Does Famously Haunted: Amityville really separate fact from fiction?

Famously Haunted: Amityville premiered during the “Terror on Tubi” Halloween programming. It started streaming on October 15 but is still available for your viewing pleasure.

But is it pleasurable? Because let’s face it. The mass murder of an entire family is not exactly a light or pleasant subject matter. Especially not when a documentary about it also shares the bloody crime scene photos and all the gory details, which Famously Haunted does.

Except, for whatever reason, these are exactly the kinds of stories that enthrall millions of Americans. So, if that’s your thing (I’m guilty!), then you will definitely dig Famously Haunted: Amityville, which describes itself as a deep dive into “one of the most exploited” true crimes in history.

But there’s also another side of the story that skyrocketed the case to a whole different stratosphere. The Lutzes, the people who bought the house after the murders, claimed their new home was possessed. They described cold spots, an unexplainable fly infestation, troubled dreams, oozing walls…it was pretty wild stuff. They were so convinced something sinister and malevolent lurked within their walls that they fled after a mere 28 days. Just totally abandoned it.

There’s no contesting that Ronald DeFeo murdered his mom, dad, two brothers, and two sisters in the home. But there’s a lot of debate about whether something sinister lurked inside the house. Something that compelled Ronald to kill his family and then terrorized the Lutzes.

Was something dark and dangerous haunting the home? Or was it all a hoax? That’s what Famously Haunted: Amityville sets out to explore.

How did they do? Did they really separate the fact from the fiction?

Yes, they did. It’s actually a brilliant documentary. Here’s why.

Famously Haunted: Amityville vs. Amityville Horror House

One of the four shows that premiered in the Paranormal & Unexplained hub when discovery+ first launched this year was the Shock Docs: Amityville Horror House. It was good but not great. It of course talked about the murders but primarily focused on reinforcing the supernatural stigma and telling the story from the Lutzes point of view.

Which is maybe one thing it had more of than Famously Haunted: Amityville had, archival footage of the Lutzes describing their experiences. Famously Haunted included some too, but Amityville Horror House had more.

In addition to exploring the dysfunction that haunted the DeFeo family (Ronald DeFeo Sr., a.k.a. “Big Ronnie,” was abusive), Famously Haunted examined other aspects too. Such as whether Ron Jr. really committed the murders.

It also explored aspects of the case that troubled investigators back then. (The police kind of investigators, not the paranormal ones.) Such as the bullet casings, which were missing from the scene. They were eventually located. Ron Jr. told them where to find them.

But there was also the matter of how had he slaughtered the entire family while they all remained in their beds? Could one person really do that? And if so, again, how? Or was one or more other people also involved? Was it a mob hit? And how had no neighbors heard? Even though the murders happened late, late at night, all that shooting would’ve made a lot of noise.

Which of course lends fodder to those who believe paranormal forces were involved. The demon cloaked Ron in silence so the devil’s dirty deeds could be carried out.

However, Ronald DeFeo finally fessed up to the crime —but not entirely at first. Many, many years afterwards he had one more surprise revelation in store: He didn’t act alone, but the Devil wasn’t his co-conspirator —his sister Dawn was.

The Experts

Both Amityville Horror House and Famously Haunted: Amityville presented testimonies from various experts. On the paranormal side, both included familiar faces we’ve seen on other Travel Channel paranormal docs and shows. Amityville Horror House had Ghost Hunters OG Jason Hawes as well as Jeff Belanger. Famously Haunted had Tim Weisberg and Stephanie Burke.

But Amityville Horror House had a narrower scope of interviewees and commentators, mostly because it was concerned with only examining the paranormal aspect.

Famously Haunted included a much broader variety of voices, from neighbors who had known the DeFeos, to reporters who had covered the murders, podcast hosts, and even social media influencers obsessed with the case. Its goal was to put both the true crime and paranormal parts of the case under the microscope.

Another thing both shared in common was Laura DiDio. She was the reporter who essentially brought the house’s haunted story to life. At the time the Lutzes fled, she worked for a tv news station. In both documentaries, she explained how she convinced the Lutzes to grant Channel 5, her employer at the time, an exclusive paranormal investigation of the house, seance and all. She was also the one who contacted Ed and Lorraine Warren to partake in the investigation.

It would be impossible to talk about Amityville’s alleged haunting without including the Warrens, so Famously Haunted does that too. And also introduces Hans Holzer’s dealings with the case.

Case Closed: Amityville Haunting Hoaxed (But Here’s Why the Legend Will Endure)

One thing Famously Haunted doesn’t try to do is either debunk or further reinforce any paranormal claims about the house. It remains unbiased.

It does, however, present a lot of facts and information from both sides and lets the viewer draw their own conclusions.

The DeFeo murders alone were terrifying. The fact that William Weber, Ronald DeFeo’s lawyer tried to play on the “satanic panic” of the day and have his client avoid responsibility by claiming he was insane, the “devil had made him do it,” only heightened the sensationalization.

Then it appeared Weber saw a way to profit from it even more. Weber admitted he was the mastermind of the haunted house story. He approached the Lutzes and convinced them book and movie deals could be in their future if they played it right.

He even taped them talking with him about it, which both documentaries address. However, Famously Haunted explains how William Weber really understood how to capitalize on it. The Lutzes did make a little from it, but at the end of the day it was nothing compared to the millions the franchise generated.

There’s another issue Famously Haunted stresses: Why have no other families who have lived in the house on 112 Ocean Avenue never had an issue?

Well, the narrator does concede that if any of the other families have experienced paranormal activity, they’ve been smart enough to keep it to themselves.

Because there really is only one thing haunting that house today: dark tourists obsessed with the story.

They interviewed the town’s politicians and residents who have tried to find ways to combat the traffic and trespassing problems mere mortals pose to that house, street, and surrounding neighbors. People want to see where the tragedy happened that sparked, as Laura DiDio put it, “the granddaddy of all ghost stories.”

She also said, “And when you’re talking about the supernatural, you either believe it or you don’t believe it.”

True. There’s no convincing some that this case was hoaxed even though all signs point to that being the case.

Because there is still one other matter. The troubling photo the Warrens took. Many contend it’s the ghost of nine-year-old John DeFeo. Others contend it was faked.

As History vs. Hollywood put it, “Dozens of websites have set out to prove or disprove the Amityville ghost photo, but most people have yet to be convinced one way or the other; thus allowing the infamous photo to continue to cast its spell.”

Which makes Tim Weisberg’s statement at the conclusion of Famously Haunted: Amityville even more poignant: “When the legend becomes fact you print the legend. And that’s where we’re at with the Amityville case. That no matter how much fact we can decipher from what really happened and what didn’t, the legend is always going to be stronger.”

For More Info

Watch Famously Haunted: Amityville on Tubi: tubitv.com/home.

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Have you ever wondered why no one else who’s ever lived in the Amityville house has never had any issues like the Lutzes claimed to have had?