The Amityville Horror

The Amityville Horror is a 1977 non-fiction horror novel written by Jay Anson.

This is a horrifying, yet very interesting and amazingly written book. It is about the real life haunting of the Lutz family who moved into a house that they said was cursed with an evil force. After 28 days, the family fled in terror with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

This book has tons of terrifying things that happen. George and Kathy see the face of a demon with it's head blown half off in the fireplace. Their daughter Missy develops an imaginary friend who turns out to be a demonic pig. George and Kathy see the pig's glowing red eyes in the window, and Kathy smashes the window with an object in the room. A ceramic lion faces George and Kathy with it's jaws wide open. George and Kathy try to bless the house, and they hear a chorus of voices telling them to stop. Many other terrifying things happen throughout the book.

Whether the story is true or not, this is an amazing horror novel, and I feel like tons of horror movies and horror games have taken inspiration from this book. If you love the horror genre in general, then you'll love this book. I recommend it to people that like these types of stories.

When I first grabbed an audiobook copy of The Amityville Horror, I was pretty excited about reading (listening to) it. I'm a huge horror junkie and I really loved the movie (2005) based on the book, even if some of the details were totally different. Of course I'd really enjoy the book, right? Well, this is one of the few times I can honestly say the movie was better.

I feel like I should preface the rest of this review with a kind of disclaimer. Yes, I know the book was presented as non-fiction when it was first released in 1977 and no, that doesn't bother me. I'm not a believer in ghosts and poltergeists and I'm very aware that this is, in fact, a work of fiction that is based on real events. This doesn't offend me as it seems to have some other reviewers. I'm totally okay with fiction "based on true events." Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project, I'm cool with it. That isn't why I didn't love The Amityville Horror.

This book just didn't work for me. The writing style (perhaps because it was marketed as non-fiction) was very dry and "factual." The things that should have been terrifying, like an invisible marching band or a moving lion statue, were not nearly as frightening as they could have been. What really disappoints me about this book is the missed potential. This story could have been the kind that would keep me up late at night with the lights on! Instead, I was able to listen to this while getting ready for bed and then go right to sleep. The only truly scary scenes in this book had to do with the pig. Because... um... humanoid pigs? Nope.

The characters were fine, no real issues there. I could definitely feel the slow creeping insanity that came over George and Kathy as the book went on. I only wish the rest of the book was written in such creepy detail as the development of the characters as they discovered more and more things going wrong in their house. That being said, these characters are dumb. A normal person would leave a house as soon as basically anything in this book started to happen. But I can't really blame the author of this book for that since this seems to be the theme in most haunted house books and films. Father Mancuso seemed to be the only one with any common sense.

I really wanted to love The Amityville Horror! I chose it as my first Horror Challenge read of the year for a reason. Unfortunately, it was a total let down. I would definitely point others away from this book. There are way better horror novels out there. But the movie is still near the top of my list!

Jay Anson was a working writer whose sole purpose was to entertain. Truth or validation of afore mentioned truth is nowhere to be found in this story because that is exactly what this book is, a scary story! No truth - only fiction. For first time readers please remember this and don't get sucked into this story being an ACTUAL account of what supposedly happened to the Lutz's. It is grossly exaggerated to sell more copies of the book and Anson didn't really care. He was just glad to have the money to buy more cashmere sweaters. The dream didn't last though, he died in 1980 from heart failure after an unsuccessful heart surgery to repair damage from a previous heart attack he suffered before the Lutz's had even moved into the Amityville house. Money was the motivation folks and to sell something as bold truth only to have it contradicted at every turn is dishonest. The true Amityville Horror is what happened to the DeFeo family in 1974 and its long term effect on the Amityville Village community as a result of the Lutz's haunted house claims. Anson is in large part to blame as he ignored his responsibility as a writer to state cold hard facts, because after all you are claiming your story to be true! This is dishonesty in the highest degree.

A great idea, terribly, terribly written. Clearly this is, well, largely embellished. Therefore, lots of room for creative writing. Anson is terrible. One simple but ruinous practice is how Anson uses exclamation marks all the time. And you thought the whole "555" thing in phone numbers in movies took you out of the moment?? Terrible. For me, it shows an inability to create suspense and execute a tidy finale to a situation - and, boy, can Anson NOT do those things! It was like a horror...for kids... Scary stuff, were you to see these events in the flesh, softened and dampened for a sensitive audience. I felt zero suspense through the whole book - and I can tell you, I felt it reading The Exorcist recently. After a while, I was able to predict the wasted scene descriptions. The green goo became a bad joke. Red eyes at the window - something that a good writer would have you tense and frightened over - was just pathetically described. There's no outcome to the red closet area; likewise, the top of a round well George finds. You're waiting for the pieces to be tied together. Nothing. And the ending? What a damp squib! Hopeless.

One of the best paranormal books I’ve ever read. I have read so many books on the subject, and this is definitely in my top 3. From beginning to end this story is creepy, believable, and unlike so many on the subject, this one is written very well. I read the book from my local library, yet still went out and bought it afterwards because it was so good, I just had to own it. And since I’ve owned it, I’ve read it 4 more times. If you like books on the paranormal, Hauntings, demons, etc, I couldn’t possibly recommend this more. Well worth the money.

Actually, two stars is pretty generous, but I give it that on account of the smarts of Harry the dog, who had the right idea about sleeping through the entire thing, for the most part.
I can't believe this was classified horror. I'm not a horror fan and was apprehensive myself about reading it but I soon realised I'd needn't have worried. It is soooo badly written I just hope he received enough royalties to go back to college and relearn HOW to write properly! The constant change from the Lutzes to Father Mancuso and back again within a few paragraphs were both annoying and frustrating. Not to mention sometimes confusing. I mean, there was no proper break between the changes in scenes that it felt like one minute George and Kathy are having breakfast to suddenly Father Mancuso waking with a fever and blisters on his hands. I mean, really. It was written as if the priest had been asleep in their kitchen, the changes were so sudden. And the copy I read, the editing was atrocious. He was Be or Lie; head was bead. It was awful. And horror? I don't think so. I found it all rather predictable, and that is saying something coming from someone who doesn't read horror. The whole book just had a "slapped together" feel about it. It is merely fiction masquerading as fact. I don't dispute the existence of a darker world and that unexplained hauntingly do occur, but the frequency with which these events took place was just ludicrous. How anyone can believe this to be true after reading this book is beyond me.
If you want to read a good ghost haunting, try "The Secret of Crickley Hall" by James Herbert. A fantastic read that far outweighs this poor excuse for both literature and non-fiction, in the poor attempt at true story.

(SPOILER ALERTS) I was immediately drawn to the book from the very first instance of a "paranormal " incident. At first, I liked the exclamation points that followed each uncanny moment, but then they grew redundant. Every unnatural occurrence although subtle was sufficiently spooky. The book was written in the point of view of George and his wife, the kids almost hardly mentioned. It would have been interesting to read into their responses as they experienced the "paranormal", but instead, the author resorted to the kids merely describing what happened to them to their parents. I felt the story of Father Mancuso grow boring quickly. Nothing all that spooky happened to him, and his on and off flu grew tiresome. Lastly, I simply could not understand why a family would stay as long as they did after everything they experienced. I couldn't help but notice the inconsistencies in regards to the character's behaviors. For instance, there were a lot of moments where Goerge would come to believe the house was truly haunted, but then on the very next sentence, he would resort to dismissing the events because he simply was not a person who believed
those kinds of things. Overall, the first half was definitely a page-turner, and I got through the second half only because I wanted to know how the story would end. I give it a four out of five for the writer's ability to construct creepy moments that were genuinely frightening.

In December 1975, George Lutz, his wife Kathy, and her three children from a previous marriage moved into a now-notorious house in Amityville on Long Island, NY. The previous year, the house had been the scene of a mass murder: Ronald DeFeo shot six members of his family to death as they lay in their beds. The Lutzes, impressed with the house and attracted by the low asking price, decided to buy.

Twenty-eight days later, the family fled the house and never returned, after a series of odd and frightening incidents laid out clearly and vividly in Anson's book.

Is it really a true story or is it a hoax? That seems to be the big question that surrounds this case to this day. There are questions that will never be satisfactorily answered, such as the priest in the case going on record (on a television show, no less) with regard to his part in the events, only to change his story later on. And the flurry of accusations and lawsuits that have surrounded this case have muddied the waters to the point that we shall never know the truth. Both the Lutzes and Anson are all dead now; no one is left to say one way or another if this story is true.

My opinion? Based on how the book reads, I believe that SOMETHING scared the Lutz family out of that house. Whether they polished up the details or not, no one buys and moves into a house only to flee into the night less than a month later unless something happened. And while neither George nor Kathy Lutz were what I would call stupid people (far from it), neither one of them seems to me to have had the necessary forethought and imagination to plan a hoax.

Whatever the truth is, the book is still a good read. You can take it as a true story, or you can view it as an EXORCIST-style horror novel. At the end of the day, it really does not matter. The book does what it sets out to do, and it does it well. And with no one today left alive willing to talk about the case, the best approach is to just enjoy the book and forget the controversy.

While this book is marketed as a true story, there are many doubts to it's authenticity. There are many that truly believe these events took place and others who claim the Lutzes manufactured the story of the Amityville house for monetary gain. When I started this story, I put it's truthfulness at the back of my mind and simply read the story as if it were pure fiction.

As a fiction work, I really enjoyed this book. The back story of the house is creepy enough with the DeFeo murders. Then you have this nice family that moves in and all kinds of craziness begins to happen in the house. You have everything you need for a good creepy haunted house story: history of murder, disembodied voices, music coming from nowhere, things moving, etc... This story is really compelling and it's very hard to put down.

On the nonfiction side, it's a little unbelievable. I can grasp the disembodied voices, things moving, etc., but I can't grasp the green slime coming from the walls or the levitation of Mr. and Mrs. Lutz. Whether any of it is true or not, I can't say. Which is why I would rather look at it from a fictional point-of-view.

If you are looking for a really creepy haunted house story, pick up a copy of The Amityville Horror. You won't be disappointed.

*Book Hollow

The Amityville Horror
By Jay Anson

December 18th, 1975 the Lutz family moves into their dream home, purchased at a steal because there had been a gruesome murder in the house. The Lutzes believe a house is just a house and are not afraid to move in, they will not stay more than a month. This is a true account of what happened to the Lutz family the terror that will forever change their lives.

Some of this story I don't quite believe, such as they thought it strange that the wife woke up in the middle of the night and the next day didn't remember doing it at all. Well, for me this is something I do all the time since I was a child and people will tell me all sorts of weird things I did or said while I look completely aware and conscious at the time I am still fast asleep, I must be possessed then according to this book. There were other little things that I could easily dismiss as over reactive imagination or any number of things but when it came to floating off the bed, they had me there. Even if these events aren't real or exaggerated it is a fun read with some truly spooky scenes.

I remember seeing this movie when it first came out--the original with James Brolin. I thought it was quite scary and, at that time, it was unknown how true or fictional most of it was. Either way, it made for good viewing and reading...the latter which I only recently undertook.

I need to see the movie again (the original) because I don't recall getting caught up with the "whys?" and "what fors?" as I did in the book. Undoubtedly the difference in age has quite a bit to do with that. Thirty-some-odd years ago, I just remember the movie showing all these horrific things happening to this family because the house was supposedly haunted. However, as I read, I found myself agonizing about how stupid the family was to stay in that house for 28 cataclysmic days. I mean who, in their right mind, is going to put up with more than a coupla days of extreme agitation, fear, and life threatening events?

That aside, this book is an easy read--easy to pick up and put down (the latter due, no doubt, to being older). It's fast paced--almost furiously so--as it cuts from the unspeakable horrors going on at the house to those being lived by the priest across town who tried to bless the house at the beginning. Would I recommend it to others? To many I would. It's a fun diversion for those who occasionally enjoy something supernatural. However, for the straight-laced, level-headed realists among us, probably not--it's a bit much.

Through the years, there have been many contradictions, debunkers, and questions about what really happened in 112 Ocean Avenue. All the doubt raised by skeptics and all the points made by the believers has done little to expose the truth of what really happened. The event is still a question, and that fact leaves the eerie possibility of the hauntings open.

Nevermind the fact that Mr. Lutz, himself, has been reported to saying that parts of the book were fabricated and sensationalized, and never mind the fact off the questionable state of this story, this book is STILL SCARY.

There is nothing subtle about this book. From page one, there is never a dull moment. From the beginning of the story, the reader is assaulted with relentless horror. Nearly every page includes frightening events. The book takes you on a roller-coaster ride till you find yourself worn out in the end, asking yourself: how much more of this can I take? I would compare this book to a fight with a prime Mike Tyson, or any heavy puncher. From the start, you're pelted with heavy punches. You may survive the onslaught for a while, but eventually you'll fall. In this case, eventually you'll scare.

Many parts of this book seem absurd and corny, but it's the simple possiblity that they took place, and it's the fact that many have reported hauntings similar to the ones stated in this book, that makes the events unsettling.

I consider myself a hardnosed horror fan: I've watched, read, and written countless horror stories. And I have to be honest, I found it difficult to continue reading this book towards the end of it. It's that frightening.

Give this book a try--though, you'd probably be better not reading it in your house-- and dive into the mystery of the Amityville Horror.

After years of hearing about this case I read the book and found the book to be very entertaining, engrossing, interesting,scary, and compleat fiction. The so called true story is about the Lutz family who moved in the house into Amityville after the house sat for a year on the market unsold. The real "Horror" of the case happend a year befor when Ronnie DeFeo slaughtered his family with a high powered rifle and was later arrested and sentenced to more the 150 years in jail. He said that voices told him to kill. The jury didn't agree and found him guilty. The Lutz's George and Kathy would run screaming form the house less than a month after they moved in. The are some really good scary moments in the book but at the the end of it all you can't help but wounder how so many were duped for so long. People will say to this day it was a true story. The Warrens, two New England Pharonormalist's have defended the case with a real fever and the "Battle" between the Warrens and Dr Stephen Kaplan can at times be more entertaining. There were some strange things about the story, like how Defeo killed his family while they slept but none of them wake up when the shots are fired. This however can be explained that he drugged his family, Defeo himself a drug addict, and they were out when the murder's happened. However no one else heard the shots in the house's around the home. Countless stories have been so called 'True Stories' but it is hard to prove the validity of the story, on the flip side it's just as hard to say it never happened. The Amityville Horror spawned a movie and countless book and movie sequels that only make the original look more foolish. The book is a good one as a spooky ghost story but as a work of true literiture it seems to lose you very early.
Now about the fight involving the Warrens and the late Dr. Stephen Kaplan it is well known to anyone who knows even the slightest about the case that the Warrens were very much involved with case and Kaplan was involved trying to dispute the claims of a real story. To find out more about both storys you can visit the Warrens web site or buy any of there books and they'll gladly tell you about the case or Kaplan wrote a book called the Amityville Conspricy that does a really good job. The fight had become nasty at time's and on the Warrens site there are some scathing, and false I might add, things said about Mr Kaplan that are refuted in a Letter To The Warrens that you can find on the web. The fighting aside the book, as well as the movie, are entertaining when taken for what they are.

I know this book has been around for decades, and was written at the request of the Lutz family who hired Mr. Anson to turn their story into a book. Most people by now have seen the movie(s) and are familiar with the fact that the Amityville horror story has been debunked.

But, I thought, what the heck? It's probably a good read since it inspired such a long series of movies and even a remake (what hasn't?). I have to say that I didn't particularly care for this book. It's not that the story wasn't there, or that it didn't have the potential to be scary. It was the writing style. I felt like I was reading an 300 page newspaper article. The author is SO withdrawn from the story that you just read event after event with no connection to the characters or their true mental state. I suppose that I had really high hopes from this book, it's rare to find a really good haunted house story. Unfortunately this is not one of them.

Jumping back and forth from watching the Lutz family and Father Mancuso you really get the idea that a reporter just sat and interviewed them then smashed it all together to make a book. By simply relating the events I believe that they were going for the "this is the truth, draw your own conclusions" but the problem is that now, 30-40 years later, we know it is all hogwash. Without the mystery of calling it a "true story" the writing style does not hold up as a fictional story.

I'm not going to tell you not to read it, because if you're like me you won't listen anyway. I'm just saying buy the book used or get it from the library because it certainly isn't something you will want to read over again.

TITLE: The Amityville Horror
AUTHOR: Jay Anson
GENRE: Horror/True Story
PAGES: 256
We all have a book that sticks with us, for better or worse, it sticks with us. One of those books for me is Jay Anson’s THE AMITYVILLE HORROR. There are reasons it stuck with me. 1) I was born and raised on Long Island. 2) I went to the house with friends of mine. We did not go inside, but I will say it was chilly at the house on the summer day we went there. 3) The book was excellent!
Growing up on Long Island, we heard the tales of the house. It could not be avoided. So, when I started to read the book, I thought I knew all I had to know. I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong.
George and Kathy Lutz bought the house at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, NY. For all intents and purposes, it is a beautiful house. The kind of house you want to bring a family into and get comfortable. But this house also has history. A family was murdered here (I do not remember if the Lutz’ were ever told about this) and it was built on an indian burial ground.
After moving into the house, weird things begin to happen. It starts with flies in the sewing room. Then a delivery man accidentally discovers the “red room” in the basement and has nightmares. The horrors keep mounting and one of the final freak outs is when the walls start to bleed.
This book is not to be read in a dimly lit room. The lights will go out around you and all you can focus on is the pages. And if your sister barges into your room to tell you dinner is ready, they will need a spatula to peel you off the ceiling.
This is the perfect Halloween read.

Full disclosure: I read The Amityville Horror because I love the supernatural, but I not because I believe in the supernatural. I don’t. Those of you who do believe, please spare me your attempts to change my mind.

The reason I read The Amityville Horror because it is a so-called classic. As iconic as it is, however, I found very little worth my time here. See, The Amityville Horror being considered by any metric a “classic” speaks more of its place in the history of America’s pop cultural fixation with the supernatural than of its believability as a piece of self-described nonfiction, its effectiveness as a piece of horror storytelling, or even if its quality as a piece of writing in general. In all three of those categories, it is almost a total failure.

First off, let’s get the “nonfiction” thing right out of the way. I did my damnedest to read The Amityville Horror as an entertaining piece of fiction and nothing more, figuring that would be the best way to enjoy it considering my own personal biases against the veracity of this supposed “true story.” The problem is, the book doesn’t really let you do that. It is so concerned with convincing you of its credibility that its insistence becomes distracting. Like a liar telling you to your face he’s not lying, honest, even after dropping an enormous, obvious whopper right in your lap, the only thing you can do is roll your eyes. I won’t go much deeper into the argument here, except that to say the research has already been done; The Amityville Horror has been so thoroughly debunked that to assert its truthfulness is to merely confess a stubborn disregard for logic and reason.

There. Now that we’ve taken care of that, the question remains: Is what we have left here, with all the pretense of factualness cast aside, actually worth reading? I vote no. Though I’m happy to have crossed another title off my to-read list, part of me regrets wasting my time with this one. Simply put, it was a slog. Though not a long book by any means, it took me more than a month to finish The Amityville Horror, simply because it was so boring. The pacing is glacial, the narrative uneventful. The writing style is woefully bland, and the characterization is paper-thin, a fact made all the more demoralizing when you remember that these are supposed to be based on real people (well, most of ‘em). It lacks emotion. It lacks suspense. The scare attempts are weak at best (some of the supernatural shenanigans the demons get up to here include leaving the toilets dirty and giving family members severe diarrhea; hmmm, maybe those two things are connected?).

I mean, I get that this is purporting to be “real” so we can’t go crazy and have Lovecraftian beasts whipping their tentacles through magic portals. I get that the whole con job at the heart of The Amityville Horror requires a degree of restraint and ambiguity. But diarrhea? Really?!? Spooooky!

I’m not going to give The Amityville Horror shit for being a paint-by-numbers rehash of your typical modern-day haunted house narrative, because The Amityville Horror is one of the progenitors of that narrative. Many of the things we now think of as cliché are only cliché because The Amityville Horror helped popularize them. But that doesn’t change the fact that the writing here is agonizingly dull. Seriously, it’s really, really, really bad. Like “written by a C-student in high school English class” bad. Its only successes are that it’s identifiably in English and that I can understand what’s happening from moment to moment. Sure, some writers have a sparse, spartan styles; it can be done effectively. This, however, is not so much sparse as it is utterly barren. It’s not because it’s “nonfiction.” It’s not because it’s “journalism.” It’s just bad.

Believe it or not, I don’t want to be saying these things. I don’t enjoy bashing this book at all. Despite my skepticism, I genuinely love reading about hauntings, urban legends, and true crime incidents. I went into The Amityville Horror wanting to enjoy myself and came away sorely disappointed. Defend its claims all you want, I won’t judge you for that. But the quality of the writing here (or lack thereof) is indefensible.

My advice? Watch the movie instead. Trust me, you’ll be a lot happier. And if you’re not, you’ll have wasted a lot less time.

I know this book has been around for decades, and was written at the request of the Lutz family who hired Mr. Anson to turn their story into a book. Most people by now have seen the movie(s) and are familiar with the fact that the Amityville horror story has been debunked.

But, I thought, what the heck? It's probably a good read since it inspired such a long series of movies and even a remake (what hasn't?). I have to say that I didn't particularly care for this book. It's not that the story wasn't there, or that it didn't have the potential to be scary. It was the writing style. I felt like I was reading an 300 page newspaper article. The author is SO withdrawn from the story that you just read event after event with no connection to the characters or their true mental state. I suppose that I had really high hopes from this book, it's rare to find a really good haunted house story. Unfortunately this is not one of them.

Jumping back and forth from watching the Lutz family and Father Mancuso you really get the idea that a reporter just sat and interviewed them then smashed it all together to make a book. By simply relating the events I believe that they were going for the "this is the truth, draw your own conclusions" but the problem is that now, 30-40 years later, we know it is all hogwash. Without the mystery of calling it a "true story" the writing style does not hold up as a fictional story.

I'm not going to tell you not to read it, because if you're like me you won't listen anyway. I'm just saying buy the book used or get it from the library because it certainly isn't something you will want to read over again.

"The Amityville Horror" recounts the events experienced by the Lutz family during the 28 days they live at 112 Ocean Avenue. A light read, each chapter is dedicated to a day (or, in some cases, a few days), centering on parents George and Kathy. The book tells a very different story than the movie, a story that is much more believable and much less sensationalized than the Hollywood version.

The writing style incorporated a lot of exclamation marks during suspenseful/dramatic bits, such as: "Staring at [George] through one of the panes were two fiery red eyes! No face, just the mean, little eyes of a pig!" They're both unnecessary and distracting from the story; they would be more appropriate in a book for a much younger audience.

(Warning: Spoilers in the next paragraph)

The ending wasn't much of an ending at all - the final chapter ends with the realization that whatever they experienced at 112 Ocean Avenue had followed them to Kathy's mother's house. Then, the epilogue jumps into the people George let into the house to investigate, such as the Warrens. The suspense and questions brought up by that final chapter's ending aren't answered. Do the kids experience anything at Grandma's house? Does Grandma experience anything before/after the Lutz family leaves? Where is the closure?

If you want to know more about what the Lutz family's experiences, this is a good companion for the movie. The story - regardless of whether it's true or a hoax - is creepy and interesting, but the writing style and ending detract from its impact.

Great urban legend ghost story from 1975. I have owned this book since a teenager back in the late 70's. I followed this story since the beginning and is interesting to see the different versions being played out in hollywood.

Not sure how to classify this one - non-fiction or fiction?
If this is non-fiction, he should have done better research and not just transcribed Lutzes' tales. Or been influenced by people like Warrens. Non-fiction REQUIRES thorough study of the subject. This one failed.
However, if this is fiction - and I have nothing against horror genre, LOVE Blatty's The Exorcist and Legion, as matter of fact, not to mention Drakula - it is written TOO POORLY. Could have made it into really horrific story, based of all the brouhaha around it. As it is - it is a boring piece of unidentified genre prose that does nothing for an educated reader. Not scary. Not suspenseful. Not mystifying (considering everybody knows all there's to know about that case).

The Amityville Horror is the unnerving tale of 28 days spent in a house either haunted or possessed by some sort of evil spirit. What makes the book even more disturbing is its subtitle - A True Story. Whether or not the tale is actually true or a simple hoax to generate attention and cash (not to mention aid in Ron DeFeo's temporary insanity plea - "The house made me do it!") is still in debate after nearly thirty years. All true/false quibbles aside it must be said that Jay Anson has crafted a fairly decent haunted house yarn...My only quibble is that Anson embraces sensationalism in relating the spooky events. Everything that is the slightest bit unnerving, or perceived as mysterious, is stated with an exclamation point (!) which is the literary equivalent of shouting. Presenting the events in a quieter narrative tone would have, in my opinion, made them more realistic sounding and less like someone trying to convince me it is. Nonetheless the tale is now a legend and the book worthwhile reading, despite all of its narrative shortcomings.

Before reading this book, I was aware already that the story was a hoax. Yet, the question that continued to plague me about this story is, "Why is this story a hoax, and who would contrive such a thing? And for what reason?" Growing up with this story in the background of my life, I was intrigued by its speculative nature as well as the thrill of letting the scare get the best of my emotions. Finally, upon reading it (along with being a little wiser than my youth), it became more and more apparent that the story was not as honest as I would have hoped. With the movie fresh in my mind, it was difficult not to make comparisons as well as use the movie as reference to better visualize the incidents. To do this became increasingly difficult because there are many scenes in the book that do not appear in the movie.
The climax of the book, the white shrouded person standing on the top of the stairs, typically doing nothing else except pointing, would have lost credibility in cinema format. There are other instances that seemed not only unbelievable, but far fetched. One such instance was the green slime. What is this about? Lastly, the reading level was that of a lesser Anne Rule book with 'Goosebumps' like tactics for scariness. Aside from my criticism, there were some genuine scary moments. Mostly the moments that seem trivial and unpresuming, to me, are the most frightening because those are the moments in which you truly question your sanity. To me that is scarier than an incorporeal being floating around the hell of it (pun intended).
Nonetheless, my intrigue got the best of me for the real story and so I looked up in the New York Times the incidents revolving around this. The Ronald DeFeo case was more the ravings of a drug addict who was out to score some cash. While it is true all 6 members of the family were killed lying on their stomachs with their arms above thier heads, they were not shot in the back of the head, but rather back and stomach area. Apparently he had drugged them during a dinner thus no one heard the shots from his high powered rifle. Finally, the Lutzes, along with writer Jay Anson and another partner contrived the story after the DeFeo incident and made him the culprit of a possession by spirit which "told" him to kill the family. So the motive seemed more like a sacrificial rite than a person after some money. Eventually George Lutz admitted to have made the story up, as was some of the testimony given by some parapsychologists who tested the grounds and came up with nothing of a psychic nature.
The book reads like a novel, and will take you little time or effort especially if you have seen the movie. Any "true" novel that has quote after quote and is able to point out minute details of ones daily life 4 years after the fact is questionable to me. I read this out of intrigue from my youth, as well as my interest in demonic possession, which is seemed the author is familiar at least with the classic nature of possession. Unfortunately no new revelation came from this story other than some excitement of fantasy. A fun book that you will surely enjoy if not taken seriously.

Around the time the "Amityville Horror" remake was out in theatres in 2005, I heard something on the radio talking about how the current owners of the Amityville house were bugged by people trying to see the house. That got me to thinking that I should read the "Amityville Horror" book since I remembered it as a famous title from the 1970s. At that point the book was out of print so I got a used paperback copy.
The book is a tremendous read. The one thing that sets it apart from similar horror books is that is IS based on real events. Even though the Lutz stories are certainly questionable at best, there really IS such a house on Ocean Avenue and the DeFeo murders DID happen. This lends a suspense to the books that you won't find in traditional novels.
I loved how two parallel stories are told at the same time: we hear about the Lutz's experiences with the house and then we hear about what was going on with the priest Father Mancuso.
I enjoyed the book so much I went and bought the hardcover version as well as about 8 sequels. But I can't imagine that any of the sequels, which I have yet to read, can live it to the gripping original.

"The Amityville Horror," one of the most intriguing and interested books I have read in a long while, has stayed to haunt me since I've read the book over a year ago. I still think of "Jodie" and those haunting "red eyes in the window." What made the book even scarier was fact that this was a supposed "true story." Also, the fact that so many elements of the story remain unexplained, even AFTER you read the epilouge. (What does the green goo have to do with ANYTHING?) I highly recommend visiting the house (112 Ocean Avenue) before they tear it down. (I live ten minutes away, so its easy for me.) But what I don't recommend is reading this book at night!

I love Amityville anything, but If you like Amityville Horror then you must read (Hell's Gate and The Terror At Bobby Mackey's Music World.) The same professionals who say Amityville was fake say that The Terror At Bobby Mackey's Music World is real. Even the police and clergy back up the story of the haunting, poltergeist attacks and possession that happened in Wilder Kentucky. This book has been the subject of most major TV shows such as Sightings, Encounters, Real Ghost, The Other Side, Geraldo, Sally Jessee Raphael and many more. And this book wil scare the heck right out of you. If I ever recommended a book it is Hell's Gate and The Terror At Bobby MAckey's Music World and you can buy it right here on the store.com. I love horror and ghost stories, especially when it is a true story....

I first watched the movie starring Margot Kidder, but the book was so much better. It's hard to believe that this incident on the Lutz family really happened! I still wonder if it's true or not, because this is what you'd picture in a horror movie based on Stephen King!!! I couldn't stop reading it chapter after chapter! There's two more books out that I've got. I've read the second one, which is alot weirder, and I haven't read the third one titled "The Final Chapter", but I'm definetely going to find out what the next step is for the Lutz family!!! Read this if you like real life ghost stories, you won't be disappointed!!!

My grandmother was living in Levitown, Long Island, at the time of the Amityville incident. She heard about some peculiar occurrence at that Amityville house even before Mr. Anson even began writing this book. People everywhere in that area knew something had happened. Whether or not this book is in fact a full account of what actually happened ("the truth") hardly matters. The Lutz family, one way or another, firmly believed that the incidents they described had actually happened - and *that* is all that matters.

All said and done, this book in itself is what it is: a book. Read it as you may want to perceive it, fiction or otherwise, it was written by someone who wasn't in that house but who was doing their best to show to the world what they thought had occurred. Fiction or not, it's a pretty da(r)n scary story.

Frankly, I find myself in a difficult spot reviewing this book. If I take Anson's words at face value, this is a carefully reconstructed, vivid recounting of a series of frightening and disturbing events at a suburban home in a small town. I can't and don't take it at face value, though. I don't, out-of-hand, rule out the possibility of ghosts or other supernatural influences. But I do discount claims made by those who A) profited from them immensely and B) later freely confessed to their falsehood.

Thus, I am left to consider this as a work of fiction . . . and if read in that sense, it's not very good. This book is largely composed of a series of inexplicable events--many frightening, some merely odd. There is no clear progression to these events. There is no explanation of why one event leads to another or what any of these manifestations are supposed to mean.

One child talks to an invisible pig named Jodie. This is supposed to be ominous, but the pig never apparently does any harm or even threaten. It just shows up sometimes looking kinda scary. The sound of a marching band parades through their living room at night . . . but no one ever says what this is supposed to indicate. Depending what song they're playing, it could actually be fun. They're warned by various "sensitive" people not to go into certain rooms, but those rooms have no apparent significance. The murders that made the house notorious in the first place were all through the house, not in one or two rooms.

The book ends with these frightening supernatural manifestations pursuing them when they finally flee to a family member's house . . . but then it just stops there. Either this is a badly incomplete account, or after following them to another house in another town, these malevolent spirits got bored and went back home.

All of this could easily be explained in a true account. Events in the real world do not have the clear progression and structure of well-crafted fiction. Even years afterward, we may not understand what really happened or why. I simply don't believe this is a true story, however, and don't see any particular reason to believe it in the face of contradictory evidence and a confession of falsehood from one of the key players, William Weber, Defeo's lawyer.

Thus, I must judge this as fiction, as a story created purely for entertainment, and as such, it's terrible. I'm glad I read this because it's so well-known, and it's good to familiarize oneself with such a significant part of contemporary culture, but I don't recommend it for either its truth value (slightly higher than zero) or its entertainment value (frustrating and unsatisfying).

If you want to read this, by the way, do not put more money in the pockets of fraudsters, borrow it from a library, or at most buy a used copy. I despise paying people to lie to me. And if I really wanted that, I'd hire a professional and go see a Michael Moore movie.

I'm sure when this book was first released almost thirty years ago the descriptions of events that supposedly went on in the infamous Long Island home shook people up, but these occurrences have by now been so often parodied by pop culture from SNL to The Simpsons that they seemed mildly funny to me. If this was a work of fiction (and I'm not prepared to say it's not) then it'd actually rate a little higher because although it does go over the top into "oh, puuuleeeeeeze!" moments, it'd work nicely as a simple scary tale, but as what passes for an account of real events...ha, I smirked a lot reading this book, and I don't mean on purpose. It's a decent spooky tale about demonic intrusions on to this innocent old mortal plane of ours and basis for several movies. It's worth reading once as long as you don't let it get to you. (As I said, I found it too over the top to take seriously.) I think the events that did or did not happen in Amity, New York in the 1970's are by now so firmly rooted into the collective folklore of contemporary America that the infamy of this book and its story aren't going to be going anyplace anytime soon.

In The Amityville Horror, Jay Anson describes the story of a family who moves into 112 Ocean Avenue in December of 1975. The Lutzes knew that Ronald DeFeo had murdered his entire family in the house a year before. However, this did not bother the family, that is until demonic incidences began to manifest in the house and to the family. After only 28 days in 112 Ocean Avenue the family fled in horror.

Anson writes his text for mature young adults or adults and asks the reader to consider that irrational concerns cause fear and evil, especially when something is unknown. When the Lutzes moved into the house they knew of what had happened there a year before, but this did not bother them until demonic and paranormal incidences began to occur. Ronnie DeFeo, the boy who killed his family which consisted of his mother, father, two sisters, and two brothers, represents evil. His greed for his parents wealth overcame him creating a monster who would do anything to get what he most desired. The evil of greed took DeFeo hostage, leading him to murder his family and lie about it afterwards. He was caught and tried for the murders and found guilty. “Months before the incident... I heard voices” (Anson 9) Ronald DeFeo claimed that the voices lead him to the murders, but he wanted the fortune bad enough that he was possessed by gluttony to drive himself to kill his family in the house. This evil caused the Lutzes to be trapped within the house with the poisons left behind from DeFeo. The unknown truths about DeFeo and other events that had occurred in the house presented fear into the Lutzes lifes. They knew about the murders in the house, but so many other occurrences had happened that they did not know about that made them more afraid of the house and what could happen. “I was positive he was standing right behind me, I think they call that clairvoyance” (124). Clairvoyance is the supposed faculty of perceiving things or events beyond normal sensory contact. When Mrs. Lutz thought she had felt something she experiences this, which made her unsure and had no idea what it was, this scared her and may have made these sensations more common because of fear and uncertainty. “Something was materializing in those flames, Kathy tried to open her mouth to say something” (134). Kathy thinks she saw a demon in the fire, but it was probably just her imagination. Not knowing what is there or what something actually is will allow your mind to think of any possible answer, even when it could be false. Therefore, when something is unknown false evidence appears real, like in the Lutzes situation when the unexplainable demon phenomenon becomes so existent to them. Anson asks the reader what fear really is and when it is more common to be present.

The true horror is the fact that six brutal murders are largely overshadowed by one of the most shameless, cynical, and outright ridiculous hoaxes perpetrated by profiteers for decades.

Now back in print thanks to another cinematic remake, Anson's book is a nice hack job of stringing together the stories of George Lutz, unlucky homeowner who experienced a cavalcade of nightmares after moving into his Long Island home in the mid-70s. The family lasted only 28 days before leaving, so he says.

What's really amazing is that this whole business has been thoroughly debunked for years by countless sources, including the Lutzes, who even changed their stories.

Even if you actually believe that a house can become possessed, or that a red-eyed pig can spy on your house, or that the strange odors eminating from your house could be paranormal symptoms and not symptoms of bowel movements or a backed-up septic tank, the material here becomes downright laughable. I will give Anson credit for trying to dramatize the whole thing and create a spooky ghost story--after all, he was a hired writer, and he did his job all too well.

But really, the facade collapsed a long time ago. But that won't stop Mr. Lutz, who helpfully hosts a website, including a 'Store' section where you can buy merchandise. And the fact that a family has lived comfortably in the same house for years and years with no reports of Satan trying to toss them out of his digs seems to be no issue for the obviously cursed and now-divorced George Lutz. Who said real estate wasn't an evil business?

This whole shameless 'Horror' isn't funny anymore, and remaking a shoddy film for the new generation is downright sad, cynical, and of course, unnecessary. Yes, it's a horror.

What a laughable book. Despite having been debunked before the 1970s even ENDED, people persist on saying this book is based on true events. Well, to a point it is. There was a mass murder in the house on Ocean Avenue in 1974, and a family by the name of Lutz did move into the house in December of 1975 and then leave after 28 days but that's about the extent of the truth. Had this book told of the strange "events" that the Lutz's allegedly encountered in an exciting manner, it would have been more enjoyable. As it is, what we're stuck with is a book that's surprisingly dull for long stretches and lacks the real punch that a ghost story could have; this failing also infected the sluggish 1979 film version. The dialogue is poorly written and the book still has typos from the original printing. Read it for the historical perspective but don't expect an especially great read.

George and Kathy Lutz fled from their home, leaving all of their worldly belongings behind and moving all the way across the country, 28 days after moving into their home in Amityville, NY. I am a firm believer in the supernatural, demons, haunted houses, etc., and I was very excited to read this book. Despite speculation of whether this story was authentic or not. I don't know the authenticity, nor do I care. No one can say what really happened in that house, but a family of 5 fleeing and leaving everything behind in a moment of panic does make me wonder. However, this review is not about whether the incidents in the Amityville house really happened or not, this review is about the quality of the writing in this book, which was terrible. I would have only given this book 1.5 stars, but I gave it another star because the story itself is a good one. The events that happened during the book were good, (whether fiction or nonfiction), but the writer could have done a better job writing children's books. No, scratch that, my five year old has books in her collection that are written better than this one. The paragraphs and sentences were choppy. The transitions were bad, and too many sentences ended with an exclamation mark. An exclamation mark is used to show excitement or get the reader excited about what's being written. In this book, it was just plain annoying. This could have been a really good novel, but it was written at a kindergarten level. Jay Ansen should not have been allowed to write anything--not even a letter. This book was full of horrible cliches, and not enough description. The events in the book were good, which is why my rating went up, but it could have been much better written by an actual author and not a person trying to cash in on a cheaply written novel about a supposed "true story". In short--I was very dissapointed.

So I finally read the Amityville Horror for the first time. I heard the story before on one of those tv shows about the paranormal, but I soon forgot about it. I never saw the movie but the image of the house with the "eye-like" windows stayed in my mind. Even though I heard that the story is a hoax, not a true story as it says on the cover (sorry to disappoint those who didn't know), I still found the book frightening and very interesting.

I love this book! Jay Anson writes about a haunted house on Long Island where the inhabitants are driven mad by the spirits that dwell within. Ronnie DeFeo brutally murders his family in the house a year before the Lutz's move in. The Lutz's don't even last a month in their new home even with the help of a local priest before they are driven out by the evil spirits living there. I personally love this book, I've read it 3 times now and get a more vivid picture of Josie (read the book and you'll know) every time. The kids in the family add a nice twist to the story as the youngest daughter can actually see one of the ghosts and communicate with it. I think the ending could be a little better, but I don't mind a disappointing ending when I was so thrilled with the rest of the book.
People said this book was too unbelievable, but how can anything with the supernatural be completely believable? You need to imagine a little bit! Once you get into this book you won't want to stop reading it because it moves so fast. You'll be wondering what will happen next and what will it finally take to get the Lutz's to move out of that haunted mansion.
I love to read mysteries and horror novels and this was by far one of the best ones I've ever read. This book is definitely one of my favorites of all time, even if it wasn't all that believable. ...I give it 5 out of 5 stars. If you want a good scare and a quick read, I completely recommend this book

This book terrified me and my friends in junior high in the late '70's. It scared everyone. (The movies were pretty awful though!) I read a few of the other books written about the DeFeo trial, 'The Amityville Horror Conspiracy,' and finally freelanced a 20-year 'whatever happened to...?' for the local daily paper for Halloween. I visited the house, did lots of research, appeared on the radio with all I'd dug up, and -- sorry to disappoint everyone -- but the thing was a hoax. I read the book again (20 years later), and while it's well written, there's an underlying theme about being in debt and having no cash... Time to make up a good story and go public with it! It's a good story, made great headlines, but it really is 'Just a story.' Sorry!

This book was intended by George Lutz (so he claims on his website) to be a final documentation of what he experienced, although he had no creative control over Jay Anson's work. I believe many of the things portrayed in this book could have occurred. Some are similar to things I have experienced myself. I also heard mysterious, unexplained music the first time I was left alone at home as a child, which grew weaker the closer I thought I was getting to it. I have sensed things a few times that others did not, strongly.

I think some of these strange things may have natural explanations. But many things in the book have a ring of truth to them, coming from the Biblical point of view of demonology. I do believe that all the alleged ghosts, apparitions and forces in the book were demonic rather than human in origin, if they did occur.

Pretty creepy book though the validity of the story is debatable. Super easy to read and hard to put down, I really enjoyed this book and finished in one evening at work. Written as absolutley factual, the story behind the story is pretty interesting and worth researching. Read it with an open mind, either way it's a good horror story!