amityville house tours 2021

Here's Where You Can Visit The House From Amityville Horror

While most people's natural instincts would tell them to avoid a haunted house at all costs (and while pretty much every horror movie ever made confirms exactly why this is a good idea), the eyes of history buffs and horror buffs alike light up when they learn that one of their favorite horror movies is based on a true story; often leaving them with the desire to learn the truth behind the accounts that inspired the film by experiencing it firsthand.

While most horror fans know that their favorite films are only very loosely based on true events (and we mean very loosely), that doesn't stop the chill of excitement they get that runs down their spines when the theater goes dark, and the movie finally starts, only for a message to appear on the screen telling audiences that the film they are about to watch is based on a true story or inspired by true events, (the latter of which SYFY claims allows studios to get away with taking even more creative liberties). Unfortunately, with decades of countless horror movies claiming to be a reflection of true events, it can often be difficult to discern fact from fiction and history from Hollywood .

While many horror movies fall short of being historically accurate, the real story behind The Amityville Horror might be even more terrifying than the film; because the real Amityville house where the real DeFeo family was murdered still stands today.

The real story behind the Amityville Horror house

On November 13, 1974, the Long Island residence that would later come to be known as The Amityville Horror house was the scene of a real-life terror film. In that house, 23-year-old Ronald J. DeFeo Jr. brutally murdered his parents and four siblings while they were asleep in their beds, with a rifle, according to Biography. DeFeo Jr. was sentenced to six 25-year-life sentences and claimed at the time of the murders that he had been hearing voices urging him to murder his family.

Biography reports that just over a year after the DeFeo family was tragically murdered in the home, the Lutz family purchased it for $80,000 below the asking price since it's no surprise not many buyers wanted anything to do with the property once they heard about the horrors that had taken place inside. However, just 28 days after purchasing the home and moving in, the Lutz family reportedly fled the residence, claiming to have experienced paranormal events in the house.

The events that took place during the Lutz family's short occupancy in the home, as well as the even greater mystery surrounding the tragic murder of the DeFeo family, are shrouded in secrecy and have gone on to inspire countless movies , most notably the 1979 film The Amityville Horror, starring James Brolin and the 2005 remake of the same name starring Ryan Reynolds.

Movie magic and paranormal activity

At the time of the DeFeo family murders and the Lutz's reported paranormal experiences, the real Amityville house was located on 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York, according to History vs Hollywood. However, the address has since been changed to 108 Ocean Avenue to throw off the constant influx of tourists and horror movie fans hoping to get a glimpse of the famed haunted residence and prevent them from invading the privacy of the current owners.

Moreover, the Amityville Horror films were not actually shot at the real Amityville house where the DeFeo and Lutz families lived. History vs Hollywood reports that the movie was instead filmed in a home located at 18 Brooks Road in Toms River, New Jersey, and the movie team built a structure around that house's exterior to resemble the actual New York-based haunted property.

And while no movie magic actually took place at the house in Amityville, fascination with the idea that paranormal events perhaps did is what makes the real Amityville Horror house one of the most notorious properties on Long Island — and one of the most popular real-life haunted properties among fans of all things horror. The house has been sold four different times since the murders (including to the Lutz family). It was most recently listed for sale in June 2016 before being sold in March 2017 for $605,000, according to property records obtained by The New York Post.

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The amityville horror house.

Horror lovers are likely familiar with 112 Ocean Avenue. That’s the address where Ronald DeFeo Jr. killed his parents and siblings in their sleep in November of 1974. Also well known as ‘The Amityville Horror House,’ three years later, George and Kathy Lutz gained national attention for the “horrors” they experienced after buying the home in 1975. These included odd odors, green slime oozing from the walls, levitation, devilish creatures, cold spots, flying objects, and more. The ghostly activity became the subject of a novel and several movies, though the validity of their story has been questioned over the years.

Some people believe the house was haunted prior to the murders and DeFeo was led to madness by an evil presence that still lingers there today. Others believe the house is haunted by the tortured spirits of his victims. Either way, the house has made Amityville famous, drawing visitors from all over the country. At one point in the late 1970s, the “Ocean Avenue” sign was removed in an attempt to keep people away from New York’s most haunted home.

The History of the Amityville Horror House

Located in a quiet, suburban neighborhood, the Amityville Horror House was nothing short of your typical family home. The house was occupied by the DeFeo family, who moved in when they purchased the property in 1965. 

In 1974, almost ten years after their arrival, the family was eerily murdered in what would become a legendary night in New York history. Adding to the fright of the story is the fact that Ronald DeFeo Jr., then only 23 years old, is believed to be the murderer who killed his whole family while they slept. His youngest victim was his brother John Matthew, who was only nine years old.

The reason behind the family’s murder remains unclear. It is well-known that Ronald Jr. had a volatile relationship with his father, Ronald DeFeo Sr., And of course, there is also a money trail: while in police custody, Ronald Jr. repeatedly asked police officers how he could collect his father’s life insurance. At trial, the prosecution argued that said insurance money was the motive for his actions.

Ronald Jr. himself claimed other reasons, however. He alleged that his sister Dawn killed their father and that their mom, in a state of distress, killed all of his siblings with a .38 revolver. Ronald Jr. maintained that he then used the same murder weapon to kill his mother and that he, being a good son, took the blame for her actions because he was trying to protect her reputation. He didn’t explain why he had to kill her though, and he has since then given even more disparate explanations so needless to say take him with a grain of salt. 

Both of the parents and all four of the children were found dead face-down in bed. Ronald Jr. and his wife Louise had been shot twice; the kids only once. There were no signs of struggle or confrontation, and evidence also suggests Ronald Jr. and his daughter Dawn were awake at the time of their deaths. The murders are believed to have happened around 3:15 am, right around witching hour.

While the rest of the family may have been asleep, patrons at Henry’s Bar were rowdy and wide awake when a restless Ronald Jr. rushed in screaming for help. The cops were called and Ronald Jr. was taken under their protection because he convinced them the killer could come after him next — little did they know that the suspected murderer was right under their noses the whole time. 

After being found guilty on six counts of second-degree murder, Ronald Jr. spent the rest of his life at the Sullivan Correctional Facility. He died at the age of 69 at the Albany Medical Center and his cause of death has mysteriously not been disclosed to the public. For all we know, maybe he’s back to living at Amityville Horror House.

Construction Starts

Like all good haunted houses, Amityville is built in the Dutch Colonial style: gambrel roofs, curved eaves, wooden floors that squeak randomly at night. The house has five respectable bedrooms, a swimming pool, and, of course, a boathouse. Why not?

As if any of that weren’t creepy enough, the house also still had all of the DeFeo’s furniture at the time new owners moved in — it was stipulated in the sale for just $400, surely an insult to the dead family. One particular room on the second floor is of importance. 

After the DeFeo’s brutal murder, the house was sold to the Lutz family, their three children, and a wacky Labrador who apparently could not keep them safe. The Lutz decided to have their new home blessed after hearing about the previous owners, so they invited Father Ralph J. Pecoraro to do the deed. 

The story tells that Father Ralph heard a very masculine voice say “get out” as soon as he sprayed the room on the second floor. The room used to belong to Marc, 12, and John Matthew DeFeo, 9. At least the masculine voice didn’t tell Father Ralph to kill anyone as it did with DeFeo Jr. 

Almost immediately after Father Ralph left Amityville, he noticed blisters on his right hand and developed a high fever. He called the Lutzes and tried to warn them not to use the room where he had heard the voice but the call was cut short by static or an angry ghost. The Lutzes went on to enjoy some pretty uneventful and peaceful days until their ghostly days had enough of them…the events the Lutz experienced included a knife falling in the kitchen, the children levitating in their beds, and Mr. Lutz waking up every night at exactly 3:15 am. 

Facts About the House

Surprisingly, Amityville Horror House is not a museum or privately managed property. It remains a single-family home that was recently taken off the market, though tourists and devoted fans still visit the street where one of the most heinous murders in Suffolk County happened. It’s hard to imagine that the new owners like the attention, but maybe they do.   

• While they noticed nothing unusual at first, the Lutzes were chased out of their home after just 28 days.
• What happens at Amityville doesn’t necessarily stay at Amityville. The Lutzes claim that whatever paranormal activity drove them out of the house followed them to Mrs. Lutz’s mother’s house, where they stayed for a few days while sorting out the house issues. 
• The legend of the Amityville Horror House has produced a series of films and books that have captivated audiences for decades.
• The address was changed to 108 Ocean Ave. to deter tourists.
• The house was last sold in 2017 for a reported $605,000, and it is currently undergoing renovations . 3 different owners have occupied the mansion since the Lutzes abandoned it.
• The house was built in 1925 and sits on a cool 10,900 square feet.
• No neighbors reported hearing any gunshots at the time of the murder. If you’re looking for a quiet street, maybe check out Ocean Ave. 
• There are three levels of stairs inside the mansion.
• There are four bathrooms inside, quite the luxury for a single-family abode. 

In Short…

Next time you’re visiting the Big Apple, cross over to Long Island and see this nutty home for yourself. If you start hearing voices, or if you notice some blisters on your hands…well, we don’t know what to tell you. For more of the most haunted locations in America, check out our America’s Most Haunted Part One article!

• https://nypost.com/2021/03/15/inside-the-amityville-horror-house-today-long-islands-most-notorious-mansion/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amityville_Horror
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_DeFeo_Jr .
• https://www.the-sun.com/news/3849172/amityville-horror-ronald-defeo-jr-shot-entire-family/
• https://www.biography.com/news/the-real-amityville-horror-facts

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Amityville Horror Home

112 Ocean Ave, Amityville , New York 11701 USA

• Independent

“the true story behind the horror”

This famous home is subject to one of the most well-known hauntings and murder stories in American history. In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and their three children moved into 112 Ocean Avenue, a large Dutch Colonial house in Amityville, a suburban neighborhood located on the south shore of Long Island, New York. Thirteen months before the Lutzes moved in, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. had shot and killed six members of his family at the house. After 28 days, the Lutzes left the house, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there. The house at 112 Ocean Avenue remained empty for 13 months after the DeFeo murders. In December 1975, George and Kathleen Lutz bought the house for what was considered to be a bargain price of $80,000. The six-bedroom house was built in Dutch Colonial style and had a distinctive gambrel roof. It also had a swimming pool and a boathouse, as it was located on a canal. George and Kathy married in July 1975 and each had their own homes, but they wanted to start fresh with a new property. Kathy had three children from a previous marriage: Daniel, 9, Christopher, 7, and Melissa (Missy), 5. They also owned a crossbreed Malamute/Labrador dog named Harry. During their first inspection of the house, the real estate broker told them about the DeFeo murders and asked if this would affect their decision. After discussing the matter, they decided that it was not a problem. The Lutz family moved in December 19, 1975. Much of the DeFeo family's furniture was still in the house, because it was included for $400 as part of the deal. A friend of George Lutz learned about the history of the house, and insisted on having it blessed. At the time, George was a non-practicing Methodist and had no experience of what this would entail. Kathy was a non-practicing Catholic and explained the process. George knew a Catholic priest named Father Ray who agreed to carry out the house blessing (in Anson's book, real-life priest Father Ralph J. Pecoraro was referred to as Father Mancuso for privacy reasons). Father Mancuso was a lawyer, judge of the Catholic Court and psychotherapist who lived at the local Sacred Heart Rectory. He arrived to perform the blessing while George and Kathy were unpacking their belongings on the afternoon of December 18, 1975, and went into the building to carry out the rites. When he flicked the first holy water and began to pray, he heard a masculine voice demand that he "get out." When leaving the house, Father Mancuso did not mention this incident to either George or Kathy. On December 24, 1975, Father Mancuso called George Lutz and advised him to stay out of the second floor room where he had heard the mysterious voice, the former bedroom of Marc and John Matthew DeFeo that Kathy planned to use as a sewing room, but the call was cut short by static. Following his visit to the house, Father Mancuso allegedly developed a high fever and blisters on his hands similar to stigmata. At first George and Kathy experienced nothing unusual in the house. Talking about their experiences subsequently, they reported that it was as if they "were each living in a different house." Strange events would occur in the home from that time on, including (but not limited to), doors and locks flinging open on their own, cloven footprints appearing in the snow, the Lutzes would feel "embraced" by unseen forces, the sounds of demonic marching bands would be heard, the family would have vivid nightmares of the Defeo murders, and a crucifix in the living room would regularly spin upside down and emit a foul odor.  After deciding that something was wrong with their house they could not explain rationally, George and Kathy Lutz carried out a blessing of their own on January 8, 1976. George held a silver crucifix while they both recited the Lord's Prayer and, while in the living room, George allegedly heard a chorus of voices asking them “Will you stop?!” By mid-January 1976, after another attempt at a house blessing by George and Kathy, they experienced what would turn out to be their final night in the house. The Lutzes declined to give a full account of the events that took place on this occasion, describing them as "too frightening." After getting in touch with Father Mancuso, the Lutzes decided to take some belongings and stay at Kathy’s mother’s house in nearby Deer Park, New York until they had sorted out the problems with the house. They claimed that the phenomena followed them there, with the final scene of Anson's book describing "greenish-black slime" coming up the staircase towards them. On January 14, 1976 George and Kathy Lutz, with their three children and their dog Harry, left 112 Ocean Avenue, leaving all of their possessions behind. Shortly thereafter, the home was investigated by ghost hunters Ed and Lorraine Warren, who captured an image of a "demonic ghost boy" that has since become something of a paranormal legend. The home is the original, though it's been heavily remodeled. Keep in mind this is a private residence, so please, only drive bys, and do not bother those who live in the house and surrounding area. Attn: The Amityville Horror Home is on private property. Please do not trespass. For informational purposes only.  UPDATE: As of 2016, the Long Island waterfront colonial home that inspired the "Amityville Horror" book, as well as a successful horror film franchise, is back on the market for a cool $850,000. The house comes with 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a boat house and a two-car garage.

Reviewed by Pemigewasset

I wonder what a demonic marching band sounds like. Funky, but without any soul?

Reviewed by Greg Newkirk

• 314 Reviews
• 375 Helpful

If you're a fan of horror movies, or just ghost stories, a stop to see the infamous Amityville Horror house is definitely in order when you're in New York. Like Dana mentioned in her review, it doesn't look much like it used to in the horror movies that it inspired (they've done a fair bit of remodeling and replaced the iconic windows), but it's still neat to see the house that scared people for generations.

Just a heads up, it's private property and people actually live there, so definitely, definitely don't go waltzing up the driveway and into the yard. Snap your pictures from the sidewalk.

Reviewed by AzmMza

Wish I could buy this house!! #AmityvilleHorrorFan 🏠👻🎬📚

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Inside the Real Amityville Horror House

The Legend of the Amityville Horror Is Built on Lies. This Is the Twisted Truth.

Everything you thought you knew about the famous haunted house in New York is wrong. The real story goes much deeper.

Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. Why Trust Us?

The village of Amityville, New York has a rich and robust history.

Peruse the halls of the Amityville Historical Society 's Lauder Museum and you'll see playbills and movie tickets related to the many stars who once called Amityville home (a section in William T. Lauder's Amityville History Revisited boasts names like Annie Oakley and Will Rogers ). You'll spot an Amityville flag that astronaut Kevin Kreger brought to space and back. And you'll even find remnants of a building that George Washington once visited.

But unless you're an Amityville native, you probably only know the town for its more sinister claim to fame—one that the Amityville Historical Society doesn't care to talk about. You won't find any macabre memorabilia about it within the Lauder Museum.

It's the so-called " Amityville Horror" : a brutal murder, followed by claims of a haunting, made into a Hollywood movie, that forever immortalized Amityville, New York as the home of an infamous haunted house.

What Are the Origins of the Amityville Horror?

In the first chapter of 1973's A Brief History of Amityville , William T. Lauder asserts that "Amityville history might, in some respects, be said to have started at the beginning of time." But how far back do we have to go to find the source of the curse, literal or figurative, that has hung over Amityville for decades?

To the night when Ronald J. DeFeo Jr. killed his family? To the day when the Ocean Avenue house was built on what the Amityville film franchise claims was "Indian burial ground"?

It could be argued that the origins of the "Amityville Horror" phenomenon can actually be traced back to two particular points, all the way back in the 1890s.

Paris, December 1896: The filmmaker Georges Melies releases a 3-minute short entitled Le Manoir du diable, known in the U.S. as The House of the Devil . The brief pantomime shows the Devil arriving at his home in the form of a bat, before two cavaliers enter. The Devil uses tricks to try and chase the two men out of his home. Though he succeeds in scaring one of the men, the other ultimately brandishes a crucifix, which defeats the Devil and ends the film.

Le Manoir du diable is the first-ever haunted house movie.

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. Filmed on the same day, the 16-second Buffalo Dance and 21-second Sioux Ghost Dance would prove to be, in the estimation of Edison film historian C. Musser , "the American Indian's first appearance before a motion picture camera."

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.

As PBS notes regarding Buffalo Bill's fabulist reenactments, "the show's depictions of Indians reinforced an inaccurate notion held by white Americans," namely that "the Indians were always the aggressors—attacking wagon trains, settlers' cabins, and Custer's forces." So while these films are the first to feature American Indian performers, they are just as crucially the first films to view indigenous people through a white man's lens, both figuratively and literally so.

Within these two shorts, which are nearly as old as the village of Amityville itself (incorporated on March 3, 1894), are two celluloid seeds that would grow and graft together into what became the "Amityville Horror."

Because the "true" story of the Amityville Horror is really the story of three mid-century movies.

Movie #1 That Made the Amityville Horror: Castle Keep (1969)

Castle Keep , a surrealist war film starring Burt Lancaster and Peter Falk, came and went fairly quickly in the summer of 1969. It was a box-office flop, and was quickly overshadowed by director Sidney Pollack's next feature, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? , a financial success that received nine Oscar nominations when it was released just a few months later.

Castle Keep was in line with the films of 1969 in terms of transgressive filmmaking, but hardly stood out from the crowd. It's sexual, but not nearly as sexual as that year's Best Picture-winning Midnight Cowboy . And it's violent, but not nearly as violent as that year's blood-soaked The Wild Bunch .

In fact, it is entirely possible that Castle Keep would have slipped completely from the public consciousness were it not for a single piece of trivia: As the story goes, on November 13, 1974, 23-year-old Ronald J. DeFeo Jr. watched the film Castle Keep on television. Then, as Biography notes, DeFeo took a .35 Marlin rifle and killed his entire family in their home at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York. Every family member except for eldest sister Dawn was killed lying face down in their beds. (There are discrepancies regarding the manner of Dawn's death.)

Did the movie make him DeFeo it?

No. After all, as they would say two decades later in 1996's Scream : "Movies don't create psychos. Movies make psychos more creative."

But it's entirely possible that the reason we know what film he watched is because, at one time or another, DeFeo wanted people to think that. Just like he wanted people to think it was the mafia that framed him. Or his sister Dawn. Or, in the most popular version of events, he "heard voices urging him to kill his family." As Biography notes, up until his death in 2021, DeFeo "changed his story multiple times."

The reality is, it wasn't the images on the TV screen, nor the voices from the walls of the Amityville house, that caused DeFeo to kill. It was the home that Ronald Sr. had cultivated within those walls. Biography describes car salesman Ronald Sr. as a "domineering authority figure" who "engaged in hot-tempered fights with his wife and children," with Ronald Jr. (nicknamed "Butch") receiving the brunt of the abuse.

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. But the urge to hurt remained. 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."

The inciting incident for the murder, rather than anything supernatural, may have been financial. The Biography profile for DeFeo makes note of a particular incident during Butch's employment at the family car dealership that preceded the infamous early morning massacre:

"In 1974, DeFeo, feeling irritated by what he believed a meager salary, plotted methods for embezzling money from the car dealership. In late October, the dealership entrusted him with the responsibility of depositing more than $20,000 to the bank. DeFeo planned a mock robbery with a friend, agreeing to split the money evenly with his accomplice. The plan went off without a hitch until police came to the dealership to question him. Instead of calmly answering the officers' questions, DeFeo exploded into rage. When police, suspicious that DeFeo was lying, asked him to come into the station to check out mug shots of possible suspects, he refused to comply. Ronald Sr. began to suspect that his son had committed the robbery. But when he questioned his son about his lack of cooperation with police, DeFeo threatened to kill his father."

On November 13, 1974, after committing the murders, DeFeo went to work at the car dealership. Twelve hours later, he pretended to "discover" his murdered family. Suffolk County police arrived, and DeFeo offered up an array of alibis before eventually admitting his guilt. "Once I started, I just couldn't stop," he said. "It went so fast."

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.

But a certain film came out the year prior, turned into a cultural phenomenon, and offered Americans of all stripes a different kind of alibi:

"The Devil made me do it."

Movie #2 That Made the Amityville Horror: The Exorcist (1973)

"I'm the Devil, I'm here to do the Devil's business"

On August 9, 1969 , while Castle Keep dwindled in cinemas across the country, Charles "Tex" Watson uttered that phrase in a house on 10050 Cielo Drive in the Benedict Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles. The "business" that Tex ascribed to "the Devil" was the brutal murder of the five people at the home that night: Sharon Tate , Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, and Steven Parent.

While this shocking and brutal act at the tail end of the 1960s made the "counterculture = satanic" connection easier for pop culture pontificators of the time, the Devil had already reentered the cultural lexicon in a big way one year earlier, due in large part to a film directed by Tate's husband, Roman Polanski .

That film, Rosemary's Baby , revolves around a young woman in New York City who finds that she has been impregnated by a Satanist cult, and her baby will be the Antichrist. The film, despite its taboo topic, became the 7th highest grossing film of 1968. It also received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Ruth Gordon, and a nomination for its screenplay.

Rosemary's Baby , along with the Rolling Stones ' satanic-themed single "Sympathy for the Devil" that same year, and the "Tex" Watson quote, all captured a sentiment in the late 1960s and early 1970s that author Joan Didion would later describe in her essay The White Album as, "This mystical flirtation with the idea of 'sin'–this sense that it was possible to go 'too far,' and that many people were doing it."

More significantly, all of these things laid the groundwork for a film that is crucial to understanding not just the Amityville Horror phenomenon, but the rise of the Moral Majority in the late 1970s and the "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s.

William Friedkin's 1973 film The Exorcist , based on the 1971 novel by William Peter Blatty, was a cultural lightning rod like no other. Films had addressed America's anxiety about the late 1960s counterculture from a practical policing perspective in films like Dirty Harry and Electra Glide in Blue . They depicted a conflict between youthful rebellion run amok and the firm, harsh hand of the law. But those films also suggested to the parents in the audience that their long-haired hippie kids they didn't understand were criminals deserving of prison, or even death.

The Exorcist offered a different explanation. A spiritual explanation. Just like Regan, the little girl who goes from sweet to sacrilegious, your child's actions aren't their own: they're simply possessed by Satan. And though not as pronounced as later films would be, within The Exorcist is an undercurrent of "declining moral values" as the cause of the possession.

Regan is a child of divorce (California Governor Ronald Reagan had signed the country's first "no-fault divorce" in 1969), and the one film in which we see Regan's actress mother (played by Ellen Burstyn ) acting involves campus student protests. (May 1970 had seen six student protestors killed by police and National Guard on the Kent State and Jackson State campuses.) As author Stephen King later noted in his 1981 book Danse Macabre , The Exorcist was:

"...a finely honed focusing point for that entire youth explosion that took place in the late sixties and early seventies. It was a movie tor all those parents who felt, in a kind of agony and terror, that they were losing their children and could not understand why or how it was happening."

But unlike Rosemary's Baby , and more in line with Melies' Le Manoir du diable, The Exorcist also offered audiences a "good guy" who could battle the villainous Devil—a spiritual equivalent to the cops beating back the hippies on episodes of McCloud or Adam--12 . (Though The Exorcist does have a cop character in the form of Lee J. Cobb's Lieutenant William F. Kinderman.)

Those heroes are the clergy, Jesuit psychiatrist Father Damien Karras, and Irish Catholic archaeologist Father Lankester Merrin. Through these men, audiences were offered a solution to the supposed spiritual sickness they had been feeling and fearing by the early 1970s: leave behind the hippie ways, return to the Church. Film critic Pauline Kael went so far as to call The Exorcist "...the biggest recruiting poster the Catholic Church has had since the sunnier days of Going My Way and The Bells of St. Mary's . "

Despite its graphic content, and some condemnation from the clergy, The Exorcist was the #1 film at the 1973 box office, beating out the #2 film, The Sting , by nearly $10 million. (Another Satan-themed film, the X-Rated The Devil in Miss Jones , was also the 10th highest-grossing films of 1973.) In a rarity for horror films even today, The Exorcist received 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and won an Oscar for its screenplay.

A wave of fellow Catholic-tinged, counterculture-combating horror films emerged in the wake of The Exorcist , like The Omen and The Sentinel . But perhaps the story most indebted to The Exorcist is that of the "Amityville Horror," which is why it's not surprising to discover that the author of The Amityville Horror had a connection to the making of The Exorcist .

Before Jay Anson wrote his bestselling "based on a true story" book The Amityville Horror , he told The New York Times , "I had never even tried a book before." What Anson had done was produce "making-of" featurettes for films like Klute and Deliverance . According to what he told The New York Times in 1978 , Anson had no familiarity with the occult until he was commissioned to work on such a "making-of" featurette for The Exorcist .

Working on this, "...he became friendly with the film's technical consultant, Father John Nicola, the Roman Catholic Church's occult investigator in America." The two pitched a book about exorcisms to publisher Prentice‐Hall. Though the Nicola book never came to fruition, Prentice-Hall would soon contact Anson to take on another story: that of the Lutz family.

As Biography notes, only 13 months after Ronald "Butch" DeFeo had killed his family on the home at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, "...the Lutz family purchased the home at a drastically reduced price of $80,000 (due to the murders) but only lasted 28 days before leaving it."

As Anson's eventual The Amityville Horror stresses, money was tight for the Lutz family. The home was out of their budget even at $80,000 (they were looking for a place under $50,000), and they tried to save additional funds by also purchasing many of the home's furnishings left behind by the deceased former owners, including the beds in which they died, for another $400.

Biography also notes the supposed supernatural happenings the Lutz family claimed to have encountered during their brief occupancy at 112 Ocean Avenue included "green slime oozing out of the walls" and experiencing "cold spots in certain areas of the house," as well as an abundance of flies plaguing the home.

The Lutz family also claims that their local priest, Father Pecoraro, visited the home to bless it, heard a voice say "Get out!," and "told the Lutzes to never sleep in that particular room in the house." For his part, the real Father Pecoraro swore in an affidavit that he had little connection with the Lutz family, never visited their home, and had spoken to them only once by telephone.

Anson's eventual book on the Lutz case, the 1977 novelistic The Amityville Horror , would take some artistic license with the story, adding some cinematic flair, likely drawing from the massively successful film Anson had first been commissioned to make a "making of" for. It quickly became a best-seller, and fittingly was snapped up by Hollywood to become a major motion picture—one that would put Amityville on the map for reasons the town wish had stayed uncharted.

Movie #3 That Made the Amityville Horror: The Amityville Horror (1979)

Director Stuart Rosenberg had, once upon a time in 1967, directed Paul Newman in the critically lauded classic Cool Hand Luke , a film with both theological and countercultural themes. But by the mid-1970s, Rosenberg was in a rut. His 1975 reteaming with Paul Newman, The Drowning Pool , was a box-office disappointment that had The New York Times declaring his direction "muscular but pedestrian." His follow-up, Voyage of the Damned , got three Oscar nominations but was an inarguable flop, earning only $1.75 million.

Rosenberg needed a hit for his next picture. And he got one, by way of Anson's The Amityville Horror novel. The book wasn't just a bestseller; it also had the benefit of being "based on a true story," while having the cinematic narrative propulsion Anson added through his years of experience in the film industry.

Anson's novel, for example, turned the tangential involvement of Father Pecoraro into the fictional heroic figure of the work, Father Mancuso, who is much more involved with the saga of the Lutz family and their haunting than the real Father Pecoraro was ever alleged to have been.

Beset upon by illness after his encounter with the haunted home, Mancuso is even paired with a law officer, just like the priests in The Exorcist, in this case the character of Suffolk County Sergeant Gionfriddo. The film also clearly felt the priest was a crucial part of the story, casting Academy Award-winner Rod Steiger as Father Francis 'Frank' Delaney.

For the Lutz family, actor James Brolin was cast in the role of George, while Margot Kidder took on the role of Kathy. In promoting the film, both Brolin and Kidder claimed to have also experienced strange occurrences on set pertaining to the supernatural, but those were contrived. Kidder would later say in a 2005 interview , "When we did Amityville , the producers told us we should say all these terrible things happened on the set. It was all bull****. Nothing happened, but it was funny."

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. Biography notes that the couple "took a lie detector test to prove their innocence," and that they passed the polygraph. Son Daniel also "claims the house ruined his life and that he continues to have nightmares to this day."

But in 1979, attorney William Weber, who represented Ronald "Butch" DeFeo, came forward with a claim that not only said the Lutz family contrived the entire haunting, but that he was an instrumental part of its creation. Trying to reopen the case and have DeFeo plead insanity, Weber claimed to have approached George and Kathy with the idea that, if they also claimed to experience strange things in the house, they could get a book deal and the story could aid his client's case.

Weber claimed the trio contrived the entire story of the haunting and all its elements "over many bottles of wine." But when either motivated by cutting Weber out of any potential profits, or simply being concerned that any money Weber made would be shared with convicted killer DeFeo, the Lutz family allegedly cut ties with Weber and pursued a book deal on their own.

Whatever the truth, the embellishments all proved profitable. The Amityville Horror became the second-highest grossing film of 1979, outgrossing Alien , Star Trek: The Motion Picture , and Rocky II (Best Picture winner Kramer vs. Kramer was the only film to beat it out at the box-office.) Composer Lalo Schifrin's score for the film even earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score.

The film also spawned one of the more robust quasi-franchises in film history. Beyond the direct sequels like Amityville II: The Possession and Amityville 3-D , and the 2005 Ryan Reynolds-led remake , there have been more than 30 films that have loosely mined the "Amityville Horror" story for their own means, from Amityville: The Awakening and The Amityville Asylum to Amityville Karen and Amityville in Space . There have been so many Amityville films that the 2023 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards had to create a specific category for Best Amityville. That's because, as P aste Magazine points out:

"Because Amityville is a real New York town, and because the DeFeo murders—and, I guess, the Lutz family moving in and then out, regardless of their transparent attempts to cash in on claims of ghosts and ghoulies—were all documented in the public record, they couldn’t be contained as alluring intellectual property except under the specificities of Anson’s book."

But while the glut of unauthorized Amityville sequels keeping the "Horror" in the public consciousness are certainly irksome to the residents of Ocean Avenue and the historians in Amityville, it's a specific invention of Anson's book that has arguably had the most significant impact on both the town and American pop culture at large.

The Amityville Horror: Those Who Remain

The most pernicious, and provable, fabrication from Jay Anson can be found in Chapter 11 of The Amityville Horror . The book claims that George Lutz (changed to Kathy in the film) spoke to the Amityville Historical Society, which informed him that the "very location of his house" had a troubling past:

"It seems the Shinnecock Indians used land on the Amityville River as an enclosure for the sick, mad, and dying."

The book then alludes to a settler named John Catchum, or Ketcham, who was apparently buried on the property after being forced out of Salem, Massachusetts "for practicing witchcraft."

While Anson's book does specify that the land was not used as a Shinnecock burial ground "because they believed it to be infested with demons," the conflation in the public consciousness of Shinnecock ground and Ketcham burial makes The Amityville Horror the inception of one of the most troubling tropes of contemporary horror: the Indian Burial Ground. This trope was solidified later in Stanley Kubrick 's 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining , which contains the line "The site’s supposed to be on an Indian burial ground."

The cliche became so pervasive that people tend to ascribe it even to stories that don't contain that element. ( Poltergeist , for example, never actually uses the Indian Burial Ground trope, though people often falsely remember it doing so.) And your average Long Island resident will readily tell you that "everybody knows" the Amityville house as "built on Shinnecock burial ground."

Except ... it wasn't. And we know this, because the Shinnecock never occupied that particular patch of land. As film critic and citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Shea Vassar noted in their column Through a Native Lens for Film School Rejects :

"All land is Native land, but the Shinnecock tribe never occupied the area on which this infamous house was built. I mean, if you’re going to use a specific nation, then at least name the correct one. The erasure and inaccuracies of Native cultures within the movie industry are made worse by mixing up the names of our communities."

There are, however, indigenous burial grounds in the area of North Amityville, within the town of Babylon. Visitors to nearby Copaigue can find two such sites, one on either side of Bethpage Road. The Brewster Burial Grounds and Green Bunn Burial Grounds were designated by Babylon in 1994, according to the town historian. Within each is a small stone memorial depicting a turtle, which were erected in 1995. On the Brewster Burial Ground, there are also three statues devoted to specific members of the Brewster family that had been erected in the 1950s by a descendant.

But while these burial grounds are recognized and preserved, others are the subject of contentious conflict to this day.

Despite Amityville being falsely infamous for a house "built on Indian burial ground," as recently as 2021, Newsday reports , a developer was attempting to start a condominium project in North Amityville, on ground it has been asserted "may contain native remains." While the town of Babylon approved the development, noting it had "conducted its own review," the state of New York intervened and has "recommended a phase 1 archaeological survey."

The effort to preserve the site was led by Sandi Brewster-Walker, the executive director of the Montaukett Indian Nation . Indeed, the land that Anson's book claimed was used by the Shinnecock would have actually been occupied by a Western cluster of the Montaukett.

If you find yourself in Amityville, there will naturally be a temptation to visit the house on Ocean Avenue. It's still there, though it has been remodeled, removing its infamous rounded windows, and it has had its address changed to deter tourists. "No Parking" signs prevent visitors from even stopping their vehicle in front of the residence.

Truthfully, someone looking for an "old house" in Amityville would in fact be better served traveling further up Ocean Avenue, to Nautical Park, where a well-worn historic home awaits restoration. On a recent visit, a local resident informed PopMech that several people have mistaken the dilapidated building for the infamous "horror house."

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). Glance down Albany Avenue, and you can see Colored School #6, which the Amityville Record notes "was one of the Island’s first schools to be desegregated," thanks to the efforts of Charles Devine Brewster, an ancestor of the aforementioned Sandi Brewster-Walker.

There's one last piece of Amityville history that is worth seeking out. It's a testament that dates back before The Amityville Horror , before Castle Keep , before even the films of Dickson and Melies.

Since December 2021, on the corner of six streets in North Amityville, one can find heritage designation markers displaying the Montaukett Tribal Nation logo. These signs signify recognition of the descendants of the Montaukett that lived on that Amityville land for thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans settlers and Dutch traders.

These signs read, "Montaukett Nation. We Are Still Here!"​

Michael Natale is the news editor for Best Products , covering a wide range of topics like gifting, lifestyle, pop culture, and more. He has covered pop culture and commerce professionally for over a decade. 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. 

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Amityville House: A Look at This Real Life House of Horrors in New York

Updated on October 12, 2021

• The real Amityville house was the site of 6 murders on the night of November 13, 1974.
• After moving into the Amityville house less than a year after the murders, the Lutz family reportedly experienced terrifying paranormal events at the home.
• Jay Anson’s book, The Amityville Horror, was created using around 45 hours of audio recordings from George and Kathy Lutz.
• The real Amityville house was last purchased in 2017 for $605k and has continued to act as a private residence.

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.

In fact, the story of the Amityville horror has inspired countless films and series over the past 4 decades. Keep reading for more on the real Amityville house, the Amityville horror house featured on screen and a closer look at the DeFeo murders.

Where Is the Amityville Horror House?

The real Amityville house is located in a small town in Amityville, Long Island. The house used in the 1979 movie, however, is located in Toms River, New Jersey. More details on both houses are below!

Amityville Horror House Address

The production for the 1979 movie The Amityville Horror wasn’t actually filmed at the real life Amityville house. The scenes of the home were actually shot at another residence located at 18 Brooks Rd, Toms River, NJ 08753.

So, where is the real Amityville house? It’s located at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, Long Island, NY 11701. However, the street number has been changed to 108 Ocean Avenue, Amityville in order to reduce interest in the home.

The Real Amityville House – “Is the Amityville house still standing?”

Many interested in the story of the Amityville horror often ask, “Is the Amityville house still standing?”

Yes, the real life Amityville house is a 5-bedroom, 3 bathroom home in Amityville, Long Island. If it weren’t for its gruesome past, the 3,600 square foot property could easily be considered prime real estate. Much like its movie counterpart, the Amityville house is located along the waterfront and features its own boat dock.

The 1922 Dutch colonial also features a basement, fireplace, boathouse, and 2 decks (one of which has a view of the water). Older photos indicate that the home also featured a wet bar, but there’s no way of knowing if this is still the case now.

Amityville Horror House Today

The home on Ocean Ave that was the site of so much death looks quite different than it did years ago. In an attempt to distance it from the DeFeo murders, the home was given a different house number and extensive renovations.

The darker shingle siding was swapped for lighter colors, while the creepy little top windows were removed.

While there has been a lot of work done on the home, there are still areas of the residence that haven’t changed much since the 1970s. The living room, for example, still looks creepily similar to what it looked like when the DeFeo’s lived there.

The dining room has a new chandelier, but still features a red wallpaper very similar to the original. There aren’t any modern images of the upper levels in the home – likely because this was where the murders were committed.  

Does Anyone Live in the Amityville house?

Yes! The home was purchased in 2017 for $605,000 and it appears to have remained off the market since. The Amityville house has actually had many residents since the Lutz family left the home.

Amityville Horror Real House – Where The Movie Was Filmed

The Amityville horror house today (aka where the movie was filmed) is actually a beautiful 4-bedroom, 4 bathroom home in Toms River, NJ. Built in 1920, the colonial-style home sits on nearly half an acre and boasts a gorgeous view of the neighboring river.

Much of the riverfront home’s interior is Victorian-inspired – with lots of posh chandeliers, crown molding, and gold accents throughout. Modern amenities to the 3,370 square foot home include a 7-seat theater, swimming pool, outdoor kitchen, and boat dock.

Despite being the face of a terrifyingly haunted house of horrors on film, the place is actually pretty amazing in reality. According to property records, the home was last sold in 2013 for $350,000. Presently, it’s estimated to be worth $1.15 million.

Amityville House History

Long before it became the site of a mass murder, the Amityville house was actually the dream home of John and Catherine Moynahan. The couple had the home built in 1924 and resided in the Dutch colonial for many years.

In 1965, the descendants of Catherine and John finally sold the home. The buyers? A relatively normal-looking family that recently relocated from Brooklyn to Long Island – the DeFeo’s.

The Amityville Horror True Story

While there’s no definitive way to determine if the Lutz’s ghost story that inspired the films is true, the mass murders that prefaced the alleged Amityville hauntings were very real. On the night of November 13, 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr killed his mother, father, 2 sisters, and 2 brothers in their family home.

His weapon of choice? A .35 caliber lever action Marlin 336C. After committing the murders at around 3am, Ronald returned to the bar he had been earlier that evening in a frantic state. “You got to help me! I think my mother and father are shot!” he screamed.

Some patrons followed him back to the home and found the bodies of DeFeo’s family, all shot and lying face-down in their beds.

It was fairly clear to investigators early on that there were some facts about the case that didn’t add up. For starters, there were zero signs of a struggle taking place with the victims. It was also found that Ronald’s alibi of being at the bar around the time of the DeFeo murders fell through.

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.

Did Ronald DeFeo Have an Accomplice?

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.

He claimed that Dawn had talked him into just murdering their parents. After doing so, however, Ronald says that he left the home to pursue their friend who had fled the scene. While he was gone, Dawn also murdered the children as a means to silence them. Upon returning, Ronald fought with Dawn and then ended up shooting her as well.

Later on, Ronald would change his story again and say he didn’t kill his family, but that Dawn had actually committed all the murders. At one point, DeFeo even stated that a demon had made him do it. While there were reports that Dawn did have unburned gunpowder on her nightgown, there’s no solid evidence to suggest she had a part in the murders.

To this day, there is still much debate as to whether or not Ronald had an accomplice that helped him commit the murders.

How Many People Died in the Amityville House?

Six of the DeFeo family members were murdered in the Amityville house. Ronald DeFeo Jr shot his parents: Ronald DeFeo Sr. (43) and Louise DeFeo (43) as well as his siblings Dawn (18), Allison (13), Marc (12), and John Matthew (9).

At one time, there were rumors of a 7 th victim due to a strange crime scene photo found in the case files. This photo depicted a woman with similar fatal injuries sustained by the DeFeo family members. One issue, however, was that the bedroom where this victim was located didn’t match any room in the Amityville house.

Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the photo had been from a separate crime scene. It had accidentally been misplaced in DeFeo’s file.

Amityville Haunted House

Much of the paranormal happenings that allegedly took place in the real life Amityville house were reported by the Lutz family. George and Kathy Lutz purchased the home, dirt cheap, less than a year after the horrific murders took place.

Only days after they moved into the house, the Lutz family reportedly began experiencing strange occurrences. Phantom smells, unusual noises, and slamming doors kept the family in a constant state of unease. The paranormal activity escalated and seemed to become threatening fast. Some additional claims from the family included:

• Slimy green substance oozing from the keyholes and walls of the home.
• Cold spots throughout various parts of the house.
• A disembodied voice screaming “Get Out!” to a priest who came to bless the home.
• The sound of a knife being tapped on surfaces in the kitchen.
• George and son Daniel witnessing a pig-like entity with red eyes in one of the windows.
• George witnessing his wife Kathy and 2 sons levitating from their beds.

The Lutz family only lived in the Dutch Colonial for 28 days before fleeing the home, leaving all their belongings behind. Following the alleged events that the Lutz endured in the Amityville house, they went on to collaborate with author Jay Anson to develop the book The Amityville Horror .

The work was created using roughly 45 hours of audio recorded from George and Kathy Lutz. It was published in 1977 and went on to inspire a plethora of films. 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.

Amityville House Controversy

After the story of the Amityville horror house went public, many questioned the validity of the Lutz’s claims. Given their financial struggles, there were those that believed the couple crafted the story as a means to make money.

In 1979, William Weber, Ronald DeFeo’s former attorney, claimed he and the couple concocted the story during an evening of drinking. At the time, however, Weber had had a falling out with George and Kathy over money. Additionally, the priest – who appeared in the book – reportedly denied the activity he was said to have experienced in the story.

Though the couple did admit that parts of the book were embellished (like the green slime) they stood by their story. As a means to add validity to their word, the Lutz’s even underwent a lie detector test – and passed. George and Kathy separated in 1989 and are both now deceased.

George passed away from heart disease in 2006 and Kathy died of emphysema in 2004. The Lutz’s children have mostly avoided the limelight throughout the years, especially daughter Missy. Their sons, Christopher and Daniel, have both stated that the events at the Amityville house did happen.

Christopher, however, did admit that the hauntings depicted in the book were greatly embellished. 

Ed and Lorraine Warren

Famed paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren were one of the first to actually investigate the Amityville hauntings. In a 2013 interview with Yahoo Movies, Lorraine found it difficult to speak on the events that took place there.

Additionally, she also admitted she would never enter the Amityville house again. Following their extensive investigation of the home, both Ed and Lorraine agreed the hauntings were not a hoax.

If you’ve ever watched The Conjuring 2 (2016), the events at the start of the film were allegedly inspired by their experiences at the Amityville house.

https://www.biography.com/news/ the-real-amityville-horror-facts

https://nypost.com/2021/03/15/inside-the-amityville-horror-house-today-long-islands-most-notorious-mansion/

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/03/16/george-and-kathy-lutz/

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/18-Brooks-Rd-Toms-River-NJ-08753/39591175_zpid/

http://www.thennowmovielocations.com/2019/06/the-amityville-horror-1979.html

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/108-Ocean-Ave_Amityville_NY_11701_M30114-03781#photo0

https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/real-amityville-horror-house.php

https://amityvillemurders.com/the-defeos/crime-scene.html/nggallery/page/3

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/blogs/movie-talk/ghost-hunter-lorraine-warren-tells-us-one-haunted-050927065.html

.css-16urd06{margin:0;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;font-weight:400;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.5;} .css-1eo6nkc{color:rgb(0, 0, 238);font-size:24px;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;cursor:pointer;} Sarah Paschall

Sarah has written and edited for numerous media outlets in a variety of different niches – though entertainment is her all-time favorite topic to cover. When she is not hard at work researching and writing about Hollywood’s top talents for Velvet Ropes, Sarah enjoys working on her fiction novels, developing her blog, and gaming. You can follow Sarah on Twitter at: Twitter.com/tuspock91

Screen Icons: The Amityville Horror house – the family home's gruesome past explained

Each week for 'Screen Icons' we take you behind the doors of the iconic homes made famous by some of our favourite TV shows and movies.

The gruesome history of this waterfront home was so terrifying it compelled one former owner to call in a priest and another to request a change of address.

The Dutch Colonial on Ocean Avenue in Amityville in New York is best known as The Amityville Horror house. It gained the grim moniker as the scene of a mass killing.

Robert DeFeo Jr was just 23 when he murdered six members of his family, including his parents, as they slept at 112 Ocean Avenue in November 1974.

READ MORE: Inside the century-old 'The Silence of the Lambs' home

The house remained empty until December 1975 when new owners, George and Kathy Lutz, moved in with their three children.

The Lutzes paid just US$80,000 for the five-bedroom property, which is more than US$410,000 (A$542,000) in today's money.

Property Listings

The family were aware of the history of the home, and reportedly sat down together and agreed they could cope with any public stigma.

However, just to be sure, they called in a local priest to bless the house.

READ MORE: Ex-tenant uses post-it notes to warn people about dodgy rental

Mr Lutz told ABC News in the US the blessing was the start of unexplained happenings at the home.

He said the priest claimed he felt a slap from an unseen hand in the sewing room and heard a voice say 'get out'. He then felt ill and his hands began to bleed.

Mr Lutz claimed that one night he also witnessed his wife levitating and claims he also heard his children's beds "flaming up and down on the floor".

The Lutzes fled the home 28 days after moving in, with their lives returning to normal outside the home's walls.

At trial, DeFeo pleaded not guilty to the crimes by reason of insanity. He instead claimed he had heard voices on the night of the killing. His defence was rejected by the jury who sentenced him to six sentences of 25 years to life.

READ MORE: Scary reason this 'Friends' star was forced to sell their LA home

The Lutzes went on to secure a book deal about their alleged experiences in the home. The Amityville Horror: A True Story has sold more than 6 million copies.

It has also been adapted into two films - one in 1979 starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder and then in 2005 starring Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George.

The property was built in 1927 at 112 Ocean Avenue, yet, over the years its address has changed to 108 Ocean Avenue to dissuade gawking tourists.

The house has also undergone renovations – with its "eye" windows replaced with square windows and a lighter facade.

The three-story waterfront home boasts five bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. It also has a basement.

The house was sold in 1987 for US$325,000 and sold again, a decade later, for US$310,000, available property records found.

It was put on the market in 2010 for US$1.1 million, before selling for US$950,000.

It was listed again in 2016 for US$850,000 and sold more than a year later for just over US$600,000.

The property returned to the headlines last year after DeFeo Jr died at the Albany Medical Center in New York in March 2021. He was 69.

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Amityville Horror House

The Amityville Horror house became known as the most haunted house in America. Actual footage from inside the house and never-before-seen interviews reveal startling, new secrets of this sinister case.

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Amityville Horror House (2021)

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Amityville horror house.

Directed by Tom Jennings

A horrific crime. A hellish evil. The story of the Amityville Horror house rocked the world. Real footage from within its blood-soaked walls and never-before-seen interviews reveal frightening new secrets about one of America's most enthralling haunts.

Jeff Belanger Anthony D. Call Ronald DeFeo Laura DiDio Jason Hawes Mary Pascarella Alberta Riley Rikki Rockett Jerry Solfvin Sandor Stern Eric Walter TIm Yancey

Director Director

Tom Jennings

Writer Writer

Kenneth Jones

Alternative Titles

Amityville-i horrorház, Amityville : la maison de l'horreur

Documentary

Releases by Date

04 jan 2021, releases by country.

84 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by DreamScape40 ★★★½

This house has always been interesting. Learned a few new details that I didn't know before. Overall, I liked it.

Review by B E R T ★★★½

Shock Docs at it again. These documentaries of theirs that I’ve seen cover the basics and put the subject into a concise format that’s easy to follow and understand, the the Ed & Lorraine Warren one is another I’ve seen which was quite good. This one about the Amityville case is pretty good, nothing majorly new besides a few “newly unearthed” interviews with the Lutz family, so if you’ve seen any of the other documentaries then this is very similar, but still worth a watch. Narrated by the great Anthony Call of ‘A Haunting’ fame.

Review by Grant McLanaghan 2

I typically have no time for these paranormal ‘documentaries’ but in the midst of moving home, I just wanted something lame-brained to watch. This one is very much what you’d expect: dramatic music and editing à gogo and a whole lot of flapdoodle. The two main modern-day paranormal ‘experts’ are shifty as all get out; if you believe them, you’ll believe anyone. The narration couches the retelling(s) of historic events as fact or as near as damn it. There’s little attempt at scrutinising the testimonies, although the brief interviews with a pal of George Lutz’s are very telling, as is the inclusion of an OG parapsychologist. The other main interviewee is the drummer in a rock bank. Not sure why…

Review by Bob McQueen ★★★½

I was very entertained by this.

Review by Saraí ★★★½

I'm crazy because I want the house...

Review by Richard L. Haas III ★★★★

Rating this relatively high because as it stands, it is probably the best and most comprehensive documentary on The Amityville Horror case. But that's not to say it's not without its faults. I think my biggest complaint might be that it doesn't offer much to disprove or challenge anything. It leaves out the theory that the DeFeo sister might have initiated the murders and doesn't explore the potential hoax concocted by the Lutz family very well (leaving out the key detail about their cat being referred to as "pig" for instance). Also, they leave out Laura DiDio's photograph with the child in the house, which I thought was a bit bizarre.

Additionally, I absolutely hate that Travel Channel feels they…

Review by paul

Enjoyed this was a good documentary about the amityville murders lots of good stories about what happened in the house after I always liked the movie and stuff around the story 😆

Review by Cody ★★½

Simply a retelling of the Lutz family, Amityville Horror House can be a great first introduction to the Lutz story, but for those who know it already, there’s nothing new to discover here.

Review by vanvan ★★★

documentário muito interessante, mas eles precisavam melhorar na apresentação da história, muitas vezes eles voltam, voltam e voltam pra contar a mesma coisa.

Review by VHSCreep ★★

Review by scott marvel ★★★

It was an interesting watch. I still have never watched the full original film but own it on blu-ray. I learned a whole bunch of stuff I never knew about the house including that Ed & Lorraine Warren have been there. Keep out of the boys room!

112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, NY.

Review by Michael_Elliott ★★★½

There have been countless documentaries done on the Amityville house and whether or not it was really haunted so do we actually need another one? Why not?

AMITYVILLE HORROR HOUSE premiered on Discovery+ and for the most part it's an entertaining look at the various issues that have happened inside the house. The documentary covers the DeFeo murders and then it moves into the Lutz family and the possessions that they experienced. Throughout the documentary we get new interviews with people familiar with the case as well as older and thought-lost interviews with the Lutz family as well as Ed and Lorraine Warren.

If you've seen any of the other documentaries then you're really not going to learn anything new…

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The ‘Amityville’ Horrors Keep Coming

The famed “Amityville Horror” film has spawned at least 45 sequels. A look at why the Amityville name has endured in the horror genre.

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By Erik Piepenburg

Erik Piepenburg writes about horror for The Times.

When it comes to large film franchises, a few titans emerge: Godzilla, James Bond, Spider-Man.

But there’s one movie with so many offspring, it’s giving those big boys a run for their money: “The Amityville Horror.”

There are at least 45 sequels to Stuart Rosenberg’s 1979 horror drama about a family under siege by supernatural forces inside their home in suburban Amityville, Long Island. That’s more than the “Star Wars,” “Fast and Furious” and “X-Men” franchises combined.

So many Amityville movies are being cranked out — at least four this year — that the horror magazine Fangoria added Best Amityville Film as a category in its annual awards last year.

“There’s a built-in marketplace for the Amityville franchise,” said the director Shawn C. Phillips, whose films include “Amityville Karen” and the new “Amityville Bigfoot” with Eric Roberts. “There are people out there that will literally watch every single Amityville film they make. It’s kind of gotten to the point where filmmakers are trying to top one another.”

To be fair, “sequel” and “franchise” are being used generously. Fewer than 10 films make up the legit “Amityville Horror” canon, and even that number is up for debate. Like the word “Paranormal,” “Amityville” has become more of a low-effort synecdoche for generic possessions of things (“Amityville Vibrator”), holidays ( “Amityville Christmas Vacation” ) or locations ( “Amityville in Space” ). The films are mostly comedic, have micro budgets and have little continuity with the original.

As for quality, they aren’t just eh, they’re mostly ugh , ranging from satisfyingly entertaining to soul-suckingly terrible. But they keep being made.

“A bunch are unwatchable, although some people may say that about my films,” said the director Thomas J. Churchill, whose Amityville trilogy is streaming on Starz . “My films are designed to help you forget two hours of life and be entertained.”

Mike Stone, a YouTube horror movie critic , reviewed 42 Amityville films before calling it quits. He said that in some die-hard corners of horror fandom, watching anything Amityville — there are probably 54, by his count — confers bragging rights.

“It requires commitment to seeing how much this is going to hurt,” he said — a kind of “cinematic masochism.”

Joe Lipsett, who is reviewing many of the new films for the horror website Bloody Disgusting, said that a big driver behind them is money.

“Being able to sell it and get a viewership even if it’s not super lucrative is probably enough so that people are going to pay attention to it, as opposed to some other schlocky title,” he said.

Unlike Hollywood franchises, Amityville — the word and setting — are free to use without litigious repercussions as long as the film doesn’t too closely mirror the original. A similar grab is happening with Winnie the Pooh, already the subject of two slasher films now that the copyright to A.A. Milne’s 1926 book “Winnie-the-Pooh” has expired .

The public domain is a gift for low-budget horror filmmakers who may never make a “Saw” film but who still want to toy with a recognizable horror brand, the better to attract eyeballs on catchall streaming platforms like Tubi.

“If you can’t afford an I.P., Amityville is a name you can get for free,” said Jacob Oller, the movies editor at Paste magazine who has written about the “Amityville” universe. “Slap anything on the end of it — just grab a theme out of the ether — and someone will stream it.”

“The Amityville Horror” was a box office hit and became a touchstone of modern house-possessed horror movies, inspiring the “Conjuring” and other franchises. (The original is streaming on Max .) It was based on a real tragedy from 1974, when Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his family — his parents, Ronald and Louise, and his four siblings, Dawn, Allison, Mark and John Matthew — at his family’s home on Ocean Avenue in Amityville, on Long Island’s South Shore.

DeFeo claimed he heard voices telling him to kill, but he eventually confessed to the murders, and was convicted in 1975 on six counts of second-degree murder. He died in 2021 while serving 25 years to life in prison.

A year after the murders, the Lutz family — George, Kathy and their three kids — moved into the house and claimed to experience sinister supernatural forces, fleeing less than a month later. Their ordeal — or hoax , to skeptics — inspired a 1977 best-selling book and the first film, which starred James Brolin and Margot Kidder.

According to a spokesperson for the United States Patent and Trademark Office, in 2002 the trademark “The Amityville Horror” was federally registered by George Lutz for a series of nonfiction books about the paranormal, but the registration was canceled in 2008. In 2023, the trademark “The Amityville Horror” was federally registered for a series of horror films and TV shows, as well as horror film production and distribution, by MGM, and remains active.

Since the first film, the Amityville house has been renovated and its address changed. It’s currently occupied and still attracts curious visitors, but its Street View image on Google Maps is blurred out . A spokesperson for Google Maps declined to provide details about why or who requested it, citing privacy concerns.

Not everyone is thrilled with the expanding Amityville galaxy. In response to an email saying this story was happening, and seeking comment, Dennis M. Siry, the Amityville mayor, wrote: “Please don’t.”

The film historian Bryan Thomas Norton is no fan of the new movies.

“Amityville is basically worth bupkis as far as credible horror movie currency goes,” said Norton, whose book “For God’s Sake, Get Out!,” about the canonical Amityville films, comes out this fall.

Paula M. Uruburu, a professor emeritus in literature and film at Hofstra University, grew up near the Amityville house, and as a teenager was friends with Dawn DeFeo. A fan of the original film, she hopes the seemingly unquenchable thirst for “Amityville” movies doesn’t overshadow the tragedy behind it.

“The real horror was the murder of the family and going to the funeral and seeing six coffins at the church,” she said.

Like it or not, she added, a lovely Long Island village may forever be an indelible shorthand.

“Amityville,” she said, “means horror.”

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Breaking news, ‘amityville horror’ home sells for $1.46 million.

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The iconic New Jersey house that served as a stand-in for the real haunted homestead in the 1979 film “ Amityville Horror ” has found a new owner, The Post has learned.

In September, the four-bedroom, five-bathroom Toms River property listed for $1.7 million, asking that any interested buyers submit their best bids by Oct. 24.

The home went into contract two days later and officially sold for $1.46 million on Jan. 24 — $240,000 less than the asking price.

Over the years, the riverfront home has seen several renovations since it was first built back in 1920.

Described as a home with “timeless appeal,” the custom kitchen features an eat-in area with a bar and a center island.

Additional features include a finished basement a wet bar, a movie theater, a den and recreation area, a laundry room, formal dining and a top-floor recreation room, the previous listing notes.

Occupying roughly 4,000 square feet, the home has also been repainted since the film was released.

It is unclear who the buyer is at this time.

The home last sold in 2013 for just $350,000.

Jeffrey M. Childers with Sotheby’s International Realty held the listing.

“The Amityville Horror” is based on the true crime story of Ronald “Butch” DeFeo Jr., who spread terror across Long Island — where the real home of the murder is — following the gruesome 1974 slaying of his family.

On Nov. 13, 1974, DeFeo — who was 23 at the time — shot and killed his parents, Ronald and Louise DeFeo, both 43, and his two brothers and two sisters, ranging in age from 9 to 18.

DeFeo Jr. died in prison in March 2021.

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The actual Long Island home at 108 Ocean Ave. — it was originally 112 Ocean Ave. but was changed to deter tourists — last sold in March 2017 for $605,000.

It was previously owned by George and Kathy Lutz, who moved in one year after the murders. But they ditched the property after only one month due to alleged paranormal activity, which inspired a 1977 book and the 1979 movie.

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