The American Dream and Native Americans in the Story Amityville Horror by Jay Anson

Some think the dictionary is open to interpretation. But you know, it isn't.
The back of Amityville Horror by Jay Anson reads: "The shocking true story of an American dream that turned into a nightmare beyond imagining..."

I don't need to give you the definition of "true" to have you know what it means. But many people claim to tell the truth when there is none. With truth, you need credibility. If you've ever played the game "telephone", you would know that the original word from someone doesn't always come out at the end.

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You can't really call a source credible if it doesn't come from the original person. That's the first thing that is wrong with the story in Amityville Horror. It can not be considered credible.

I will say it again: this is not Jay Anson's story. I understand this is stating the obvious, but because of the fact that people believe this story, as written, to be 100% true, and has no exaggeration or filler to make it interesting... it needed restating. As simply as this book was written, anyone could have done it.

So why didn't the Lutz family write their experience on 112 Ocean Avenue themselves? After being quiet about it for so long, why do they suddenly decide to speak out about it through the words of someone else?

Because! The first thing anyone thinks about when something peculiar happens to them, is that they could make a significant profit from it. Some directors in movies will cut and paste and add things to their films just to get more attention for it, not necessarily because it has purpose. Sharknado. Some authors will continue adding books to a series not because the story needs to be continued, but because the demand is so high and the money is promising.

For example, JK Rowling and her upcoming Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, for example. The internet kept talking about how there "needs" to be an 8th Harry Potter book... and well. It happened. My point of course being, in a time where money is still the root of all evil and the ruler of all the world, Amityville is no exception.

Aside from the fact that the credibility of this book is in question, it's important to restate that this book is simply written. Usually, when I start reading a new book, I find that I have to look up the definitions of some words and figure out what they mean, or I at least have to think about what they mean in the context or tone that they were written in. "Was that sarcasm?... Wow, that made me feel sad...Ooh! That makes me mad!" are thoughts I have to myself when I read.

But for once, I read once through and found that it was unnecessary to reread any part of it to better my understanding. I also finished this book in roughly 3 hours, without trying to read fast. There are no motifs, no outstanding vocabulary words used, and no tone that could be latched on to. It was just a "this happened. Then this happened. Oh yeah, and this too" kind of book. Easy to read, but difficult to keep concentration.

Part of that probably comes from the fact that the plot didn't really keep steady. Father Mancuso getting sick was probably the most consistent thing about this book. And he was hardly even involved with the Lutz family other than the fact that he blessed their home and told them they should see a parapsychologist. Why would a spirit smite the middle man when their main issue was the people residing in their home?

Doesn't make much sense. And the scariest thing to happen to the Lutz family were small things, such as objects being moved, the feeling of someone touching you, or hearing strange noises, until suddenly mommy and daddy were floating above their beds. The laws of physics and gravity need not apply to spirits, right? Right.

Don't get me wrong, I believe in spirits and ghosts and such. But I don't believe in hauntings and possessions and things along those lines. I believe that the most that a spirit can interact in our world is through some spoken words that we can hear. I do not believe that they can move ceramic lions, predict the future, and terrorize people by lifting them off of their beds. In other words, I don't believe that they can have physical contact with people in the palpable world we live in. If Amityville has swung my belief in any way, it was towards the "I don't believe in ghosts" end of the spectrum.

And the thing is, the story was actually somewhat believable at first. The occurrences were small: George being cold all the time, and waking up at the same time with the uncontrollable urge to check the boathouse, from the dog being abnormally sleepy, to Jodie, to the boys not getting along. They were small, but frequent. But the story took a turn from "okay, I could actually see this happening" to "there's no way" when bite marks appeared on George's leg and Kathy was suddenly hovering above the bed without her knowing.

"It's possible! They say that house was on an ancient Indian burial ground!"

Besides the first fact of what you mean by "Indian" is "Native American", I would like to address the sad fact that the reason we have the United States of America the way it is today, is because we killed a bunch of Native Americans. Do you know how many people on the Oregon Trail should be haunted and possessed if it was connected to the place a Native American's body was left?

And to tie into that question, do you know how many stories you hear about the Oregon Trail being haunted and being bestselling novels?
Oh, and the spontaneous ending shows that IT WASN'T EVEN THE HOUSE THAT WAS HAUNTED! A last ditch effort to cover up the fact that the people currently living in that house at the time that it was released were unaffected by anything supernatural. All that work to try to prove as to why the house was haunted, and oh! It wasn't even haunted! The people are! Oh man!

There is no way that you could prove to me that this book is a true story, as written. It is not credible, simply written, and the plot is hard to follow. Jay Anson, if you were going to write a fake story, you could have done so much more with it. Shame.

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