The Amityville Horror

By: Jay Anson

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

In December 1975, the Lutz family moved into their new home on suburban Long Island. George and Kathleen Lutz knew that, one year earlier, Ronald DeFeo had murdered his parents, brothers, and sisters in the house, but the property - complete with boathouse and swimming pool - and the price were too good to pass up.

Twenty-eight days later, the entire Lutz family fled in terror.

This is the spellbinding, best-selling, true story that gripped the nation - the story of a house possessed by evil spirits, haunted by psychic phenomena almost too terrible to describe.

Jay Anson began as a copy boy on the New York Evening Journal in 1937 and later worked in advertising and publicity. With more than 500 documentary scripts for television to his credit, he was associated with Professional Films, Inc. He died in 1980.

©1977 Jay Anson; published in arrangement with Lesia Anson (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A fascinating and frightening book." ( Los Angeles Times)
"This book will scare the hell out of you." ( Kansas City Times)

The Scariest Hoax You'll Ever Read!

It's well documented that this story of the Lutz family is more than likely a hoax. So let's just put that aside. As a story, a work of fiction, this story is fantastic, terrifying, well narrated, and written. This story will have you checking under your bed at night, but then again, how do you fight against something you can't see? Excellent read and an excellent slice of American urban legend!!!

Scary, even if a sham!

So, as a kid who was raised on horror movies, I’ve watched the original “Amityville Horror” and its remake tons of times. Not to mention all its original sequels and then all the other movies where they just threw on the “Amityville” name to try to get you to watch.

But, I had never read the book. When I was younger, the original movie scared me. My first exposure to a “based on a true story” horror movie, and it left me genuinely concerned about my house getting possessed by demons. The red eyes in the window...the babysitter trapped in the closet and her bloody hands...the window shutting on the boy’s hand. Stuff of nightmares. As I grew older, it started to come to light that George and Kathy Lutz were hard up for cash, so the whole “horror” was all a made up scam.

Listening to the book, it’s interesting what was used for the movie and what was left out. It was evident the movie was written for scares. The book, although scary in its own right, seems to go more for a psychological horror approach. As George and Kathy realize something isn’t right in their house - the impact seems more like depression, marriage troubles parental issues, financial problems and career failure - with the additional presence of demons. The author seems to make the connection between the horror in the house the horror all adults experience in our lives. Combine them, and you get a pretty creepy novel.

The narrator for the Audible version reads it almost as a straightforward forward news report, which adds to the creep factor, but also the supposed reality of the situation. The books takes on an even chillier dimension as we hear how the demonic infestation also impacts the priest, Fr. Mancini, who attempted to help. Although, some of the elements seem a bit of out left field and better support the idea the Lutzes made this all up...like green ectoplasmic goo, lion statues that move and bite people, and toilets that randomly just fill with a black substance. It also comes across as they are trying to provide a million different haunts and thus reasons for the possession.

There’s the off-handed reference to the witchcraft peddling preacher Catchum, who is a major plot point in the remake. It doesn’t go anywhere in the book. There’s also poltergeist behavior, but also demons in the fire, and demons terrorizing the children. It’s just a whole lot which makes it more evident that they were trying to make this as sensational as possible to get the most attention.

But, I could understand if anyone read this book when it was first published why they would be scared - and also why it became the subject matter for such a popular horror movie (and tons of subsequent movies.)

Always loved this book

I know it's come out that this isn't a true story after (so I've been told) however this has always been one of my favourite, classic, horror tales. Just the thought of what happened in this tale gives me the chills! I feel like most anyone could enjoy a scary story as good as this one!!

great story what

love that and I also like the fact that it was quite different and more extended than the movie version and the epilogue was also very interesting as well

Still a Good Scare

I read this book in the early 80's the first time. And listening now, 30+ years later ....still scary. If you can listen/read and put yourself in their shoes. Imagine it's you. I loved it then. And I love it still.

Dang!! Must read!

Wow... I’m surprised at how good this book is. Every second I was anticipating what was going to happen next, and at times I even felt myself become frightened. The narrator was spectacular. His voice was calming yet authoritative. I really enjoyed his voices for all the characters: he didn’t overplay the high-pitched factor for women or anything. It felt real. I would love to listen to another book narrated by him. :p

(Also, this really made me think about the movie that came out about Amityville - how ridiculous it seems now - and I feel much more informed after reading this book.)

scary

very interesting read. I enjoy listening to various accounts of the supernatural and this did not disappoint.

Good

I thought this was good. Interesting and creepy. I found it entertaining and the narrator was great.

Believe it or not....

All I can say is that I’m very glad I ignored the bad reviews and gave this book a chance. It was extremely interesting with a lot of history of the house and the surrounding area, including legends about the land that I hadn’t heard before. Don’t listen to the reviews about the narration. After all, this retelling is based on a true story and it wouldn’t fit if it was delivered in a happy or cheerful tone.

Always a haunted favorite

Spooky good fun. I've always loved this story about the house in Amityville. A devilish tale for sure!