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No one disputes the atrocity of the 1974 murders committed by Ronald DeFeo Jr which occurred at the house. However, was there any truth to the 1977 book by Jay Anson which chronicled various claims by George and Kathy Lutz that:

  • Slime oozed from the walls?

  • Locks and windows were broken by an unseen force?

  • Cloven hoofprints unexplainedly appeared outside in the snow on January 1, 1976?

  • Or that the "most famous haunted house in America" was actually haunted?

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I'd say that it has been pretty well proven that Jay Anson's book was a hoax. The motive, at least for the Lutzs, seems to have been to get out of the purchase of the house, which was financially ruinous for them. I've always found it odd that those money problems are so prominent in the book, and even in the famous movie based on the book. You'd think you'd want to downplay that angle in your ghost story.

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  • hiding something make it suspicious, being open and honest about it throws off suspicion. – DampeS8N Apr 1 '11 at 13:49
  • Perhaps, but financial problems should have nothing to do with your house being haunted. I'd say it's a sign of how bad those financial problems were that they got mentioned in the book at all, and they would be a powerful motive to make up a ghost story to try to renege on purchase of an expensive house. – Scott Hamilton Apr 1 '11 at 13:56
  • I find it ironically funny that the house that was financially ruinous was also a wellspring of wealth. – oosterwal Apr 1 '11 at 15:28

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