The Amityville Horror house (112 Ocean Avenue)

The house commonly identified as the Amityville Horror house (often given as 112 Ocean Avenue) is a private single-family residence in the village of Amityville, Long Island, Suffolk County, New York. It is historically notable for the mass murder committed there on November 13, 1974, when Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot six members of his family. That crime is well documented in criminal records and reportage. Following the murders, the house entered popular culture as the site of alleged paranormal events after George and Kathy Lutz and their family moved in and then vacated the home, claiming terrifying and inexplicable phenomena. Those claims were popularized in Jay Anson's 1977 book The Amityville Horror and dramatized in a 1979 film and later adaptations, which cemented the house's reputation as haunted. The specifics of the Lutz family's reported phenomena are presented in Anson's book and subsequent retellings but are not independently corroborated in the sources provided and have been the subject of controversy, lawsuits, and critical scrutiny. Ronald DeFeo Jr.'s trial testimony and defense included his claim that he heard voices urging him to kill his family; this auditory claim was part of his insanity defense and is a documented element of the criminal case, distinct from the later Lutz haunting narrative. Explanations for the house's notoriety therefore include the factual violent crime, the Lutz/Anson paranormal account, media-driven dramatization through books and films, and skeptical assessments that characterize aspects of the story as invented or exaggerated. The property has continued to attract public attention, tourism interest, and media projects, and at times has been listed for sale, but it remains private property.