May 16, 2006

George Lutz

George "Lee" Lutz, the former owner of a haunted house known as "The Amityville Horror," died on May 8 of heart disease. He was 59.

On Nov. 13, 1974, six members of the DeFeo family were murdered inside the three-story house in Amityville, N.Y. The family's eldest son, Ronald "Butch" DeFeo Jr., was convicted a year later in the brutal slaying of his mother, father, two brothers and two sisters. He's currently serving six consecutive life terms at the Greenhaven Correctional Facility in Greenhaven, N.Y.

Thirteen months after the killings, Lutz and his wife Kathy purchased the 4,000-square-foot waterfront property for only $80,000. They knew the house had been the site of horrific crimes, but didn't feel these past events would affect their future.

The couple and their three children lived at 112 Ocean Avenue for 28 days -- until paranormal occurrences caused them to flee. During their month in the house, the Lutzes reportedly heard voices in empty rooms and hallways. Doors and windows mysteriously unlocked of their own accord. Furniture changed location without being moved, and repulsive odors filled the air. Areas of the property, including the boathouse and the basement, also felt unexplainable cold.

Each member of the family experienced personality changes as well. George felt sick and depressed and awoke each night at 3:15 a.m. with an uncontrollable desire to check the boathouse. Kathy aged unnaturally fast and suffered from terrible nightmares. And the kids began fighting with each other, much more than was usual. The Lutzes eventually fled for their lives, leaving the majority of their possessions behind. Their stay in the Amityville home was later chronicled in numerous films and books.

Several accounts have discredited George Lutz's version of events. Jim and Barbara Cromarty, a couple that later moved into the house, claimed it was not haunted and even sued Lutz for bringing undue fame and attention to their lives. Lutz denied all of the allegations.

George and Kathy Lutz next moved to San Diego, where they briefly sold Amway products, then to Arizona before divorcing in the late-1980s. Kathy died in 2004 of emphysema. At the time of his death, George was living in Las Vegas, where he volunteered at a homeless shelter and restored old cars. He occasionally appeared at conferences dedicated to the paranormal to discuss his Amityville experiences.

Listen to an Interview with Lutz

Posted on May 16, 2006 3:19 AM

Tributes

I had the honor of meeting George in person, he was such a nice guy, I even have a picture that was taken of me with him and one of him with my 9 month old daughter(at the time), Just last October. I am sorry for the loss of such a wonderful guy.

Posted by Mary Lane on September 9, 2006 10:33 PM

Im sad to hear of his passing.I really enjoyed reading all the amityville hooror books and movies well some of the movies lol.

Posted by louise st.denis on September 12, 2006 6:41 PM

i have been a huge fan of the amityville horror and have been interested in the lutz family and am verry sorry that both george and kathy have passed away...i am very curious to know what happened to the lutz children and how are they doing?

Posted by shelia hockenberry on October 7, 2006 10:49 AM

Montréal, le 21 mars 2007

Tous mes respects à la famille Lutz...

Posted by Nathaniel Thorne, auteur on March 21, 2007 7:09 PM

I just know about them from the movie but I feel for them. they will be truly missed. I hope the children are all well and doing good.

Posted by Suzie Daniels on April 1, 2007 4:31 AM

Hey how do I get in contact with who owns the home now and how i can get in?

Posted by Steven on April 10, 2007 12:39 AM

What kind of question is that?? How do you get in?? The residents of Amityville have been harrassed enough, don't you think? I'm sure the new owner of the house will swing the door open a give you a big hug, and a mug of cocoa.

George Lutz, a "wonderful" guy? Hey, I'm sorry the man is dead, but he was anything but wonderful. He committed fraud upon the whole world, and left a scar on a nice town that will forever be remembered based on a hoax. Now you want to know how his children are? Hopefully they turned out better than their parents. Interesting that nobody that follows this crap asks about the DeFeo's, or their relatives, and how they are managing these days??

Posted by Finster on July 16, 2007 7:36 PM

Just to let you know, read the book, 'The Night The DeFeo's Died'. This will reveal what's real and what's not.

I've studied the paranormal (nothing like those idiots on 'Ghost Hunters' but the real science). The house was probably imprinted with 'negative emotional residue' for the lack of a better term. The DeFeo family was an extremely troubled and disturbed family. The night they died left this powerful emotional residue and affected the Lutz family, taking the form of all manner of things from sounds, to smells to visions. The families reaction only fed this residue and a psychic cycle happened. Once the family fled, the psychic link was broken and possibly began dying off. This was why Ed and Lorraine Warran still felt it, but when the new owners moved in, it not only had died off, but followed the Lutzes for a time before being spent. There was never any real spirits. If you ever picked up an object from a violent area, you can feel it's history in it. So, there's some truth to The Amityville Horror.

Posted by Todd Ponton on August 4, 2007 6:02 PM

ok,first we all know year after the killings,noone had problems in house but lutzes.flying pig,that something drunk says,as well stone of lion came life and bite him on leg!i had stone dogs and have not come life haha.and house is moved as well after they say they left the house,people says they was there next day selling things.george may say kathy soul there now so will his?preacher lied for them as he said in court.why kids not saying things,cause they did not see nothing but george is a fake and liar.God have mercy on his soul.ed and lorraninewarren are fakes and we all know that.he was crazy guy wanted money,after he find out of story of killings.is robert defeo is out prison yet?if so what he doing now?who kill nexy and blame evil spirites again?

Posted by white tiger on October 21, 2007 11:21 PM

Well it looks like all the sordid characters of this affair, a scam on the American public are dead, including the priest.
Good riddance.

Posted by Paul Glidewell on November 2, 2007 11:32 PM

i totally believed george lutz and kathy lutz! this whole storie baffles me. on how not one single neihbor of the defeos heard a gunshot. and if you google ronald defeo jr's name it says how police were very puzzled that all of the victims were lying face down, without a sign of any struggle. why didnt anyone wake up or move? ronald defeo claims his 18 year old sister dawn murdered the children so they woudlnt be witnesses and he killed the parents..police did infact find gun powder on dawns night gown "indicating she may have discharged a firearm" and when her brother see what she did he knocked her unconscience and shot her in the head. its odd how kathy and george have both died at a somewhat young age. i truly believe this was a haunting. the devil works in mysterious ways...its pretty sad.

Posted by Rick on January 1, 2008 9:40 PM

I beleive the story is true. Haunted houses are all over the place and after a murder of six I'm sure evil was in the house. Demons are attracted to human suffering. That is why so many old mental hospitals and prisons are haunted. Evil spirits delight in humans suffering. They hate us because we are redeamable and they are not. George Lutz and Kathy Lutz say in a documentary that they were involved in TM ( the occult) and it may have attracted the demons to them. It probably did. It's like opening a door. People who live at the house now may be Christians or just protected.

Posted by terra on February 7, 2008 2:49 PM

scar on a nice town?? maybe,, but I think people need some supranational stuff too and everyone knows what amityville town has its place on the map *lol*

Posted by Linda on March 26, 2008 11:54 AM

i diden't know any thing about the amity vill horror in till i saw the movie and after that i got onto the computer and lookted it up and when i saw the pics and the story's i felt for the non living defeo family and it was HORIBLE what happend to them

Posted by ashley on April 7, 2008 8:30 AM

Some of the comments on here make me wonder exactly what caliber of people post on the blogs or message boards. I don't know if the Amityville Horror was real or not, but I for one will not sit here and take part into the bashing of both George and Kathy Lutz. To come online and verbally assault someone after they have passed tells me a lot of the character of the people who post on the boards. I for one believe that we are surrounded by the supernatural at all times, whether or not we or they choose to interact with each other remains to be seen.

Posted by Daniel Glass on May 23, 2008 2:50 PM

Excuse me for one second here. I pay tribute to George and Kathleen Lutz for their passing. I was reading some of the comments and when I came up on Todd Ponton's comment about the the Ghost Hunters formally known as TAPS being idiots, well they know a lot more than what you and I put together do and right now I am currently taking classes to become a ghost hunter. I do know one thing, I don't believe half of the story that the Lutz's told. I believe that they were saying a lot of the stuff for media attention and for the money. GOD REST THEIR SOULS.

Posted by Ann McNally on June 14, 2008 2:13 PM

First of all I want to pay tribute to George and Kathleen Lutz for their passing. Also to Kathy's children and the rest of their family.
Second I read the comment from Todd Ponton saying that the Ghost Hunters formally known as TAPS are idiots. I do know TAPS and well they know more about paranormal activities than what you and I will ever know and I am taking classes to become a ghost Hunter.
Just because the Lutz felt coldness going through the house that doesn't mean that the house is haunted. The house could be drafty because it is not insulated right.
oh I suppose that the room I am in right now is haunted because it has a small draft of coldness in it.Not quite.
You can pick up something that was left in the house from previous people and touch it and a funny feeling about it but that doesn't mean that there is a demon in the house. Come on get it right. Just because you studied about the paranormal doesn't mean you are a professinal. Unless you actually went into a house and "studied" it read about the history and actually had activity, you wouldn't know exactly what paranormal activity is. TAPS (GHOST HUNTERS)does. I have actually experinced paranormal activity.

Posted by Ann McNally on June 14, 2008 2:32 PM

White Tiger I agree with you. Does pigs fly? NO! Does stone statues come alive? NO! Has anyone ever seen green goo running from the top of the wall or the ceiling down to the floor and coming from the steps of a house? Not unless someone it trying to make money and get the media's attention. You see that's what the Lutz's were doing. But they also got the consequences too. They got sued. Sure Kathy says that she smelled womans's perfume. Are you sure it wasn't hers that she smelled or some kind of deordorizers? As for visions either they were extremely tired or they were considerably drunk. You see noone knows if the Lutz's were telling the truth. The DeFeo's death had nothing to do with the house except that it happened in the house. Ronald DeFeo Jr. and his father kept fighting and arguing and his mother would end up taking his fathers side. So Jr. got fed up with the whole family and shot them. He was messed up. Matter of fact to show that he was mess up, he slpet with his own sister.

Posted by Ann McNally on June 14, 2008 2:47 PM

I agree. Why would someone make something like this up. May George and Kathy Lutz rest in peace.

Posted by Marta Batista on July 5, 2008 6:03 PM

Pigs don't fly! That's just part of the movie, to make it scary. The lutz family bought this house with all their savings, why would they leave 28 days later? FEAR!! and to leave all of what they owned behind for something that was not real to them? I believe what they say, and I am also really sad they have both passed on so young. What about their children? Does anyone know what they are doing now?

Posted by Collette on July 26, 2008 11:07 PM

I live about 7 miles away from the house on 112 Ocean Ave in Amityville, and lived on Long Island all of my life. There are a few mysterious stories that happened here on Long Island. One is the story of Hatchet Mary, The odd house in Massapeaqua (you think the Amity house is errie), The Amityville murders, and the recent Montauk Monster. I must say that in my opinion George and Kathy Lutz, god rest their souls did in fact make up 99% of what happened during their 28 day stay in the house. Do I think they felt a strange feeling or uneasyness in the house, sure!!! Six people were murdered would'nt you feel a bit spooked if you bought a house and the real estate agent said oh by the way 6 people were murdered in the house Good Luck!!! Myself I would sell it right there and then. I feel that Mr. Lutz realized what he had here, he bought a huge beautiful house for dirt cheap where a man killed his entire family, and with a little I hear a voice, like DeFeo claimed he did before killing his family, Kathy did you move the couch there, and this window was closed who opened it. We now have a plot for a book and eventually a movie. As for the waking up at 3:15 am to check up on the boat house and the foul smells and flies in the window all made up to keep the story going in my opinion. If the house is full of evil and these events the Lutz's claimed to really have happened, why didn't the owners after the Lutz's or the current owners not experiening what the Lutz's did.

I dont believe in ghosts or demons or evil entities that haunt, but spirits of our loved ones I do, and I have had a few of unexplainable experiences in my life to why I do believe in spirits. Do the spirits of the DeFeo family still roam around the house maybe. If they do why would they want to hurt the Lutz's or any other family that moves in. The way they left this world is horrific, but as a beliver in God I feel they all went to heaven and if they went to heaven why would there spirits be bothered to haunt people they did'nt know when they were alive. If they should haunt anyone it their son, brother who murdered them in cold blood.

Posted by zeus on August 14, 2008 2:44 AM

IM wondering why they are the only family to have experienced all this supernatural stuff and no one else living there has?

Posted by GENE on August 25, 2008 4:58 PM
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