The Triangle

Issue date: 10/21/05 Section: Sci-Tech

Realizing they were up against the heavy hitters of the underworld, they called in a Catholic priest to perform an exorcism. The house, with a bit of dramatic flair, told the priest to get out in a deep, creepy voice. He did. The family made it a mere 28 days in the house, before they fled, leaving behind all their belongings and furniture.

So far, I've got nothing against this story. They've got me beat, hands down. After all of this happened, the family teamed up with an author, who wrote a best-selling book that spawned a movie, a number of unwatchable sequels, and a terrible sequel. They became rather rich.

There are a few things that aren't mentioned in the book. The day after the family 'fled' from the house, they came back and had a garage sale. That, and the whole thing was made up. It turns out that Mr. Lutz's business was failing, and he couldn't make the mortgage payments. He needed a way out of the house. Coincidentally, one of his friends, William Weber, admitted that he had helped Lutz concoct the whole story. William Weber was Ronald DeFeo's lawyer, and needed a way to get his client's case reviewed again. A haunting would be perfect!

DeFeo would have more substance to his insanity defense if it turned out the house was haunted, and Lutz would be able to get his life back on track. So, the entire thing was staged to creep out a couple of visitors, and life was good again. It later turned out that the "Red Room" was not the site of some terrible arcane rituals, but was actually a pipe closet, where one could get at the plumbing in case it needed to be repaired. The door that had been "blown off of its' hinges" was still secured sturdily to the frame. The ashes in the fireplace were not in the shape of the devil's face. So on and so forth.

Not convinced? Let's look at the behavior of Mr. Lutz instead. He called a group interested in the paranormal, and asked them to come out and have a look at the place. They agreed, and he asked about any fees. The group did not charge a fee, but told Lutz that if this was a hoax, they'd make sure the entire world knew. He immediately cancelled his appointment and called the local TV station instead. The fellow he'd originally contacted, Dr. Stephen Kaplan, wrote a book about the hoax, eventually, but no one read it. The Amityville Hoax remains one of the most well-known, and well-loved, ghost stories of our day.

What's really irritating about all this is what happened afterwards. It became a best selling book, the Lutzes became flush with cash, the country became convinced that baloney like house hauntings were real, and the people of Amityville became flooded with jerk tourists. Even though pretty much everybody except Mr. and Ms. Lutz have admitted it was a hoax, everyone still believes in it.

This case has probably spawned a million other imitations. It's taken average people, and led them into believing in ghosts, hauntings, and other baloney. It's hard to imagine what benefit the world would see if people stopped wasting time and energy believing in such nonsense and put it into something worthwhile, but this much is clear: nothing abnormal happened in Amityville. Be seeing you.

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