For Halloween - the Amityville Horror house.

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This is the infamous Amityville Horror house on Long Island, New York, taken a couple of weeks ago. In 1974 Ronald DeFeo Jr shot and killed six members of his family. Thirteen months later the Lutzes moved in, fleeing 28 days later after allegedly being terrorised by paranormal activity which was to become the subject of the book and original film.

The house remained empty for more than a year before being bought by the current owners. Tourist activity was intense for a number of years but seems to have diminished considerably in recent times. I was staying a few minutes drive away and got these pictures as discreetly as I could without upsetting anybody.

The iconic quarter circle top floor windows which resembled eyes were replaced some years ago with the square ones seen here.

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Jeez I just watched the remake of this last night and hardly slept a wink. :eek: Looking at the house in real life, it doesnt look that foreboding as it does on screen, well thats hollywood I guess!
:D
 
It's a nice looking house in a very nice area, with some seriously expensive houses. The original film gave the impression that it was remotely located, but it's actually very residential, with close neighbours and houses across the road. The film location house is somewhere in New Jersey, constructed after, understandably, the current owners refused permission to allow any filming here.

I think repacing the upper windows was one attempt to deter the sightseers. They also somehow managed to change the house number from the original 112 to 108, which you can just make out on picture no3. Satnav info is embedded in the pics for those who want to look on Google or the better Microsoft equivalent. The house is located on the T junction, on the river side.
 
Yeah definitely some seriously expensive houses in that area - houses 'South of Merrick' in local speak are near the bay. This house has access to a canal leading to the bay, and not a huge lake like there is in the movie/s. I live in Amityville and the town doesn't want a lot of tourism, so there are no local hotels to stay in. However, every time I've been past that house there is always somebody there looking at it or taking a photo. I'm sure last night (Halloween) was a pile of fun for the current owner - the town has extra police patrolling that area on Halloween.

There are houses in Amityville that still have those creepy looking quarter circle windows, on houses looking like the one in your photos. They are architecturally known as Dutch Colonial houses - plenty of examples can be found at Google Images.
 
Hello and welcome Michael! I can't believe I've enticed a real Amityville resident on to these pages. How did you find us? I think you're going to be popular here. I saw one, maybe two cars linger outside during the few minutes I was there. I didn't go to specifically see the house. I was staying a few minutes drive away near Baldwin station which I was using to get in to Manhattan, avoiding the pricey hotels there. I had read the book as a teenager and it left an impression on me which lingered, despite all the ensuing controversy.

I was totally surprised by Long Island. I think we've all got the impression here that it's all built up like Manhattan, Brooklyn etc. It was great to see how it all opened up once getting away from Brooklyn. I came up from Philadelphia and across Staten (which again was a surprise), and drove through Brooklyn. Driving through a 'real' part of New York like Brooklyn was enjoyable, even though the condition of the roads in places left much to be desired. I found this wonderful classic chrome and neon diner on the Sunrise Highway somewhere between Rockville and Amityville which I just had to stop at and eat in. Long Island was a great place to visit, and a nice contrast so close to the city.
 
Well I typed "Amityville Horror Halloween" into Google and got to this page. I was looking for information on whether or not traffic was higher at that house than anywhere else on Halloween night. I don't yet have an answer.

Anyway, I walked past that house with my wife this morning on a walk to see all of the Halloween decorations. There are also some really nice autumnal colours around us at the moment and Ocean Avenue is no exception. Of course, there was a car parked on the corner of South Ireland Place (the T junction you mention) having a good look at the house and looking at us as if they'd done something wrong.

I've only been an Amityville resident for a year - lived in Virginia for almost 3 years and before that living in the UK (I'm British - coming from Bristol). My wife is native to Amityville and so was around when the murders happened. I did find it a little weird one day walking into the Amityville library and seeing the Amityville Horror film there for rent. Did you visit the village of Amityville while you were here ? The village is pretty nice.

Yeah, the roads here are pretty awful. You notice it almost immediately upon entering the state. The driving gets pretty aggressive also. I think I know of the diner you're talking about BTW.

Nice photos of the house ! I joined this forum because I'm also interested in photography - even managed to get two of my photos published in BBC wildlife magazine a couple of years ago. I took some photos of a local park last week so I'm trying to keep my photography hobby alive.
 
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Nice pictures in there. And three of them!

Yes I did look round Amityville. I went down to the end of Ocean Ave and took some sunset pics from the waterside to the left, and up the road to the right following some of the roads to the waterside along there. Definitely a nice place, and the smell of log fires everywhere....mmmmm.
 
Beautifully shots there Michael, if I may so so :rules: :)

Looks benign enough on the surface, :cautious: just your typical American house :eek: yet lurking somewhere within its timbered cavities dwell the ghosts of tormented souls :exit:
I guess one shouldn't joke about it though, even if it did become a tourist attraction :thinking:
 
Thank you Mark. Yes it is a nice house, like lots of them in the area. When I'm on my US roadtrips houses are one of the most photographed subjects. Not only nice ones but run down and abandoned too.
 
Yes Michael ... like you, I was also fascinated by American houses when I visited ... their domestic architecture is quite unique.
 
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