On Dec. 18, 1975, a young family of five moved into their new home. It was complete with a finished basement, swimming pool and a boathouse. Twenty-eight days later they fled in terror. In the final installment of this three-part true story author Jay Anson provides an informative and provocative interpretation of the Amityville Horror.
All the events in this book are known to be true. George Lee Lutz and Kathleen Lutz undertook the exhaustive and frequently painful task of reconstructing their 28 days in the house in Amityville on a tape recorder so the final diary would be as complete as possible.
Not only did George and Kathleen virtually agree on every event they both experienced, many of their impressions and reports later were substantiated by the testimony of independent witnesses such as Father Pecoraro. But perhaps the most telling evidence in support of their story is circumstantial – it takes more than imagination or a case of nerves to drive a normal, healthy family of five to the drastic stop of suddenly abandoning a desirable three-story house, without even pausing to take along their personal household belongings.
Before they moved into their new home, the Lutzes were far from being experts on the subject of psychic phenomena. As far as they can recall, the only books they’d read that might be even remotely considered occult were a few popular works on transcendental medication. But as I’ve since discovered almost every one of their claims bears a strong parallel to other reports of house hauntings, psychic invasions and the like that have been published over the years in a wide variety of sources.
The chilling cold that George and others noted is a syndrome repeatedly reported by visitors to haunting homes who sense what is known as “cold spot” or pervasive chill. (Occultists speculate that a disembodied entity may draw on thermal energy and body heat to gain the power it needs to become visible and move objects.)
Animals often are said to display discomfort and even fear in haunted surroundings. This certainly was true of Harry, the Lutz’s family dog, to say nothing of the human visitors who never had entered the house before.
The damage to doors, windows, the nauseating stench all are familiar elements to readers of the voluminous literature about poltergeists, or noisy ghosts whose behavior has been documented by professional investigators. The marching band, too, is characteristic of the poltergeist, which often is reported to create dramatically loud noises. (One victim reported the sound of “a grand piano falling downstairs,” but with no visible cause or damage.)
Most poltergeist manifestations are said to occur primarily in the presence of a child, usually a girl that is approaching puberty. Here, none of the Lutz children seems to have been old enough to serve as the trigger. Moreover, most poltergeist antics seem childishly malicious, rather than vicious or physically harmful. But on the other hand, as Father John Nicola points out in his “Demonical Possession and Exorcism,” poltergeists sometimes serve as the first manifestation of an evil entity ultimately bent on demonic possession. The inverted crucifix in Kathy’s closet, the powerful sulfuric stench are all signature trademarks of demonic infestation.
What, then, are we to make of the Lutzes’ account?
There simply is too much independent corroboration of their narrative to support the speculation that they either imagined or fabricated the events. But if the case unfolded as I have unfolded it, how are we to interpret it?
What follows is one interpretation, the analysis of an experienced researcher into the paranormal phenomena:
“The Lutz home seems to have harbored at least three separate entities. Francine, the medium, sensed at least two were ordinary “ghosts” that is, earthbound spirits who for whatever reasons – remain attached to a particular locale long after their physical death and usually want no more than to be left alone to enjoy the spot they’ve become accustomed to while on earth. The woman whose touch and perfume were perceived by Kathy (Francine cited ‘an old woman’) may have been the house’s original tenant, who only wanted to reassure the new young woman who found ‘her’ kitchen such an attractive, pleasant spot.
“Similarly, the little boy independently spoken of by Missy and by Kathy’s sister-in-law probably would also have been an earthbound spirit who, again according to mediums and spiritualists – may not have realized he was dead. Lonely and confused in the timeless world of the after-death, he naturally would have gravitated to Missy’s room, where he was surprised to find her bed occupied by Carey and Jimmy. But if he asked Carey for ‘help,’ it was evidently not he who was arranging for Missy to become his permanent playmate.
“Rather, the hooded figure and ‘Jodie the pig’ seem to represent a wholly different class of being. Orthodox demonologists believe fallen angels can manifest themselves as animals or as awe-inspiring human figures at will. Therefore, these two apparitions may have been one and the same. Although George saw the eyes of a pig and hoof prints in the snow, Jodie spoke with Missy and thus was no mere animal ghost. And the entity who dominated the hallway on that final morning simply may have taken a less frightening shape to converse telepathically with a little girl.
“It seems logical that this entity – together with the voices that ordered Father Pecoraro to depart and George and Kathy to stop their impromptu exorcism – may have been ‘invited in’ during the course of occult ceremonies performed in the basement or on the house’s original site. Once established, they naturally would resist any attempts to dislodge them, and with greater vigor than any ordinary ghost normally would display.
“George and Kathy’s inexplicable trances, mood changes, levitations, physical transformations can all be read as symptoms of incipient possession. Some who believe in reincarnation say that we pay for past errors by being reborn in a new body and experiencing the consequences of our actions. But an entity as resolutely malevolent as the one who tormented the Lutzes would have realized that a return to the flesh might entail retribution in the shape of physical deformity, illness, suffering and other ‘bad Karma.’ Thus, a particularly nasty spirit might avoid rebirth entirely, instead seizing the bodies of the living in order to experience food, sex, alcohol and other earthly pleasures.
Still, some unsettling questions remained. All of the victims were found shot face down in their bed, in separate rooms, suggesting they had all been killed in their sleep. How had DeFeo managed to shoot them all with a loud hunting rifle and not disturb anyone from their slumber in the process? Or had he shot them elsewhere and then staged the scene to make it look like they were all asleep in their beds? If so, why? The full story will likely never be known, because DeFeo kept changing details of events over the years depending on who he talked to. Whatever the whole truth is DeFeo took it to his grave. He passed away on March 12, 2021.
“Evidently George Lutz was not the ideally passive ‘horse’ for a discarnate rider; the threat to his wife and children galvanized him to fight back. But neither were his unseen adversaries more ordinary hauntings. Their unusual strength is suggested by their long-range attacks on Father Mancuso’s car. But why then have the Lutzes reported no further trouble after moving to California?
“Another old occult tradition/belief that spirits cannot extend their power across water – may have some significance here. During the preparation of this book, one of those primarily responsible for it reported feeling weak and nauseous upon sitting down to work on the manuscript – whenever he did so in his office in Long Island. But while doing the same task in Manhattan, across the East River, he experienced no ill effects at all.”
There is no hard scientific evidence that any strange events occurred at 112 Ocean Avenue after the period of time reported in this book, but this, too, makes sense: more than one parapsychologist has noted that occult manifestations, especially those with poltergeist overtones, very often end as suddenly as they began, never to reoccur.
The Amityville Horror still remains one of those dark mysteries that challenges our conventional accounting of what our world contains. A mystery we may never fully understand.
From The Post Historical Archives
Originally published on November 15, 1977
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