Walkin' After Midnite

10/28/2023

This abandoned home is beautiful, but its history is haunting.

10/05/2023

THE BIRTH OF SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY

On October 5, 1861, a Boston photographer and engraver named William Mumler first introduced the idea that the living could photograph the spirits of the dead to the world. While Mumler himself became a controversial figure who was often accused of fraud, his photographs changed the history of the paranormal forever.

Interest in the Spiritualist movement in America had been on the rise since the announcements of spirit rappings at the home of the Fox family of New York in 1848. Of course, no photographs were taken of the Fox sister’s séances because indoor photography was impossible in those days. But as fascination with the subject continued into the era of photography, a collision between the two was inevitable.

On October 5, 1861, in a photographic studio at 258 Washington Street in Boston, William Mumler was developing some experimental self-portraits that he had taken and was startled to find that the image of a ghostly young woman appeared in one of the photos with him. He was said to have recognized the young woman as a cousin who had passed away 12 years before. He later recalled that while posing for the portrait, he had experienced a trembling sensation in his right arm that left him particularly exhausted. The photograph attracted great attention and it was examined by not only Spiritualists but by some of the leading photographers of the day. They all came to accept the fact that, as Mumler stated: “This photograph was taken by myself, of myself, and there was not a living soul in the room besides myself.” Mumler was soon overwhelmed by public demand for his photographs and he gave up his regular job as an engraver to devote himself entirely to spirit photography.

William Black, a leading Boston photographer and the inventor of the acid nitrate bath for photographic plates, was one of the professionals who investigated Mumler and his methods. After sitting for Mumler in his studio, Black examined his camera, plate, and bath and kept his eye on the plate from the moment its preparations began until it was locked into the camera. After his portrait was taken, Black removed it from the camera and took it into the darkroom himself, where, as it developed, he was stunned to see the image of a man, leaning over his shoulder. Black was convinced that Mumler was the genuine article and could somehow entice the spirits to appear on film.

Others were, of course, not so sure.

Mumler had never been interested in the spirits or Spiritualism prior to his first alleged spirit photograph and his steep charge of $5 per photograph began to arouse suspicions that he was just in it for the money. He became the object of great controversy and eventually moved to New York, where he then began charging $10 for photographs. His critics howled once more. Mumler had many supporters, though. One of them was U.S. Court of Appeals Judge John Edmonds, who had originally come to Mumler’s studio with intentions to expose him as a fraud, but left convinced that he could actually conjure up genuine psychic photos.

In 1863, Dr. Child of Philadelphia reported that Mumler was willing to allow him to thoroughly investigate the methods of his spirit photos and, as he said, find a rational explanation for the mystery. He permitted Child to watch all his operations in and out of the darkroom, and allowed him to examine his apparatus. Dr. Child displayed the pictures made at the time, while he and several friends watched the entire process, from the plate cleaning to the fixing. He took the precaution to mark each plate with a diamond before it was used and yet on each one of them was a spirit image. Child had failed completely to discover any human agent that was responsible for the formation of the spirit picture. Each of them differed considerably from one another and Child could not come up with a way to duplicate them.

However, the “extras,” as they came to be called, in Mumler’s photographs did not amaze everyone. After much controversy, pressure from city officials led to him being arrested and charged with fraud. But the testimony of several leading New York residents, including famed Broadway producer Jeremiah Gurney, who affirmed that as a professional photographer he had never seen anything like the images that were produced, led to Mumler being exonerated and his case dismissed.

Later, however, it turned out that the courts may have been a little too hasty when they dropped the charges against William Mumler.

According to an article in Scientific American magazine in 1902, Mumler may have been cleverer than anyone ever gave him credit for --- and a much bigger fraud. Experiments in duplicating spirit photos that were done long after Mumler was producing his controversial images discovered a simple way of creating spectral images that would have passed inspection by those who examined Mumler’s plates and apparatus at the time. This method involved making a very thin positive image on glass that was the same size as the plate that was to be used in producing the spirit photo. The glass was then placed in the holder where the plate would later be placed, as well. With the glass in position, the plate could be inserted under the watchful eye of the examiner and the photograph produced. With the weak positive superimposed, the ghostly image would appear, along with the sitter, on the negative plate.

In this way, the plates would never be tampered with and in examinations like those conducted by Dr. Child, his mark would appear on the plate that was used and he would never assume that anything out of the ordinary was taking place.

Could this have been Mumler’s secret? If we assume that fraud may have been involved with the creation of his photos, then yes, it could have been. But what about those photos that contained the images of loved ones that Mumler knew nothing about? Could his research have been so thorough that he delved into the private lives --- and photographs --- of those who made appointments so far in advance that he could obtain photos of dead relatives that would then appear in his spirit photographs? And what of those who came to him without an appointment and yet their loved ones still managed to appear on film? Was it wishful thinking that the extras appeared to be so familiar? Perhaps --- or perhaps not.

09/01/2023

The Blue Moon over the Mansion

Photo courtesy of Adrianna Leblanc

08/11/2023

SAVE Dilley Haunted Hospital!

06/18/2023

One of the first places I ever saw spirits. I think I was in Elementary school, when my family stayed at 3 Valley Gap.

The pool area was terrifying...

I remember diving into the pool and seeing a boy at the bottom. I felt him touch my feet first. He looked grey and he was sitting there - looking at me. I quickly got out and never went back into the pool. My siblings played, but I just sat there shivering.

I since have had many reoccurring dreams about the place. All of them of the nightmare variety.

I would stay here in the off season by myself. I wonder if they would let a writer stay with her cat....

04/01/2023

The owner of this photo said….So my brother sent me this picture. He can't explain it he even looked at a couple of pics minutes prior to the capture and everything is normal. Except for the 5:55 am Mark. He has no pets whatsoever either. The reason he has the stills camera setup is to monitor his sleeping as he was concerned he was sleep walking (no evidence yet) due to finding things disrupted sometimes when he woke. He has cameras around the house and thought he would try sleeping on his couch that night.

03/12/2023

One of my haunts. I got to stay the night and sleep in one of the upstairs bedrooms once long ago. I stayed in the room the shadow figure is walking towards. That doorway is a portal. When I stayed there with Bette Boop I took photos from my room into this room from that doorway and caught Mr. M's apparition in the mirror. His hands folded atop his chest like he was buried and his mouth open in horror. This video confirms my personal experiences. The shadow is in the exact same spot the apparition was in.

01/15/2023

THE BLACK DAHLIA

On January 15, 1947, a housewife named Betty Bersinger left her home on Norton Avenue in the Leimert Park section of Los Angeles, bound for a shoe repair shop with her 3-year-old daughter. In an empty lot along the way, she discovered the severed and mutilated body of a young woman named Elizabeth Short -- who would become better known as the "Black Dahlia."

This macabre discovery began one of Los Angeles’ greatest unsolved mysteries captured the imagination of southern California and the rest of America. The story of the “Black Dahlia” painted a vivid and bloody picture of a Hollywood story gone wrong. A young woman came west to find riches and glory, but tragically, found her greatest fame in death.

To discover the rest of the story, discover one of Troy's best-selling titles so far, FALLEN ANGEL: THE TRAGIC TRUE STORY OF THE BLACK DAHLIA. Autographed editions are available at https://tinyurl.com/y5e5mnvw

01/13/2023

AFTER TOMBSTONE
The Last Days of Wyatt Earp

On January 13, 1929, Western legend (and one of my personal heroes) Wyatt Earp died in Los Angeles, California. While most people are aware of Wyatt’s legendary time in Tombstone, Arizona, with his brothers and notorious friend, John “Doc” Holliday, most don’t much about him after he left the region. Suffice it to say, his adventures – and some say “checkered” career – continued.

The gunfight behind the O.K. Corral in Tombstone only last 30 seconds, but it became a defining moment in Wyatt’s life. After the “Vendetta Ride” of Wyatt Earp, which ended with the deaths of Frank Stilwell and Curly Bill Brocius, the Earps left Arizona for Colorado. They stopped in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they met Deputy U.S. Marshal Bat Masterson, Wyatt's friend. The Earps, Sherman McMasters, and Holliday rode with Masterson to Trinidad, Colorado where Masterson owned a saloon. Wyatt dealt Faro for several weeks before he, Warren, Holliday, and several others rode on to Gunnison, Colorado.

Holliday headed to Pueblo and then Denver. The Earps and Texas Jack set up camp on the outskirts of Gunnison, Colorado, where they remained quietly at first, rarely going into town for supplies. Eventually, Wyatt took over a faro game at a local saloon.

After Morgan was killed, Wyatt's former common-law wife, Celia Anne "Mattie" Blaylock, waited for him in C**ton but eventually accepted that Wyatt was not coming back. Wyatt left Mattie their house when he left Tombstone. She moved to Pinal City, Arizona, and resumed life as a pr******te. Mattie struggled with her addictions and committed "su***de by o***m poisoning" on July 3, 1888.

In late 1882, Wyatt had gone to San Francisco, where he met up with brothers Virgil and Warren, and reunited with Josephine Marcus, whom he had met in Tombstone. Josie, or Sadie as he called her, was his common-law wife for the next 46 years.

But Wyatt’s peace-keeping days were not yet over – nor did his days of absolute loyalty to his friends come to an end. On May 31, 1883, Wyatt returned along with Bat Masterson to Dodge City to help Luke Short, part owner of the Long Branch saloon, during what became known as the Dodge City War. When the Mayor tried to run Luke Short first out of business and then out of town, Short appealed to Masterson who contacted Earp. While Short was discussing the matter with Governor George Washington Glick in Kansas City, Earp showed up with Johnny Millsap, Shotgun John Collins, Texas Jack Vermillion, and Johnny Green. They marched up Front Street into Short's saloon where they were sworn in as deputies by constable "Prairie Dog" Dave Marrow. The town council offered a compromise to allow Short to return for 10 days to get his affairs in order, but Wyatt refused to compromise. When Short returned, there was no force ready to turn him away. Short's Saloon reopened, and the “Dodge City War” ended without a shot being fired.

Wyatt spent the next decade running saloons and gambling concessions and investing in mines in Colorado and Idaho, with stops in various boom towns. He also owned several saloons outright or in partnership with others. In 1884, Wyatt and his wife Josie, Warren, James and Bessie Earp were in Eagle City, Idaho, another boom town. Wyatt was looking for gold in the Murray-Eagle mining district. They opened a saloon called The White Elephant in a circus tent.

Wyatt was named sheriff of the newly incorporated Kootenai County, Idaho. In Idaho Wyatt was involved in a brief shootout. On March 28, several feet of snow were still on the ground. Bill Buzzard, a miner of dubious reputation, began constructing a building when one of Wyatt's partners, Jack Enright, tried to stop the construction. Enright claimed the building was on part of his property. Words were exchanged and Buzzard reached for his Wi******er. He fired several shots at Enright and a skirmish developed. Allies of both sides quickly took defensive positions between snow banks and began shooting at one another. It turned out to be a bloodless affair. Within six months their substantial stake had run dry, and the Earps left the Murray-Eagle district.

In 1885, Earp and Josie moved to San Diego. The railroad was due to arrive any day and a real estate boom was underway. Wyatt immediately joined the fray and between 1887 and 1896, he bought three saloons and gambling halls, all in the "respectable" part of town. At the height of the boom, he made up to $1,000 a night in profit.

Wyatt had a long-standing interest in boxing and horse racing. In the 1887 San Diego City Directory he was listed as a capitalist or gambler. He won his first race horse "Otto Rex" and began investing in racehorses. He also judged prize fights on both sides of the border and raced horses. Earp was one of the judges at the County Fair horse races held in Escondido in 1889.

The Earps moved back to San Francisco around 1890 so Josie could be closer to her family. Wyatt took a job managing a horse stable in Santa Rosa and developed a local reputation as a sportsman and gambler. He won his first race horse, Otto Rex, in a card game and later owned a six-horse stable in San Francisco. It was during this time that Wyatt became involved in the second controversial event of his life.

On December 2, 1896, Earp refereed a heavyweight boxing match at Mechanics' Pavilion in San Francisco between Bob Fitzsimmons and Tom Sharkey. He had refereed 30 or so matches in earlier days, though not under the Marquis of Queensbury rules. Fitzsimmons was favored to win, and bets flowed heavily his way. Wyatt entered the ring still armed with his C**t .45 and had to be disarmed. He later said he forgot he was wearing it. Fitzsimmons carried the fight until the eighth round when Wyatt stopped the bout on a foul, ruling that Fitzsimmons had hit Sharkey when he was down. His ruling was greeted with loud boos and catcalls. Earp based his decision on the Marquis of Queensbury rules, which state in part, "A man on one knee is considered down and if struck is entitled to the stakes." Very few witnessed the foul Earp ruled on. He awarded the decision to Sharkey, who was carried out of the ring “… limp as a rag.”

Fitzsimmons obtained an injunction against distributing the prize money until the courts could determine who the rightful winner was. The judge ruled that prize fighting was illegal in San Francisco and the courts would not determine who the real winner was. The San Francisco papers lampooned and scrutinized Wyatt for a full month, questioning his honesty. The San Francisco Call vilified him, calling him a crook and a cheat. Wyatt was accused of having a financial interest in the outcome, which was not true, and was even accused him of pulling a gun on Fitzsimmons when confronted. Wyatt left San Francisco in disgust and never returned.

In the fall of 1897, Wyatt and Josie joined in the Alaska Gold Rush and headed for Nome, Alaska. He operated a canteen during the summer of 1899 and in September, Wyatt and partner Charles E. Hoxie built the Dexter Saloon in Nome, Alaska, the city's first two story wooden building and its largest and most luxurious saloon. In Alaska, Wyatt reunited with long-time friend and former Tombstone mayor and newspaper editor John Clum. He also met future author Rex Beach and writer Jack London.

In 1901, with a fortune estimated at $80,000, Wyatt and Josie returned to the states. In February, 1902, they arrived in Tonopah, Nevada, where gold had been discovered and a boom was under way. He opened the Northern Saloon in Tonopah, Nevada and served as a deputy U.S. Marshal under Marshal J.F. Emmitt. His saloon, gambling and mining interests were profitable for a time.

After Tonapah's gold strike boom waned, Wyatt staked mining claims just outside Death Valley and elsewhere in the Mojave Desert. In 1906, he discovered several deposits of gold and copper near the Sonoran Desert town of Vidal, California on the Colorado River and filed more than 100 mining claims near the Whipple Mountains. That summer, they lived in Los Angeles and it was here that Wyatt found the city that would become his home.

In 1910, Wyatt was 62 and was hired by the Los Angeles Police Department and former Los Angeles detective Arthur Moore King at $10.00 per day to carry out various tasks "outside the law" such as retrieving criminals from Mexico, which he did very capably. This led to Wyatt's last armed confrontation.

In October, 1910 he was asked by former Los Angeles Police Commissioner H. L. Lewis to head up a posse to protect surveyors of the American Trona Company who were attempting to wrest control of mining claims for vast deposits of potash on the edge of Searles Lake held in receivership by the foreclosed California Trona Company. Wyatt and the group he guarded were regarded as claim jumpers and were confronted by armed representatives of the other company. King wrote, "...that it was the nerviest thing he had ever seen." With guns pulled, Wyatt came out of his tent with a Wi******er rifle, firing a round at the feet of Federal Receiver Stafford W. Austin. "Back off or I'll blow you apart, or my name is not Wyatt Earp." The owners summoned the U.S. Marshal who arrested Wyatt and 27 others, served them with a summons for contempt, and sent them home. Wyatt's actions did not resolve the dispute, which eventually escalated into the "Pot Ash Wars" of the Mojave Desert.

Around 1916, Wyatt started working in Hollywood as a mostly unpaid consultant for silent cowboy movies. He met many of the famous actors of the day, including Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin, who was especially in awe of the frontier lawman. On the set of movie, he met Marion Morrison (who later became famous under the assumed name of John Wayne). Morrison served Earp coffee on the sets, and later told Hugh O'Brian that he based his image of the Western lawman on his conversations with Earp. Director John Ford worked as an apprentice on the studio lots about the time that Wyatt Earp used to visit friends on the set, and Ford later claimed he reconstructed the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral based on Wyatt's input. Wyatt also became close friends with popular western stars of the day, Tom Mix and William S. Hart.

Sadly, but this time, Wyatt and Josie were broke. In the early 1920s, Wyatt was given the honorary title of Deputy Sheriff in San Bernardino County, California, but most of the money he’d made was long gone. They were living in a shack on the edge of the desert when a friend that Wyatt had known in Alaska invited them to live in his top floor apartment in L.A. This may have been were most of the work was done on Wyatt’s “autobiography” by family friend and mining engineer, John Flood.

The mysteries surrounding the so-called “Flood manuscript” would likely fill a book of its own. The biggest mystery is why Wyatt didn’t seek help from other writers that he knew with the book, like Jack London or another friend, playwright and scriptwriter Wilson Mizner. The main reason why the Flood manuscript was never snatched up by a publisher or a Hollywood studio – despite William S. Hart’s valiant efforts – was that it was awful. Not until 1931, two years after Wyatt’s death, did Stuart Lake, the former press secretary of Theodore Roosevelt, write the book that cemented Wyatt’s legend forever – Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal. Lake’s book came at just the right time. Americans were just seeing the end of Prohibition and the last of the days of the gangster-battles in city streets. Enough time has passed since the end of the frontier and America had started to feel nostalgic about its heroes. After the successful book’s release, everyone knew about Wyatt Earp – a realization that had come too late for the former lawman.

The last Earp brother and the last surviving participant of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Wyatt Earp died at home in the Earps' small apartment in Los Angeles at the age of 80. His pallbearers were prominent men: George W. Parsons, Charles Welch, Fred Dornberge, Los Angeles Examiner writer Jim Mitchell, Hollywood screenwriter Wilson Mizner, Tombstone mayor John Clum, and Western actors William S. Hart and Tom Mix. As voiced by Robert Mitchum in the closing moments of the legendary film, TOMBSTONE, “Tom Mix wept.”

Josie was too grief-stricken to attend the service. She had Wyatt’s body cremated and buried his ashes in the Marcus family plot at the Hills of Eternity, a Jewish cemetery in Colma, California. When she died in 1944, Josie's ashes were buried next to those of her beloved, Wyatt. A beautiful epitaph graces their shared marker: “That nothing's so sacred as honor, and nothing so loyal as love.”

01/11/2023

From Thomas Dimsdale’s Vigilantes of Montana: Describing one of the most significant events in Montana History.
“Plummer was un******ng when taken at his house. His pistol (a self-cocking weapon) was broken and useless. Had he been armed, resistance would have been futile…Stinson was arrested at Toland’s, where he was spending the evening… Ray was lying on a gambling table when seized…The first rope being thrown over the cross-beam and noose being rove, the order was given to “Bring up Ned Ray.” The desperado was run up with curses on his lips. Being loosely pinioned, he got his fingers between the rope and his neck, and thus prolonged the misery. Buck Stinson saw his comrade robber swinging in the death agony, and blubbered out, “There goes poor Ned Ray…” By a sudden twist of his head at the moment of his elevation, the knot slipped under his chin, and he was some minutes dying…Plummer requested that the men would give him a good drop, which was done, as high as circumstances permitted, by hoisting him up as far as possible in their arms, and letting him fall suddenly. He died quickly and without much struggle.
It was necessary to seize Ned Ray’s hand, and by a violent effort draw his fingers from between the noose and his neck before he died.”
Thus the first to hang was the last to die!
MHS Photo of Thomas Dimsdale

12/21/2022

12/18/2022

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE...

On December 18, 1975, a couple named George and Kathy Lutz moved into a house on a quiet street in the Long Island, New York town of Amityville. I was barely a teenager when the sensational book about their “experiences” by Jay Anson, "The Amityville Horror," was released. I will never forget snatching up a copy from a local bookstore, only to read it and then re-read it again. Could such things really happen? Could ghosts destroy a family the way that evil spirits did George and Kathy Lutz?

But, as it turned out, the most terrifying question was -- could the American public be so easily deceived into believing the events chronicled in the book were actually real? The answer to that question is a resounding "yes," as is proven by the fact that many people still believe in the veracity of "The Amityville Horror," one of the greatest paranormal hoaxes of all time.

The story of the so-called “Amityville Horror” really began about a year before the Lutz family moved into the house when the DeFeo family was murdered there by son Ronald DeFeo, Jr., nicknamed "Butch." After he confessed to the murders he tried to plead insanity but the jury didn't buy it. He was sentenced to life in prison and remains incarcerated today.

The tragedy in Amityville made grim local news but few outside of New York ever heard about the house until later, when other news about the house starting making the papers. Those events began on December 18, 1975, when that young couple, George and Kathy Lutz, bought the house on Ocean Avenue for $80,000. Just a week before Christmas, they moved into their new "dream home" with Kathy's three children from a previous marriage. But the dream house soon became a nightmare -- or so they claimed. Ghosts, mysterious noises, phantom voices, green slime oozing from the halls, moving objects, cold chills, a devilish pig, and severe personality changes in George Lutz. The family held out for 28 days and then fled in terror.

After that, things started to get really scary...

In February 1976, not long after the Lutz family left the house, local residents were stunned to see New York Channel 5's news team doing a live news feed from the house on Ocean Avenue. The news crew filmed a séance and a dramatic "investigation" of the place conducted by Ed and Lorraine Warren, two of America' most famous "demonologists." Of course, they claimed the place was infested with demons and haunted by angry Native Americans who had once used the site where the house stood as a place to isolate the sick and insane. Needless to say, no records of this exist.

Not long after, George and Kathy Lutz teamed up with a writer named Jay Anson and together, they authored what would become a best-selling book called “The Amityville Horror." The book would then go on to spawn a bad movie and a number of even worse sequels and not surprisingly, the Warrens were hired by producer Dino de Laurentis and the production company to serve as consultants about the supernatural occurrences portrayed in the film. They also made the rounds of the talk show circuit, discussing the horrifying events in Amityville.

The "Amityville Horror" grew from news reports and newspaper articles to books, magazines, and television. The story would become internationally known so that, around the world, people recognized the name of Amityville. Most amazing was the fact that this terrifying story was absolutely true --- or so it read in bold print on the cover of the phenomenally selling book.

As time passed, though, specific stories from the Lutz occupancy of the house proved to be untrue, like the "red room" in the basement where sacrifices were supposed to have occurred -- it was really just an access space for water pipes.

* A door that was "blown off the hinges" in the account was found completely intact and undamaged.

* A priest told to flee the house by demonic voices was not a priest at all.

* There was no "demon face" in the fireplace bricks.

* The family never once called the police for help.

* When the family claimed to see "cloven footprints" in the snow outside the house, a simple check of the weather showed that it had not snowed on Long Island.

* And the family was not terrified enough to prevent them from returning to the house just days after "fleeing in terror" to hold a garage sale.

The "Amityville Horror" was pure invention. In 1979, Butch DeFeo lawyer William Weber confessed to his part in the hoax during a radio interview. Weber admitted that he and George Lutz had concocted the story of the haunting over a few bottles of wine. Weber's motive was to get a new trial for DeFeo, using a "Devil made him do it" defense. According to Weber, Lutz merely wanted to get out from under a mortgage that he couldn't afford. His contracting business was in trouble and he needed a scheme to bail him out. Weber later filed a $2 million lawsuit against the Lutzs, charging them with failing to pay him a portion of the book royalties.

But it seemed the public didn't care -- and neither did the Warrens. By this time, the Warrens had become too firmly entrenched to back out of the case. They continued to resolutely support the Lutz claims of the house being haunted, or possessed, by evil forces. (Readers should keep in mind that the Warrens were NOT the "Warrens" characters portrayed by in films like "The Conjuring.") Of course, the public ate it up and the house on Ocean Avenue became a Long Island landmark. People traveled from all over the country to drive past and gape at it. Tourists made it their first stop and locals soon began calling the sightseers the "Amityville Horribles." The trouble with curiosity seekers and complaints from locals were so bad in the late 1970s that they drove one Amityville police chief into early retirement.

In time, though, many began to see the story for what it was -- a fanciful tale that capture the public imagination. Even George Lutz backtracked years later when he described the events in the house. His new account of cold spots, odd noises, smells, and a slamming door or two, were a far cry from the allegedly “true” events that had been recounted for the book. In fact, he no longer claimed to “flee” from the house but said that the family moved out because the place was so oppressive that he fell into a deep depression. A haunting? Perhaps – but it wasn’t even close to the hoax that had been perpetrated on the public.

Jim and Barbara Cromarty, who later moved into the house, also maintained that it was not haunted. Because of the problems they had experienced with the curiosity-seekers, they sued the hardcover and paperback publishers of “The Amityville Horror,” as well as Jay Anson and George and Kathy Lutz. They stated that the entire case had been a put-on from the beginning and it had "blighted their lives." The suit was later settled for an undisclosed amount.

After all of this time, the case should be forgotten but it's not. In fact, four decades later, people still often question the facts behind the case and the real events that may, or may not, have occurred in Amityville. Today, most researchers concede that the story was mostly, if not entirely, fabricated. To the general public, though, the truth remains much more of a shadowy thing and some theorists believe that there are still things about the story that do not add up.

All of the weak utterances of "truth" in this story continue to be arranged to look like something they are not. To this author, they are a perfect example of this entire case as a whole --- a blending of fact with fiction in an attempt to titillate and terrify the American public.