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The Amityville Horror: truth or hoax?
#1
I found out about the infamous Amityville case recently and I'm fascinated.

In 1974, the members of the Defeo family were brutally murdered by Ronald Defeo. In 1975, the Lutzes moved to the same house where those murders took place and claimed the place was haunted.

Everyone agrees that the book and movies based on these events are greatly exaggerated but the main question remains unsolved: is the original story fake or not?

I'm a rationalist and a believer in science but I also believe that science can't explain everything. And in this particular case, the sceptics still haven't come up with a logical explanation for what happened in that house.

Anyway, here's an excellent series of videos on the subject of Amityville (incl. a testimony by the catholic priest that blessed the house and allegedly witnessed some of the events):



And the infamous photo of the 'Amityville demon' taken by a journalist:

http://mindsetcentral.com/images/amity/amity6.jpg
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#2
I doubt it. I'm a skeptic when it comes to ghosts and hauntings. (Mostly because the idea terrifies me, so I deny it being possible <.<)
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#3
I doubt it.

I do not think a disembodied person can exist.
Why people ascribe a multitude of strange, and yes, normally unexplained events to these invisible beings so readily is something I do not understand.
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#4
So much of that story has been the subject of lawsuits that I am led to believe that the "truth" of the case has more to do with intellectual property (eg. film rights) than any attempt to verify actual events..

The testimony by the priest given in that film is contradicted by his testimony submitted in an affidavit in one of the lawsuits in which he says his only contact with the family was by telephone.

It is surely more than just coincidence that the story first emerged shortly after the commercial success of The Exorcist.

While it is true that science can't explain everything, it remains the best tool we have to gain knowledge about the world and to test that knowledge. It's failure in any particular case does not mean that any old explanation automatically becomes the truth.

So, yeah, draw your own conclusions.
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#5
There is a such thing as a bad house. Amityville Horror might have been a particularly bad house, along the lines of Charles Manson, but I do believe some houses posses "attitudes".
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#6
I dont beleive in ghosts, demons (religious) or angels.

I do however, believe if you are not mentally stable, or have the mental capacity of someone who can very easily be influenced...then I can believe a lot of this story.

Ive watched pretty much all of the documentaries on this, and have come to the conclusion that the people who lived there after the killings had an extremely low mental capacity. They let the stories build up in their minds, until they created their own story.

If you have ever lived or spent time in an old, all wooden house...you know how "creepy" it can be. The noises, the shadows, the smells, the hot and cold spots.....instead of finding the logical solutions to these issues, these people let their stupidity and wild imaginations runt rampant.....and look what happened.

As for preachers....well, they are human, there is nothing special about them...Im sure they want fame just like most other people do and will "emphasize" (lie) to get what is needed......their name in the media.


When most people are scared, they "see" things that arent there, "smell" things that dont exist, and "feel" things that arent real.
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#7
The thing about this is your brain loves to imagine what it expects to see. :/ Fear is our greatest weakness.
Anyway, I don't believe in ghosts or demons, while the idea of them does give me goosebumps to me, they end existing the minute I turn the final page of a good book.
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#8
It's an old story
Also a false one
The Amityville horror is NOT a true story.
It's been portrayed as being based on a true story for many years, but it's not.
It's fiction
Richard
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#9
MisterTinkles Wrote:I dont beleive in ghosts, demons (religious) or angels.

I do however, believe if you are not mentally stable, or have the mental capacity of someone who can very easily be influenced...then I can believe a lot of this story.

[...]

It wasn't just the Lutzes, the events were witnessed by other people.

I believe they're decent people and they're speaking the truth (or, at least, what they perceived to be the truth) but there are disturbing elements in their story. They mentioned strange substances in the house, why didn't they keep samples?
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#10
I tend to favor that the story is based on grains of truth.

I have seen possessed people and places and things - possessed by malevolent spiritual entities - AKA demons. No scratch that, I have experienced demons... one simply doesn't just see them, its an experience.

I have seen dead people: aka ghosts.

My mother was plagued by a host of demons. I personally witnessed her being slapped, her head whipping back and a hand print showing up on her cheek. I also witnessed bleeding welts/scratches appear after an 'attack'.

My mother went slightly insane from the experience... well actually more insane, she was always a little insane to begin with.

There are other things I have witnessed which do not stack up against this world of light and rationality and science.

No doubt the movie/book was over done, but a possession of the house is quite possible.
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