--------Amityville Revisited-----------

Several years ago I read a book called The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson. This was to supposed to be a true account of a demonic infestation in Amityville. I found the book to be chilling and a movie was made based on the book. Since then, it has been claimed that the whole story was a hoax. Ed and Lorraine Warren, modern day "ghost busters", and probably the only "demonologists" in the world, investigated the Amityville house. They concluded that there was, indeed, an infestation in this house.

While I was attending Cleveland State Community College, Ed and Lorraine came to the campus to give a lecture and I attended. My impression of them was they really believed in the stories they were telling and the stories themselves were entertaining tales of the supernatural. I was also a little skeptical. Lorraine is a self proclaimed clairvoyant while Ed had always been interested in this type of phenomena since he experienced them as a child.

The Warrens claim that the events George and Kathy Lutz claimed to have experienced really did happen and they have the evidence to prove it. However, you have to attend one of their lectures to see this evidence and none is given at their now defunct website which should make anyone skeptical of the validity of their claims.

The Amityville story begins with Ronald Defeo methodically walking through the house sometime around 3:00 a.m. and gunning down his mother, father, two brothers, and two sisters. This event occurred on November 13, 1974. Ronald Defeo was found guilty and sentenced to serve six consecutive 25 year-to-life sentences. He is still alive and in prison today.

Many claim that only a possessed man could kill his own family in cold blood but you read accounts of this type of behavior almost on a daily basis in the newspaper. The fact is that everyone is born into the family of Satan and that evil being is their spiritual father until they accept Christ. Satan has a legitimate claim on our flesh and that is why our bodies grow old, die, decay, and rot. Ronald Defeo was a self centered young man who was heavily into drugs and alcohol. His parents gave him everything he wanted but Ronald wasn't satisfied, he wanted more.

During Ronald's trial, he was diagnosed with antisocial personality. These types know the difference between right and wrong and are fully aware of what they are doing. They are motivated by an imperious and self-centered attitude. The love of money is the root of all evil but the love of money is rooted in self-centeredness. Mr Defeo had staged a hold up of his father's business because his father wasn't giving him enough money in his mind. A few days later a fist fight broke out between Ronald and his father. This fight was probably the catalyst that led Ronald to murdering his own family in cold blood.

Ronald only did what any one of us as a human being with a sin nature is capable of doing: allowing our own self-centeredness to rule so completely that we care nothing about or for the welfare of others. The next occupants of the house were George and Kathy Lutz. They stayed in the house only 10 days before moving out. They knew murders had occurred on the property but they didn't realize they had actually taken place inside the house until they were living in it.

Their reason for the move was because of "bad feelings" they had in the house. Jay Anson, who died about a year after Amity Horror - A True Story was published, authored the story based on recorded tapes that were supplied by George and Kathy Lutz. There is ample evidence that much of what was told on the tapes was fabricated. Even the Lutzes themselves have recanted much of their story. Again, the love of money and self-centeredness seems to be the motivation for the Lutz family.

Several books, mostly fiction, have been inspired by the "true story" of the Lutz family. There are 8 movies that have been released with the word "Amityville" in the title and only 2 of those movies were based on "true events". The Amityville Horror spawned several movie versions for the new generations of gullible citizens who love a good ghost story.

No family who has lived in the house after the Lutz family has experienced any kind of paranormal occurrence whatsoever. Which brings up the question: did anything at all happen to the Lutz family? My guess is that they may have experienced something that went bump in the night but the story became exaggerated and sensationalized. I myself have experienced ghostly footsteps and strange noises but no one would want to make a book or movie about it because it is not exciting to the public.

The house you see in book covers and in the movie is not the house you would see if you visited Amityville today. The owners grew weary of tourists and sightseers so they remodeled the house to blend in with the neighborhood. My advice: stay away from Amityville there are more interesting "ghost sites" in America.

Copyright 2004 by Gary Goodworth

*Note - Ed Warren, George and Kathy Lutz are now deceased. Kathy died in 2004 and Ed and George both died in 2006.