The Amityville Horror Review

I wasn’t sure of what to make of this novel when I first started to read it. The line between journalism and fiction blurred with this piece. I was absorbed by it.I devoured this book. Every chapter had something that kept me going. This is how a book on the supernatural should be written.

One thing that got my attention was the simple and clear writing. Anson writes in a very pragmatic way, something that’s expected from a nonfiction work. There were no generalizations made. Maybe.

To be honest, this book, being published some 13 years before I was born, was difficult to fully invest myself in. I found connecting to it somewhat of a challenge, but when things began to pick up, that became and nonissue.

The Lutz’s plight was indeed disturbing, but I found some aspect of the haunting not so scary. Creepy yes, but not scary. Thankfully there were no bleeding walls, ghosts in chains and sheets. The coldness in the home was typical of a haunting: the spirit draws energy from the surroundings to manifest itself. However, I didn’t think of the haunting as particularly demonic, save for Jodie, the pig.

In a bit of afterthought, Jodie the pig’s presence as seen by Missy was striking and telling of a demonic presence. Christian doctrine prohibits consuming pig, or at least in some cases. I would think of a demonic presence was a horned humanoid being or even a human-shaped shadow with red glowing eyes. However, the image of Jodie freaked me out.

After mulling over some more, I found Father Mancuso’s role different than what I would have thought. The spiritual guardian of the family, Father Mancuso was taken out of commission for a few days, by what my well be heat blisters. I overlooked this at first for some reason, but this quite honestly reminded me of Salem’s Lot, where the spiritual defender is weakened to the point of uselessness.

Going deeper into the book, I found myself connecting to the people in it. I understood George’s plight: the haunting, balancing his businesses finances, and his family; Kathy’s attempts at managing the children and the home all while dealing with the haunting. I had to keep reminding myself this was nonfiction.

This is just a story, just a story. No.

The Lutz family’s encounter with the supernatural isn’t unique. The family before them were not so lucky. The DeFeo tragedy only added to the supernatural muck. As haunting goes, negative emotions deepen the phenomenon. Violent killings only make whatever spiritual force that occupies a space stronger. Violet deaths only add to demonic haunting.

This book adds credit that life and death are two sides of the same coin. I may be going on a limb here by saying that what is in that house, proves death wrong in some ways. One way is that when life is ended abruptly, say by murder, the essence of the person has difficulty in moving on. Further, whichever entity feeds on that negativity grows stronger. In the vast number of hauntings, both benign and demonic, it can be inferred that the energy that makes up life never disappears.