New Revelations
After The Conjuring was released in 2013, the owner of the farmhouse for the past 26 years, Norma Sutcliffe (along with her husband, Jerry), said that her life became a nightmare. “We will never feel safe and secure again; we have forever lost our sense of peace and privacy,” she laments. She has had to endure ongoing harassment and the invasion of her privacy by trespassers at all hours of the day and night, who have turned her life into “a circus.” Mrs. Sutcliffe is a skeptic when it comes to ghostly spirits and haunted houses, and she places the blame on Hollywood for the intrusions by curiosity seekers. “Those responsible who created this movie caused this to happen to us and they do not care.”99
Sutcliffe decided to research the suicides, murders, and drownings that Andrea Perron said had taken place on the property. After a check of local historical records, she says that there is not a single shred of evidence to support these assertions, including the claims that Bathsheba Sherman had murdered a child as part of a satanic sacrifice. While Andrea says that she confirmed this with a local historian, Sutcliffe reports tracking down the historian mentioned in the book and says that Andrea fabricated the story. Sutcliffe has teamed up with retired journalist Kent Spottswood to investigate the claims made about the house, claims they say are false. Spottswood’s research shows that Bathsheba Sherman died of “paralysis” in 1885 (a code word of the time for what was most likely a stroke).100 In January 2014, Andrea Perron told a journalist for the Providence Journal, “I’m not in dispute with Mrs. Sutcliffe about Bathsheba. . . . That was the story line of a made-up movie . . . it was a movie designed to highlight the career of Ed and Lorraine Warren. It was their version of events turned into a Hollywood feature film.”101 Perron then suggested that the spirit haunting the farmhouse was that of a Mrs. John Arnold who was supposedly found hanging in what had been the Perron barn during the eighteenth century. Spottswood says that is impossible, because records show that Arnold had hanged herself in 1866, and not in what was once the Perron barn but in a house a mile away.102
Sutcliffe also says that during some stretches, she and her husband are unable to sleep well for days at a time due to outsiders disturbing the peace, observing that “we wake up at 2 in the morning . . . there are people with flashlights in our yard.” Other times they are pestered by those who have somehow obtained their unlisted phone number, who ask, “Is this ‘The Conjuring’ house?” The local Burrillville Police had to be called to the property to shoo away thrill-seekers.103 A very similar outcome would happen several years later in the wake of another reported haunting investigated by the Warrens. The location of the house was a village named Amityville. It would soon become a household name.
CHAPTER 5
The Amityville Horror: Haunting or Hoax?
’Tis strange—but true; for truth is always strange;
Stranger than fiction.
—Lord Byron1
It is arguably the most famous haunting in American history. Images of the eerie six-bedroom Dutch colonial house on the south shore of western Long Island are instantly recognizable to millions around the world. For many, the house at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York, epitomizes evil, and the terrifying events that were reported to have occurred there defy explanation. After all, the mysterious occurrences of December 1975 and January 1976 were not only affirmed by the family who lived there, but also by a priest, a police officer, and numerous visitors, including a television news crew. They all claimed they were attacked by demonic forces. It is difficult to believe that so many people could have been involved in an elaborate hoax or were victims of their imaginations. The two principal witnesses, George and Kathy Lutz, even passed lie detector tests.2 There would seem to be compelling evidence that something extraordinary and unexplainable happened at the Lutzes’ former home. Enough evidence has now come to light to be able to piece together an accurate picture of what transpired in this small seaside village thirty miles east of New York City. The episode has made such an indelible impression on popular culture that the word “Amityville” is synonymous with demonic forces and the paranormal. What Roswell is to UFOs, and Loch Ness is to lake monsters, Amityville is to hauntings. Adding to its mystique are claims that the book and the movie by the same name, The Amityville Horror, are based on a true story. Some may accept the reality of the Lutzes’ accounts based on this assertion alone, reasoning that publishers and filmmakers would not be allowed to make such statements unless they were true. Were the events in Amityville a genuine case of paranormal activity or something more mundane?
It was April 1977 when the story of a terrifying haunting in Amityville was thrust into the national media spotlight.3 During that month the popular women’s magazine Good Housekeeping published a summary of the ordeal, under the title “Our Dream House Was Haunted,” by Paul Hoffman.4 By September, Jay Anson’s The Amityville Horror: A True Story arrived in bookstores and quickly became an international bestseller. It would give rise to a major movie by the same name, earning $86 million at U.S. box offices since then: a huge success for a project that cost a mere $4.7 million to make.5 In the book, Anson chronicles the distressing ordeal reported by George and Kathy Lutz and their three children: Daniel, age nine, Christopher, age seven, and Melissa (“Missy”), age five. The family, along with their dog, Harry, moved into their new home shortly before Christmas on December 18, 1975. They had snapped up the house for the bargain price of $80,000. It even had a heated swimming pool, a large boathouse on the Amityville River, and an enclosed porch. It sounded too good to be true, but there was a catch: thirteen months earlier, it had been the scene of a gruesome mass murder involving six members of the same family, and it had stood unoccupied since. In the early hours of Wednesday, November 13, 1975, Ronald “Butch” DeFeo Jr. methodically shot his parents, two brothers, and two sisters as they lay in their beds. That night, Suffolk County medical examiner Dr. Howard Adelman arrived on the scene amid a swarm of police. He assumed that the victims had been drugged, as he observed that “all of the bodies were found face down with their arms extended.”6 Media outlets soon reported that the family had been slipped a sedative.7 However, extensive toxicology tests on their blood, urine, and major organs were negative, leading Adelman to describe their state at the time of the killings as “stone cold sober.” This led to public speculation that an “evil force” may have held them down while DeFeo went from room to room.8 The 23-year-old car mechanic would later claim that dark voices in the house told him to shoot. At his trial, his plea of innocent by reason of insanity was rejected. He was sentenced to six consecutive life terms.
Extraordinary Claims
The story told by the Lutzes is chilling. They say that a supernatural force left them so badly shaken that they abandoned the house after just 28 days, leaving behind all of their possessions except some clothing. The strange happenings were said to have begun with mysterious knocking, glimpses of shadowy figures, and George’s incessant feeling of being cold. Family members began to undergo personality changes, growing uncharacteristically ill-tempered. The Lutzes said that on their fourth night, they exploded in anger when the children accidentally cracked a windowpane. As punishment, they grabbed a strap and a wooden spoon and beat their children. This was followed by foul stenches and a massive fly swarm in the middle of winter.9
On December 22, a powerful, unseen force reportedly ripped open a 250-pound door, leaving it hanging from a single hinge. Before long, the reports of strange happenings grew wilder and more bizarre. During the family’s stay, this force was said to have thrown open windows, bending their locks; caused green slime to seep from a ceiling and keyhole; flip a crucifix upside down; and cause beds and dresser drawers to slide rapidly back and forth. Kathy claims to have been levitated two feet into the air one time. On another occasion she peered into a mirror, only to see herself as a wrinkled, toothless, ninety-year-old woman. They say a strange creature left cloven-hooved tracks in the snow, peered into the house at night w
ith penetrating red eyes, and appeared to the Lutzes’ five-year-old daughter, Missy, as an invisible friend whom she called Jodie: a sinister pig-like creature. George says he was once attacked in bed by an invisible entity with hooves: “heavy feet struck his legs and body.”10 The Lutzes also claim that a Catholic priest who was blessing their house heard a masculine voice order him to get out. Shortly after, he felt a slap on his face by an invisible force, and later he developed mysterious blisters on his hands.
The events in Amityville contain classic elements of a poltergeist: strange knocking, moving objects, cold spots, levitating people, mysterious lacerations and bruises from an unseen force, oozing liquid, and malfunctioning equipment, such as their telephone. These events are mostly confined to a specific site: 112 Ocean Avenue. But instead of a central figure around whom the events occur, we have three: George, Kathy, and Missy. The shadowy figures and demonic features are also uncharacteristic of poltergeists. Their story is a strange mixture of traditional haunting, poltergeist disturbance, and demonic possession, with elements suspiciously similar to those from The Exorcist, which had been released only two years earlier in December 1973.
Unraveling a Mystery
Nearly three weeks after fleeing their “dream home,” on February 14, 1976, the Lutzes appeared on the local TV news: Channel 5 Metro Media, where reporter Steve Bauman recounted the tragic history of the house, which he said seemed to be haunted. He claimed that in researching the site’s history, he found that tragedy had befallen almost everyone who had lived in the house—and in an earlier house on the site, which had since been torn down. Bauman told his viewers, “They talked of feeling the presence of some energy inside, some unnatural evil that grew stronger each day they remained.”11 Then came the surprising announcement: Ronald DeFeo’s lawyer, William Weber, said that he was investigating the possibility that a mysterious force inside the house may have influenced his client to murder his family. Weber’s strategy was clear: while it was a long shot at winning a new trial, it was true that DeFeo had claimed that voices in the house had instructed him to do the killing. DeFeo would later contend that while high on drugs, he became paranoid after overhearing family members plotting to kill him. A hooded figure then appeared, a female demon with black hands, who handed him the rifle that he used to shoot his family.12 Weber said he was commissioning studies to determine whether the influence was natural (such as “electrical currents” created by the unique structure of the house) or paranormal (resulting from “psychic” forces).13
On February 16, the Lutzes held a press conference with William Weber, reaffirming their account of the events at 112 Ocean Avenue but refusing to discuss the case further, claiming that journalists were distorting the story.14 A second factor appears to have been involved: as would later be disclosed, the Lutzes and Weber were intending to get rich off of a book deal about the “haunted house” and were reluctant to release too much information that could undermine sales. Not long after, two well-known psychic investigators entered the picture: Ed and Lorraine Warren. After being asked by representatives of a local TV station to visit the house and give her impressions as a clairvoyant, Lorraine entered the house on February 24, accompanied by her well-known, demon-hunting husband, Ed. Before long, Lorraine said she could feel an evil presence. Ed reported having been attacked by a sinister force while he was inspecting the cellar. “Suddenly I felt as though I were under a heavy waterfall, and the pressure was driving me down to the floor.” Ed said that he fought off the force by reciting prayers.15
On the night of March 6, 1976, and early into the next morning, a series of séances were held in the house at the behest of Channel 5 News, which had been given exclusive permission to visit the house with a team of reporters, accompanied by an entourage of psychics and parapsychologists.16 During the first séance, which began at 10:30, one of the mediums, Mrs. Albert Riley, went into a trance and gasped, “It’s upstairs in the bedroom!” She complained that the force was making her heart race. During the same séance, another medium, Mary Pascarella, suddenly fell ill and described seeing a large, threatening black shadow.17 Psychic researcher George Kekoris then became “violently ill” and left the table. Soon an observer from radio station WNEW-FM, Mike Linder, reported feeling cold and numb, while TV cameraman Steve Petropolis suffered heart palpitations, chest pains, and shortness of breath.18 Ed Warren also reported severe heart palpitations, which lasted for three weeks after the “attack” that night.19 The Warrens were convinced that the strange happenings were the work of Satan. Yet despite the excitement experienced by the psychics and some outside observers who became convinced there was a demonic presence, two TV journalists who were present were unimpressed. News anchor Marvin Scott and intern Laura DiDio reported nothing out of the ordinary except for several overly excited people.20 Scott later quipped, “The only voices I heard that night were of my crew wanting to know when we were going to eat the sandwiches we brought along.”21
Before Anson’s book appeared on store shelves, paranormal investigators Rick Moran and Peter Jordan obtained an advance copy and traveled to Amityville to check out the Lutzes’ claims. In searching early press reports, they noticed something odd. There was no mention of any damage to the house, such as a 250-pound wooden door being ripped off or locks bent. Moreover, the pair was intrigued by the incidents involving a Catholic priest. In the book, George Lutz summons a “Father Mancuso” to bless the house, and as the priest is doing so, a voice orders him to get out, followed by an invisible force that slaps his face. The priest soon feels unwell, and while he is driving home, the force appears to take possession of his car. Suddenly the hood flies up, smashing into the windshield, and the passenger-side door bursts open. Father Mancuso slams on the brakes and narrowly averts a disastrous accident. Moran and Jordan tracked down the real-life priest, Father Ralph Pecoraro, who denied that any of these events happened.22 Supporters of the Lutzes point out that this is blatantly untrue, for a 1979 episode of the popular TV show In Search Of presented an interview with a silhouetted man claiming to be the priest. He said that the book accurately portrays his experiences in the house. “I also started sprinkling Holy Water, and I heard a rather deep voice behind me saying, ‘Get out.’ It seemed so directed toward me, that I was really quite startled. I felt a slap at one point on the face. I felt somebody slap me, and there was nobody there.” Soon after, he says, mysterious blisters appeared on his hand.23
There is something odd about this story. Imagine you are a priest blessing a house. You are alone in a room, and suddenly a strange masculine voice forcefully orders you to leave, followed by an unseen force slapping your face. So what does he do? He leaves without telling a soul. It is not until 5:00 PM on Christmas Eve that he rings the Lutzes and tries to warn them about the evil force that he believes inhabits the house, but midway through the conversation, “an irritating static” drowns out their voices. Over the next three weeks, numerous attempts are made by both parties to phone each other, but each time, mysterious crackling and static prevents the priest from warning the Lutzes. It was not until several months after the Lutzes fled their home that the priest would finally tell them of the strange voice and slap in the face,24 yet Rockville Center is a mere 25-minute drive from the Lutzes’ house. He easily could have driven there or sent them a letter warning of the evil force that he had supposedly encountered. It is difficult to believe that he would withhold this information for so long. What happened while he was blessing the house forms the centerpiece of the book. It gives the story integrity (“If a priest said it happened, it must be true”) and introduces a religious component. Yet in the Good Housekeeping article, which appeared before the Anson book was released, there is no mention of this dramatic claim or that the priest even blessed the house. Instead, Paul Hoffman writes that George Lutz, in an effort to exorcise the evil spirits, went through every room while reciting the Lord’s Prayer and shouting, “Get out!”25 This is a remarkable coincidence as it is strikingly si
milar to the priest’s account—yet the priest is never mentioned in the article. In November 1977, reporters from Newsday, a respected newspaper serving western Long Island and New York City, contacted the Catholic Diocese of Rockville Center and were told that the event never happened.26 So, how do we account for this discrepancy? Is the Catholic Diocese trying to cover up the case? In 2004, Moran clarified what had happened: “Father Pecoraro, whom Peter Jordan interviewed several times and I once, never said he saw anything in the house . . . he felt it was a very dark, possibly evil place, feelings that seemed to be telling him to ‘get out’ immediately.” Moran said Pecoraro later recanted his claims and said “that he never went in the house at all . . . adding that when Kathy Lutz told him they were moving into the DeFeo house, he said they would say a mass for their happiness in their new home.”27
Jay Anson admits that he had taken “artistic license” in writing the story, and he told Moran that the injection of Father Pecoraro into the story “served only to stretch a short story into a full-length book.”28 In the late 1970s, the same priest was called upon to testify under oath in a U.S. district court in Brooklyn, New York, as to the authenticity of his story, as part of a lawsuit. The record of his testimony was sealed until May 2001, when Ron DeFeo’s wife, Geraldine, managed to get a judge to release it. Crime researcher Ric Osuna describes the outcome: “What was unsealed was the simple affirmation of the Catholic priest, who testified under oath that the events described in Jay Anson’s book never transpired.”29
On July 27, 1979, The Amityville Horror opened to packed movie theaters. At about the same time, DeFeo’s attorney, William Weber, unleashed a bombshell revelation to the Associated Press: the Lutzes’ story was a hoax. “We created this horror story over many bottles of wine that George Lutz was drinking,” he said. The goal was to create a story that “the public wanted to hear.”30 Weber was unhappy with the Lutzes because he claimed they had reneged on a deal to collaborate on a book about the strange events at the house. Weber said that he supplied details about the DeFeo murders to the Lutzes to help them craft a more believable story using what he called “creative imagination.” For instance, he says he told Kathy Lutz that DeFeo had shot his victims around 3:00 AM. “So Kathy said, ‘Well, that’s good. I can say I’m awakened by noises at that hour of the day and I could say I had dreams at that hour of the day about the DeFeo family.’”31
American Hauntings: The True Stories behind Hollywood's Scariest Movies—from The Exorcist to The Conjuring: The True Stories behind Hollywood’s Scariest Movies—from The Exorcist to The Conjuring Page 12