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The Amityville Hoax? Part 2: The Debate

© Brenda Gambrell

Now that Butch DeFoe rested safely behind bars, the citizens of the small community of Amityville attempted to return to "life as normal." Unfortunately, the town wasn't out of the spotlight for long. When the Lutz family moved into 112 Ocean Avenue, barely a year after the DeFoe murders, the house became one of the most famous "haunted" spots in history.

George and Kathy Lutz moved into the Amityville house on December 18, 1975, "and 28 days later they fled in terror" as Jay Anson, the author of the bestseller The Amityville Horror described. Their story, deemed as true by the book's publishers and the producers of the popular movie, consisted of ghost hauntings, demon possession, moving objects, oozing walls, and even the evil apparition of Butch DeFoe himself.

A parapsychologist by the name of Dr. Stephen Kaplan spent the last years of his life trying to expose their story as a hoax. He was actually the first paranormal researcher that George Lutz called in to investigate, but when he could not establish any paranormal activity in or around the house, Lutz decided not to use his “services.”

In Dr. Kaplan’s book The Amityville Conspiracy he claims that George and Kathy Lutz concocted the entire tale. Why? A lot of people made good money from their story: the author of the best-selling novel, the producers of the movie, the director, the actors, the lawyers…not to mention the Lutzes themselves.

Kaplan mentions several inconsistencies in George and Kathy Lutz’s story such as a complete exaggeration of the priest’s role. In The Amityville Horror a priest by the name of Father Mancuso is terrorized by a demon when he is trying to bless the home. He was stalked by the demon back to the rectory where he suffered boils, bleeding palms, and the overwhelming scent of excrement. In reality, a priest did in fact bless the home but a demon or spirit never harmed him.

Also, Kaplan explained that the supernatural occurrences the Lutzes described were too widespread. No home could hold enough demons and spirits to cause all the happenings they experienced. For example, George saw a vision of Butch’s head floating in the cellar (most living people don’t haunt homes), George and Kathy claim to have seen a hooded demon on their fireplace, the toilets backed up with black slime, and a pig with glowing red eyes floated outside their living room window.

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