The Conjuring 2, which comes out this week, opens with a scene set inside the Amityville Horror house — and, as it happens, the iconic Long Island home has just gone back on the market. A mass murder, a fake haunting, a best-seller, a hit movie series, eternal pop-culture infamy, and a boat house — 108 Ocean Avenue has it all.
Lead Image: The house in Amityville, N.Y. as it looked right after the DeFeo murders, November 14, 1974. (Image: AP Photo)
Yes, eagle-eyed horror nerds will note, the address was changed (it was 112 Ocean Avenue when the house rose to notoriety in the 1970s), and somewhere along the way the home’s distinctive, eye-like windows were removed. The swimming pool has also been filled in, according to the listing photos on Zillow.
Image: Zillow
The Zillow posting mentions the home’s many features, including a formal dining room, heated sunroom, and lovely riverfront views, but it doesn’t touch on its history. Does it need to, though? This stuff is common knowledge at this point: after 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo, Jr. shot and killed six members of his family (including his four siblings, the youngest of whom was only nine years old) in 1974, the house stood vacant until late 1975, when the Lutz family moved in for just 28 days. Their ordeal was the basis for Jay Anson’s 1977 best-seller, The Amityville Horror, which transformed a local murder tragedy (DeFeo is still serving a life sentence) into an international sensation.
The next family to occupy the house took residence in 1977, lived there for over 10 years, and reported absolutely zero bumps in the night. It was sold again in 1987, then in 1997, and most recently in 2010, for $US950,000 ($1,271,376). (Its current asking price six years later: $US850,000 ($1,137,547).)
Broker Joanne Mills, who worked on the 2010 sale, told Yahoo News that the home’s fame is both a plus and a minus, as you might expect:
It is an absolutely gorgeous home and it’s completely finished from top to bottom. The present owners did even more rehab to the home and did a beautiful job. The house is haunted, yes, but not by who you think. It’s haunted by the curiosity seekers that make it difficult for the people that live there.
Zillow only has exterior photos posted, and Mills notes there’ll be no open houses for the public — only serious buyers with the funds to back up their intentions will be invited to view the property. Bad news for anyone who thought this might be their chance to poke around looking for any weird, red rooms in the basement.