Interview With Dana Killmeyer

Interview


The following Barfing Frog Press interview took place between Dana Killmeyer, author of Paradise, or the part that dies, and CB Smith. Read on and enjoy the warmth and brilliance of this colorful lady.
 




CB: The reader has gained instant awareness of you now with the publication of your novel, Paradise, or the part that dies. And with this newfound awareness the pressing question; who are you and why do you write?


Dana: To begin an answer with a question would be too out of character for me, so I'll spare you the rhetoric.  In short, if I were to say who I am today, surely I would contradict myself by morning.  I write because it is one of the few things that comforts me and challenges me and allows me an opportunity to comfort and challenge others.  I can confront the psyche or assuage the senses while remaining otherwise invisible.  Aside from the countless names in literary infamy that would indicate otherwise, writing affords the luxury of anonymity.  The glamour is the work more than the author, though, undoubtedly, they are inseparable. 


But, from a less philosophical stance, I like to dissect things.  I adore the grotesque - what most people turn their noses up at.  It's always fascinating to take something generally considered repulsive or absurd and make it the significant.  Like shit, for example. It is created by living beings by consuming (once) living beings and ultimately returns to the environment to nourish future living beings. Shit and food, like the author and her work, are inseparable.  We flaunt our food, but hide our shit. It embarrasses us.  I like to flaunt what embarrasses us.  So, I guess I write to humble myself.


CB: Classical rhetoric is a personal favorite of mine, despite the fact that its connotation today is used in a pejorative or dismissive sense. As it seems you have a taste for flaunting the embarrassing, does this perhaps extend into your social network where you flaunt the embarrassing purposely? Or is this particular philosophy limited to your writing.


Dana: My immediate response is no.  I don't necessarily go out of my way to encourage embarrassment or incite dialogue that strays from social etiquette, but, yes, sometimes it does happen.  Not quite a philosophy, it is more analogous to nail-biting or chain-smoking.  I am inherently drawn to subject matter that would usually be coined inappropriate. Whatever that means. Perhaps it is because it is so unlady-like that I like it so much.   But that isn't to say I like breaking the rules, or even bending them (when it comes to the Law I'm really a kiss-ass cowardess), but I do have a warped affinity for undermining perception.  The image of the beautiful heroine with a crass vocabulary and the brawn to take on a man twice her size is a personal favorite. 


Also the ability to affect change in others, surreptitiously, to rebuke their evangelical values and anesthetized sensibilities and communicate honestly motivates me creatively and, to a degree, socially. Discussing subject matter traditionally considered embarrassing (taboo?) like divorce and abuse and feces and disease and ambiguous intimate relationships...makes people uncomfortable.  And when people are uncomfortable they tend to become vulnerable.  Who knows what will come out when you open Pandora's Box.  Some people can handle it.  I seem to thrive on it.  But, more precisely, it's the juxtaposition of the sordid with the exceptional, the reality that is permitted to shine forth once the ego is made vulnerable, that rouses me.  Come to think of it, maybe it's more applicable to my social identity than anywhere else.


CB: Your explanation of a love of the odd and unexpected makes complete sense in and of itself, if only for the fact that sometimes people need to be shocked out of their complacent and comfortably ordered universe. And further writing to humble yourself, where this works contrapuntally as equipoise to the ego boosting game of putting others on the social decorum hot seat is quite clear and commendable. Does this inner moral wrestling put you in a place where particular concepts and topics gain primacy in your immediately subsequent creative output?


Dana:  Yes.  Any of the best writing is usually spontaneous - it just comes to you.  It's hard to say I write with any kind of intention, but those kinds of things are subliminally there.


CB: Most writers that I've spoken to or read up on seem to agree on one thing; writing must be performed daily knowing that this is the best way to encourage those wondrous moments of inspiration. What is your perspective on this idea of writing as habit?


Dana: It works for me personally.  Once I stop, it's hard to get that momentum up again.  Granted, sometimes it's frustrating when days pass and I write nothing brilliant.  But I've noticed, especially with writing fiction, that if I take too long a hiatus from a story it almost always never gets finished - I lose touch with the characters or the rhythm doesn't flow anymore.  Usually when I write consistently there's a lot of phlegm.  I think that's necessary for clearing the passages. 


CB: You seem to posses an innate instinct of the rhythms and cadences of writing which suggests an intrinsic talent. So if you haven’t figured it out so far, you have a talent for this. Now we could go on further to discuss the three Ts of writing, namely, Talent, Technique, and Tenacity, technique being the only one which can be taught, but it is not necessary at this point to do more than affirm it as fact. Have you always had an interest in writing, or was there some specific time you decided you would become a writer?


Dana: Thanks CB.  As early has I can remember I've kept a journal and I still have most of them.  Originally writing was purely cathartic.  It was a place where I could be honest with myself. 


When I was very young, I would climb on top of my dresser and talk myself to sleep in the mirror.  I suppose I started writing as a way to reflect and communicate with myself.  It was therapeutic.


But by the time I got to high school I was feeling a bit jaded toward the craft.  It seemed like everyone wanted to be a poet and don a beret and smoke cigarettes in a coffee shop.  It seemed so cliché to me.  And, in some ways, I bought into it - and all the glamour that want along with it.  Fortunately, some of my teachers were encouraging and I had a strong enough interest in literature that by the time I went to college I had decided to major in Writing.  Basically, it was either that or Forensic Science and I thought writing would be the easy way out.  Which, for college, it probably was.  But not for life. 


I declared Business as my second major - a safety net - but that didn't last long.  Freshman year I had to take a composition class.  During the course, and especially afterwards, I had developed a friendship with the instructor.  Without even knowing my major, she praised my writing; I was the only student to "get" the assignment and the only one to receive an A+ at the end of the course.  That cinched the deal for me.  I dropped Business and substituted it with Film.


So much for safety nets.


For a good ten years I was convinced I was going to be a writer.  But then it started to wane.  I graduated college and entered the real world.  I was so dissatisfied with everything that nothing I wrote was worthy of anything. To solve the problem, my then husband and I up and quit our jobs and embarked on a road trip we thought would never end.  This, I was convinced, would give me the material needed.


Ironically enough, 2 years later I was back home in Pittsburgh (where I swore I'd never return), filing for divorce, and working in a grocery store (albeit a health food one).  Although I had a treasure trove of material, I had no inspiration to do anything with it. I was just about plumb done with writing altogether - at least in any way construed as a serious pursuit. 


Somehow my writing made it into the hands of a great and eccentric writer living in Pittsburgh, Che Elias. The relationship with such an uncompromising writer was liberating and gave me the inspiration and perspective I needed to finish a complete work. 


Needless to say, of the three qualities, tenacity would be the one I struggle with most.  Fortunately I have been graced with the support of friends.


CB: Again you amaze me, Dana. And while I may be a self convicted flirt, I am and never will be a kiss ass, as I am predisposed against, so my amazement is legit. The arc of your life has indeed contained a rich variety of experiences and as an integral part an artistic compass which has of its own volition kept you on track. Of course your agreement in this was helpful, but nonessential, as in the words of John Lennon, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”  You have been blessed with a oneness of purpose from the beginning. Given the timelines you have mentioned, it seems you have been seriously pursuing writing as a life choice for maybe 10 to 12 years. This ties in well and seems to be in accordance with the necessary dues paying allocation all writers must bear. So now that you have graduated Dues College, written and released your first novel, what is next for you. Anything planned?


Dana: More than anything, I need a vacation.  I always thought the Black Forest in Germany would be nice - and, of course, Paris.  But until I can get a ticket out of town, I'd settle for a hot bath.  Otherwise, as usual, the rest is up in the air.  I'll keep writing, of course; at this point, it's not a choice.  I'm quite superstitious, so I won't divulge at length, but it's promising that there will be another novel by 2008.

A Review Of Death Poems

Review by CB Smith


From the moment one begins burrowing into this ominously titled poetry collection one is braced for something, anything, and a more than likely lethal journey into a dystopian universe. But the expectation pales in comparison to what greets the occipital lobes furtively but all too violently as images assault from all sides, very much like a Kandinsky canvas, wild vortices of shape and splashes of color each tied inexorably to an emotional center of which the artist is master. The title piece, Death Poems, begins as at cursory glance we are greeted with what seems two men or maybe boys, one squatting and attempting to shit while the other lords over the first holding something over him manifestly terrorizing, literally scaring the shit out of. Yet by the time we get to the second poem, Genital Arts, color splashes scatter and recombine, vortices interconnect, and in this recombinant form the poet hits full stride. Cock, pussy, cunt, fuck, semen? What in the hell have we gotten ourselves into? Is this a Henry Miller, or Georges Bataille, or Jean Genet poetry collection? The questions race up the esophagus in vomitous mass but the answers are slow in arriving. Che Elias, subversion personified, has in this collection pulled out all the stops as he moves from scratching below the carefully controlled surface veneer to plunging straight in for the kill, blasting through the sedimentary layers until all life’s horrors nightmares and vulnerabilities are exposed in all their exuberant and excruciating colors. Meanwhile as the reader huddles and prepares for the end, rolling on the floor pulling in tightly to ward off unseen attackers, the barrage relentlessly carries on. Now one might think this is merely an attempt at porno poetics, and while this viewpoint has some merit it only strikes the tip of the iceberg. Che Elias is no greenhorn poet just in from apprenticeship trying out a few new tricks. In fact so well versed, so daring, so outrageous and uncompromising a poet is he that he is perhaps the Ezra Pound of the 21st century. If you are unfamiliar with Ezra Pound, know that he was a poet who, along with T. S. Eliot, was a major figure of the Modernist movement in early 20th century poetry. He was the driving force behind several early 20th century Modernist movements, notably Imagism and Vorticism. An 'Image' is that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time. It is the presentation of such a 'complex' instantaneity which gives that sense of sudden liberation; that sense of freedom from time and space limits; that sense of sudden growth, which we experience in the presence of the greatest works of art. It is better to present one Image in a lifetime than to produce voluminous works. All this, however, some may consider open to debate.


With Che Elias, correspondences abound, his favored precision of imagery, clear, sharp language, using no superfluous word, no adjective which does not reveal something. He operates within this collective matrix: go in fear of abstractions; do not retell in mediocre verse what has already been done in good prose; be influenced by as many great artists as you can, but have the decency either to acknowledge the debt outright, or to try to conceal it; don't allow 'influence' to mean merely that you mop up the particular decorative vocabulary of some one or two poets whom you happen to admire.


This synopsizes the poet, stylist, artist, Che Elias, whose remarkably insatiable curiously and courage to seize the emotional centers of life, and yes, death, and tear them to shreds with his bare hands Wolani warrior style, annulling the flagrantly bold fears to send them sniveling into the corners of ignominy to lick their wounds. This then is Death Poems, the latest collection of fearless poems from Che Elias. Enter if you dare…


 

In this Hole bill has fears

The Amityville Horror


An original 1970s cover of The Amityville Horror




The Amityville Horror is a best-selling book by the author Jay Anson which was published in September 1977. The book has also formed the basis of a series of films made between 1979 and 2005.




Brief Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.


The book and film adaptations tell the story of the Lutz family, who moved into a Dutch Colonial home in the village of Amityville, a suburban neighborhood located on the south shore of Long Island, New York in Suffolk County in 1975. Thirteen months earlier the house at 112 Ocean Avenue had been the scene of a brutal mass murder. After living in the house for 28 days the Lutz family fled the house, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena.


The DeFeo Murders


Mug shot of Ronald DeFeo Jr. taken shortly after his arrest



This section contains information about the DeFeo murders which are a matter of public record and separate from the claims made in the book and films.



See also: Ronald DeFeo, Jr.


On the evening of November 13, 1974, police officers were called to 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island, where they found that six members of the same family had been killed in a shooting incident. The victims were the two parents, two brothers and two sisters of Ronald "Butch" DeFeo Junior, a 23 year old who had survived the incident unscathed. The victims had all been shot with a .35 caliber Marlin rifle at around three o'clock in the morning of that day. Ronald DeFeo initially suggested that they had been murdered by a Mafia hit man before confessing to the killings.


DeFeo was put on trial for the killings and attempted a defense of insanity, which was supported by his psychiatrist, Doctor Daniel Schwartz. The psychiatrist for the prosecution, Doctor Harold Zolan, maintained that although DeFeo had an antisocial personality disorder and was an abuser of heroin and LSD, he was aware of what he was doing at the time of the crime. DeFeo was convicted on six counts of second degree murder on November 21, 1975 and is currently serving a 25 years to life sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility in Beekman, New York. [1] [2]


Jay Anson's Book

This section is based on the version of events at 112 Ocean Avenue as they are described in Jay Anson's book. The paranormal claims have been the subject of much controversy.



The house at 112 Ocean Avenue remained empty for thirteen months after the DeFeo murders until December 1975, when George and Kathleen Lutz purchased the house for what was considered to be a bargain price of $80,000. George and Kathy had married in July 1975 and had their own houses, but they wanted to start a new life with a new home. Kathy had three children from a previous marriage, Daniel, 9, Christopher, 7, and Melissa (Missy), 5. They also owned a crossbreed malamute / Labrador dog named Harry. During their first inspection of the house, the realtor told them about the DeFeo murders the previous November and asked if this changed their opinion on wanting to purchase the house. After family discussions, it was agreed that it was not an issue.


The Lutz family moved in on December 18, 1975. When a friend of George Lutz learned of the house's history, he insisted on having the house blessed. At the time, George was a non-practicing Methodist and had no experience of what this would entail. Kathy was a non-practicing Catholic and explained the process. George knew a Catholic priest named Father Ray and he agreed to carry out the house blessing. (In Anson's book the priest is referred to as Father Mancuso. This was done for reasons of privacy and the priest's real name was Father Ralph J. Pecoraro, who is now dead). [3])


Father Mancuso was a lawyer, a Judge of the Catholic Court and a psychotherapist who lived at the local Sacred Heart Rectory. He agreed to perform the house blessing and while George and Kathy were unpacking their belongings on the afternoon of December 18, 1975 he went in to the building to carry out the rites. When he flicked the first holy water and began to pray, he heard a masculine voice say clearly "Get out!" When leaving the house, Father Mancuso did not mention this incident to either George or Kathy. On December 24, 1975 Father Mancuso telephoned George Lutz and advised him to stay out of the room where he had heard the unearthly voice telling him to get out. This was a room on the second floor that Kathy planned to use as a sewing room, and had formerly been the bedroom of Marc and John DeFeo. The telephone call was cut dead by static, and following his visit to the house in Ocean Avenue Father Mancuso allegedly developed a high fever and blisters on his hands similar to stigmata.


Jay Anson (1921-1980)




At first, George and Kathy Lutz experienced nothing unusual in the house. Talking about their experiences subsequently, they reported that it was as if they "were each living in a different house."


Some of the experiences of the Lutz family at the house have been described as follows:

George would wake up around 3:15 every morning and would go out to check the boathouse. Later he would learn that this was the estimated time of the DeFeo killings.


The house was plagued by swarms of flies despite the winter weather.


Kathy would have vivid nightmares about the murders and discovered in which order the murders occurred and who was shot where. The Lutzes' children also began sleeping on their stomachs, in the same way that the dead bodies in the DeFeo murders had been found.


Kathy would feel a sensation as if "being embraced" in a loving manner, by an unseen force.


Kathy discovered a small hidden room (around four feet by five feet) behind shelving in the basement. The walls were painted red and the room did not appear in the blueprints of the house. The room came to be known as "The Red Room." This room had a profound effect on their dog Harry, who refused to go near it and cowered as if sensing something negative.


There were cold spots and odors of perfume and excrement in areas of the house where no wind drafts or piping would explain the source.


The Lutzes' five year old daughter, Missy, developed an imaginary friend named “Jodie,” who it was learned could take the form of a little boy or a demonic pig-like creature with glowing red eyes.


George would be awoken by the sound of the front door slamming. He would race downstairs to find the dog sleeping soundly at the front door. Nobody else heard the sound although it was loud enough to wake the house.


George would hear what was described as a “German marching band tuning up” or what sounded like a clock radio playing not quite on frequency. When he went downstairs the noise would cease.


While checking the boathouse one night, George saw a pair of red eyes looking at him from Missy’s bedroom window. When he went upstairs and to her room, there was nothing to be found. Later it was suggested that it could have been “Jodie."


While in bed, Kathy Lutz received red welts on her chest caused by an unseen force and was levitated two feet off the bed.


Locks and doors in the house were damaged by an unseen force.


Cloven hoofprints attributed to an enormous pig appeared in the snow outside the house on January 1, 1976.


Green slime oozed from walls in the hall, and also from the keyhole of the playroom door in the attic.


A 12 inch crucifix hung in a closet by Kathy Lutz revolved until it was upside down and gave off a sour smell.


George Lutz tripped over a four foot high china lion which was an ornament in the living room, and was left with bite marks on one of his ankles.


George saw Kathy transform into an old woman of ninety, "the hair wild, a shocking white, the face a mass of wrinkles and ugly lines, the saliva dripping from her mouth."



After deciding that something was wrong with their house that they could not explain rationally, George and Kathy Lutz decided to carry out a blessing of their own on January 8, 1976. George held a silver crucifix while they both recited the Lord’s Prayer, and while in the living room George allegedly heard a chorus of voices telling them “Will you stop!”


By mid January of 1976, and after another attempt at a house blessing by George and Kathy, they experienced what would turn out to be their final night in the house. To this day, events of this night have not been disclosed fully by the Lutz family as they have described them as "too frightening."


After getting in touch with Father Mancuso, the Lutzes decided to take some belongings and stay at Kathy’s mother’s house in nearby Deer Park, New York until they had sorted out the problems with the house. On January 14, 1976, George and Kathy Lutz, with their three children and their dog Harry, left the house at 112 Ocean Avenue, leaving most of their possessions behind. The next day, a mover came in to remove all of the possessions to send to the Lutzes. He reported no paranormal phenomena while inside the house. [4]


Jay Anson is said to have based the title of The Amityville Horror on The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft, which was published in 1929. George and Kathy Lutz did not work directly with Jay Anson, but submitted 45 hours of tape recorded recollections to him which were used as the basis of the book. Estimates of the sales of the book range from three million to ten million copies, and the front covers of two of the editions of the book from the 1970s can be seen in this article.



Criticisms


Another 1970s cover of The Amityville Horror




Much of the controversy surrounding the Amityville Horror can be traced back to the way that it has been marketed over the years. The cover of the book shown on the right implies that it is based on verifiable events. A quote from a review in the Los Angeles Times featured on the front cover of the book states: "A FASCINATING, FRIGHTENING BOOK... THE SCARIEST TRUE STORY I HAVE READ IN YEARS", while the tag line at the bottom of the cover of the book states: "MORE HIDEOUSLY FRIGHTENING THAN THE EXORCIST BECAUSE IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED!" The reference to The Exorcist is revealing, since the 1973 film had been a huge box office success and was one of the major cultural events of the 1970s. Many of the incidents in Jay Anson's book describing the events at the house at 112 Ocean Avenue carry with them the style of The Exorcist, and this is one of the reasons why some of the events described in Anson's book have aroused suspicion.


Anson himself wrote: "There is simply too much independent corroboration of their narrative to support the speculation that [the Lutzes] either imagined or fabricated these events", but other writers and researchers begged to differ. Almost as soon as the book was published in September 1977 other writers began looking into the events at the house at 112 Ocean Avenue, and the conclusions that they reached were often considerably different from those that had appeared in Anson's book. Much attention has been given to the role of Father Pecoraro in the events at 112 Ocean Avenue. During the course of the lawsuit surrounding the case (see following paragraph) Father Pecoraro stated in an affidavit that his only contact with the Lutzes concerning the affair had been by telephone. Additionally, Ronald DeFeo's defense lawyer William Weber claimed in a radio interview that Father Pecoraro had never at any time visited the house. Other reports say that Father Pecoraro did visit the house but experienced nothing unusual there. With regard to the hoofprint claims, subsequent research showed that there had been no snow in Amityville on the day in question. The claims of physical damage to the locks and doors were questioned since an inspection suggested that they were still the original items. The claim made in Chapter 11 of the book that the house was built on a site where the local Shinnecock Indians had once abandoned the mentally ill and the dying was rejected by local native American leaders. [5] Neighbors of the house reported nothing unusual during the time that the Lutzes were living there. In the book and film, police officers are shown visiting the house, but records showed that no police officers visited the house during the 28 days that the Lutzes were living in Ocean Avenue. The response of supporters of the hauntings to the criticisms has been to argue that due to the subjective nature of paranormal phenomena, some of the events may have occurred as sensory illusions rather than as real events. (See also: Sleep paralysis). [6] [7] [8]


In May 1977 George and Kathy Lutz filed suit against William Weber, Paul Hoffman (a writer working on an account of the hauntings), Bernard Burton, Frederick Mars (both alleged clairvoyants who had examined the house), Good Housekeeping, the New York Sunday News and the Hearst Corporation (which had all published articles related to the hauntings). The Lutzes alleged invasion of privacy, misappropration of names for trade purposes, and mental distress, and claimed $4.5 million in damages. Hoffman, Weber, and Burton immediately filed a countersuit for $2 million alleging fraud and breach of contract. The claims against the news corporations were dropped for lack of evidence, and the remainder of the lawsuit was heard by Brooklyn U.S. District Court judge Jack B. Weinstein. In September 1979 Judge Weinstein dismissed the Lutzes' claims and observed in his ruling: "Based on what I have heard, it appears to me that to a large extent the book is a work of fiction, relying in a large part upon the suggestions of Mr. Weber." In the September 17, 1979 issue of People magazine, William Weber wrote: "I know this book is a hoax. We created this horror story over many bottles of wine." Judge Weinstein also expressed concern about the conduct of William Weber and Bernard Burton relating to the affair, stating: “There is a very serious ethical question when lawyers become literary agents.” [9]


Kathy Lutz died of emphysema on August 17, 2004 and George Lutz died of heart disease on May 8, 2006. The couple were divorced in the late 1980s, but remained on good terms. George Lutz maintained that events in the book were "mostly true" and denied any suggestion of dishonesty on his part. In a television interview with the History Channel broadcast in October 2000 he commented: "I have never said it was a hoax and I never will, because it is not a hoax. That doesn't mean that everything that was ever said about it was true, but it is certainly not a hoax. I wish it was. It's not." The debate about the Amityville Horror continues, and despite the lack of evidence to corroborate much of the story, it remains as one of the most popular haunting accounts in American folklore. The various owners of the house since the Lutz family left in 1976 have reported no problems while living there. [10][11]

The Films


Poster advertising the 1979 film version, showing the tag line "For God's sake, get out!"




At the most recent count, the story of the Amityville Horror has been the subject of nine films, which are as follows:

The Amityville Horror 1979

Amityville II: The Possession 1982

Amityville 3D 1983 (this film was made in 3-D)

Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes 1989 (This was made for television)

The Amityville Curse 1990

Amityville 1992: It's About Time 1992

Amityville: A New Generation 1993

Amityville Dollhouse: Evil Never Dies 1996

The Amityville Horror (remake) 2005.



The best known of these films is the first version which was released in July 1979. This starred James Brolin and Margot Kidder as George and Kathy Lutz. The part of the priest who blesses the house was played by Rod Steiger, whose name in the film is Father Delaney as opposed to Father Ralph Pecoraro who was the actual priest concerned. The 1979 version and its two sequels were filmed at a house in Toms River, New Jersey which had been converted to look like 112 Ocean Avenue after the authorities in Amityville denied permission for location filming. The music score for the film was composed by Lalo Schifrin and nominated for an Academy Award but lost out to the score for A Little Romance by Georges Delerue (click here to listen to an audio clip taken from the main title theme of The Amityville Horror). The 1979 version took $86 million at the box office in the USA, making it one of the most successful films produced by an independent studio at that time. Remarkably, the film grossed more at the US box office than the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film The Shining (source: Box Office Mojo). [12] [13] [[14].


The first three films received a theatrical release while the sequels from the 1990s were released direct to video. Some of the direct to video films contain virtually no material relating to the period when the Lutz family was living in the house, and concentrate instead on paranormal phenomena caused by cursed items supposedly linked to the house, such as the clock in Amityville 1992 - It's About Time and the dollhouse in Amityville Dollhouse from 1997. The Amityville Curse from 1990 is the most loosely based of all the films, since it deals with events in another haunted house in Amityville, Long Island rather than the house in Ocean Avenue.


One of the famous aspects of the Amityville Horror films is the distinctive pumpkin head appearance of the house which was created by two quarter moon windows on the third floor attic level of the house. Following problems with tourists disturbing the peace in Ocean Avenue, these windows have been removed and the house as it stands today looks considerably different from the way that it does in the films. The address of the house has also been changed in order to discourage tourists from visiting it. Although not all of the Amityville Horror films take place at the house on Ocean Avenue, the malevolent-looking house is used on most of the film posters and is the best known image from the films.


In April 2005 MGM Studios released a remake of the 1979 film. George Lutz described the remake as "drivel" and sued the makers for defamation, libel, and breach of contract.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.


He objected particularly to the scene in the film where the male lead - named as George Lutz and played by Ryan Reynolds - is shown killing the family dog with an ax. The film also shows the George Lutz character building coffins for members of his own family. The defamation claim was dismissed by a Los Angeles court in November 2005, while other issues related to the lawsuit remained unresolved at the time of George Lutz's death. [15] [[16]].


The tag line for the 2005 version was "Katch em and kill em." This refers to the claimed link between the house in Ocean Avenue and John Ketcham, whose name has been linked to witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts but remains a controversial and elusive figure. [17] The house used in the 2005 version was in Silver Lake, Wisconsin, while much of the location work was shot in Antioch, Illinois.



Additional Information


The 1995 book The Amityville Horror Conspiracy by Stephen and Roxanne Kaplan was critical of the Lutzes' version of events.




During the period that the Lutz family was living at 112 Ocean Avenue, Stephen Kaplan, a self-styled vampirologist, was called in to investigate the house. Kaplan and the Lutzes fell out and Kaplan went on to write a critical book entitled The Amityville Horror Conspiracy with his wife Roxanne Salch Kaplan. The book was published in 1995 and Stephen Kaplan died of a heart attack in the same year. Several weeks after the Lutz family left the house in 1976 it was investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren, a husband and wife team described as demonologists. During the course of one of their visits to the house a photograph was taken allegedly showing a demonic boy with glowing white eyes. The photograph can be seen online at [18]. The house was also investigated by Hans Holzer. In recent years many websites devoted to the Amityville Horror have sprung up, often taking a strong stance either for or against the events. Virtually every aspect of the story has been disputed at some point, and rivalry between researchers has been a long standing feature of the case.


George Lutz registered the phrase The Amityville Horror as a trademark in 2002, and it is referred to as The Amityville Horror™ on his official website. [19]


One of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Peter O'Neill, lived at the house in Ocean Avenue from 1987 to 1997. [20] Also, the actress Christine Belford lived in the house from 1960 to 1965 [21]


Eminem recorded a song called Amityville for his 2000 album The Marshall Mathers LP. The lyrics of the song are controversial and disturbing. [22]

Oh Girl Now Small Press

SOEH BOOK TWO (to Amber Reed) 9/29/ 06

There must have been a house somewhere bye then…. The first letter came to that Everything had changed Though. The name was different it must have begun with another letter, Wasn’t it N Or something… Maybe it was L…. All the dirt that was there and the Ground Made itself cold and I can’t Laugh though he thought I don’t think I can laugh right now. He yelled out supposedly and Then He Was there just holing his own penis he must have Been Screaming When the sperm flecked out There was some picture on The Table next to him Some Breasts Exposed It Was cold and tight he thought and he squeezed hard On his Penis. The next time he got on a bicycle and Then riding out there his cock Pumping Her Pussy he thought of that too and the whole room burning and burning til he ejaculated I guess Everyone has run Wild He Thought—we have to get these fucking people out f here And there Was some Pain and I heard the first letter and the Time of Day now too And the trees were rustling Now The Wind Brushing bye them it must have been the third time that he masturbated that day and the Images became less and less Clear and He Heard the room Screaming out again as he came it was gentle and pure and then he just heard the rhythm or the room again the same waltz the same room pulsing just as gentle til now And nothing else the room screaming out again was there was there much to Live For. Wasn’t That The Same Room again it did resemble that and a Little bit darker Wasn’t the Image of Change Some Man’s Penis and his hand on the end of it Too And he remembered Sucking on That Cock as well and He Could have heard the Cold and the House somewhere and The Day Broke again and the first letter and the change In the smell of the room and the same dark letter –I once heard Day Broke and I heard The time Of Day Come rushing in again It Must have just been a dream again and the Darkness of the Room The same one he Woke up In he could Only See her ass in panties and The Same One’s were blood soaked on the crotch and there Was just love again successfully. I had seen her face strayed Against the lawn again the whole day he just saw her face imposed on it And the Whole Rhythm of Everything and the Whole new time and the Whole Time “oh didn’t you want to change for something else And just the same Small Crack that one in the Floor Where the One Person was laying their Umbrella Open.” I Think I have an Umbrella there were just some Stray Images there still running out too That Letter N isn’t that the one which begins your name and the Image which came I mean Wouldn’t they have been there none the less He wondered? You will have simply Killed me in the Summer he said Wasn’t that The Most Strong Type of Rejection all of it was good bye me He said and that whole time he was there just put a Whole wrecked piece of time in his life and in his soul too and you know these things make me Sad He said And I could hear her Again when we’d had our moment On the end of her bed he Remembered that Too and the Last Perception of her and that Whole time of the World Now To Run Short the struggle of Death and the Perfection of Life too and I wanted to just help her and her Face as well and The Struggle and the world again he heard his face my Hope again There’s that stream and it was running short and the Day again Where the Day Broke over her Didn’t You see that it seems to always break over Her it probably always did For Amber Reed and the Last days of The Blood that woke her he said The Blood which woke her when it was pouring out of her vagina and the whole time he Then had come to investigate it Andy Reed was there Shinning a flashlight or Something!
“Why Do I know the Letter N?”
She wondered
“I do know it from somewhere.”
And it was the worst time of her life He knew that it was And the Time where he saw Amber Reed near the break—some boys in the yard With the hose tied around their Necks and I guess I always know that the sun goes down too and he had heard Some of the years and the Rooms and the Edge of That Room and the Whole home Breaking away and Then I remember waking up with A Flashlight Having been Shone inside My Eyes and the Lamp On too and then it was Finally The next year and the Time where he saw himself here He is The Worst time I Think she had remembered it was the worst, he lay on the bed and held her and Then he was there and She had her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him closer and closer and The Same yard where someone was breaking away and then I Don’t Know where I Am He said Am I in the yard and the shoes inside the end of the bed where I was in the room and the sun always went down there doesn’t the sun go down where amber reed is Or Am I Not Supposed To See that?
The semblance of Both of them on the bed against the color I guess the color is what will always bring me Down and some people here Thought it was bad and how am I supposed To Know he said and I am here to know some things About Amber Reed I haven’t figured out What they mean yet and I haven’t figured Much out the next time he Was on a Bicycle When he got off of it he certainly was erect Unloading moments Later from that.
With the sword and erection and the Only room that he made it heard after he had a spill To clean Now against the bridge of the bike against the end of the room. The end of the room Where the stone was He must have seen someone else Licking their own hand and he wasn’t even that kind of person anymore He said and I used to be someone else I think at least I Was and he remembered having her walking in a dress and the room where was sense of Time and the Room again and the attention That he paid again to the end of her Pussy to the edge of the room and then he thought god was there he knew he was for a moment and he kept saying all of you have a small debt to me what am I to do with that and the room Where he heard the room again Yes amber was saying something it was some letter it Was N I think oh I man I am not sure what it was. I guess the shock the police got was the phone call that Andy Reed had been turned in for raping he was raping and screwing everyone in the town everyone that he could get his hands on and everyone who had any thing left of them just another orifice and then just the people who would ruin his life and then Just the Visible Medals It must have been the most important day of his Life quite uncontrollably and then their must have been some other things growing up against Him as well and there must have been some people who were sent to destroy him as well and the Only Ones Screaming were the boys there on the street even when he instructed her to stand nude in the kitchen and then the ones who He also instructed were some young boys and he told them to suck on his penis he was not sure what to do with all of them and the was not sure whose penis they should suck on and I was here to make them hurry yet he was not this kind of person anymore and Then just the people who would have seen him were The People who attacked him he knew that there were people who attacked him and he was there Saying there were small bits of debris and there they were the men in the room and they were about to make the room stand on its Toes and the Only sound they heard of the room coming through was not the room coming through it was just the things which had killed all of us as people the same one which had killed us as friends and we’re here and bills lady was the lay of our land we all said and we all wondered Why Bill gave it to Us Oh Thought Soeh didn’t eli hubbard give it to us the same way all of these people that gave it to us and the time was there on a table and stringing a long now weren’t they thought soeh I come all this way where I have strangled myself and the homecoming Of Eli Hubbard oh wait wasn’t that Andy Reed and wasn’t that the moment you were all waiting for and wasn’t that this disaster you all could see coming and wasn’t there no one who could stand me and who are the people who held me down in the dark and you are the one who is so right hello He Told himself I am So Right and it won’t be too long and there they are the same people the ones who have held me down and waited on me now oh how they will fail me thought soeh. Didn’t he just move in to the same town as the devil wasn’t that the devil there and wasn’t he about to relieve himself too aren’t they all the same people who held you down yes these are those people and the world was just the thing that killed us You killed all of the people the one which had the friends and There they Were As the boats pulled in and their arms again around each other and the World Couldn’t stand me no one could stand me Fuck he thought as he lay in the basement there are no good people left and there are just people who want to kill us all and hold us down and he always said hello and they are here and the Ones who climb on the table Those Children they are All their with Umbrellas Small Umbrellas That they Stuck in Andy Reed’s Deadbody he knew that they stuck all of them in his face and they knew that he could stand them Yes He can stand them and I heard that they Failed me he said they failed me Soeh repeated that for a while on a loop and then he heard that angela derosa was the one who tried to kill him and he heard that she had done him in as well and yes he could stand her But he told himself That HE would give into her and that All that he was doing was how he was waiting for her and I told myself that I Could Just See You For a Moment and I knew that the people were held down and Andy Reed was held down too And he Always said they would come in here From all this way and They had killed all of you they had killed all of the people there was a long time that he was looking at it and sometimes just the lamp was in the foreground and other times it seemed like their was something else up front now they were all up front again and they say that they lost you did they really lose you they weren’t sure if they did I was sure that they didn’t lose you though that it was just something that everyone else thought was simple. All the children he said It had been so long that They’d known How the daylight looked since he’d been holding them down for a long time and The time they had was only a week a way and there and there was just some time that No One Could Compare too the time that I lost the boys will never know what sunlight is I spent the whole time unhappy I think that was the time when I killed myself and the time when I let the light leak out. They all held him bye the end of fear and he let the light leak out and he let it creep in as well wasn’t that the most powerful light he’d ever seen leak in and he’d seen some more light come creeping out too That was the strongest Blindness that he’d felt and Oh you Didn’t Lose the Light did you and the One person who is the strong one will never Know it seemed As if he’d lose that thought and that the day would come in and bring the shed Closer too the room where he killed her and the room where her face was strewn out on the sidewalk and the room of light and the darkness of the death of his face as a person and the wanting and the wildness and the days of darkness and the time of how long he took the daylight since it held him down now and the world in his head and the fog also That fog outside of his door in Wheeling and the Time when the face was strewn down and the daylight and since that time where the day light had made Amber Reed seem pretty and the light had come back as well and I knew the time in the shed would come closer and the fog outside and the Light against the room yes he said We’ll make it all come back here To when things simply spun as cold as they could and the bend and the crawl now too and the world was tucked away and til the shadows had fallen on the fog against the house in wheeling and the Room where The time in his life faced the person he was and the daylight came so hard outside and the sounds all the people were made as they were near and the room was Here We always know That’s It Exclaimed Soeh he changed my Life I remember that he changed my life and that he changed the person that I was and the time again the fog outside and days where there was no memory of it now again he could have heard a bell ring and the time again the face of all mankind in Wheeling not a pretty sight he could have thought to say the least but he was down on his luck.
































I guess it must have been another day of bad luck he wondered as they held him down he was pushing on someone Else He Must have been there and my father was there too Oh Wait that’s right wasn’t he But he never wanted to defend me did he and he was seeing me getting raped bye Someone too but I Guess he just figured that someone else would take care of his problem for him –I still think that he felt bad again about some things and some of the people he felt bad for and he released if he wasn’t going to hear from her now then when was going to hear from Her HE thought Fuck wait I don’t know who amber reed is and I don’t know and I never did know and he Left a message for her and he expected her to be waiting there Isnt that the way it goes he wondered? Eli Hubbard was laying under the shed when he heard the gun go off he wondered why Was the Gun going off and what were those things exploding and he knew that he’d advised against most of the things There And I think he’s there with the fire underneath him and he thanked Her For all He’d done and there were some people there who were Standing around and he wasn’t sure if She heard him scream and he wasn’t Sure HE never knew when he loaded the pistol and he heard them scream and then He Heard His Parents up at the shed screaming too What was going on he must have wondered Eli Hubbard must have wondered what was going on and why there were so many people screaming who were these people who were screaming and what was happening and he never knew that things were Changing and the mask slowly removed and the Tyme he was there and he lay there waiting and must have wondered what people would have been thinking what were these people thinking about HE said and he never knew of them to come near him who are these people what is the mask that they Wear Isn’t largely the mask where he is forgotten and there was Some More time to be Made and the Gun going off again it was exploding near the school bus tire he heard the gun go off and now he just wasn’t sure how it was going to go off and he wasn’t sure either How Loud the explosion was going to be and how much of it he could have heard was going to go in one direction. Didn’t the gun itself just go off in another direction and what was he going to do with the gun and who were the people that he Only had them Reapply those images too Some Of the images of the torsos They were in black and white and some of the Images of the other figures they were the ones which had steal around them and he wasn’t sure what to do with them. How in the hell did you get these Things To run in here these things of Her Didn’t you know that they were mainly Gone I was sure that they were mainly gone he said and heard some of the people scream in the one Room and there were Some People there Who had been sentenced to a solitary existence in the other room which room was eli hubbard locked in I guess it didn’t matter or make sense once he had some of the cloth drapped around him did it Do You Think that it made sense he Asked I am not sure if all of it makes sense he Once Said But I know that all of it makes Sense and I am not sure what To do with all of it and I am not sure What the hell the room will Do But Somebody else knew and it made sense for someone else and Then There Were Figures all in the dark and the ones in the Blackness the ultimate Blackness the ones Which cut across the dark and the ones Were Gone He Knows that they are mainly all gone and then he wasn’t sure what he should do with them and the Solitary Figures and the room where the size changed again the size of the painting changed the Size of the entire room and the mountains of Love he saw them floating down and the people were up there screaming and what was he supposed to Do Some clouds Drifted down and obviously some other people were Going to Die All he saw Were Their Backs Stretched out and Amber Reed was there she must have been criticizing the little things again how come she could only see the little things These days she always saw them and never knew too much about anything Else She avoided Everything and always saw the inside of somethings and the Room around her Now the room around her the way out and there was just a way out and the time where she cried all of those things came down and they smeared her cheek and the Room now the solitary figures and the Other people Someone Once Asked “Aren’t those the people who are going to die.” Aren’t those The people who are going to die and the Room where the people were and the Time that the cloud drifted bye and the mountains aside From all of that amber reed was down there and she must have been breathing down there and she must had some things happen now that weren’t as funny Regardless of that Eli Hubbard was down there and he had Been Tied up bye ropes and he wasn’t sure how long these ropes were going to bind him or how he could break free of them he was just sure that they had tied him up for a long time and he wasn’t sure now how to cut himself loose. And there Were Some Times Where he couldn’t connect to anything else now not a single person There was no one that he could connect with and what was the time Which she was budding the rope now too The One around him and the Clouds Which were descending the clouds which were dropping down in the room the clouds on eli hubbard and the noose which was tightening around his neck either way He Could find no way to Free himself and the Dogs were barking outside and he was imprisoned What about the Huge Truck that was Pulling Up with the Dinosaur in the Back of it and what about the Entire Car Wreck near his place and he knew that there was going to be some time where he was going to be stuck in there and he knew how she’d betrayed him Didn’t he didn’t his own wife Leave him for someone else and didn’t He Know that he was going to die and the noose was tightening and the Time that he tied himself up was a long time ago and he was pulling on the noose and there was a car crash now near him somewhere outside and the People here they were imprisoned and the room was getting darker and he had all of these guesses and he made a lot of guesses and he had Some things happen now and I Now that he tied them up now and there were clouds around him He was all tied up and imprisoned and he was there Being held down someone Struck him across the face and he Could Feel the Blood running down him and the rope now around his ankles and the fact That he was about to be pulled up and Strung on some of the clouds he wasn’t sure what to do with this fact and he didn’t know anyone else.




Wasn’t someone else screaming ? Asked Jessica –To Amber Reed.. Yes they must have been screaming said Amber Reed I am sure that they were There wasn’t a Lot of time but there was time for people to scream and there was time for people to be upset and I am certain that in that amount of time I was capable of doing both and how is everything going and here are some things that have been in Bill Clearys Family a Long time:

A TREASURE CHEST
A RIBBON
A CAR (the one with the dinosaur in the back of it Well it’s A truck actually and the one where people who know my name they all say that I am wrong and I have some things to put One way and some things to put another way so I can’t assure you that I’ll be wrong and I can’t assure you that I Could Come through again The Cars Pulled up and Eli Hubbard was in The Room About to Ejaculate and what was he going to do with the Ribbon now and what was he going to do with the people who became like his prize and who were those people they became his prize and the time where the Dinosaurs Screamed something as well didn’t They Tell Him Just to back the Fuck Off! He did hear them scream that and Hear are the people who said he was awful and that he was the worst person But You Know that he didn’t care what they said and the night sky again too wasn’t it just about to fall wasn’t there The Room then of dinosaurs and clouds and of all the other things where some things are Just about to fuck me over he thought?)

“NONE of the children understand yet either The Reason that he’s through with them.”
“Bill Cleary asked them to walk on through the door to step over Lynda and To see where he was waiting for them and you know they’d all been waiting for a long time to see the kind of person that bill was and who were the people didn’t the eyes swear that they’d protect you and didn’t your eyes swear that you’d be protected bye them Why did the people all become So Fucked up He asked and he wondered and I have said it all before then what Can I say about that now?”










I guess I will sit and masturbate some more said Eli Hubbard but can’t you see that it’s getting me nowhere Then he heard that he was scheduled To appear In Court Someone Claiming a child of theirs was his and he was Saying How upset he was and he was saying that it wasn’t his child I am definitely certain that it’s not my Kid Said Eli Hubbard who could they be Fooling if they think it’s my child they must be crazy those crazy motherfuckers those fucking bastards who are they to say that it’s my kid when they don’t even know who I am since they don’t know who I am How Can They Claim That and he remembered the time that he lay underneath the bus When there were a lot of People Looking what happened to those people he Wondered What in the hell happened to those People?
And another time just another lie as we were laying next to the bed and I heard Eli Hubbard Saying fucking Bastards They Just about done me in Didn’t they didn’t they do me in so good and wasn’t I walking bye the creek he said Wasn’t I walking bye the creek and weren’t they the people who were trying to do me in and what if all those people had tried their best to do me in And I am the one Person who they thought that they could do in Why is there not someone else Who they think they can do in and who are the People who they’ll make into a star and who are the People that they’ll misuse and I Am the one Person you’ll hear screaming out and aren’t You the Person Who you heard they were shouting about—About Money Said Eli Hubbard didn’t he strike me and didn’t he say That I Did Wrong don’t you know That You’ve done wrong said Eli Hubbard I Know you Think that we’ve done wrong and That we Think that we Heard that You were Saying that we’ve done Wrong but we’ve done no wrong that’s the truth of the matter it’s just you Who Thinks that you have done wrong he said And I claim myself to be the friend of these people so why are they all saying that I made a mistake he said and I Made Such a mistake and I heard that you heard them whistle and the Room was wild in the morning that room where I woke up and Eli Hubbard was beating me in the head What the hell was that thing that he was beating me in the head with Wasn’t that some kind of Pipe I knew that it was somekind of pipe that he was beating me with but I wanst sure And Then there were some Other Men Standing over me too Who were all those men Who gathered around me and who were All Those men who made me know what the dark was as they ripped open part of my Body now they all know who that is Who is that person who Ripped open part of my Body I am not sure that I know who it is Needless to say do I have to remind you that it was Eli Hubbard Who ripped open part of my Body wasn’t it him also who stuck some kind of Foreign Object in Wasn’t I Dreaming about a car then I was Dreaming about a car wasn’t I Think I was dreaming a bout a car there’s a book with a Sealed cover and it says Eli Hubbard on the Cover and it says that he’s going to be Dead and gone once I am through with him because right now I am through with him and I am going to do him in he thinks that he’s going to do me in and I always feel like I am going to do him in and I am sure that he will do me in and I am the one dreaming about the car and he is there in the front seat and who does he think that he is and he must think he’s above me as the person in the car Fuck! Someone Screamed it was Eli Hubbard in the passenger Seat and he was up there yelling and storming out of the place and he Only said You must have known who these people Were if they are all storming out of here Then Don’t you Know who they are Aren’t you the reason that they are upset he must have asked wasn’t it you who upset them?