from http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/amityville.asp:
Claim: The Amityville Horror is based on a true story.
Status: False.
Origins: Some horrors just won't die, and The Amityville Horror is
a case in point. The tale of a reportedly demon-infested house in
Amityville, New York, became a best-selling novel in 1977 and a hit
horror film starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder in 1979.
Several inferior movie sequels followed in its wake (including a
3-D version), and 15 April 2005 saw the debut of a remake, this one
starring Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George.
Scary films are a dime a dozen, but what initially drew the
public's interest to the original version of The Amityville Horror
was the claim that it was based on real events. The producers of
the 2005 remake were also intrigued by the Amityville case not so
much due to the horror film's scary details, but because the tale
was allegedly true. "We were looking for truth in horror,"
co-producer Andrew Form told Fangoria magazine. "I grew up in Long
Island, so I was familiar with this when I was a kid. I remember
going by that house and how scary it was."
Co-star Melissa George was attracted to the role because, she said,
"If you're going to do a scary movie, you might as well do The
Amityville Horror, a true story, a famous book, a well-known moment
in American history." A famous book, yes. A moment in American
history, perhaps. But a true story? Not.
The history of The Amityville Horror, as with The Exorcist, began
with a best-selling novel. A book entitled The Amityville Horror: A
True Story, written by Jay Anson, was published in 1977 and quickly
scaled the sales charts. Anson was not a resident of the infamous
possessed house, but a professional writer hired to pen a book
based on supposedly "true events" that had taken place there
several years earlier.
The story behind the story began on 13 November 1974, when six
members of an Amityville, New York, family were killed. The
parents, Ronald and Louise DeFeo, were shot in bed while they
slept, along with their two sons and two daughters. The sole
remaining family member, Ronald Jr. ("Butch" ), was arrested for
the crime, convicted, and sentenced to prison. With the family dead
(and Butch in no position to inherit the place), the house went up
for sale. The horrific nature of the massacre unnerved the
otherwise quiet Long Island neighborhood, though no supernatural
activity was associated with the house at 112 Ocean Avenue.
The following year, a new family, the Lutzes, moved into the house.
George and Kathy Lutz, along with their three children, said that
shortly after they moved in, their six-bedroom abode became a Hell
house. It seemed that perhaps the demons that drove Butch to
slaughter his family were not in his head but in the house. An
unseen force ripped doors from hinges and slammed cabinets closed,
noxious green slime oozed from the ceilings, a biblical-scale swarm
of insects attacked the family, and a demonic face with glowing red
eyes peered into their house at night, leaving cloven-hoofed
footprints in the morning snow. A priest called upon to bless the
house was driven back with painful blisters on his hands, famously
told by a demonic voice to "Get out!" And so on.
A local television crew did a segment on the house, bringing in
several self-styled "ghost hunters" (including Ed and Lorraine
Warren) and other alleged psychics. All agreed that a demonic
spirit was in the house, and that an exorcism would be needed to
stop the activity. The Lutzes left the house and took their
terrifying tale with them, collaborating with Anson on the book The
Amityville Horror. And, as William Peter Blatty did when he
promoted The Exorcist, Anson vouched for the truthfulness of his
fantastic tale: "There is simply too much independent corroboration
of their narrative to support the speculation that [the Lutzes]
either imagined or fabricated these events."
Many people expressed doubts about the events in the house.
Researcher Rick Moran, for example, compiled a list of more than a
hundred factual errors and discrepancies between Anson's "true
story" and the truth. The 2005 remake promises to mine Anson's book
more deeply than did the previous screenplays, including background
about early Indians (whose vengeful spirits may lurk nearby) and
devil-worshipping early settlers of the area. Yet, Moran explains,
"Experts told me that the tribe mentioned was not from the
Amityville area at all (actually, they had inhabited the eastern
tip of Long Island, 70 miles away) and that the settlers mentioned
were never local residents either. Anson's tactic was clear when
strapped for good material for a book, pad it with quasi-factoids."
And Father Pecoraro, the priest who was driven from the house by
demons? According to Moran, who interviewed Pecoraro, "He said he
never saw anything in the house."
Joe Nickell, author of Entities: Angels, Spirits, Demons, and Other
Alien Beings (and who personally visited Amityville and interviewed
later owners of the notorious house), also found numerous holes in
the Amityville story. A few examples of these discrepancies:
The Lutzes could not have found the demonic hoofprint in the snow
when they said they did, because weather records showed there had
been no snowfall to leave prints in.
Though the book details extensive damage to the home's doors and
hardware, the original locks, doorknobs, and hinges were actually
untouched.
The book and film show police being called to the house, but,
Nickell writes, "During the 28-day 'siege' that drove [the Lutz
family] from the house, they never once called the police."
Over and over, both big claims and small details were refuted by
eyewitnesses, investigations, and forensic evidence. Still, the
Lutzes stuck to their story, reaping tens of thousands of dollars
from the book and film rights.
The truth behind The Amityville Horror was finally revealed when
Butch DeFeo's lawyer, William Weber, admitted that he, along with
the Lutzes, "created this horror story over many bottles of wine."
The house was never really haunted; the horrific experiences they
had claimed were simply made up. Jay Anson further embellished the
tale for his book, and by the time the film's screenwriters had
adapted it, any grains of truth that might have been there were
long gone. While the Lutzes profited handsomely from their story,
Weber had planned to use the haunting to gain a new trial for his
client. George Lutz reportedly still claims that the events are
mostly true, but has offered no evidence to back up his
claim.
The Lutzes account was likely influenced by another fictionalized
story, that of The Exorcist. In fact, it is not much of a stretch
to suggest that The Exorcist strongly influenced The Amityville
Story: Recall that The Exorcist came out in December 1973, and
demonic possession and hauntings were very much in the public's
mind when the Lutzes spun their stories of diabolic activity a year
or two later. The revelation that the story was based on a hoax has
led to embarrassment, especially among the handful of "paranormal
experts" who "verified" the fictional tale. The Lutzes must have
had a good laugh at the expense of the mystery-mongering ghost
hunters and self-proclaimed psychics who reported their terrifying
visions and verified the house's (non-existent) demonic
residents.
To this day, the fact that The Amityville Horror story was an
admitted hoax is still not widely known as we often say, the
truth never stands in the way of a good story. Though the story was
made up by the Lutzes and further sensationalized by Anson, there
were real victims of The Amityville Horror (the film, not the
demons). In addition to the murdered DeFeo family, the subsequent
occupants of the Amityville home have suffered a continual stream
of harassment by curiosity seekers, horror fans, and gawkers who
want to photograph and tour their infamous house. Then there are
the people who, fooled by the films' and book's tagline, think they
are partaking of works based on true events.
(This article © 2005 by Benjamin Radford)
