The house that inspired The Amityville Horror book and films is up for sale, and it isn’t going cheap despite its murderous history.
108 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, New York, is listed by Zillow.com at a price of $850,000 -roughly £586,000.
That is actually a reduction on what it sold for in 2010 though. The current owner bought it for $950,000, but as her husband died last year she is looking to downsize, reports the NY Daily News.
The five-bedroom, four-bathroom house includes a ‘large’ boat house, two car garage and a boat slip – plus a criminal past.
In 1974 Ronald DeFeo murdered his mother, father, and four siblings in the home, with the victims all found shot, lying face down in their beds.
DeFeo argued that voices in the building told him to commit the killings, but pleas of insanity were rejected by the court as he received six life sentences.
Currently residing in Sullivan Correctional Facility, Fallsburg, New York, DeFeo has a parole hearing scheduled for 2017.
It has been claimed by occupants of the house that paranormal activity has been common since, with odours, strange sounds, and a ‘chilling cold’ despite a roaring fireplace.
It is these tales which inspired the 1977 book The Amityville Horrors before the story was then translated to cinema.
Tales of haunting have been comprehensively rejected by the current house broker, Jerry O’Neill, and it won’t be shown to just anyone either.
O’Neill told the NY Daily News:
The only horror about this house was that a family was murdered…Real estate is a very fickle product. Sometimes you’re disappointed, sometimes you’re pleasantly surprised…Buyers are going to see this only through brokers.
Even if I had the cash, I think I’d still steer clear of this particular property.
