Isla,
Great dramatic licenses were taken with the
Amityville events to make a nice book/movie, so much so that dates were changed, events distorted, etc.
The History Channel had a pretty good show on it, and there are also some webpages out there that attempt to clear up the mess surrounding the facts and myths of the story. That red room and James Brolin's face on the wall freaked me out when I was a kid, though!
Edit:
Looks like
PG beat me with a link, though I've read some stuff that contradicts several things reported (most notably the idea of the Native American Insane Asylum and assessments as to the validity of DeFeo's claims that he was a victim of possession). At any rate, it's clear that the
Amityville story, like most good urban legends, has a life of its own.
