Whilst scrolling through my Twitter subscriptions I happened upon Mike "I made the coolest Halloween movie EVER called Trick 'r Treat" Dougherty's recent tweet that the real-life house from The Amityville Horror is up for sale!
Sure enough, after looking at the article on NewsDay.com and doing a bit of internet detective work myself, HERE's the official Daniel Gale/Sotheby's listing.
Despite what the Lutz family says they experienced after moving in in 1975, and what Hollywood and James Brolin have acted out for us, the News Day article says that none of the other people who inhabited the house ever experienced anything out of the ordinary except for some "gawkers" who show up--when else?
On Halloween.
I say I would love to buy this place and turn it into a Bed and Breakfast and/or Horror Museum.
How cool would that be? How many people wouldn't want to spend the night in a legendary --supposedly haunted-- location?
I can see the reservations booking up already.
Plus, in October, it sounds like you've got built in visitors (and probably trick or treaters).
"Please be sure to buy a "I Trick or Treated at the Amityville Horror and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" T-shirt in the gift shop!" I'd remind the lined-up masses through my bullhorn.
(Keep in mind this is NOT where the film was shot. The Amityville Horror was shot at another house about 2 hours away. For a great write-up of the 1979 film's shooting locations I defer to the master Sean Clark over at Horrors Hallowed Grounds.)
But in actuality, I don't know if *I* would want to sleep there. My imagination is too active and the neighbors would complain about the number of times I ran screaming from my own home because the sound of the water heater kicking on made me freak myself out.
So I pose this question to you, dear readers: if you had the money, would YOU buy this house?
Could you live comfortably in a place where a horrible thing happened?
If so, there's some property you should look into buying... and to riff on an old Mad Magazine joke: only $1.15 million! SUPER CHEAP!
You can read up more on the real-life events over truTV's write-up HERE or the expertly detailed Amityvillemurders.com complete with grisly crime-scene photos: you have been warned.
UPDATED 8/6/10: Well THAT didn't take long. According to Newsday via ShockTillYouDrop.com the house has been SOLD! Links HERE and HERE.
5 comments:
Wow--I say buy it and turn it into a ghost hunting B&B and charge ridiculous rates for people to be in on an active ongoing 24/7 investigation...rent it out for shows like "GH" and make some serious dough.
Autumnforest: That's a pretty good idea.
I agree that a B&B would be ideal. I don't think the neighbors would like that though. Have you seen this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXZD6upIlGk
Italian Postcards:
Yeah I'm sure you'd have a hard time getting a B&B approved for that neighborhood.
I HAVE seen that link and don't really know what to make of it.
My skeptic cries "B.S." but still--freaky.
I think you buy the entire block and make it Halloween town. Use the other homes as other horror movie houses (Halloween, Friday 13th cabin ..ect) Then have it open Summer time and Fall - closed for winter.
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