Guys,
I will never forget when the Amitiville Horror movie and book came out in 1979. It was a HUGE PR campaign and everyone wanted to get the latest on the mysterious house in the Long Island suburb.
I was skeptical of the case myself. It just seemed too bizarre to me to be real. (I evaluate any supernatural case based on individual incident.) The first thing that I noticed in checking up on the case was that the hardcover and softcover editions of the book did not have the same information contained within them. (Among other things, it has the priest driving a different car, depending on the version that you read.) Than there was another book called Amitiville Horror II and it talked about the Lutz's involvement with the media, visiting Amsterdam, going on TV shows insisting that what they saw and head in the house was real. However, in the sequel book, which the authors of both books insist are non-fiction, the names of the Lutz children, who were Danny, Chris, and Missy in the first book, are now Greg, Matt, and Amy (the same as the movie.) The sequel talks about how the spirits followed the Lutz's in their new home. The original book, written by the late Jay Ansen, said that the Lutz's did not experience any strange phenomenon in their new home because spirits can't extend their powers across water.
A team of professional poltergeist investigators, the Warrens, have insisted that they saw and felt strange behaviors in the house. However, a book by Dr. Steven Kaplan, titled, The Amitiville Hoax says that (among other things
1.) The Lutz's took whatever they had in savings and put it into that house. Being financially scrapped, they wanted to make some extra money. They knew about the Defeo murders when they bought the house so they decided to take advantage of the situation by writing a ghost story!
2.) Supposedly, Ronald Defeo had heard voices in the house, which prompted him to kill. Mr. Defeo's attorney was able to contact George Lutz and couldn't say much about the case because of the attorney client privilege. But, through this conversation, they could use the small amount of information that was known about Defeo's mental state to further developments for the book.
3.) The Catholic Church was never involved in the case. From what I remember a priest did "bless the house" but nothing happened to him while he was there. It was the only time a priest was in the house.
4.) Contrary to the AH books, much was made that George Lutz and Ronald Defeo look alike. There are no facial similarities at all between the two men.
5.) The movie and book talk about a time when a window closed on one of the children's hands. What really happened was that, one of the kids had cut himself on a piece of glass in the room where the window was. There is also no record of the kid being taken to the hospital as the movie and book suggests.
6.) The door "ripped off its hinges" was examined by several construction craftsmen. It was determined that the original frame was still intact and showed no evidence of being replaced.
7.) The "Red Room in the basement" according to interviews with the people who now live there does not exist.
8.) The mysterious 3:15 AM time that George kept waking up to according to the book and the movie was simply the time listed in the coroner's report at the time the Defeo family had been murdered.
9) The priest testified in federal court that none of the experiences happened to him. (I believe this was brought on in a suit against the Lutz's.)
10) The weather conditions and dates reported in the AH book, according to the National Weather Service for the days mentioned in the book, do not even come close to matching.
11.) The dates when the Lutz's arrive and leave the house are different depending on which version of AH you read. The descriptions in the sequel book describing how they left are totally different than the original book and movie.
12.) The real reason why the Lutz's left the house was nothing more than the furnace kept breaking down! That's it!
13.) The new owners have reported no signs of paranormal activity in the home.
14.) The mysterious "eyes" seen in the movie were from a neighbor's cat, contrary to the movie and book.
There are countless other inconsistencies. In fact close to a hundred of them. I believe that the Lutz's were little more than money-hungry scumbags who used the Defeo murders to cash in on their new found popularity. I wonder how much they did profit from the movie and book on their now "fictionalized" case?
Does anyone have any information as to where the Lutz's or family members live now or are doing now?
Jeff
I will never forget when the Amitiville Horror movie and book came out in 1979. It was a HUGE PR campaign and everyone wanted to get the latest on the mysterious house in the Long Island suburb.
I was skeptical of the case myself. It just seemed too bizarre to me to be real. (I evaluate any supernatural case based on individual incident.) The first thing that I noticed in checking up on the case was that the hardcover and softcover editions of the book did not have the same information contained within them. (Among other things, it has the priest driving a different car, depending on the version that you read.) Than there was another book called Amitiville Horror II and it talked about the Lutz's involvement with the media, visiting Amsterdam, going on TV shows insisting that what they saw and head in the house was real. However, in the sequel book, which the authors of both books insist are non-fiction, the names of the Lutz children, who were Danny, Chris, and Missy in the first book, are now Greg, Matt, and Amy (the same as the movie.) The sequel talks about how the spirits followed the Lutz's in their new home. The original book, written by the late Jay Ansen, said that the Lutz's did not experience any strange phenomenon in their new home because spirits can't extend their powers across water.
A team of professional poltergeist investigators, the Warrens, have insisted that they saw and felt strange behaviors in the house. However, a book by Dr. Steven Kaplan, titled, The Amitiville Hoax says that (among other things
1.) The Lutz's took whatever they had in savings and put it into that house. Being financially scrapped, they wanted to make some extra money. They knew about the Defeo murders when they bought the house so they decided to take advantage of the situation by writing a ghost story!
2.) Supposedly, Ronald Defeo had heard voices in the house, which prompted him to kill. Mr. Defeo's attorney was able to contact George Lutz and couldn't say much about the case because of the attorney client privilege. But, through this conversation, they could use the small amount of information that was known about Defeo's mental state to further developments for the book.
3.) The Catholic Church was never involved in the case. From what I remember a priest did "bless the house" but nothing happened to him while he was there. It was the only time a priest was in the house.
4.) Contrary to the AH books, much was made that George Lutz and Ronald Defeo look alike. There are no facial similarities at all between the two men.
5.) The movie and book talk about a time when a window closed on one of the children's hands. What really happened was that, one of the kids had cut himself on a piece of glass in the room where the window was. There is also no record of the kid being taken to the hospital as the movie and book suggests.
6.) The door "ripped off its hinges" was examined by several construction craftsmen. It was determined that the original frame was still intact and showed no evidence of being replaced.
7.) The "Red Room in the basement" according to interviews with the people who now live there does not exist.
8.) The mysterious 3:15 AM time that George kept waking up to according to the book and the movie was simply the time listed in the coroner's report at the time the Defeo family had been murdered.
9) The priest testified in federal court that none of the experiences happened to him. (I believe this was brought on in a suit against the Lutz's.)
10) The weather conditions and dates reported in the AH book, according to the National Weather Service for the days mentioned in the book, do not even come close to matching.
11.) The dates when the Lutz's arrive and leave the house are different depending on which version of AH you read. The descriptions in the sequel book describing how they left are totally different than the original book and movie.
12.) The real reason why the Lutz's left the house was nothing more than the furnace kept breaking down! That's it!
13.) The new owners have reported no signs of paranormal activity in the home.
14.) The mysterious "eyes" seen in the movie were from a neighbor's cat, contrary to the movie and book.
There are countless other inconsistencies. In fact close to a hundred of them. I believe that the Lutz's were little more than money-hungry scumbags who used the Defeo murders to cash in on their new found popularity. I wonder how much they did profit from the movie and book on their now "fictionalized" case?
Does anyone have any information as to where the Lutz's or family members live now or are doing now?
Jeff
