The Amityville Murders: Fact or Fiction
With the upcoming release of The Amityville Horrors, the story is fresh on everyone's minds. But is the story really true? Some experts don't believe the infamous house is haunted. The overall appearance of the house is creepy enough. How about you judge for yourself.
On November 13, 1974, Ronald "Butch" DeFeo Jr. murdered his entire family, his mother and father and four brothers and sisters. All were shot execution style. After he murdered them, Butch ran to a nearby tavern and claimed someone had shot his mother and father. Six men, including Butch's best friend Bobby, came to his aid and rushed over to the house. They searched the house and found the six dead bodies and called 9-1-1. Later on December 4, 1974 Butch DeFeo was sentenced to 25 years to life for the murders. Even though he was the only one convicted of the murders, many believed he wasn't the sole gunman. New evidence determined that theory was true. At one point in the trial, DeFeo actually claimed to hear voices in the Amityville house to win over an insanity defense, but that soon backfired on him.
After 13 months, the Lutz family moved into the DeFeo house. A priest blessed the house the same day they were moving in. As he was doing his ritual on the second floor, he claims he heard a distinct male voice telling him to "Get out!" The priest later told the family not to use that room, John and Marc DeFeo's, as a bedroom. They took his advice and turned it into a sewing room. Since the day they moved into the house, Kathy and George Lutz claimed a lot of strange incidents occurred during their 28 day stay. Things such as mysterious odors, attitude changes, black stains in toilets, being touched, constant chills, and many others. The situation got so worse that one night the Lutz family packed a few of their belongings and left.
Of course this story is from a book by Jay Anson. It is said that George Lutz and William Weber, DeFeo's defense attorney, concocted this hoax, which Weber confirmed later on in an article published in People's magazine. Lutz, on the other hand, still claims it is all true.
More Info on the Amityville Murders and Ric Osuna's book The Night the DeFeo's Died: http://www.amityvillemurders.com/
*Berry-Dee, Christopher & Morris, Steve (2005). A Reader's Submission - The DeFeo Murders, debated Retrieved April 7, 2005, from New Criminologist online edition: http://www.newcriminologist.co.uk/home.asp
*Taylor, Troy (2001). Amityville:Horror or Hoax? Retrived April 7, 2005, from Ghosts from the Prairie: http://www.prairieghosts.com/
On November 13, 1974, Ronald "Butch" DeFeo Jr. murdered his entire family, his mother and father and four brothers and sisters. All were shot execution style. After he murdered them, Butch ran to a nearby tavern and claimed someone had shot his mother and father. Six men, including Butch's best friend Bobby, came to his aid and rushed over to the house. They searched the house and found the six dead bodies and called 9-1-1. Later on December 4, 1974 Butch DeFeo was sentenced to 25 years to life for the murders. Even though he was the only one convicted of the murders, many believed he wasn't the sole gunman. New evidence determined that theory was true. At one point in the trial, DeFeo actually claimed to hear voices in the Amityville house to win over an insanity defense, but that soon backfired on him.
After 13 months, the Lutz family moved into the DeFeo house. A priest blessed the house the same day they were moving in. As he was doing his ritual on the second floor, he claims he heard a distinct male voice telling him to "Get out!" The priest later told the family not to use that room, John and Marc DeFeo's, as a bedroom. They took his advice and turned it into a sewing room. Since the day they moved into the house, Kathy and George Lutz claimed a lot of strange incidents occurred during their 28 day stay. Things such as mysterious odors, attitude changes, black stains in toilets, being touched, constant chills, and many others. The situation got so worse that one night the Lutz family packed a few of their belongings and left.
Of course this story is from a book by Jay Anson. It is said that George Lutz and William Weber, DeFeo's defense attorney, concocted this hoax, which Weber confirmed later on in an article published in People's magazine. Lutz, on the other hand, still claims it is all true.
More Info on the Amityville Murders and Ric Osuna's book The Night the DeFeo's Died: http://www.amityvillemurders.com/
*Berry-Dee, Christopher & Morris, Steve (2005). A Reader's Submission - The DeFeo Murders, debated Retrieved April 7, 2005, from New Criminologist online edition: http://www.newcriminologist.co.uk/home.asp
*Taylor, Troy (2001). Amityville:Horror or Hoax? Retrived April 7, 2005, from Ghosts from the Prairie: http://www.prairieghosts.com/
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