They lived at 112 Ocean Avenue, a large Dutch Colonial house situated in a suburban neighborhood in Amityville, on the south shore of Long Island, New York.

[3] After a trial lasting seven weeks, DeFeo was convicted of second-degree murder in November 1975 and sentenced to six terms of 25 years to life in prison.

[8] Father Mancuso was a lawyer, judge of the Catholic Court and psychotherapist who lived at the local Sacred Heart Rectory.

He arrived to perform the blessing while George and Kathy were unpacking their belongings on the afternoon of December 18, 1975, and went into the building to carry out the rites.

Following his visit to the house, Father Mancuso allegedly developed a high fever and blisters on his hands similar to stigmata.

[10] The book was written after Tam Mossman, an editor at the publishing house Prentice Hall, introduced George and Kathy Lutz to Jay Anson.

In the interview, he makes it clear that he did in fact enter the home and that he was slapped by an invisible force and told to "get out" by a disembodied voice.

Local Shinnecock Indians rejected the claim made in chapter 11 of the book that the house was built on a site where the tribe had once abandoned the mentally ill and the dying.

[16] Researchers Rick Moran and Peter Jordan rejected the claim of cloven hoof prints in the snow on January 1, 1976.

[18][page needed] In the original hardcover edition, Father Pecoraro's car is "an old tan Ford", and he experiences an incident in which the hood flies up against the windshield while he is driving it.

[19][20] In May 1977, George and Kathy Lutz filed a lawsuit against William Weber (the defense lawyer for Ronald DeFeo, Jr.), Paul Hoffman (a writer working on an account of the hauntings), Bernard Burton and Frederick Mars (both alleged clairvoyants who had examined the house), along with Good Housekeeping magazine, the New York Sunday News, and the Hearst Corporation.

The claims against the news corporations were dropped and the remainder of the lawsuit was heard by Brooklyn District Court judge Jack B. Weinstein.

Judge Weinstein also expressed concern about the conduct of William Weber and Bernard Burton relating to the affair, stating: "There is a very serious ethical question when lawyers become literary agents.

"[21] Weber himself "filed a two-million-dollar lawsuit against the couple, charging them with reneging on their book deal",[22][23] while the Cromartys launched a suit "against the Lutz parents, author Anson, and his publisher.

James Cromarty bought the house in 1977 and lived there with his wife Barbara for ten years; he commented: "Nothing weird ever happened, except for people coming by because of the book and the movie.

The part of the priest who blesses the house (renamed Father Delaney in the film) was played by Academy Award–winning actor Rod Steiger.

One of the better known features of the Amityville Horror films is the distinctive jack-o'-lantern-like appearance of the house, which was created by two quarter round windows on the third floor attic level.

Although not all of the films in The Amityville Horror series are set at the former Lutz home on Ocean Avenue, the distinctive Dutch Colonial house is traditionally used as the main image in promotional material.

[31] This version exaggerates the isolation of 112 Ocean Avenue by depicting it as a remote house similar to the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King's The Shining.

[32] He objected particularly to the scene in the film where the male lead – named George Lutz and played by Ryan Reynolds – is shown killing the family dog with an axe.

The defamation claim was dismissed by a Los Angeles court in November 2005, while other issues related to the lawsuit remained unresolved at the time of George Lutz's death.

During the period in which the Lutz family was living at 112 Ocean Avenue, Stephen Kaplan, a self-styled vampirologist and ghost hunter, was called in to investigate the house.

On the night of March 6, 1976, the house was investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren, a husband and wife team self-described as demonologists, together with a crew from the television station Channel 5 New York and reporter Michael Linder of WNEW-FM.

[35] The photograph did not emerge into the public domain until 1979, when George and Kathy Lutz and Rod Steiger appeared on The Merv Griffin Show to promote the release of the first film.

[40][41] The website of the Amityville Historical Society makes no mention of the murders by Ronald DeFeo, Jr. in 1974 or the period that the Lutz family lived at 112 Ocean Avenue.

When the History Channel made its documentary about The Amityville Horror in 2000, no member of the Historical Society would discuss the matter on camera.