The Big Hoax of the Amityville Horror!

By TCC Team Memeber Dorraine Fisher

            The Amityville Horror, starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder back in 1979 was one of the most famous cult-classic horror movies of all time. It was based on the best selling book by Jay Anson, The Amityville Horror: A True Story that had been published in 1977.  And that was the main reason movie-watchers flocked to theaters in droves to see the film. It was said to have been based on a true story of a house haunted by demonic spirits in Amityville, New York after six people had been brutally murdered there.

            On November 13, 1974 Ronald and Louise DeFeo and their two sons and two daughters were shot to death in their beds in the house at 112 Ocean Ave. After their one surviving son, Ronald Jr. (Butch) DeFeo was arrested, convicted of the crime, and sent to prison, the house was put up for sale.

            In 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and their three children moved into the house. But not long afterward, they claimed some horrifying things took place there. Icky green slime oozed from the ceilings, an unidentified force ripped doors from their hinges and slammed cabinet doors, they were attacked by a swarm of insects,  and a demonic face with glowing red eyes looked into their windows at night and left cloven hoof prints in the fresh snow.

            In an attempt to stop the activity, it was said a priest was called in to bless the house only to find himself with painful blisters on his hands. He promptly left after being told by a demonic voice to “Get out!”

            A local TV crew reported the strange goings on in the house. Numerous ghost hunters and psychics were called in and all came to the conclusion the house was possessed by some kind of demons and that only an exorcism could solve the problem.

            The Lutzes promptly left the house and helped Anson with the details as he wrote his book.

  Many people doubted the story, though Anson and the group still presented it as truth. 

            But as time passed too many holes were found in the story and larger questions were raised. It seems with all the horrific activity that supposedly took place in the house during that time, the police were never called. And when a researcher Rick Moran checked into the story about the demon peering through the windows and leaving hoof prints in the snow, it seems there had been no snowfall reported at that time. He found this along with nearly a hundred other discrepancies and inconsistencies. Moran  also questioned Father Pecoraro, who had blessed the house, and he claimed he never saw anything unusual in the house.

            And in spite of all this, the Lutzes stuck to their story as they collected large sums of money from from their rights to the film and book.

            But it all finally unraveled when Butch Dafeo’s lawyer, William Weber, confessed that he and the Lutzes had created the tall tale together. Weber had made up the story in order to get a new trial for Dafeo while the Lutzes continued to reap the monetary benefits. But none of the reported events ever took place. George Lutz still maintains the story was mostly true but has never presented evidence to prove it.
The so-called paranormal experts and psychics who had validated the story ended up embarrassed and humiliated by their determinations.  And to this day, many people still don’t know it was all a big hoax. *******