Was the famed haunting case that became known as The Amityville Horror in a series of books and films (including a new remake) actually a hoax? We turned to Rosemary Ellen Guiley's Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits for the lowdown. She writes that the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) visited the house but declined to conduct an investigation, "believing that the incidents were not paranormal."
Further, the lawyer of Ronnie DeFeo (the killer who'd previously lived in the house) told a New York radio station in 1979 that he and the Lutzes' cooked up the whole haunting story over several bottles of wine while sitting around the kitchen table. He sued for a share of the book and movie profits, and the Lutzes countersued. Interestingly, Mrs. Lutz's story was analyzed on a Psychological Stress Evaluator and the results showed that she believed the haunting events to have happened as they described them. After the Lutzes moved out of the home, subsequent owners reportedly have not been bothered by any paranormal activity.