Back during the summer of 1996 when I was doing my research into the Amityville story, one of the places I looked into was the internet. At the time, the only sites on the Amityville subject that I was able to find were movie reviews. Since I'd just taught myself HTML, I put the information I'd dug up online, hoping to share it with others.
The response was tremendous. I was getting lots of e-mail from people all over the U.S. and other parts of the world.
However, with the positive responses came the bad.
Some people claimed that since I lived in Ohio and had never been to Amityville, then I had no right to say that what happened in Amityville was a hoax. Some believed that I was saying that the paranormal didn't exist. Others said that they'd had paranormal experiences, and, because of that, Amityville must have happened.
The negative mail kept escalating, and with everything that was going on in my life at the time, I was getting fed up with it.
In August of 1997, I took my Amityville pages down. Initially, I'd removed my e-mail link to try and weed out the negative e-mail that I'd received around that time. However, the negative mail continued, and for a couple weeks, I pulled these pages offline. During that time, I received several e-mail messages concerning the Amityville hoax. Most were very positive and sorry to see my pages gone. Others were negative. The last one of those from that time, however, motivated me to put the page back up. Here is the message I received:
TO: Kevin Wagner
Dear Kevin, if you are the person who wrote "The Hoax In Amityville," I wish to let you know that (although your presentation was excellent) you are completely off base. "Kathy Lutz" is my aunt, and I can remember visiting them in THAT house in Amityville. I don't know why people are bombarding them still today about those terrible things which happened there. Yes, I admit there are many flaws in the book - but most of the blame there lies completely on Anson, not them. I only want to assure you that there were MANY strange things which happened to my aunt and uncle in Amityville and in the following years after they left. I don't mean to be insultive, but Imean, YOU WEREN'T THERE! I was in that house several times both when they lived there and right after they left. (My dad went back to get some of their things for them-You should hear what happened to him!)But anyway, I appreciate that you removed your web page because Everyone now just wishes that NONE OF IT EVER WENT PUBLIC. If you want to contact me my e-mail is:
christopher.walker@usa.net
Thank you for your time. Goodbye.
I'm sure this person was really related to the Lutzes. I'm sure something really happened to his dad in the house, too.
When I read this e-mail, I realized that I'd done exactly what the people who were against the pages wanted me to do. That's when the pages went back up, and since then, I have had no thought of taking them down.
The e-mails have kept coming, and during the winter of early 1998, I got curious to see how many people were actually visiting my pages. I put a counter on the main page, and the number was much higher than I'd expected. It's since grown to over 80 hits a day on the main page alone!
I've also received some surprise e-mail messages. One of the people who found my pages and has kept in touch with me via e-mail since is Dr. Kaplan's wife, who supports my views and site.
So, what do I really think happened in Amityville?
For one thing, I don't believe the story released to the public was anywhere near 100% fact. The media doesn't always give us all sides to every story.
In late-March 2000, there was a fatal train-school bus crash on the Tennessee-Georgia state line. Every news story I heard on the crash emphasized that the crossing did not have any warning signals. Dan Rather even started the story on the CBS Evening News with "No warning lights! No warning gates!"
What the news media never mentioned was that when the bus driver was stopped at the crossing with the loading door open to hear for trains, she should have heard the train's horn, even if her visibility was obstructed by the trees. In that case, she should have kept the bus where it was and not attempted to cross the tracks. That was something else that the news media never mentioned. Even after it was discovered that the bus driver never even stopped at the crossing, news agencies kept emphasizing that the crossing didn't have any signals. One news channel even discussed whether or not school busses should be allowed to cross unprotected crossings.
It was as if they didn't want people to realize that the bus driver, no matter what, was to blame for the crash that killed three innocent kids. They instead seemed to want to feed into what many people think about crossing accidents, and that is that the railroad was to blame for not having signals at the crossing.
So, why does the media distort the truth like this? Sensationalism. That's what brings in the audiences and the money. If a story gets told to the press about somebody hearing ghostly noises in their house in the middle of the night, chances are that the story won't be released. Why? It's not exciting. People don't buy stories that they heard around the campfire when they were kids. They want fire and brimstone. Okay, maybe not that, but you get my point.
Anyways, I almost 100% believe that the Amityville case was a hoax. Like Dr. Kaplan, I believe there to be too many holes in the stories to take them as 100% fact.
So, why would the Lutzes make up a story like this?
I believe that they probably got in over their heads. From what I heard, business for George's company was slowing down. That meant that their income could have probably gone down as well. At the time they bought the house, they probably had good credit and everything. However, unforeseen problems, such as the broken heating system, probably cropped up. I'm living proof of unexpected problems with my getting laid off from work in February 1999.
I speculate that they soon realized that their bills could have started to amount to more than their income, especially with the unexpected expenses. I've been there.
Then, there was the stress of moving. Since August 1992, I've had to move once or twice a year, and I know how stressful it is.
Combine that with their knowing that six people had been murdered in that house just a year before in the very same bedrooms they were now sleeping in. The Lutzes even kept some of the DeFeos furniture, including, from what I've heard, bedframes! Imagine, if you will, sleeping in that house so soon after the murders, lying awake in bed in the middle of the night, and pondering what happened a year before. Imagine looking at that closed bedroom door thinking about how somebody a year before came through it with a rifle and killed a whole family in that house.
I don't know about anybody else, but I'd be nervous about living there so soon after the murders. I'd be paranoid that every creak of the house settling was somebody in the hallway.
I think they left to escape the bad feelings that they had about living in that house so soon after the murders. It was then that they got the idea to tell about the negative feelings they had. However, the media exaggerated those bad vibes into a huge ghost story. They lost control over the story.
However, I am open to the possibility that something could have happened to the Lutzes.
If something did happen, it would have more than likely been a poltergeist type of phenomena brought on by the stress of moving and the stress of living in the house so soon after the murders. I highly doubt it was a true haunting.
If that actually happened and the Lutzes told their story to the press, it's no wonder how the story got so blown out of proportion.
However, there are some things that I still wonder about:
Of course, there are probably many more questions that will rise up as time goes on.
There was a 2-part TV documentary that aired on the History Channel on October 30th and 31st on the whole Amityville story.
Since that time, I have decided to reorganize my website and put things into a better chronological order as well as put up links to a reference page citing my sources for my information. In the process of that, I'll be going through all of my information again, the In Search Of... episode on the case, and the October 2000 documentary.
I am a strong believer in the paranormal. I have had experiences of my own in the past. In fact, when I first read the book and heard that it was a true story, I wanted to believe it. I wanted to look at the case and be able to say that I wasn't the only one who has dealt with the paranormal.
What gets me is how so many people seem to blindly believe the stories going around about Amityville and other cases. They think that just because they've had experiences or believe in the paranormal, then every other person who says they've experienced the paranormal is telling the truth.
The thing is, you have to take stories like these with a grain of salt. There are indeed some people in this world who have made up stories like this simply for attention or the money. Unless there's evidence to back up their claims, the only person(s) who knows the truth behind the story is the person telling it.
I know that I've gotten a few e-mails from people who have said that my experiences sound a little farfetched. I admit that if I were to be somebody else reading my experiences then they would sound pretty crazy too. The fact is, I know what I experienced and have already tried to explain away a lot of things that I went through.
Recently (June 2000), I began getting a bad image of the town of Amityville. Apparently, the town was unwilling to cooperate with the film crew for the History Channel documentary. Rather than state publicly that nothing happened in the house other than the murders, they instead kept quiet about everything. I can see wanting the publicity to die off due to the circus that's been created around the house. However, I would think that it would be in the town's best interest to take any opportunity to state to the public that nothing happened there. Instead, they seem to be blowing every opportunity to tell their side of the story. The town in The Blair Witch Project had enough common sense to state to the media that nothing had ever happened in that town.
But that wasn't the only thing that gave me a negative view of Amityville.
What changed my view of the town of Amityville was the following e-mail message:
[E-mail address cut out]
Subject: Amityville Horror Page
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 10:57:23 -0400
My name is Roberta Hirsch; I am the Administrator/Clerk for the Village of Amityville, the owners of amityville.com. For a couple of years we have had a link on our web site sending people to yours. While I have no problem with this I do have a problem with some of the links that are found on your web site such as the one I have pasted below. First, people of all
ages are reading this information and second some are thinking that we are allowing it to be posted.
I would appreciate it if you could disconnect some of the sites. We all have our opinions, or other reasons for posting but I do not think this is something that needs to be located on the web.
Thank you and I do like the information that you have presented in your pages (at least the sections that I have read).
Roberta Hirsch
Village of Amityville
Taken off of members.tripod.com/~AmityvilleHorror/index.html
1.Black stains are discovered in the toilets.
This is due to George taking really nasty shits and leaving uncleanable stains in the toilets.
2.Smells and odors are detected in the house.
This is due to George forgetting to flush the toilet and hence stinking up the house.
3.George develops a mean case of diarrhea.
This is normal for anyone experiencing demonic possession.
4.George and Kathy note that Missy's room is warm.
This is due to George working in the room all day and farting hence making the room warm.
5.The family finds a swarm of flies on one of the sewing room windows
What follows is my response, sent on Wednesday, June 28th.
I am well aware that Amityville.com has had a link to my site for the past couple years.
However, I'm not clear where you get the idea that I am to remove links, content, or whatever from my site simply because it contains something that some people might find offensive.
What are you going to ask next? Are you going to ask me to take down my photo album on my homepage, which is linked to from my Amityville site, simply because I have pictures of my two tattoos on it and some people might find those offensive? What about my Duct Tape Fly Jeans page, also linked to on my home page? Some people might find my crotch picture offensive. Are you going to ask me to remove that as well? What about some of my humor pages? What about links to such sites as "Bert is Evil"?
In the several years that I've been on the internet, I've found many things that are offensive to me. Does that mean that I have a right to say that those things need to be taken down? No, I don't. It's a person's freedom of speech. If you don't like it, why are you looking at it? If you don't want your kids looking at it, monitor your kids more when they're on the computer.
You posted a section of one page of some that you found to be offensive and linked to by my site. Why, if you didn't like the material, were you reading it? You obviously spent some time reading it since you were able to choose a section to copy and paste in the e-mail you sent me.
As far as my removing the link you mentioned on my site, I gave it a very brief consideration and concluded that it would not be happening. You have absolutely no control over my site. You have your own site to take care of.
To be perfectly honest, I'm getting more and more of a bad impression of the town of Amityville.
First, I hear that nobody in the town wanted to cooperate in the making of the History Channel's documentary, which to me is completely stupid. I'm leaning heavily towards the idea that nothing happened in that house, and from what I hear, the town's officials say the same thing. However, you people completely blew off a huge opportunity to get your side of the story out to the world! I can understand wanting the circus surrounding that house to die down, but even the town in "The Blair Witch Project" had enough sense to get it out in the media that nothing happened in that town!
Then, I get your e-mail telling me how to run my pages, which you won't see being done to your liking. Instead of removing the link(s), I think I'll instead put up your e-mail message, keeping you anonymous [in regards to her e-mail], to show what the town is really like.
If you choose to remove my link from Amityville.com, I honestly don't care. It's not like it's any skin off my back or anything.
Sincerely,
Kevin L. Wagner
So, I hope you enjoyed reading the information that I've put online for you. Since my pages first went up, other pages started springing up around the web. And, if you'd like to discuss the case or have questions, feel free to either e-mail me (the link is on the main page) or head into the message board and post your questions and thoughts in there.
Thanks for visiting!
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