American Hauntings: The True Stories behind Hollywood's Scariest Movies—from The Exorcist to The Conjuring: The True Stories behind Hollywood’s Scariest Movies—from The Exorcist to The Conjuring

by Robert Bartholomew

  2. Box Office Mojo, “The Conjuring,” http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=conjuring.htm, accessed January 20, 2013.

  3. Dave McNary, “A Haunting They Will Go,” Variety 320(14): 16 (July 2013).

  4. Andrea Perron, House of Darkness House of Light: The True Story, Volume One (Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2011); Andrea Perron, House of Darkness House of Light: The True Story, Volume Two (Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2013).

  5. Peter Mitchell, “Something Freaky in the Farmhouse,” Sunday Herald (Melbourne, Australia), July 14, 2013, p. 87.

  6. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 1–10.

  7. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 45.

  8. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. xix.

  9. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 60.

  10. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 61.

  11. Interview with Andrea Perron on August 7, 2013, on the Dead Air Paranormal Radio Show, accessed February 20, 2014.

  12. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 112, 195.

  13. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 59, 63, 108.

  14. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 146–147, 153.

  15. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 156–159, 185; Perron 2013, op. cit., pp. 355–363, 393.

  16. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 249, 278, 279.

  17. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 290.

  18. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 454.

  19. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 7–8, 260–261.

  20. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 192–193.

  21. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 25.

  22. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 213.

  23. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 484–485.

  24. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 131.

  25. Perron 2013, op. cit., p. 293.

  26. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 121.

  27. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 392–393.

  28. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 431, 438.

  29. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 73–74, 223; Perron 2013, op. cit., pp. 69, 164.

  30. Perron 2013, op. cit., p. 2.

  31. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 314–315.

  32. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 434.

  33. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 435.

  34. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 454; Perron 2013, op. cit., pp. 95–97.

  35. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 1.

  36. D. Pearson, H. Rouse, S. Doswell, et al., “Prevalence of Imaginary Companions in a Normal Child Population,” Child: Care, Health and Development 27(1) (2001): 13–22.

  37. Karen Majors, “Children’s Perceptions of their Imaginary Companions and the Purposes They Serve: An Exploratory Study in the United Kingdom,” Childhood 20(4) (2013): 550–565.

  38. Perron 2013, op. cit., p. 258.

  39. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 156.

  40. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 157.

  41. Joe Nickell, The Science of Ghosts: Searching for Spirits of the Dead (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2012), pp. 41–43, 109.

  42. Paul Davies, “The Power of Pillow Torque,” The Guardian, November 16, 1995, p. B9.

  43. Perron op. cit., 2011, p. 185.

  44. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 185–187.

  45. David J. Hufford, “Sleep Paralysis as Spiritual Experience,” Transcultural Psychiatry 42(1) (2005): 11–45. See p. 20.

  46. Emphasis in original.

  47. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 222–223.

  48. Perron 2013, op. cit., pp. 70–72.

  49. Perron 2013, op. cit., pp. 69–70.

  50. Perron 2013, op. cit., pp. 164–165.

  51. Perron 2013, op. cit., pp. 52–58.

  52. Interview with Andrea Perron by Rita Scott, Westport Radio (Ireland), WRFM, 98.2, published June 8, 2013, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y8CKlE7ntY.

  53. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 448.

  54. Perron 2013, op. cit., pp. 184–185.

  55. Perron 2013, op. cit., pp. 187–188.

  56. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 445.

  57. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 445.

  58. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 436.

  59. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 438.

  60. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 438.

  61. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 438–439.

  62. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 440–441.

  63. Perron 2013, op. cit., pp. 174–175.

  64. Perron 2013, op. cit., p. 236; Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 298.

  65. Perron 2013, op. cit., p. 299, 321, 404.

  66. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 328.

  67. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 404–405; Perron 2013, op. cit., pp. 298–299, 314.

  68. Perron 2013, op. cit., pp. 324–329.

  69. Perron 2013, op. cit., p. 239.

  70. Perron 2013, op. cit., p. 330.

  71. Perron 2013, op. cit., pp. 265–266.

  72. Perron 2013, op. cit., p. 266.

  73. “Cluster Flies (Pollenia rudis),” accessed January 22, 2014, at http://ehspest.com/cluster-flies.htm.

  74. Perron 2013, op. cit., p. 265.

  75. “Cluster Flies,” op. cit.

  76. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 53, 311, 313.

  77. Perron 2013, op. cit., p. 293.

  78. Perron 2013, op. cit., pp. 260–262.

  79. Perron 2013, op. cit., p. 350.

  80. Perron 2013, op. cit., p. 358.

  81. Perron 2013, op. cit., pp. 358–362.

  82. Interview with Andrea Perron, August 7, 2013, on the Dead Air Paranormal Radio Show, accessed February 20, 2014, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppLrirY2_Wo.

  83. Perron 2013, op. cit., p. 362.

  84. Perron 2013, op. cit., p. 359.

  85. E-mail from Guy Playfair, August 11, 2014.

  86. Leonard Zusne and Warren H. Jones, Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1989), p. 226.

  87. Zusne and Jones 1989, op. cit., pp. 226–227.

  88. Zusne and Jones 1989, op. cit., p. 227.

  89. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 382.

  90. Peter C. T. Elsworth, “‘The Conjuring’ Depicts Family’s Reported Haunting,” The Providence Journal, July 17, 2013.

  91. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onALOHGiSVQ, accessed February 20, 2014.

  92. Interview with Andrea Perron by Rita Scott, Westport Radio (Ireland), op. cit.

  93. “The Conjuring Case with Andrea Perron.” 30 Odd Minutes cable TV show (ABMI Cable 8, 10 Williams Way, Bellingham, Massachusetts), accessed February 20, 2014, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA5FhzmX1zI.

  94. Perron 2011, op. cit., p. 209.

  95. Nick Collins, “Feeling of Being Watched ‘Hardwired in Brain.’” The Daily Telegraph (London), April 12, 2013.

  96. Interview with Andrea Perron by Rita Scott, Westport Radio (Ireland), op. cit.

  97. Perron 2013, op. cit., p. 474.

  98. Perron 2011, op. cit., pp. 483–484.

  99. “The Conjuring & Perron Story: The Current Owner Speaks Out,” narrated by Norma Sutcliffe. Accessed May 1, 2014, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2dg2Ufavj8.

  100. Andy Smith, “Owner of R. I. ‘Conjuring’ House: Movie Has Made Life a Nightmare,” Providence Journal, January 30, 2014.

  101. Smith 2014, op. cit.

  102. Smith 2004, op. cit.

  103. Jim Baron, “Movie Link Conjures up Nightmare for Local Family,” The Call (Woonsocket, RI), July 25, 2013.

  Chapter 5

  1. Eleanor Ayer, Parallel Journeys (New York: Aladdin, 2000), p. vii.

  2. Brad Steiger, Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places (Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press, 2003), p. 34.

  3. According to the 1980 Census, the population of Amityville was 9,076.

  4. Paul Hoffman, “Our Dream House Was Haunted,” Good Housekeeping (April 1977): 119, 238, 240, 242. On July 18, 1976, Hoffman published a very similar version of this article in the New York Sunday News, under the title “Life in a Haunted House.”

  5. Samuel Arkoff and Richard Turbo, Flying Through Hollywood By the Seat of My Pants (Secaucus, NJ: Birch Lane Press, 1992), p 228; “The Amityville
Horror,” accessed January 16, 2013, at http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=amityvillehorror.htm.

  6. Greg Carson (producer), “Supernatural Homicide” (MGM Home Entertainment, 2005), interview with Dr. Adelman in the special features section of The Amityville Horror movie. For inaccurate reports that the family had been drugged, see Pranay Gupte, “Slain Family Drugged, Police on L. I. Report.” The New York Times, November 18, 1974, p. 37.

  7. For inaccurate reports that the family had been drugged, see Gupte 1974 (op. cit.); “Suspect in Slaying of Family Reportedly Admits One Killing,” The Times Herald Record (Middleton, New York), November 16, 1974, p. 2.

  8. Carson 2005, op. cit.

  9. The Lutzes do not dispute that they beat their children with a wooden spoon shortly after moving into the house. In his book, Jay Anson suggests that this was out of character and evidence that supernatural forces were altering the Lutzes behavior. However, when interviewed years later, Danny Lutz claimed that he was commonly disciplined with a wooden spoon. See Trevor Fehrman, “Growing Up in the Amityville Horror,” Skeptic (Altadena, CA) 18(3) (2013): 58–59.

  10. Jay Anson, The Amityville Horror (New York: Pocket Star Books, 2005), p. 290.

  11. Anson 2005, op. cit., p. 2.

  12. Nick Freand Jones and Craig Collinson (directors), “The Real Amityville Horror,” a documentary produced by Nobles Gate Scotland for Channel 4 Television Corporation (UK), released on October 24, 2005.

  13. Anson 2005, op. cit., pp. 2–3.

  14. Daniel Farrands (director), “Amityville: Horror or Hoax?” a Histories Mysteries TV documentary, season 6, episode 10, airing October 31, 2000. In reading Anson 2005 (p. 301), one could get the impression that this event occurred on February 18, due to the vague writing style. It was organized on that date but took place on March 6. See also Jones and Collinson 2005 and Anson 2005 (pp. 3–4).

  15. Farrands 2000, op. cit.

  16. Farrands 2000, op. cit.

  17. Anson 2005, op. cit., p. 302.

  18. Anson 2005, op. cit., pp. 302–303; Jones and Collinson 2005, op. cit.

  19. Rosemary Ellen Guiley, The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology (New York: Facts on File, 1979), p. 8; Brian Righi, Ghosts, Apparitions and Poltergeists (Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn, 2011).

  20. Farrands 2000, op. cit.

  21. Farrands 2000, op. cit.

  22. Rick Moran and Peter Jordan, “The Amityville Horror Hoax,” Fate, May 1978: 43–47. See p. 46.

  23. Alan Landsburg (producer), “The Amityville Horror,” In Search Of (TV program), airing October 4, 1979.

  24. Anson 2005, op. cit., p. 194.

  25. Hoffman 1977, op. cit., p. 242.

  26. Alex Drehsler and Jim Scovel, “Fact or Fiction?” Newsday, November 17, 1977, p. 4A.

  27. Rick Moran, “Amityville Revisited,” The Fortean Times 190 (2004): 32–37. See p. 37.

  28. Moran 2004, op. cit., p. 37.

  29. Ric Osuna, The Night the DeFeos Died: Reinvestigating the Amityville Murders (Nevada: Noble Kai Media, 2003), p. xix, 351. For the quote, see Ric Osuna, “Lutz vs Weber,” accessed November 11, 2013, at http://www.amityvillemurders.com/lutzvweber.html.

  30. “Was ‘Amityville’ Made Up?” Associated Press article appearing in The Evening Capital (Annapolis, Maryland), July 30, 1979, p. 11.

  31. “Was ‘Amityville’ Made Up?” op. cit.

  32. “Was ‘Amityville’ Made Up?” op cit.

  33. See Kaplan and Kaplan 1995, pp. 174–86; Joe Nickell, Entities: Angels, Spirits, Demons, and Other Alien Beings (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1995), p. 122; S. T. Joshi, Icons of Horror and the Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Nightmares, Volume 1 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing, 2006), p. 274.

  34. Diana Jean Schemo, “‘Amityville’ Prisoner Says Movie Money Tainted Defense,” The New York Times, June 25, 1992.

  35. Nickell 1995, op. cit., p. 126.

  36. Rick Moran and Peter Jordan, “The Amityville Horror: The Truth Behind America’s Most Infamous Haunted House,” UFO Report 5(6) (June 1978): 36–39, 74–77. See p. 38. See also Rick Moran and Peter Jordan, “The Amityville Horror Hoax,” Fate, May 1978: 43–47. See p. 46.

  37. Moran and Jordan 1978, op. cit., p. 45.

  38. Pete Bowles, “Lutz Family ‘Horror’ Suit Is Rejected,” Newsday, September 11, 1979.

  39. Guiley 1979, op. cit., p. 8.

  40. Sally Satel and Scott Lilienfeld, Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience (New York: Basic Books, 2013), p. 17.

  41. Satel and Lilienfeld 2013, op. cit., p. 17.

  42. “Ames: Separated Spy, Agent Lives,” The Daily Press (Newport News, Virginia), April 29, 1994, citing the Washington Post.

  43. Tim Vasquez, “Another Tall Tale,” Weatherwise (September–October 2006): 52–56. See p. 54.

  44. Vasquez 2006, op. cit., pp. 54–55.

  45. Anson 2005, op. cit., pp. 245–249.

  46. Vasquez 2006, op. cit., p. 55.

  47. Nickell 1995, op. cit., p. 127.

  48. Vasquez 2006, op. cit., p. 56.

  49. Anson 2005, op. cit., p. 68.

  50. Anson 2005, op. cit., pp. 68–69; Michael Kernan, “The Calamityville Horror,” The Washington Post, September 16, 1979, pp. D1–D3. See p. D3.

  51. Alex Drehsler and Jim Scovel, “Fact or Fiction?” Newsday, November 17, 1977, p. 5A.

  52. Dennis Hevesi, “Between the Covers, Some Changes,” Newsday, September 17, 1978, p. 26.

  53. Rick Moran and Peter Jordan, “The Amityville Horror Hoax,” Fate, May 1978: 43–47. See p. 45.

  54. Dennis Hevesi, “Haunted by a Horror Story.” Newsday, September 17, 1978, p. 12.

  55. Alex Drehsler and Jim Scovel, “Fact or Fiction?” Newsday, November 17, 1977, p. 4A.

  56. Kathleen Lutz, “Exclusive: Wife Tells Chilling Story Behind Our 28 Days of Horror in House Terrorized by Evil Spirits,” The National Enquirer, December 13, 1977, pp. 1, 28–29.

  57. Paul Hoffman, “Our Dream House Was Haunted,” Good Housekeeping (April 1977): 119, 238, 240, 242. See p. 238; Rick Moran and Peter Jordan, “The Amityville Horror: The Truth Behind America’s Most Infamous Haunted House,” UFO Report 5(6) (June 1978): 36–39, 74–77. See p. 77.

  58. Alex Drehsler and Jim Scovel, “Fact or Fiction?” Newsday, November 17, 1977, p. 5A.

  59. Joe Nickell, Entities: Angels, Spirits, Demons, and Other Alien Beings (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1995), p. 127.

  60. Nickell 1995, op. cit., p. 127.

  61. Nickell 1995, op. cit., p. 125.

  62. Gordon Stein, ed., Encyclopedia of Hoaxes (Detroit: Gale Research, 1993), p. 63.

  63. Melvin Harris, Investigating the Unexplained (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 2003), p. 202.

  64. Hevesi 1978, op. cit., p. 26.

  65. Anson 2005, op. cit., pp. 95–96.

  66. Anson 2005, op. cit., pp. 187–195.

  67. http://murderpedia.org/male.D/d/defeo-ronald.htm, accessed November 3, 2013.

  68. Colin Colwell, “Convict Gives Version of Amityville Killings,” Newsday, June 25, 1992.

  69. Diana Jean Schemo, “‘Amityville’ Prisoner Says Movie Money Tainted Defense,” The New York Times, June 25, 1992.

  70. Curt Suplee, “Dolors to Dollars,” The Washington Post, December 9, 1977, p. B1, B3. See p. B3 for quotes.

  71. Moran 2004, op. cit., p. 34.

  72. Moran 2004, op. cit., p. 34.

  73. Rick Moran and Peter Jordan, “The Amityville Horror: The Truth Behind America’s Most Infamous Haunted House,” UFO Report 5(6) (June 1978): 36–39, 74–77. See p. 39.

  74. Kernan 1979, op. cit., p. D1.

  75. Moran and Jordan 1978, op. cit., p. 39.

  76. Anson 2005, op. cit., p. 126.

  77. Kernan 1979, op. cit., p. D1.

  78. Farrands 2000, op. cit.

  79. Rosemary Ellen Guiley, “Where Is the Real Story behind the Amityville Haunting?” October 5, 2011, accessed November 10, 2013, at http://www.fatema
g.com/inside-fate/bloggers/rosemary-ellen-guiley/where-is-the-real-story-behind-the-amityville-haunting-2/.

  80. Moran 2004, op. cit., p. 34.

  81. Lawrence Van Gelder, “A Real Life Horror Story,” The New York Times, October 9, 1977, p. 2, 15. Quote on p. 2.

  82. Anson 2005, op. cit., p. 307.

  83. William J. Slattery, “Jay Anson: The Man Who Wrote The Amityville Horror,” Writer’s Digest (March 1979): 22–26. See p. 26.

  84. Hevesi 1978, op. cit., p. 26.

  85. Moran and Jordan 1978, op. cit., pp. 45–46.

  86. Suplee 1977, op. cit., p. B3.

  87. Jones and Collinson 2005, op. cit.

  88. Alex Drehsler and Jim Scovel, “Fact or Fiction?” Newsday, November 17, 1977, p. 5A.

  89. Suplee 1977, op. cit., p. B3.

  90. Anson 2005, op. cit., p. 307.

  91. See, for example, Jay Anson, The Amityville Horror (New York: Pocket Star Books, 2005).

  92. Nathan Robert Brown, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Paranormal (Auckland, New Zealand: Penguin Group, 2010), p. 23.

  93. Kevin Christopher, “The ABC-ville Horror,” Skeptical Inquirer 27(1) (2003): 53–54. See p. 54.

  94. Christopher 2003, op. cit., p. 54.

  95. Guiley 1979, op. cit., p. 8.

  96. Jason Lynch, Maureen Harrington, Steve Erwin, and Liza Hamm, “Amityville Ghosts,” People 63(15) (April 18, 2005).

  97. Eric Walters, (director), “My Amityville Horror,” a Lost Witness Pictures production airing on Sundance NOW, March 17, 2013.

  98. Fehrman 2013, op. cit.

  99. Dennis Hevesi, “Haunted by a Horror Story,” Newsday, September 17, 1978, p. 14.

  100. Gary White, “The Real Horror Story,” The Ledger (Lakeland, Florida), April 25, 2005; Jones and Collinson 2005, op. cit.

  101. Ed Lowe, “The Relentless Terror of the Amityville Tourists,” Chicago Tribune, March 2, 1980, p. H13, 42–43, 47. See p. 43.

  102. Lowe 1980, op. cit., p. 42.

  103. Lowe 1980, op. cit., p. 47. Italics in original.

  104. Lowe 1980, op. cit., p. 47.

  105. Barbara Basler Krebs, “Buyer of ‘Haunted House’ in Amityville Not Dispirited,” The New York Times, August 1, 1979, p. B4; Joanne Wasserman, “Amityville Horror House Sold for $80,000,” New York Post, July 31, 1979; “Ask the Globe,” Boston Globe, October 12, 1980, p. 1.

  106. Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1922), cited in F. MacDonnell, Insidious Foes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 2.