Haunted Places: Fact or Fiction?

Essay by JayZ9185College, UndergraduateA+, April 2004

download word file, 5 pages 4.3

There are many mysteries that question the mind, but none that can compare to the intrigue in ghosts. There are centuries of ghost stories and tales that have been passed down from generation to generation. From the Amityville Horror, to the hauntings of the Hampton Court Palace. A little background history of these bone-chilling horrors may help one decide whether or not to believe in the existence of the beyond. For those of us who already know this information, we know that there will never be enough evidence.

The first of the two hauntings is one of the most talked about poltergeists in America today, the haunting at 112 Ocean Avenue in Long Island, New York. "The Amityville Horror" is one of the most sensational and controversial alleged hauntings ever known. The Lutz family moved into the large Dutch colonial house at 112 Ocean Avenue on December 16, 1975.

The house was comparable to a palace, but was ironically available at the low price of eighty thousand dollars; this cheap price was because of the murder that had taken place there approximately thirteen months before. On November 13, 1974, Ronald DeFeo brutally murdered his entire family claiming he had been hearing voices telling him to do so. The Lutzes ignored the superstition and the warnings of the realtors and purchased their dream home. From the very first day the house and its inhabitants terrorized them. Ghostly apparitions of hooded figures, clouds of flies in the sewing room, severe personality changes, nightly parades by spirit marching bands, levitations, and green slime spilling down the stairs were just some of examples of the unexplainable phenomena that turned the Lutzes dream home into a hell on earth. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lutz had dreams about the DeFeo family, and even envisioned the...