Entertainment Swindon

This is probably the most famous house in the world only second to The White House. This 1920s house first came to fame due to the infamous murders committed by Ronald DeFeo Jr who killed his family in a gruesome slaying on 13th November 1974, a murder that has fascinated the public since the publishing of book and a film that spawned a franchise of movies, some good, one terrifying and many poor, but all have gained cult status and still need to be watched.

The address of this infamous house was originally 112 Ocean Avenue, but was changed to 108 to deter tourists after the film in 1979. The property was surprisingly first bought just a year after the murders, but the owners (The Lutz family) left the property after just one month with reports of paranormal activity which is what inspired the idea for the book and the 1979 movie.

When the house went on the market in 2010 and unsurprisingly had no buyers, originally going on the market for $1.1million was subsequently reduced to under a million after no interest even though most of us will claim to not be superstitious, but in reality most of us would never buy a house that not only was the scene of horrific gruesome murders, but has been associated with the supernatural, and we aren’t talking Casper the Friendly Ghost!

DeFeo was 23yrs old at the time of his murder spree that saw him kill his parents Ronald & Louise (both 43) and his two brothers and two sisters aged between 9-18yrs.

Since the murders, the house has been put on the market four times, last listed in June of 2016 and finally sold for $605,000 in March 2017, half of what the property value was over 10yrs ago. In fact, since the murders, no owner has actually sold the house for anything what the house would have been worth at time of sale.

*1975 the house was sold for $80,000 to the Lutz family – they moved out just 28days later due to the paranormal activity and despite an appeal by the Lutz family, they lost the house due to foreclosure in 1977.

*1987 the house was bought for $325,000 and sold a decade later for $310,000

*2010 property went on the market for $1.1million but finally sold for $950,000

*2016 the property went on the market for $850,000 and sold more than a year later for just $600,000

The property returned to the headlines a couple of years ago after DeFeo Jr died at the Albany Medical Center in New York in March 2021. He was 69yrs old.

In recent years the property has been renovated on the outside to try and discourage tourists, the main image show the obvious change where the infamous upper floor quarter round windows have been replaced by normal square windows. The Amityville Historical Society have also erased all information of the murders and of the Lutz family ever living there.

We tried reaching out to the current owners and didn’t get a reply.

The original 1979 Amityville Horror can be seen on Amazon Prime