The Amityville Haunting
The Amityville haunting is probably one of the most famous ghost stories of all time. The question is, was it real or was it a hoax?
Currently, most people believe that it was a hoax, but was it? The story goes that during the 1970's the house had belonged to the Defoe family who were shot by the eldest son, Ronald Defoe.
This part of the ghost story is well documented so there is no doubt that this event occurred. Ronald Defoe declared that he heard voices which told him to do this but the judge ruled this out and Ronald Defoe was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences.
This is where the first question needs to be asked. Did Ronald Defoe hear voices and if so was it because of the supernatural, ghostly reasons and that the house was actually haunted or was it because of some logical explanation due to his own stability.
The fact that the judge did not believe his story does not really prove this one way or the other. The judge could be a sceptic, totally disgusted with the crime or alternatively Ronald Defoe did not hear voices and the judge had evidence to prove that the ghostly tales were a hoax.
This takes us to the second part of the story. After this event had taken place, the house was bought by George and Kathleen Lutz. George and Kathleen Lutz were not wealthy but the house was offered at a low price, enabling the Lutz family to purchase it.
George and Kathy Lutz moved in but had the house blessed by a Catholic Priest, Father Ralph J. Pecoraro. Jay Anson's book called the "Amityville Horror" referred to the priest as Father Mancuso. This was due to privacy but it is now known that the real priest was Father Ralph J Pecoraro.
During the blessing it was reported that the priest heard a ghostly or demonic voice telling him to "Get out". There was no one else in the room. At first nothing untoward happened but gradually the family reported strange behaviour. George Lutz would wake up every night at 3.15 in the morning. He would then go to check the boat house. Kathy would have vivid dreams about the murders and the feeling of being embraced by something which could not be seen.
Kathy also discovered a secret room in the basement known as the Red Room due to the red paint on the walls. The youngest daughter, Missie, had an imaginary friend called Jodie. They also reported green slime oozing from the walls of the hall and the keyhole in the attic door.
This is only a small sample of the events which were described in Jay Anson's book. One of the most horrifying events was when George Lutz saw Kathy transformed into an old woman. The final straw, occurred in mid January of 1976 and it was this event that finally drove the Lutz family out of the house. Both George and Kathy Lutz refused to talk about this event so our imaginations will have to do the rest.
Since the release of Jay Anson's book, nine films have been released.
The most famous of these is the original film, The Amityville Horror filmed in 1979. Subsequent families living in the Amityville house have reported no supernatural occurrences, which brings us back to the question of whether the story was a hoax or not.
I think there can be no doubt that some of the "paranormal" reports have been fabricated or highly exaggerated for the purpose of the book and films, but is there an element of truth? Subsequent families living in the house dislike the publicity that the Amityville House has generated and court cases have arisen from this.
One judge ruled against the Lutz's saying that the hauntings were a hoax, but was this fair? The family who sued the Lutz's probably new the reputation of the house before moving in. If they were not going to like the reputation, maybe they should not have bought the house in the first place.
Subsequent families have reported that the house is not haunted. That could possibly be true. Alternatively, subsequent families may not be as sensitive to hauntings as the Lutz's. On the other hand, could a whole family such as the Lutz family be sensitive to the hauntings.
It is possible that only one member of the family experienced the hauntings and the rest fabricated for the film and book. The house did in fact have a tragic history and is it possible for a house to have an event such as mass murders to be left unscathed? This is something that we may never know but they are questions which need to be asked.