The ‘Amityville Horror’ Haunted House
Bettmann/Getty ImagesThe Amityville Horror shortly after the gruesome crime that made it infamous.
Like the house from The Conjuring, the house from the film The Amityville Horror is based on a real place. And this one has an even more violent backstory.
In the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 1974, a young man named Ronald DeFeo Jr. padded quietly along the halls of his family home. Armed with a rifle, he went methodically from room to room and murdered everyone inside.
Later, DeFeo gave conflicting reasons for killing his parents and four siblings. At one point, he claimed he’d heard voices. Later on, he shifted the blame, saying that his sister and mother had actually been involved in the murders.
Bettmann/Getty ImagesDeFeo killed his parents and four younger siblings after claiming he heard voices.
Regardless of why DeFeo killed his family, his murderous act left a stain on the house itself. The next owners, the Lutz family, said that they felt strange, cold drafts, smelled disgusting odors and heard odd noises.
They even called in a priest to bless the home. But as he started his ritual, an invisible hand slapped him and ordered him to “get out.”
Though George Lutz, the family patriarch, was later accused of embellishing the story, he has stuck stubbornly by it.
“I’m tired of being called a liar,” he said.
In 2013, Lutz’s son, Danny, came out with a documentary of his own to back up his family’s claim that the Amityville Horror house is haunted.
“It’s not easy to tell someone how you got thrown up a staircase,” Danny said. “It’s not easy telling somebody that your bed was bouncing off the ceiling.”
He added, “There was an element [there] of whatever you want to put on it. Evil demonic spirits or whatever the f— you want to call it. It exists, and that’s the hardest thing for me to deal with. Because I know it’s true.”
If George and Danny Lutz are to be believed, then the Amityville Horror house is undoubtedly one of the most haunted houses in America.
