Hello, Bookworms! đ»đĄ
· 2/5 đżđż
This book is probably one that most people have heard of (more than likely because of the number of films that have been based on it). It still surprises me that there is anyone who does not realize that the entire story presented in this book (and the film) was a hoax. But maybe I shouldnât be. I have encountered people who did not realize that the Milla Jovovich film called The Fourth Kind (which reported itself as a true story) was completely fictitious.
The only true parts of this story are the murders of the Defeo family that happened before the Lutz family bought the house, and that the Lutz family bought the house about a year after the murders.
Everything else that happens in this book is a complete fabrication. Even if you havenât researched this story at all, and you only know that Ed and Lorraine Warren were involved with the âghost huntâ and the âpsychic researchâ into the house, that should tell you that what you are being told is a complete lie.
Ed and Lorraine Warren were hucksters and scam artists. Literally any case that they were involved with was complete bullshit.
Robert Defeo Jr, the killer of the other members of the Defeo family was trying to get off by claiming insanity. He (and his lawyer) tried to say that he was hearing voices prior to the murders, and it was these voices that caused him to kill his whole family.
And then, Defeoâs lawyer (during the appeal process) met the Lutzs at a Christmas party. It was after this meeting that the Lutzâs suddenly started claiming that the house was haunted, which should add a level of suspicion to anyone who hears their story.
The Warrens insisting that the house was haunted, and the Lutz suddenly saying that they were being terrorized by unseen entities seems way too convenient. It only gave additional ammunition  to Defeoâs attorney to try to say that he was not responsible for the murders that he carried out.
Guess what? He was absolutely responsible. He even admitted that the insanity plea he and his lawyer were trying to get him off on had no basis in reality.
At one point, during his trial, he asked one of the guards how people who were insane would behave, and he proceeded to do everything that the guard told him. Bet no one told you that part of the story, right?
They probably also never told you that the priest that supposedly came to the house to bless it fort the Lutzs, the one that supposedly gave them counseling before their marriage . . . he had never been to the house. The âmarriage counselingâ that he supposedly gave them never happened. He was never involved with anything that was supposedly going on. And the great part of that? The warrens, and the writer of the book, seemed to think that they could get away with the lie. There was a whole story made up about how the priest had gone to the house, become terrified of it, got sick, and he refused to go back.
This very same priest said that the story was a pack of lies, that he had never been to the house, and he barely new the Lutzs.
All of the trouble that the Lutzs claimed that they had in the house . . . when the neighbors were questioned, they all said that the Lutzs seemed like a pleasant enough family, and at no point did they seem like there was anything the matter.
What seems much more likely (besides the fact that the Warrens were fucking scam artists) was that the Lutzs bought a home that was way out of their price range (their budget was $30,000 - $50,000. The asking price for the house was $80,000). They put in a bid at the asking price, plus they paid an additional $400 for a bunch of the Defeo furniture to keep.
So, not only were they paying way more than they could afford, they had boats, a motorcycle, and a bunch of other shit that they couldnât afford.
Their solution?
Make up a story that would get them rich, and Defeoâs lawyer probably egged them on, thinking he could scam the system and get Defeo freed on some sort of technicality. It doesnât help that Ed Warren is reported to have said that he didnât care what the author put into the book, as long as he made it interesting. The implication of his statement was that he didnât care about accuracy or the truth, he just wanted the celebrity.
What is far more interesting, the part that should interest people much more than the bullshit story the warrens and Lutzs tried to tell, is the fact that Defeo managed to kill his entire family while they slept . . . none of them woke up, and none of the neighbors heard the rifle shots. Plus, every member of the family was found lying face down in their beds, almost as if there was some sort of ritual element to the murders (not everyone sleeps on their stomachs, so why were all of them found in the exact same position).
Defeo died in prison only a few years ago, but his cause of death has not been revealed, which is curious. It is entirely possible that he died of natural causes, but if he did, why would that not have been revealed? The fact that his reason of death cannot be found anywhere makes it seem kind of suspect (even if it was actually something completely innocuous). Donât bother with this book. Not only is it a pack of lies being presented as the truth, itâs not even that well written. If the Warrens hadnât been involved, and if there hadnât been a movie deal, this poorly written bit of fiction would very much have drifted off into obscurity, which is exactly where it should be.