30th Anniversary of The Amityville Horror

On this date in 1979, the first film in a popular haunted house franchise hit screens. On July 27, The Amityville Horror was unleashed and became a box-office success worldwide. The film starred James Brolin, Margot Kidder, and Rod Steiger and was an adaptation of the novel of the same name by author Jay Anson. Of course, the film told of the alleged real-life haunting of the Lutz Family in a house located at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York (see Amityville Horror House).

The residence that doubled as that infamous house for the film was actually located in nearby Toms River, New Jersey, as Amityville officials turned down the studio's request to film there – reportedly already fed up with the exposure from the alleged haunting. The success of The Amityville Horror was spawned into countless sequels and even a remake in 2005 (see Amityville Horror Movie House (2005)) and reinvigorated the haunted house sub-genre of horror films. In fact, as this film celebrates its 30th Anniversary, another film based on an reputed haunting tore up screens earlier this year and is currently on top of the DVD rental charts - The Haunting in Connecticut (see The Haunting in Connecticut House).

Celebrate 30 years with a trip to Tom's River.

-Casey H.

The First Days of the Haunting in Connecticut

On June 30, 1986, the Snedeker family (formerly of New York) relocated to the city of Southington, Connecticut to be closer to the hospital where their son was receiving treatment for cancer. They rented the downstairs portion of a home on Meriden Avenue that had recently been converted to serve multiple tenants. Before then, the building had been the home of the Hallahan Funeral Home. Over the next two and a half years, the family would report an assortment of paranormal activity that they claimed grew increasingly violent towards them and ultimately resulted in an exorcism. Their accounts of their stay in the home have been debated to this day by skeptics and believers alike and are the source of a book, television docudrama, and most recently a feature film titled The Haunting in Connecticut. The film's DVD release is slated for July 14 and is sure to renew interest in the story.

Read the accounts, controversy, and adaptations of the reported haunting at Dark Destinations.

-Casey H.

The Haunting in Connecticut House

With the feature film adaptation set for release tomorrow, and also personally being a fan of the 2002 Discovery Channel docudrama adaptation of the same story, Tom and I have been working diligently to look into the past of the actual "Haunting in Connecticut" in Southington, Connecticut. As many know, the house was formerly used as a funeral home and a family's experiences there in the years after are today known as the "Southington Funeral Home Case" in the world of the paranormal.

The article actually represents one of the first times that Tom and I tag-teamed on a new article and both took turns looking into the stories and adding to the account. As is typical with articles we write, we found that the alleged reports of a haunting were only part of the story and that the rest could be as equally (if not more so) fascinating. So we did our best to compile the history, the family's encounters, the alleged exorcism, the press and the controversies, the skeptics, the many media adaptations, and the current status of the home and members of the family - Far too much to summarize here. Somehow, we even managed to sort-of work in politicians as bookends to the entire piece. The article went live last Friday and we have been completely overwhelmed by the response, as it easily has been one of our most popular new articles ever. So before you head out to see the film tomorrow, find out what we were able to dig up about the history and reported details of the case.

Read the history of the Haunting in Connecticut House.

-Casey H.

Battle of Franklin (Part 2/2): Carnton Plantation

We return to the anniversary of the Battle of Franklin with a visit to the Carnton Plantation. Located in Franklin, Tennessee and just over a mile from the Carter House, this house was the home of a former mayor of nearby-Nashville, Randal McGavock, and his wife, Carrie. It was the site of great despair and grief even prior to the Civil War after three of the McGavock's children suffered a prolonged illness at an early age that eventually claimed their lives. When the Battle of Franklin came to town on November 30, 1864, the house and family would play a major role - Not in the battle itself, but during the aftermath.

It has been said that after losing her three children, Carrie McGavock spiraled into a deep depression and withdrew from the world. She would again find a purpose during the Civil War battle when wounded soldiers were quite literally brought to her doorstep. Reportedly in the heart of battle, there were so many injured soldiers brought to the Carnton Plantation that the wounded lined the house from top to bottom, as well as other buildings on the property, and more lined the property outside. Reportedly, the corpses of five Confederate Generals lined the porch as they awaited burial.

By all accounts, the family did everything they could do to assist the wounded from both the Union and Confederate side. After the doctors ran low of bandages, Carrie McGavock freely offered the family's towels and napkins. When they ran low, she supplied sheets, tablecloths, clothes, and even her own undergarments to patch up the wounds. Through her efforts and her subsequent mourning over the loss of lives, she earned the nickname of "The Widow of the South" and influenced a historical fiction novel by the same name from author Robert Hicks 141 years later.

McGavock emerged from her grief in 1866 when her and her husband decided to donate two-acres of the family's property to a proper Confederate cemetery. They even went so far as to actively raise money and take part in exhuming the over-1,500 soldiers that were buried on their property, as well as nearby-properties, and place them in proper graves. Today the cemetery is known as the McGavock Confederate Cemetery and sits adjacent to the house.

The house has since been turned into a museum that explores its historical past and is reportedly the site of paranormal activity. Ghosts of all genders and ages have been sited on the property and the sounds of the wounded are said to still occasionally echo from nowhere. It is even said that the ghost of a Confederate General is often seen by tourists to the property pacing back and forth on the porch outside.

Visit the makeshift Civil War hospital and read more on its ghostly past.

-Casey H.

Battle of Franklin (Part 1/2): Carter House

Over the next two days, we are going to explore one of the lesser know battles of the American Civil War and the lasting legacy it left on two locations in the city of Franklin, Tennessee - just south of Nashville. While technically the second battle to be fought in the city in the duration of the war, it is often referred to in more definitive terms as The Battle of Franklin due to the size and scope of the battle, which was dramatically larger than the first smaller battle. It started at dusk and went into the night of November 30, 1864 and is one of the few rare night battles of the entire war.

The 15-acre property of Fountain Branch Carter and his family played a crucial role in the battle when the Union Army of Ohio showed up on their front doorstep early in the day. The troops were moving north in hopes of joining forces with the Army of Cumberland in Nashville, Tennessee. Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield led the troops who had fought with the Confederate Army of Tennessee, led by Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood, in the Battle of Spring Hill the prior day. Schofield had utilized the road to Franklin that had been inexplicably left unguarded by Hood, who had hoped to prevent the two armies from combining forces.

The only major obstacle in the Union Army's path between Franklin and Nashville was the Harpeth River. The bridges crossing the river had been heavily damaged in the battle the year before and time was needed to make repairs. As result, Schofield commandeered the Carter's house to set up headquarters and quickly assembled a defensive front, while his engineers got to work on repairing the bridges. However, the Confederate forces were not far behind and arrived shortly thereafter.

Despite concerns over the Union's defensives from his generals, Hood felt that they were letting the Union Army slip away. After seeing the men on the bridges, he felt he had little time to stop Schofield's troops from escaping and joining forces with the Army of the Cumberland to the north. At dusk, he ordered a massive frontal assault that has since been dubbed "Pickett's Charge of the West," though in essence it was much larger than the ill-fated assault at Gettysburg. However, the overall result would be similarly devastating to his forces.

At the Carter's home, the family huddled in the basement for five hours as the battle raged around them. Right outside the basement's windows, Union and Confederate troops were engaged in hand-to-hand combat and men were literally dying only feet away from the family. Among the troops outside was their son Theodrick Carter, who had joined the Confederate Army and had been away from his family property for three years. The conflict raging around him marred his first sight of the family property in those years.

As night progressed, the bridges had been sufficiently repaired and the Union Army quickly retreated as the skirmishes lessened. The Army of Tennessee had been devastated and Schofield's generals felt a retreat was unnecessary and put the men on the bridges at a precarious risk. However, Hood had been stunned by the carnage and the amount of casualties his men had suffered and did not act. While technically a Confederate victory in forcing a Union retreat, they suffered three times the amount of casualties including ten times the amount of deaths. The Army of Tennessee would be completely wiped out at the Battle of Nashville later and Hood would resign his generalship.

The Carter family was equally devastated. Theodrick had been wounded in the battle and was finally reunited with his family who attempted to tend to his wounds. He died two days later in the same room he had been born. The various buildings on the property also had their war wounds with over 1,000 bullet holes riddling the wood, which are still evident to this day. According to some, they are not the only reminder of the battle. Guests and staff alike have reported seeing the apparitions of Civil War soldiers on the property, as well as sighted members of the family including Theodrick in the room he died. Other paranormal activity has been reported on the property as well.

Today the house is open to the general public as a museum and memorial to the various lives lost in the Battle of Franklin. Commercial development has overtaken some of the property, but the family home still exists as a stark reminder of a nation that was once at war with itself.

Visit the Carter House and read its stories.

-Casey H.

The Start of the Amityville Horror

The name of the Long Island, New York village Amityville is today synonymous with horror, reportedly much to the chagrin of the residents. The reason why is a simple Dutch-Colonial-style house located there that was built in the 1920s. It has been the focus of countless books, documentaries, and films all looking into the accounts of a haunting and demonic activity that allegedly caused one family to flee in the middle of the night. But it didn't start there...

34 years ago to this day, Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his father, mother, two brothers and two sisters in the home at 3:00 in the morning with a rifle. At 6:30 in the evening, DeFeo ran into a local bar and pleaded for help. According to reports at the time, DeFeo told the authorities that he feared the murders had been part of a mafia hit, but the story held too many inconsistencies. A day later, he admitted to the crime. The trial only lasted a year and despite a defense of insanity, DeFeo would be found guilty for the crime and sentenced to six consecutive life-terms in prison.

Despite the horrid nature of the crime, the house was still relatively unknown when the Lutz family moved in just over 13 months after the murders of the Defeo family. However, their stay would be fairly short and they would flee less than a month later and tell the world they had been harassed by demonic forces. The case would become known worldwide as The Amityville Horror.

Since almost everyone knows the story, I won't bother to go into the details here. If you are interested, I've written up a summary of the entire case at the link below. It is probably safe to say that no story of an alleged haunting has been the cause for so much debate to this day. There are countless books and Web sites that are dedicated to either debunking the entire account or defending the stories of the witnesses. So I throw it out to you all - is it the Amityville Horror or Hoax?

See where it all started at the house on Ocean Avenue.

-Casey H.