I first read the book, "Amityville Horror" when I was twelve or thirteen. It scared the bejesus out of me. I was always a somewhat timid kid, but this knocked me right over the edge. I wasn't comfortable being home by myself anymore(which I rarely was, maybe a couple hours once a week). I eyed our poor old toy collie suspiciously, looking for red eyes and porcine features. I inspected the walls for suspicious green slime, which would never have dared appear in my mother's pristine house, supernatural or not. Since we didn't have a boathouse, I'm pretty sure I developed my insane fear of the basement about this time. (I still don't like basements and was convinced Jame Gumb was living in ours as of quite recently.)
This book absolutely scared the hell out of me as a kid. Why? Because it was supposed to be true.
Thanks to Scott over at www.findadeath.com, I know now for sure that the whole Amityville Horror book was a total hoax by the Lutzes, the family who bought the house after the tragic murders of six of the seven DeFeo family members. Scott's site pointed me to a great website called www.amityvillemurders.com, which not only details murders that took place at 112 Ocean Avenue in 1974 but also details the criminal case of Ron DeFeo Jr, and debunks the whole myth of the "haunting."
Another one of my childhood dreams dashed.
Oh my LIVING BREATHING GOD!!!!! You don't know how you have just changed my life. I also read it when I was that age and ever since, if I ever wake up at 3:15am, I wait for the band to strike up in my living room.
Now if I can just get that Trilogy of Terror doll out of my head, I'll be all set...
Posted by: Stacy | October 20, 2004 at 10:29 AM
I was scared to wake up at 3:15 also! And to make matters worse, an episode of "In Search Of..." with this scary ass phantom guy and a 3:00 am appearance had me fearing the wee hours even more.
My imagination is just way too active...
Posted by: chriswriter | November 05, 2004 at 01:52 PM
Just a friendly note.
If you´re looking for facts in the AH/Defeo-case, www.amityvillemurders.com/
is not the place to go.
You can´t believe everything on the Internet.
Kind regards
Posted by: Anders | March 23, 2006 at 10:24 AM