The Amityville Horror House

On November 13, 1974, six members of the DeFeo family were shot dead in their home in the Long Island village of Amityville: Ronald DeFeo Sr. and Louise DeFeo, both 43, and their children Dawn, 18, Allison, 13, Marc, 12, and John, 9. The eldest son, 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo Jr., was arrested and confessed. At his trial in the autumn of 1975 his lawyer, William Weber, argued insanity, but on November 21, 1975, the jury convicted him of six counts of second-degree murder, and he was sentenced to six terms of 25 years to life. He gave shifting accounts of the crime over the years and died in prison custody in March 2021, aged 69. The house is a private family home, and this page gives only the village.

About a year after the killings, George and Kathy Lutz bought the house and moved in with Kathy’s three children around December 18, 1975. Twenty-eight days later, on January 14, 1976, they left, saying they had been driven out. Their account – told to the press in February 1976 and later in about 45 hours of tape-recorded interviews – described swarms of flies in winter, green slime oozing from walls, a hidden red room in the basement, a pig-like creature with glowing eyes named “Jodie,” cloven hoofprints in the snow, levitation, and a priest ordered by a voice to “get out.” Demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren investigated with a television crew in March 1976.

Jay Anson turned the tapes into The Amityville Horror, published in 1977 as “a true story.” It became a huge bestseller and the basis of the 1979 film, which spawned a long franchise. The claims, however, fell apart under scrutiny. William Weber, DeFeo’s lawyer, said he had discussed the story with the Lutzes and told People magazine in September 1979, “I know this book is a hoax.” Researchers found no snowfall on the date of the supposed hoofprints; the priest said in an affidavit that his contact with the family had been by phone; and in September 1979 federal judge Jack B. Weinstein dismissed the Lutzes’ claims against Weber and others. He is widely quoted as saying from the bench that the book appeared to be, to a large extent, a work of fiction relying on Weber’s suggestions, and the Skeptical Inquirer reports that during the trials the Lutzes admitted that virtually everything in it was fiction.

The family who bought the house in 1977, James and Barbara Cromarty, said nothing strange ever happened there apart from the crowds of sightseers the book and film brought. Later owners have said the same, and the house was remodelled and given a different street number to discourage visitors. One of Kathy Lutz’s sons, Christopher, has said his stepfather exaggerated events for money, while his brother Daniel has continued to describe the haunting as real. What is not in dispute is the crime: six people were murdered in their home, and they are best remembered as the family they were.

The Lutzes claimed flies, slime, foul smells, cold spots, a red room, a demonic pig called “Jodie,” levitation, voices, hoofprints in snow and damage to doors and windows. None of the physical damage was found by later owners, and key claims conflict with the record.

The claims centered on the Lutzes’ home in a residential street of Amityville – especially the basement, the sewing room and the boathouse. It is a private residence with no public access.

The Amityville Horror (1977 book, 1979 film, 2005 remake) launched one of horror’s longest franchises and made “Amityville” shorthand for a haunted house. It also shaped the careers of Ed and Lorraine Warren. Daniel Lutz’s claims feature in the 2012 documentary My Amityville Horror.