Amityville Horror house goes on sale for £800,000/$1.15 Million

[Honey]

The house made famous in the 1979 film The Amityville Horror is up for sale in New York - ghosts not included.
The five-bedroom Dutch Colonial went on the market yesterday for $1.15 million (£800,000).
In 1974, six members of the DeFeo family were shot dead as they slept in the house. The eldest son, Ronald DeFeo, called police to report the slayings. He was convicted of the murders aged 23.
When he confessed, he told detectives: 'Once I started, I just couldn’t stop. It went so fast.'

Don't go to sleep: The house where, in 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr murdered six members of his family, a crime that inspired the film the Amityville Horror. It has gone on sale for £800,000

The people who bought the house after the Lutz family moved out changed the address from 112 Ocean Avenue to 108 Ocean Ave

George and Kathleen Lutz purchased the house after the murders, thinking it would be their dream home.
But the dream quickly turned to nightmare as a supernatural horror appeared to haunt the house. After just 28 terrifying days they fled for their lives.
According to Jay Anson's book the house at 112 Ocean Avenue remained empty for thirteen months after the DeFeo murders.
In December 1975, the Mr and Mrs Lutz bought the house for what was considered to be a bargain price of $80,000.
The six-bedroom house was built in Dutch Colonial style, and had a distinctive gambrel roof.
It also had a swimming pool and a boathouse, as it was located on a canal.
Immortalised: James Brolin and Margot Kidder portray the unfortunate Lutz couple who, after purchasing their 'dream house', fled in fear of their lives after just 28 days later

George and Kathy married in July 1975 and each had their own homes, but they wanted to start afresh with a new property.
Kathy had three children from a previous marriage, Daniel, nine, Christopher, seven, and Melissa (Missy), five.
During their first inspection of the house, the real estate broker told them about the DeFeo murders of the previous November, and asked if this changed their opinion about wanting to buy it.
Murder: Ronald DeFeo is led away in handcuffs. When he confessed to the killings, he said they had happened so fast that he 'just couldn't stop'

After discussing the matter, they decided that it was not an issue.
The Lutz family moved in on December 23, 1975. Much of the DeFeo family furniture was still in the house, since it had been included as part of the deal.
A friend of George Lutz learned about the history of the house, and insisted on having it blessed.
At the time, George was a non-practicing Methodist and had no experience of what this would entail.
Kathy was a non-practicing Catholic and explained the process. George knew a Catholic priest named Father Ray who agreed to carry out the house blessing.
Father Mancuso was a lawyer, a Judge of the Catholic Court and a psychotherapist who lived at the local Sacred Heart Rectory.
He arrived to perform the blessing while George and Kathy were unpacking their belongings on the afternoon of December 23, 1975, and went in to the building to carry out the rites.
When he flicked the first holy water and began to pray, he heard an audible, masculine voice demand that he 'get out'.
When leaving the house, Father Mancuso did not mention this incident to either George or Kathy.
On December 24, 1975, Father Mancuso telephoned George Lutz and advised him to stay out of the room where he had heard the mysterious voice.
This was a room on the second floor that Kathy planned to use as a sewing room, and had formerly been the bedroom of Marc and John Matthew DeFeo.
The telephone call was cut short by static, and following his visit to the house, Father Mancuso allegedly developed a high fever and blisters on his hands similar to stigmata.
How the house was advertised in 1975 before it was bought by Mr and Mrs Lutz

At first, George and Kathy Lutz experienced nothing unusual in the house. Talking about their experiences subsequently, they reported that it was as if they 'were each living in a different house.'
Some of the experiences of the Lutz family at the house have been described as follows:

• George would wake up around 3:15 every morning and would go out to check the boathouse. Later he would learn that this was the estimated time of the DeFeo killings.
• The house was plagued by swarms of flies despite the winter weather.
• Kathy had vivid nightmares about the murders and discovered the order in which they occurred, and the rooms where they took place. The Lutzes' children also began sleeping on their stomachs, in the same way that the dead bodies in the DeFeo murders had been found.
• Kathy would feel a sensation as if 'being embraced' in a loving manner, by an unseen force.
• Kathy discovered a small hidden room (around four feet by five feet) behind shelving in the basement. The walls were painted red and the room did not appear in the blueprints of the house. The room came to be known as 'The Red Room.' This room had a profound effect on their dog Harry, who refused to go near it and cowered as if sensing something negative.
• Jay Anson's book became an international best-seller
  
  There were cold spots and odors of perfume and excrement in areas of the house where no wind drafts or piping would explain the source.
• While tending to the fire, George and Kathy saw the image of a demon with half his head blown out. It was burned into the soot in the back of the fireplace.
• The Lutzes' daughter, Missy, developed an imaginary friend named 'Jodie,' a demonic pig-like creature with glowing red eyes.
• George would be woken up by the sound of the front door slamming. He would race downstairs to find the dog sleeping soundly at the front door. Nobody else heard the sound although it was loud enough to wake the house.
• George would hear what was described as a 'German marching band tuning up' or what sounded like a clock radio playing not quite on frequency. When he went downstairs the noise would cease.
• George realised that he bore a strong resemblance to Ronald DeFeo, Jr., and began drinking at The Witches' Brew, the bar where DeFeo was once a regular customer.
• While checking the boathouse one night, George saw a pair of red eyes looking at him from Missy's bedroom window. When he went upstairs to her room, there was nothing to be found. Later it was suggested that it could have been 'Jodie'.
• While in bed, Kathy received red welts on her chest caused by an unseen force and was levitated two feet off the bed.
• Locks, doors and windows in the house were damaged by an unseen force.
• Cloven hoofprints attributed to an enormous pig appeared in the snow outside the house on January 1, 1976.
• Green slime oozed from walls in the hall, and also from the keyhole of the playroom door in the attic.
• A 12-inch crucifix, hung in a cupboard by Kathy, revolved until it was upside down and gave off a sour smell.
• George tripped over a four-foot high china lion which was an ornament in the living room, and was left with bite marks on one of his ankles.
• George saw Kathy transform into an old woman of 90, 'the hair wild, a shocking white, the face a mass of wrinkles and ugly lines, and saliva dripping from the toothless mouth.'

Murder scene: Police cars outside the house in the wake of the slayings in 1974

The 1979 film of the book starred James Brolin and Margot Kidder.

The house became so infamous that the couple who purchased it in 1977, James and Barbara Cromarty, had the address changed from 112 Ocean Avenue to 108 Ocean Avenue in a bid to protect their privacy.
They lived in the house for a decade. 'Nothing weird ever happened, except for people coming by because of the book and the movie,' Mr Cromarty, now 77, told reporters.
The real estate listing claims the house has an 'interesting history'.
Neighbours say gawkers still turn up to see the house, mostly on Halloween.
Ronald DeFeo remains in jail serving 25 years to life for the murders.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1281233/Amityville-Horror-house-sale.html#ixzz0oz57MMsk

[MrsDark]

A real badass would take a Ouija board to that house....

field trip?

[Sylkyn]

Y'all do know that the Lutzes made the whole thing up, don't you? For money. His company was going in the crapper and they were dead broke.

I wish they had left the house's exterior the same. It is so ordinary looking now.

[LucreziaBorgia]

I like the original exterior as well.

I'm surprised people still believe that story.

[rockchick]

Y'all do know that the Lutzes made the whole thing up, don't you? For money. His company was going in the crapper and they were dead broke.

I wish they had left the house's exterior the same. It is so ordinary looking now.

Yes and every time I tell people that, they don't believe me. Jay anson was in on the hoax.

[Gen X EJC]

I dunno, I think the Lutzes have reached that 'believing in their own lies' phase. Perhaps they should go live in the Lohan house, I'd love to hear how that goes.

[ManxMouse]

Yep....even so, I wouldn't live in a house where I knew someone had been murdered, much less 6 people. Bad juju, man.

[heart_leigh]

Yep....even so, I wouldn't live in a house where I knew someone had been murdered, much less 6 people. Bad juju, man.

I'm with you.

The pic taken at night gives me the creeps.

[Tiny Pixie]

Agreed !

[HelpMeRhonda]

I love that movie and just watched it not too long ago- still makes me .
If I wake up in the middle of the night and the clock says 3:15, I still freak a little.

[fgg]

i didn't really know about this story so i'm glad you guys said that their claims are fake (not that i believed them). how disgusting that they tried to capitalize on the murders of that family.

[OrangeSlice]

I still think it's a beautiful house. Glad they changed the side windows too. Looked too much like creepy eyes before. Still, like Manx said, too much bad juju to even think about going near a place like that.

[Bellatheball]

It seems a damn shame there's a whole thread on this house and no half naked photos of Ryan Reynolds.

[atrayubrandy]

I'd totally live there but I love creepy stuff like that. I'm a horror movie freak.

[MrsDark]

It seems a damn shame there's a whole thread on this house and no half naked photos of Ryan Reynolds.

Yeah you're right.