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Genesee Ave. went live on Wednesday and boasts a retro-modern kitchen, a grand primary suite and multiple spaces to work from home (which we're sure Freddy Kreuger appreciated). For $3.5 million, you can roam the halls of the Los Angeles house where Freddie Krueger murdered his victims. Beginning in 2011, there was a resurgence of low-budget direct-to-video independent films based on or loosely inspired by the Amityville events. There are at least 45 sequels to Stuart Rosenberg’s 1979 horror drama about a family under siege by supernatural forces inside their home in suburban Amityville, Long Island. That’s more than the “Star Wars,” “Fast and Furious” and “X-Men” franchises combined.
Wake Up to This Day in History
What happened to George and Kathy Lutz? The true story about the couple who fled the Amityville Horror house - Daily Mail
What happened to George and Kathy Lutz? The true story about the couple who fled the Amityville Horror house.
Posted: Fri, 02 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Ultimately, the appeal of the Amityville house and its related New Jersey home seems largely rooted in the purportedly exaggerated book and its Hollywood adaptations. To this day, horror fans truly convinced by the hauntings still visit, hoping to catch a glimpse of a ghost. George Lutz was curious about paranormal activity and actively tried to summon spirits, but had a financial motivation to sell his story to the media due to the family's severe debt.
The Amityville murders
Situated sideways on a narrow plot in Amityville, New York, is a 1925 Dutch Colonial that’s arguably Long Island’s most notorious residence. While the movie remains a horror classic, it hardly depicts the real history of the house, which most likely was never haunted at all. DeFeo Jr. changed his alibi several times, from claiming he was at the bar during the time of the murders to mob hitman Louis Falini killing his family while forcing DeFeo Jr. to watch.
I live in an abandoned school — my family transformed the historic building into our dream home
He was ultimately sentenced to six sentences (for each victim) of 25 years to life. Bartholomew is convinced that the Lutzes abandoned the house because they couldn't keep up with the mortgage and tax payments and created the haunting story as an excuse and a lucrative side hustle. "They wanted to make some money off of it," says Bartholomew, who co-authored a 2016 article in Skeptic magazine marking the 40th anniversary of the "myth." "It's funny, almost nobody ever says to me, 'Hey that book of yours is a bunch of bull. I didn't believe a word of it.' Instead, they ask if I think what the Lutzes told me is true," said Anson. "And I answer them the same way I answered you when you asked the question. I tell them that I have no idea whether the book is true or not. But I'm sure that the Lutzes believe what they told me to be true."
Though it’s clear that DeFeo had many issues with his father, it baffled many that he would go after the rest of his family members — especially his youngest siblings. And considering the fact that DeFeo would change his story multiple times in prison, he shed very little light on the haunting mystery. The O’Neills purchased the home for $325,000 and swapped out the now-infamous eye windows for square ones. In June of 1997, after living there for 10 years, the O’Neills sold the house to Brian Wilson for $310,000.
Movies Based on True Stories
Weber, it turned out, was already shopping around the idea of a book about the DeFeo family murders called "Devil on My Back." Early on the morning of Nov. 13, 1974, a 23-year-old auto mechanic named Ronald DeFeo took a high-powered rifle and killed all six members of his family — two parents and four siblings — as they lay drugged in their beds. The cliche became so pervasive that people tend to ascribe it even to stories that don't contain that element.
The Real Story Behind the 'Amityville Horror House'
In an interview with Newsday the following year, the Cromartys revealed just how bad the situation had gotten, saying that because so many “visitors” came late at night, they were barely sleeping. The home’s horror house reputation even followed 14-year-old Joyce Cromarty to school, where classmates harassed her and asked repeatedly if she’d seen any ghosts since moving in. But the Cromartys said they hadn’t experienced anything paranormal there.
The Horrific True Story Of Ronald DeFeo Jr. And The Amityville Murders
The reality is, it wasn't the images on the TV screen, nor the voices from the walls of the Amityville house, that caused DeFeo to kill. Biography describes car salesman Ronald Sr. as a "domineering authority figure" who "engaged in hot-tempered fights with his wife and children," with Ronald Jr. (nicknamed "Butch") receiving the brunt of the abuse. Everything you thought you knew about the famous haunted house in New York is wrong. By December of 1978, the constant barrage of visitors proved to be too much for the family, who decided to move out and put the house on the market for $100,000. By the time The Amityville Horror starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder hit theaters in July of 1979, the Cromartys had yet to find any serious buyers.
Amityville Horror House – The Scene Of The 1974 DeFeo Murders
The jury didn't buy the "Devil made me do it" defense, and the judge sentenced DeFeo to six consecutive life sentences. "The Amityville myth persists in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary," says Bartholomew. "It's starkly obvious that it's a hoax, but people still want to believe."
Anson's book used 45 hours of the family's recorded interviews as a basis. And one of the three Lutz children, Christopher Quaratino, confirmed that the hauntings happened. However, he also said that the events were exaggerated by his stepfather, George Lutz. It was this claim, and the murders themselves, that spawned the notion that 112 Ocean Avenue itself was haunted — and that the DeFeo family as a whole were victims of the house. However, a look at DeFeo Jr.'s life provides an alternative reading of the events. Despite the widely-publicized 1974 killings, numerous families have since moved in and out of the house, now listed as 108 Ocean Avenue.
But while these burial grounds are recognized and preserved, others are the subject of contentious conflict to this day. The book wasn't just a bestseller; it also had the benefit of being "based on a true story," while having the cinematic narrative propulsion Anson added through his years of experience in the film industry. As Anson's eventual The Amityville Horror stresses, money was tight for the Lutz family. A wave of fellow Catholic-tinged, counterculture-combating horror films emerged in the wake of The Exorcist, like The Omen and The Sentinel. But perhaps the story most indebted to The Exorcist is that of the "Amityville Horror," which is why it's not surprising to discover that the author of The Amityville Horror had a connection to the making of The Exorcist.
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