If this belongs in another area please feel free to move it. And if there is already a topic on this subject please let me know.

Anyway, I saw this thread on another website and I thought I would start one here.

Does anyone here think that the story the Lutz's claimed was true or do you believe it to be a hoax? Please keep this discussion friendly. I just want to know your thoughts based on the claims of the Lutz's and other possible claims on the case. So what are your thoughts?

Well never actually looked into it. But I heard stories of houses like that. And paranormal activist went in these homes and felt evil presences. It could be demons or lost souls. I know one day I do want to visit a house like that. It would be pretty freaky if it was true.

I don't know much but here is my observations:

- 6 or so people were murdered there before Lutz lived there. This means that the story can be considered legit just because a murder took place. If it were a normal house with no murders chances are no one would believe it. This means that I could go to any house that had a murder and claim things and it would look legit but is it? Only the person there at that exact moment knows the answer.

- Lutz only lived there for 28 days yet other people have lived in there for years. In fact here is some pretty overwhelming proof of the houses normal state: "The various owners of the house since the Lutz family left in 1976 have reported no problems while living there. James Cromarty, who bought the house in 1977 and lived there with his wife Barbara for ten years, commented: "Nothing weird ever happened, except for people coming by because of the book and the movie." 10 years vs 28 days... very suspicious considering the high level of paranormal activity Lutz claimed happened over that short time frame.

- Lutz trademarked the name Amityville Horror which adds on to suspicion that the story is fabricated and is in it for money, fame or just to stir up propaganda.

- Did Lutz know about the murders before moving in? If so, what kind of family man would move their family to a house that had murders in it. If he knew about the murders then that adds onto the hoax list that it was preplanned.

- This might be Lutz's story but I think NO ONE should overshadow the real horror and that is that 6 people got murdered in there before Lutz was living there. He is trying to get famous off someone elses tragedy and that is another thing that makes it look like a hoax.

If people live there for 10 years and notice nothing odd and then out of the blue some paranormal investigator can walk right in and take photos of a demon boy that is a pretty big gap right there in terms of belief. If previous owners experience the same things as Lutz it would look more legit. So based on what I know so far, its all a hoax. The murders are real and someone (well I mean multiple people) want to create money off it by spinning the original story based on Ronald DeFeo, Jr. who is the one who murdered others in there.

Its similar to Ed Gein aka leatherface. Hollywood put a fantasy spin on him and made him a retard with a disfigured face, who wears masks out of human skin because of his disfigured face, migrated him to texas where he would then chase people with chainsaws. Sure paranormal stuff happens but you can tell when fantasy is put into it.

With AmityVille you got blood oozing from walls, pig-like creatures with red glowing eyes, demon boy with head blown off, flies all over the place in winter, crucifix upside down giving off a sour smell, his wife turned into a 90 year old woman, not to mention he would wake up at 3:15 every morning to have fun in boat house probably writing what he just dreamed about... its just a bit too much that is what really makes it look like a hoax.

I think there is evidence to suggest that the Lutz' were mostly lying, however I think there was a grain of truth to it. I definitely believe there was something supernatural going on in that house that was indescribably evil. I just think that the family colored it with things that are the iconic images that we know today. I do have the book, and it says in the back that there was a seance in which they felt a dark presence there.

I wasn't aware that Lutz trademarked the name 'Amityville Horror'. That makes his story lose all of it's merit.

If your family truly went through something as traumatic as he claims, then you wouldn't be worried about money.  You'd be worried about keeping your family safe and not bringing up the horrible nightmare again.

I believed it may have been possible before, but now that I know he trademarked the name, I don't believe it at all.

I say that it is fake just do to the Facts that Jig Saw put up. I mean that is really shady that you would trade mark it. That would be like Charlie Manson trademarking serial killer, something just is not right.

JigSaw : You bring up a LOT of good points. It does even make me suspicious to me too since you mention that all those years other owners lived there and never reported any activity. Also, like XxChaosxX said, why would you want to publicize something that was suppose to be so traumatic for your family. I know personally, I'd just want to move out and never talk about it again.

I've always felt that the "Based on a true story" tag line that a lot of movies get is more to increase the tension because it "might have happened like this" sort of idea.

Quite often it's people and events that are loosely associated but the actual story itself is more or less fiction based on speculation about what happened. Make for a better movie sometimes but I wouldn't put too much stock into any of it.

geeogree : I've been on a site based on the Amityville case. And a lot of things, and I mean evidence, points to George and Kathy Lutz saying that the book and movie exaggerated their story and a lot of the stuff in the book and movie didn't happen. The author of the book and writers of the movie exaggerated it for more of a thrill to the story. I am not 100% sure that they were driven out my evil forces. But I think something made them leave. I just don't know what it was.

It could have been for money, it could have been entities. I don't think we'll ever really know.

I would say that this happened definitely. I don't believe it was ghosts though. Demons can haunt people through many mediums. There was probably something like an Ouija Board or Tarot Cards or something like that in the house they didn't know about. If you notice a mover came and got everything. The people that lived after them didn't notice anything after the mover got everything out. So there was something in the house I'm sure that could channel demons. NOT GHOSTS!

marioisawesome : That is a good theory. It can explain why the activity stopped after they moved out.

jlh : There is really a lot of controversy on this case. I've done a lot of research on this subject, I've found that all the people that lived in the house after the Lutz's said they had no paranormal activity what so ever. I doubt we'll ever really know if it happened. I think the true Amityville horror were the DeFeo murders. I don't really go by the "movie", because Hollywood always dramatizes things way beyond what really happened.

Well at first I was thinking that it was hoax, but then I kind of starting thinking more into the story itself and not just the movies portrayal of the story but the actually story and it is very possible that the man behind the murders could have had some sort of psychological problems and studies have been shown in the past that certain psychological problems can simulate voices in your head telling you to do something that you know in reality is simply crazy, example murder a whole family. So I kind of think that maybe he had a mental problem that he just couldn't cope with but if he didn't I bet that is one hell of a house. lol