Hey there, Story Club members.

I'm Ivy, your ghostly host with the most and keeper of the strangest,

spookiest tales on earth.

Today is another Ivy's chilling tale.

This haunting tale story club members might make you bolt the doors and snap on all the lights.

It's one I call the horror of Amityville. One of the most famous haunted houses in history

resides in the residential town of Amityville in Long Island, New York. Back in the late 1970s,

it was the subject of TV show specials, a best-selling book published in 1977 that's still in print, and a hit movie in 1979 that spawned dozens of sequels, spin-offs, and imitators.

But what was the true story of what happened in that house on Ocean Avenue in suburban Amityville?

The Dutch colonial house was purchased by the Defeo's,

a family of seven.

Ronald Defeo Sr. and his wife, Luis,

had five children, including Ronald Defeo Jr.

In the early hours of the morning on November 13, 1974,

the 23-year-old Ronald killed his entire family with a firearm.

During one of his defense claims, Defeo said that,

Voices told him to do it.

He was soon convicted and locked up for the rest of his life.

One year later, George and Kathy Lutz, along with their two boys and girls,

moved into the house in December

1975.

They didn't seem to mind the house's bad reputation.

...