butch DeFeo, the lone survivor and alleged murderer of the DeFeo family, he claimed vehemently that the Amityville house was not haunted. He stated numerous times that it was all a hoax, concocted by the Lutz family, and his own defense attorney, William Weber.
George Lutz maintained that the haunting was factual up until his death in 2006. William Weber, on the other hand, told People magazine (published Sept. 1979), “I know this book’s a hoax. We created this horror story over many bottles of wine.”
There has been much debate as to how much of Jay Anson’s “The Amityville Horror” is actually true or fabricated. The address of the original home has been changed to prevent constant sightseers from disturbing the neighborhood, and the entire house was remodeled. Even the tell-tale semi-circle windows were removed to eliminate recognition of the Amityville house.
vanessa
on Mar 21st, 2012
@ 7:52 pm:
how scary is this i would never in my life live in that house…. Just so dang scary how crazy can some people be to even think about living in that house even after hearing the stories of the haunting.