The Amityville Horror vs. The Lutz Family | Twenty-Eight Days, Ten Million Books, and a Demon in the Turkey cover art

The Amityville Horror vs. The Lutz Family | Twenty-Eight Days, Ten Million Books, and a Demon in the Turkey

The Amityville Horror vs. The Lutz Family | Twenty-Eight Days, Ten Million Books, and a Demon in the Turkey

Listen for free

View show details
Twenty-eight days. That is how long George and Kathy Lutz lasted inside 112 Ocean Avenue before they ran out in the middle of the night, barefoot, with their children and their dog and almost nothing else. They left the furniture. They left the food on the table. They left everything. The story they told afterward would sell ten million books, spawn one of the most profitable haunted house franchises in cinema history, generate lawsuits, congressional scrutiny, and decades of debate about what is real, what is manufactured, and what happens when grief and trauma and a very good publicist collide. This is the Fear Archive Amityville mega episode — Part Two of the full story. If you have not listened to the DeFeo murders episode from Season Two, go back and start there. This episode picks up thirteen months after the murders, when the Lutz family moves into 112 Ocean Avenue and the mythology machine kicks into high gear. Amanda and Mike cover the full Lutz story — the twenty-eight days, the 1979 film, the book written by Jay Anson who never visited the location, the defense attorney who helped shape the story over a bottle of wine, and the question the episode keeps returning to: when does a story stop belonging to the people who lived it and start belonging to everyone else? They also watch every single Amityville sequel — every one — including Amityville II: The Possession, Amityville 3D, Amityville: The Evil Escapes (the demon lamp), Amityville Dollhouse, Amityville in Space, and the one with the haunted turkey. They also cover My Amityville Horror, the documentary in which Danny Lutz, grown up and deeply complicated, sits in front of a camera and tries to sort through what was real and what was imposed on him and finds after forty years that he genuinely cannot fully do it. The DeFeo family — Ronald Sr., Louise, Dawn, Allison, Mark, and nine-year-old John Matthew — are the actual story. They always were. Everything else is just the house settling. Hosted by Amanda Kagiwada and Michael Ryan Assip. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production. LISTENER WARNING: This episode contains discussion of family annihilation, childhood trauma, alleged psychological abuse, financial fraud, and a demon that apparently moved into a turkey. Popular Topics Include: Amityville Horror, Amityville Horror true story, Lutz family Amityville, 112 Ocean Avenue, George Lutz, Kathy Lutz, Danny Lutz My Amityville Horror documentary, Jay Anson Amityville book, Amityville sequels, Amityville demon lamp, Amityville in Space, Amityville Dollhouse, Amityville haunted turkey, DeFeo murders, Ronald DeFeo, haunted house horror, Long Island true crime, Conjuring Universe origin, Ryan Reynolds Amityville, based on true events horror, The Amityville Horror 1979 film, The Amityville Horror 2005 remake, Fear Archive podcast, true crime horror, horror podcast, Amanda Kagiwada, Michael Ryan Assip, Violet Hour Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet