Quicknation    The Amityville Horror

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The Amityville Horror was a best-selling 1977 novel by Jay Anson. The novel was the basis for the better-known 1979 film of the same name.

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Both book and film revolve around the Lutz family, who move into the Dutch Colonial home in the village of Amityville, on the south shore of Long Island, New York village. Thirteen months earlier the house on 112 Ocean Avenue was the scene of a brutal mass murder. The Lutz family, having lived in the house for only 28 days, fled their house with very few belongings, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomenon.

On November 13, 1974, Suffolk County Police responded to a 911 call to the residence of Ronald DeFeo Sr. on 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, Long Island, New York. It was here they bodies of six family members dead in their beds. The victims were: Ronald DeFeo Sr., 43, his wife Louise DeFeo, 42, their four children, Dawn, 18, Allison, 13, Marc, 11, and John Matthew 9. Their eldest son, Ronald DeFeo, Jr., a.k.a Butch, was put into protective custody, citing so-called family mob connections. However, later Butch admitted to the killings and was charged with six counts of second-degree murder.

DeFeo’s original claims were that the murders were mob-connected had changed to “hearing voices” and being handed the murder weapon, a .35 calibre Marlin hunting rifle, by a “pair of black hands”. DeFeo also claimed to have seen shadow figures moving about the house during the murders. He also claimed when killing his parents the weapon made no sound when firing it.

Lutz familiy, 112 Ocean in 1978, House in Toms River, New Jersey remodeled to look like 112 Ocean (was used for filming first three Amityville Horror movies), 112 Ocean as remodeled in the 1990s - note the replacement of quarter-moon window as well as the alteration of porch balustrade and the removal of latticework around porch columns." Lutz familiy, 112 Ocean in 1978, House in Toms River, New Jersey remodeled to look like 112 Ocean (was used for filming first three Amityville Horror movies), 112 Ocean as remodeled in the 1990s - note the replacement of quarter-moon window as well as the alteration of porch balustrade and the removal of latticework around porch columns.

The DeFeo murder trial commenced on October 14, 1975. On November 21, 1975, he was found guilty of on six counts of second-degree murder. On December 4, 1975, Judge Thomas Stark sentenced Ronald DeFeo Jr. to six consecutive 25 year to life sentences.

Two key elements that had even the experts baffled about the case were the following:

The victims were found lying face down in their beds. None of them appeared to have been disturbed. Autopsy results later found no traces of drugs to explain sedation of any kind. heard the gunshots. The murder weapon, a .35 calibre Marlin hunting rifle, makes a loud distinctive sound when being fired. Since no evidence of a silencer was found being used, experts were baffled by how none of the victims appeared to have been disturbed or woken by the sound.

The house on 112 Ocean Avenue remained empty for 13 months until on late 1975, when George and Kathleen Lutz purchased the 2 ½ storey house. George and Kathy were married in July and had their own houses, however they wanted to start a new life with a new home, for a new marriage. Kathy had three children from a previous marriage and a black Labrador named Harry. During their first inspection of the house the realtor told them about the DeFeo murders the previous November and if this changed their opinion on wanting to purchase the house. After family discussions, it was agreed that it was not an issue.

They moved in on December 18, 1975. When a friend of George’s learned of the house he insisted George have the house blessed. At the time George was a non-Catholic (at the time he was a non-practising Methodist) and had no experience with what a house blessing entailed. Kathy was a non-practising Catholic at the time and explained the process. George only knew of one Catholic priest, named Father Ray, who was also a close friend, who agreed to do the house blessing.

Being an ecclesiastical judge at the local Catholic establishment, Father Ray was not in the habit of doing house-blessings but since he and George were friends, he was doing it as a favour. Father Ray arrived to do the house blessing on the day the Lutz’s were moving in and as they busily unpacked outside he went in and performed the house blessing. Much later, after fleeing, George and Kathy learned from Father Ray that when blessing a particular room on the second-storey, which would be referred to as the “sewing room” (formerly Marc and John Matthew DeFeo’s bedroom), he discovered an unnatural coldness in this room, and heard an unearthly voice telling him to “Get Out!” Startled by this, Father Ray was subsequently slapped by an unseen force. When leaving the house, Father Ray did not mention this incident to either George or Kathy, more than likely because he did not wish to cause them unnecessary concern. Instead he told them he felt uncomfortable in that room and would prefer it if no spent too much time in that room. Because they planned to use the room as a “sewing room” nothing else was mentioned of it, until much later after George and Kathy had fled the house.

The sensations in the house experienced by the Lutz family did not happen at an accelerated pace instantly. Occurrences were subtle and escalated as time went by. The instances of paranormal activity were later described as being “in a three-ringed circus”. Each family member would experience different things as individuals which made such a profound psychological effect that it was difficult to explain them to even other family members that lived in the house, and it was like they “were each living in a different house”.

Some of the experiences in the house for the Lutz family are as follows:

George would wake up around 3.15am every morning and then would go out to check the boathouse. Later it would be learned that it was the estimated time of death with the DeFeo murders.Kathy would have vivid nightmares about the murders, and discovered which order the murders occurred and who was shot where. These details were later confirmed when they met with Ronald DeFeo’s defence attorney.Kathy discovered a small hidden crawl space behind shelving in the basement, the walls painted red. This did not show up on the blue prints of the house. The room was referred to as “the red room”. This room had a profound effect on their dog, Harry, who refused to go near it and cowered away as if sensing something negative there.There were cold spots and strange odours of scented perfume and excrement in certain areas of the house where there were no wind drafts or any piping whatsoever to explain a source.The Lutz’s youngest daughter, Missy, developed an imaginary friend named “Jody” who it was later discovered was not so imaginary and who it would be discovered could change form from a little boy to a demonic pig-like creature.George would be awoken by the sound of the front door slamming when there was no door slamming. He would race downstairs to see he dog sleeping soundly at the front door. NoGeorge would hear what was described as a “German marching band tuning up” or what also sounded like a clock radio playing not quite on frequency. When he got downstairs the noise would stop.While checking the boathouse one night, George saw a pair of “red eyes” looking at him from Missy’s bedroom window. When he raced upstairs and to her room there was no sign of this mysterious entity. Later it was theorized that it could have been “Jody”.

When it was apparent to the Lutz’s that something was wrong with their house that they could not explain rationally, it was suggested by a friend of George’s, who had had similar experiences in his house, that he and Kathy do a blessing of their own and open all the windows in the rooms and tell whatever was there to leave in the name of Jesus Christ. When taking his advice and walking around the house doing the Lord’s prayer each of the rooms, George and Kathy would hear a chorus of voices telling them to “Will you please stop!” After this, the experiences in the house escalated at a frightening rate.

By mid-January of 1976, and after another attempt at a house blessing by George and Kathy, they experienced what would be their final night in the house. To this day, events of this night have not been disclosed fully by any of the Lutz family, as they have described it as too frightening.

After getting in touch with Father Ray, he managed to convince George and Kathy to take some belongings and stay at Kathy’s mother’s house in Deer Park, for the time being until they sorted out what problems were in the house. On January 14, 1976, George and Kathy Lutz, with their three children and their dog, Harry, fled the house on 112 Ocean Avenue, leaving most of their possessions behind.

They would never return to the house as a family again.

The Amityville Horror - the official site for the Amityville case. Contains documents and interviews.