In the early morning hours of November 13, 1974, Ronald "Butch" DeFeo Jr., 23, walked through his family's home at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island. He was carrying a .35 caliber Marlin rifle. He went room to room. He shot his father, Ronald DeFeo Sr., twice in the back. He shot his mother, Louise, twice. He shot his sisters, Dawn, 18, and Allison, 13. He shot his brothers, Marc, 12, and John, 9. All six were found face-down in their beds, as if they had been positioned after death. There were no signs of a struggle. No one in the quiet, upscale neighborhood heard the shots — though the rifle was not silenced. Ronald DeFeo Jr. initially claimed a mob hitman had killed his family. Then he confessed. He was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life. His motive remains murky — he claimed voices in the house told him to do it. The DeFeo murders were a tragedy. But they were not a supernatural event. That would come later. In December 1975, 13 months after the murders, a new family moved into 112 Ocean Avenue. George and Kathy Lutz, along with their three children, bought the house at a bargain price — $80,000 for a Dutch Colonial on the water. They knew about the murders. They blessed the house before moving in. They stayed 28 days. And when they fled — leaving behind all their possessions — they told a story that would become the most famous and controversial haunting in American history.
Summary: The Amityville Horror refers to the alleged haunting of 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York, experienced by the Lutz family over 28 days in December 1975–January 1976. The house had been the site of the DeFeo family murders in November 1974. George and Kathy Lutz reported phenomena including: disembodied voices, swarms of flies in winter, glowing red eyes, levitating objects, slime oozing from walls, and a demonic pig-like creature named "Jodie." The story was turned into a bestselling book by Jay Anson in 1977 and a hit film in 1979. Skeptics — including the lawyer who represented the Lutzes in a subsequent lawsuit — have claimed the haunting was a hoax, fabricated for financial gain. The Lutzes maintained their story until their deaths. The case remains one of the most debated paranormal claims of the 20th century.
🔪 The DeFeo Murders: The Horror Before the Horror
The DeFeo family murders are the indisputable, documented foundation of the Amityville case. Six people were shot to death in their beds. Ronald DeFeo Jr. — the sole survivor — was convicted of their murders. The case is closed. But the details remain disturbing. The victims were all found face-down, with their heads resting on their arms. The medical examiner determined they had been killed at approximately 3:15 AM. The rifle was found in DeFeo's car. He had gone to work that morning as if nothing had happened, and later called the police to report the "discovery" of the bodies. During his trial, DeFeo's lawyer attempted an insanity defense, claiming that DeFeo heard voices in the house — the voice of his father, the voice of a demon — that commanded him to kill. The defense failed. DeFeo was convicted. He died in prison in 2021. But his claim — that the house itself was evil — became the seed from which the Amityville Horror grew. When the Lutz family moved in a year later, they walked into a house already saturated with tragedy. What happened next — whatever it was — would make "Amityville" synonymous with terror.
👻 The 28 Days: What the Lutzes Claimed They Experienced
The Lutz family's account of their 28 days in the Amityville house reads like a catalog of paranormal phenomena. They reported: cold spots that would not warm, even with the heat on full blast. Swarms of flies that appeared in the middle of a freezing New York winter, clustering around the windows of the sewing room — the room where the DeFeo children had died. Disembodied voices — a marching band in the living room, a woman screaming in the night. Green slime oozing from the walls and the stairway. The front door ripping off its hinges. A crucifix that hung in the hallway turning upside-down. Kathy Lutz claimed to levitate above her bed. George Lutz claimed to see a demonic pig-like creature with glowing red eyes staring at him through the window — a creature the family called "Jodie," which the DeFeo children had supposedly kept as an imaginary friend. George also claimed to hear a phantom marching band. On the 28th night, the Lutzes fled. They left everything behind — their clothes, their furniture, their food in the refrigerator. They drove to Kathy's mother's house and called a priest. They never returned. The story, as told in Jay Anson's 1977 book "The Amityville Horror," became a publishing phenomenon. The book sold over 13 million copies. The 1979 film starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder became one of the highest-grossing independent films of all time. The Amityville Horror was now a cultural fact. But was it a factual event?
"What we experienced in that house was evil. Pure, unadulterated evil. I don't care if anyone believes me. I know what I saw. I know what I felt. And I will never go back."
🕵️ The Skeptics: Hoax, Hysteria, or Financial Scheme?
Almost from the moment "The Amityville Horror" was published, skeptics have challenged the Lutzes' story. The most prominent skeptic was William Weber, Ronald DeFeo Jr.'s defense attorney. Weber claimed that he and the Lutzes had concocted the haunting story together over bottles of wine, as a way to make money and to provide material for a new trial for DeFeo. The Lutzes denied this, and Weber's account has inconsistencies — he later said the story was entirely fabricated, but he also said that some of the phenomena might have been real. The physical evidence is problematic. The Lutzes claimed the front door was torn from its hinges — but a subsequent inspection found the door intact. They claimed slime oozed from the walls — but no residue was ever produced. They claimed a priest — Father Ralph Pecoraro — was driven from the house by a demonic voice, but Pecoraro's testimony was inconsistent and he later distanced himself from the case. No other family who lived in the house before or after the Lutzes ever reported paranormal activity. The Amityville Horror has been repeatedly debunked by paranormal investigators, journalists, and historians. And yet, the Lutzes never profited enormously from the story. They received a modest advance for the book and a small percentage of the film rights. They did not become rich. They did not become famous in a way that brought them happiness. George and Kathy Lutz divorced in the 1980s. Both went to their graves maintaining that the haunting was real. The mystery of Amityville is not just whether the house was haunted. It is why — if the story was a hoax — the Lutzes never backed down.
112 Ocean Avenue: The House That Horror Built
"The house at 112 Ocean Avenue is still standing. The Dutch Colonial has been renovated extensively. The famous quarter-moon windows — the 'evil eyes' of the house, as the film depicted them — have been replaced with square windows. The address has been changed to 108 Ocean Avenue to deter tourists. The house has been sold multiple times. No subsequent owner has reported anything unusual. The house is, by all accounts, a perfectly normal home. But the legend of Amityville has taken on a life of its own. There have been over 30 films bearing the Amityville name — sequels, prequels, reboots, and knockoffs. The Amityville Horror has become a franchise, a genre, a shorthand for 'house where evil lives.' The Lutzes are dead. DeFeo is dead. But the story — true, false, or somewhere in between — lives on. Every creak in an old house, every cold draft, every strange shadow in the corner of a room — these are the descendants of Amityville. The horror at 112 Ocean Avenue may have lasted only 28 days. But the echo of those 28 days will last forever."