Few haunted-house stories have embedded themselves into popular culture quite like The Amityville Horror. A brutal family murder, a seemingly ordinary house on Long Island, claims of terrifying paranormal activity, accusations of an elaborate hoax, demonology, bestselling books and a seemingly endless succession of horror films — Amityville has almost everything.
In Episode 2 of The Parish of Shadows, Brett and Kate head to 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, New York, to investigate the disturbing true crime that came first and the supernatural story that followed.
But after fifty years of arguments, investigations and sensational headlines, one question remains:
Was the Amityville Horror a genuine paranormal event — or one of the most successful supernatural stories ever sold?
Before the haunting came the murders
The real story of Amityville begins not with ghosts, demons or mysterious voices, but with murder.
On 13 November 1974, 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered six members of his family inside their home at 112 Ocean Avenue: his parents, Ronald Sr. and Louise, and his four siblings, Dawn, Allison, Marc and John Matthew.
All six victims were found shot inside the house.
DeFeo was subsequently convicted of six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to six concurrent terms of 25 years to life.
The killings alone would have ensured that 112 Ocean Avenue became associated with one of Long Island’s most notorious crimes. What happened next, however, transformed the house into something much bigger.
The Lutz family moves into 112 Ocean Avenue
Just over a year after the murders, George and Kathy Lutz bought the property and moved in with Kathy’s three children.
They knew about the DeFeo murders.
The attractive waterfront property had reportedly been available at a considerably reduced price because of its history, and the Lutz family believed they could make it their home.
They lasted 28 days.
According to the story that subsequently became famous around the world, their dream home quickly became a nightmare.
The family described an extraordinary collection of disturbing experiences: unexplained cold spots, strange smells, doors and windows behaving inexplicably, swarms of flies, mysterious sounds, nightmares and alleged physical phenomena.
George reportedly began waking at around 3:15 a.m., a time later associated in the story with the DeFeo murders.
There were also claims involving a mysterious presence known as Jodie, apparently encountered by the Lutz family’s young daughter and sometimes described as having glowing red eyes.
And then there was the infamous green slime.
Taken together, the claims created one of the most extraordinary alleged hauntings of the twentieth century.
But how much of it can actually be verified?
The evidence for the Amityville haunting
In this episode, we separate the documented history of Amityville from the claims that developed around it.
Brett and Kate examine what the Lutz family said happened inside the house and ask an important question often overlooked in paranormal storytelling:
What independent evidence exists?
The family’s testimony is undeniably central to the case, but testimony isn’t the same thing as independently verified physical evidence.
We examine the reported supernatural phenomena, the involvement of paranormal investigators and demonologists, and the attempts to determine whether something genuinely unexplained occurred at Ocean Avenue.
And that means discussing two of paranormal history’s most famous — and controversial — figures: Ed and Lorraine Warren.
The Warrens’ involvement helped cement Amityville’s reputation as something far more sinister than a conventional haunting. For believers, their experiences at the property provided additional support for the idea that the Lutz family had encountered something genuinely malevolent.
For sceptics, however, their involvement raises an entirely different set of questions.
Demonology, possession and the occult
Was Amityville supposedly haunted by the victims of the DeFeo murders?
Was something already present in the house?
Could some malevolent force have influenced Ronald DeFeo Jr.?
Or did the supernatural narrative emerge only after an horrific but entirely human crime?
The distinction matters.
Over the decades, the Amityville story became increasingly intertwined with ideas of demonic infestation, possession and occult forces. Those elements helped transform a haunted-house story into something considerably darker — and considerably more marketable.
Episode 2 explores how demonology became part of the Amityville mythology and asks how much of the popular version of the story comes from the original witnesses and how much developed through books, interviews, paranormal investigations and later adaptations.
Was the Amityville Horror a hoax?
This is where the story becomes particularly fascinating.
Almost from the beginning, critics challenged the Lutz family’s account.
Inconsistencies emerged. Individual claims were disputed. People associated with the case offered conflicting versions of events. Investigators questioned whether some supposedly paranormal occurrences had mundane explanations.
And then came allegations that the entire haunting narrative had effectively been constructed over bottles of wine between the Lutzes and Ronald DeFeo Jr.’s defence attorney, William Weber.
The Lutzes strongly rejected the suggestion that they had fabricated their experiences.
So where does that leave us?
Rather than simply declaring the case either “real” or “fake”, The Parish of Shadows examines the uncomfortable territory in between.
Could the Lutzes have genuinely believed they were experiencing something frightening?
Could some incidents have been exaggerated while others were sincerely reported?
Could the psychological impact of living inside the scene of a horrific multiple murder have influenced how ordinary events were interpreted?
And once publishers, filmmakers, investigators and the media became involved, was there any realistic possibility of separating the original experience from the legend that followed?
How Amityville became a cultural phenomenon
Whatever happened inside 112 Ocean Avenue, one thing is beyond dispute:
Amityville became enormous.
Jay Anson’s 1977 book The Amityville Horror turned the Lutz family’s story into an international sensation. The hugely successful 1979 film adaptation pushed the story even further into popular culture.
From there came sequels, remakes, documentaries, books, television programmes and countless investigations.
The distinctive house with its quarter-round windows became one of the most recognisable “haunted houses” in the world.
Amityville also helped establish a formula that continues to influence paranormal entertainment today: a seemingly normal family moves into a house with a dark history, unexplained events escalate, supernatural investigators become involved and the family eventually flees.
But perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the Amityville phenomenon is the way a real tragedy became inseparable from a supernatural franchise.
Six people actually died at Ocean Avenue.
Behind the demons, films, books and ghost stories are the victims of the DeFeo murders.
That reality should never disappear beneath the mythology.
The Parish Verdict
So, what really happened in Amityville?
Did George and Kathy Lutz encounter something genuinely paranormal during those 28 days?
Were unusual experiences gradually exaggerated into a supernatural legend?
Was the entire story deliberately manufactured?
Or is the truth somewhere between those extremes?
In The Parish Verdict, Brett and Kate weigh up the strongest evidence on both sides, discuss what doesn’t add up and reveal where they personally stand on one of the most controversial paranormal cases ever recorded.
The murders were real.
The Lutz family really did leave the house.
Everything that supposedly happened between those two facts remains fiercely disputed.
And that may be precisely why, more than half a century later, The Amityville Horror refuses to die.
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