28 days of terror in a house possessed by evil spiritsIn December 1975, the Lutz family moved into their dream home, the same home where Ronald DeFeo had murdered his parent, brothers and sisters just one year earlier.
The psychic phenomena that followed created the most terrifying experience the Lutz family had ever encountered, forcing them to flee the house in 28 days, convinced that it was possessed by evil spirits.
Their fantastic story, never before disclosed in full detail, makes for an unforgettable book with all the shocks and gripping suspense of The Exorcist, The Omen or Rosemary's Baby, but with one vital difference ... the story is true.
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On the evening of 13th of November 1974 Ronald DeFeo Jr. killed his parents and 4 siblings in their home in Amityville, Long Island, NY, claiming later, during trial, that voices in his head urged him to kill the family.
Little more then a year later Kathleen and George Lutz bought the house and moved in with their three children.
From day one strange things seem to occur: it always seems to be chilly in the house. The characters of the occupants seem to change, especially in George and the boys nature, who begin to fight each other. The little girl has an imaginary friend who's a pig named Jodie, disgusting smells, a crucifix hanging upside down, doors, windows and drawers opening and closing by themselves and apparitions. A hidden room which walls are painted red is found in the basement and the Lutzes claimed it smelled like blood.
There also is a connection to Father Frank Mancuso who blessed the house and instantly has bad feelings about the house. He later in the story seems to fall ill as soon as he tries to help the family.
After 28 days and the final "horrific" night the Lutzes abandon their home to flea to Kathy's mother and never returned to their estate.
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True or not, their have been a lot of voices stating their opinion of the story being a hoax but also a lot of voices, "acclaimed" mediums like f. e. the Warrens to be true.
The authors claimed everything has been told like George Lutz told him but but in interviews many years later he admitted that certain events portrayed in the books aren't factual.
In 2005 his than stepson, Christopher Quaratino, gave an interesting interview to the Seattle Times talking abut what really happened when he was 7 year old boy. He's pointing his finger to George Lutz being interested in the occult and having brought what happened to himself and the family. He also claims, a lot of what Lutz claimed isn't true. He's not denying paranormal occurrences but clearly sees his former stepfather as the instigator.
It is said that the family really left the house head over heels but what they left was little more then cheap stuff which lets room for the educated guess that there was a shortage of money. The Lutzes paid half of the house and myself as the mystery reader already sees a good solution to moneytrouble: Buy a house where someone has been killed in and make the best out of whatever you can do with it.
The family that bought the house later lived there for many years without supernatural occurrences and debunked a few of George Lutz's claims.
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The first few chapters I was about to give up on the book but then found myself eager to read on and compare the book to the different movies. True or not, I found the book very entertaining and also the included research I did about the house and ultimately about the DeFeo case.
Rating:
Mass Market Paperback: 269 pages
Publisher: Bantam Books (January 1, 1979)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0553131605
ISBN-13: 978-0553131604
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