I remember reading that book, The Amityville Horror, when I was a kid in the late 70s. I think I read it in one sitting, on the porch of my house, in the middle of the afternoon. It scared me silly. God help me if I read it at night. (I remember reading The Exorcist a few years later at night, in my bedroom, the single window a few feet away open into the blackness, and I could not summon a muscle to move and pull down the shade.) But this book was absolutely terrifying.
Though I haven’t read it in thirty years, I can still vividly recall some of the scenes. I even remember the name of the protagonists, George and Lorie Lutz, I believe. The slime that oozes out of the walls. The statue of the lion that inexplicably bites George. The fact that he continues to awake at 3:15 every morning (an eerie tendency I have at times – it is said that at 3 am the devil walks the earth because that’s 180 degrees past when Christ died on the Cross). And who could forget that pig, Jodie, perhaps a demon, perhaps an hallucination. The scene when George is walking in the backyard and turns to look at his house and sees those glowing pig eyes – in his daughter’s bedroom – wow, I just got goose bumps.
There was some hoopla over whether it was proven to be a hoax; I didn’t follow it and don’t know the outcome. I know there was a bunch of unsuccessful sequels written, but maybe they just needed the cash, you know? Unwitting celebrities. Even if it was a hoax (which it probably was, my rational left-brain is screaming at me), it was still hands-down the scariest book I have ever read. Keep away from it, if you susceptible to these kinds of things. Me, I get a perverse thrill in getting scared. Like millions others, I suppose.
But do you want to hear something else that’s scary?
The Amityville Horror is on television tonight, on AMC at 8 pm!
It’s the 1979 original, not the crappy remake of a few years’ back. I saw the first movie once or twice, maybe fifteen or twenty years ago, and recall being disappointed. However, that pig-eye scene is still there, and it’s one of the most frightening things ever caught on film. I dare you to watch it and not jump five feet in the air. And later, sleep with the lights on …
PS … Just discovered that George Lutz died three years ago. And that his wife’s name is Kathy, not Lorie. From this website.
And I just remembered, as a small piece of useless trivia, one summer day in 1986. My friends and I drove down the Jersey shore to a bungalow owned by the mother of my friend, Rich the guitarist, and after a coupla hours jamming went to a lake, or perhaps a cove, a few miles away to jump off the dock and swim. Rich pointed up the shore, to a group of houses nestled in the woods a hundred yards inland. “See that house … right there,” he said, guiding my line of sight. “That’s where they filmed the Amityville Horror. That’s the house.” And then I saw it, those tell-tale attic windows, and got very creeped out.
PPS ... Just did an online search of my local libraries and found out that they classify the book as Nonfiction. Hmmmmm ...
Monday, July 6, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Vacation
Well, the wife and my two daughters left yesterday afternoon for a five-day visit with her parents down in South Carolina. We spent all morning laundering, packing, herding, feeding, bathing, dressing, then loading the car, driving the highways, negotiating the airport. They made their four o’clock flight no problem, lifted off without delay, and landed down in Savannah a little after six, on schedule. Nana picked them up, the start of their nearly week-long adventure.
It’s also my vacation, too, but I’ll get to that in a second.
Of much concern was how Patch would handle the flight. Vocal Patch. Very vocal Patch. The Little One, now, she’s an experienced traveler. This is her third flight, and she’s not even five years old. Twice down to South Carolina, and once to Puerto Rico. She knows what to expect. With much excitement and fanfare the other day she picked out her color and flavor gum (cinnamon Orbit) to chew when her ears start altitude poppin’. Her Hello Kitty backpack loaded to the point of bursting with toys, games, coloring books and stuffed animals, her Elmo sunglasses firmly on her forehead, she’s ready for the excitement of air travel and knows to keep close to Mommy.
Patch, on the other hand, is an unknown quantity here.
Over the past week she’s developed a very bad habit, one she probably picked up from the other girl she’s with regularly at daycare. Out of the blue, for no apparent reason, she shout/screams a piercing, ear-splitting yell. She’s not in pain, not hungry, not uncomfortable, not ignored, not alone. But she’ll do this randomly. It especially bugs me during car travel, ’cause in my car it somehow gains decibels by a factor of ten. After our thirty-minute commutes back and forth to the sitter I got a thudding headache. We try to shush her calmly, try to ignore her when she does it, try to place a gentle finger over her lips, all to no effect, so far.
We were very worried this might be the case in the closed and cramped quarters of the plane my wife would be taking.
Plus, Patch still has some fluid in her ears. The pediatrician gave us some antibiotics and some baby Allegra to possibly alleviate any symptoms of pain. But who can tell? Patch certainly can’t explain to us calmly what she’s feeling. And who can tell if the airport, with their crazy inexplicable security protocols nowadays, who can tell if they’ll even let my wife on board with her bag o’ baby drugs? She made sure to get a typewritten note from the pediatrician on his letterhead stating that the drugs were necessary for the baby’s well-being.
Our ace-in-the-hole, our nuclear option, our mutual-assured-destruction, was a pacifier. We don’t raise our children with pacifiers (for a whole host of reasons we won’t go into on this post). Doesn’t mean various sitters haven’t used them on our children, particularly Patch during her hugely fussy first-three-months-of-existence. But my wife broke down and bought two pacifiers as a last-ditch way of dealing with nine-month-old meltdowns.
And you know what? What could have made for a nightmare flight for not only Patch and my wife but, oh, say, a hundred other innocent travelers, turned out to be a piece of cake. Patch handled it with aplomb. No pacifiers needed. She ate on the plane which took care of the ascent phase, and spent the two hours playing with a key chain.
Three cheers for Patch.
So, the wife and the two little ones are in South Carolina, for five days of alternating beach-and-pool mornings, barbecues, fireworks, yes, a little bit of shopping and personal care, a cocktail party (after the children are in bed, of course), and general relaxation.
That last part brings me back to this wondrous fact: It’s my vacation, too.
Yes, I have a Honey-Do list. Wanna see it?
* Mow lawn, clip hedges, sweep deck, weed walkway
* Install child gates
* Get wife’s car serviced at local garage
* Dentist’s appointment on Monday
* Catalog DVDs in this spinning thingie
* Fix the door on the TV cabinet
* Call a plumber to get downstairs toilet fixed
* Clean grill and fix broken handle on it
* Tighten ceiling fans
Not a bad list, eh? If I can do two a day, I should be able to manage it, me, who can barely turn a screw. The key is this: everything gets done faster without those little plaintive Hey Daddy’s. I love my children and will miss them terribly, but I kinda like the productivity attained by being able to work without distractions.
Also, I can spend the remaining time, as unlimited as I want, reading, writing, and working online. Guilt-free. In fact, I got my own list, too. There’s a writing project I’ve code-named Bruegel (you may find out more later), a website idea that I am in the middle-stages of completing (you probably will find more out later), and continued daily blogging, of course.
I still have about fourteen or fifteen books out of the library I’m working my way through (I read through half of one last night, breaking only for some ice cream and the beginning of Return of the Jedi). And I am hooked on an excellent book, The Godwhale, which I am really looking forward to reviewing. Great stuff. Gotta research that author later.
Everybody’s been knocking on my door and ringing up the phone to try to get me to do something. Unlike most people, social events generally give me anxiety. I am comfortable being alone. I like being solitary. I am almost downright reclusive. Do not fret that I am alone. Do not worry for my sake that I might “have nothing to do.” I welcome the five days of peace, quiet, and silence.
Though I know in a day or two I’ll be walking from empty room to empty room, wondering what my little ones are up to.
It’s also my vacation, too, but I’ll get to that in a second.
Of much concern was how Patch would handle the flight. Vocal Patch. Very vocal Patch. The Little One, now, she’s an experienced traveler. This is her third flight, and she’s not even five years old. Twice down to South Carolina, and once to Puerto Rico. She knows what to expect. With much excitement and fanfare the other day she picked out her color and flavor gum (cinnamon Orbit) to chew when her ears start altitude poppin’. Her Hello Kitty backpack loaded to the point of bursting with toys, games, coloring books and stuffed animals, her Elmo sunglasses firmly on her forehead, she’s ready for the excitement of air travel and knows to keep close to Mommy.
Patch, on the other hand, is an unknown quantity here.
Over the past week she’s developed a very bad habit, one she probably picked up from the other girl she’s with regularly at daycare. Out of the blue, for no apparent reason, she shout/screams a piercing, ear-splitting yell. She’s not in pain, not hungry, not uncomfortable, not ignored, not alone. But she’ll do this randomly. It especially bugs me during car travel, ’cause in my car it somehow gains decibels by a factor of ten. After our thirty-minute commutes back and forth to the sitter I got a thudding headache. We try to shush her calmly, try to ignore her when she does it, try to place a gentle finger over her lips, all to no effect, so far.
We were very worried this might be the case in the closed and cramped quarters of the plane my wife would be taking.
Plus, Patch still has some fluid in her ears. The pediatrician gave us some antibiotics and some baby Allegra to possibly alleviate any symptoms of pain. But who can tell? Patch certainly can’t explain to us calmly what she’s feeling. And who can tell if the airport, with their crazy inexplicable security protocols nowadays, who can tell if they’ll even let my wife on board with her bag o’ baby drugs? She made sure to get a typewritten note from the pediatrician on his letterhead stating that the drugs were necessary for the baby’s well-being.
Our ace-in-the-hole, our nuclear option, our mutual-assured-destruction, was a pacifier. We don’t raise our children with pacifiers (for a whole host of reasons we won’t go into on this post). Doesn’t mean various sitters haven’t used them on our children, particularly Patch during her hugely fussy first-three-months-of-existence. But my wife broke down and bought two pacifiers as a last-ditch way of dealing with nine-month-old meltdowns.
And you know what? What could have made for a nightmare flight for not only Patch and my wife but, oh, say, a hundred other innocent travelers, turned out to be a piece of cake. Patch handled it with aplomb. No pacifiers needed. She ate on the plane which took care of the ascent phase, and spent the two hours playing with a key chain.
Three cheers for Patch.
So, the wife and the two little ones are in South Carolina, for five days of alternating beach-and-pool mornings, barbecues, fireworks, yes, a little bit of shopping and personal care, a cocktail party (after the children are in bed, of course), and general relaxation.
That last part brings me back to this wondrous fact: It’s my vacation, too.
Yes, I have a Honey-Do list. Wanna see it?
* Mow lawn, clip hedges, sweep deck, weed walkway
* Install child gates
* Get wife’s car serviced at local garage
* Dentist’s appointment on Monday
* Catalog DVDs in this spinning thingie
* Fix the door on the TV cabinet
* Call a plumber to get downstairs toilet fixed
* Clean grill and fix broken handle on it
* Tighten ceiling fans
Not a bad list, eh? If I can do two a day, I should be able to manage it, me, who can barely turn a screw. The key is this: everything gets done faster without those little plaintive Hey Daddy’s. I love my children and will miss them terribly, but I kinda like the productivity attained by being able to work without distractions.
Also, I can spend the remaining time, as unlimited as I want, reading, writing, and working online. Guilt-free. In fact, I got my own list, too. There’s a writing project I’ve code-named Bruegel (you may find out more later), a website idea that I am in the middle-stages of completing (you probably will find more out later), and continued daily blogging, of course.
I still have about fourteen or fifteen books out of the library I’m working my way through (I read through half of one last night, breaking only for some ice cream and the beginning of Return of the Jedi). And I am hooked on an excellent book, The Godwhale, which I am really looking forward to reviewing. Great stuff. Gotta research that author later.
Everybody’s been knocking on my door and ringing up the phone to try to get me to do something. Unlike most people, social events generally give me anxiety. I am comfortable being alone. I like being solitary. I am almost downright reclusive. Do not fret that I am alone. Do not worry for my sake that I might “have nothing to do.” I welcome the five days of peace, quiet, and silence.
Though I know in a day or two I’ll be walking from empty room to empty room, wondering what my little ones are up to.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Happy Independence Day!
... Previously posted but amazingly underappreciated ...
Happy 4th of July!
How ’bout some trivia? Okay! How ’bout of the presidents, kinda fits with the holiday? Okay, again!
All right!
Oh, by the way, par is 50% correct. Any score greater, well, you’re a scholar!
1. Which president had the lowest approval rating of any president in the twentieth century?
2. Which president is the only one to have a classical symphony written in his honor?
3. Which president delivered his own collection of books to establish the Library of Congress?
4. Who was the only president to publish a book of his poetry?
5. Which president conversed with his wife in Mandarin Chinese?
6. Which president authored fourteen books before entering the White House?
7. Since Eisenhower had a heart attack in 1955, only two presidents have refused to make their medical records public. Who were they?
8. Which president said "I only know two tunes: ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ and I don’t know the name of the other"?
9. Which president was once shot down by enemy antiaircraft guns?
10a. Which two presidents died on the Fourth of July in the same year?
10b. Which president was born on the Fourth of July?
(Scroll down for the answers.)
Got these questions and a couple of hundred more from a really neat little book I bought in the bargain racks at Barnes and Noble: Which President Killed a Man? For the answer to that question, you’ll have to do a little bit of research. (winks)
Answers
1. Harry Truman, at 22 percent. Nixon’s at Watergate was at 23 percent. Makes George Bush Jr seem like Mr. Popularity. It’s not commonly remembered, but a bill of impeachment was introduced against Truman, and though he was untouched, several of his higher officials resigned, convicted of corruption.
2. Abraham Lincoln. Aaron Copland wrote a symphony entitled "Lincoln Portrait" in 1942. I’ve heard it, and recommend it; it’s very moving.
3. Thomas Jefferson. Heavily in debt, Jefferson sold his 6,500 volume collection to the US government for just under $24,000. The previous US library had been destroyed by the British in the War of 1812.
4. John Quincy Adams. His verse, inspired by nature scenes, was published after he left the White House.
5. Herbert Hoover. He and his wife learned the language in China in the early 1900s while Herbert worked as a mining engineer.
6. Theodore Roosevelt. He wrote biographies, histories, nature studies, books on patriotism. He also allegedly read over ten thousand books, sometimes a couple a week and some in other languages. It's also stated by biographers that he had a photographic memory. Puts a different spin on the rugged cowboy image with which he’s often portrayed.
7. John Kennedy and Bill Clinton. Their failure to release these records have spawned many rumors, but the conclusive reasons for withholding them are unknown.
8. Ulysses Grant. Despite the best efforts of his wife to get him to attend theater and musicals, General Grant was no lover of culture.
9. George H. Bush, in WW II. In his 39 months of service he logged over 1,200 hours of flight time and was one of only four pilots in his fourteen pilot squadron to survive the war. After being shot down he was rescued by a submarine. He commemorated the incident by parachuting from a plane again, fifty years later.
10a. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both signers of the Declaration of Independence. Both died in 1826, 50 years after the signing. Adams outlasted his foe and later friend by a few hours.
10b. Calvin Coolidge was born July 4, 1872.
Happy 4th of July!
How ’bout some trivia? Okay! How ’bout of the presidents, kinda fits with the holiday? Okay, again!
All right!
Oh, by the way, par is 50% correct. Any score greater, well, you’re a scholar!
1. Which president had the lowest approval rating of any president in the twentieth century?
2. Which president is the only one to have a classical symphony written in his honor?
3. Which president delivered his own collection of books to establish the Library of Congress?
4. Who was the only president to publish a book of his poetry?
5. Which president conversed with his wife in Mandarin Chinese?
6. Which president authored fourteen books before entering the White House?
7. Since Eisenhower had a heart attack in 1955, only two presidents have refused to make their medical records public. Who were they?
8. Which president said "I only know two tunes: ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ and I don’t know the name of the other"?
9. Which president was once shot down by enemy antiaircraft guns?
10a. Which two presidents died on the Fourth of July in the same year?
10b. Which president was born on the Fourth of July?
(Scroll down for the answers.)
Got these questions and a couple of hundred more from a really neat little book I bought in the bargain racks at Barnes and Noble: Which President Killed a Man? For the answer to that question, you’ll have to do a little bit of research. (winks)
Answers
1. Harry Truman, at 22 percent. Nixon’s at Watergate was at 23 percent. Makes George Bush Jr seem like Mr. Popularity. It’s not commonly remembered, but a bill of impeachment was introduced against Truman, and though he was untouched, several of his higher officials resigned, convicted of corruption.
2. Abraham Lincoln. Aaron Copland wrote a symphony entitled "Lincoln Portrait" in 1942. I’ve heard it, and recommend it; it’s very moving.
3. Thomas Jefferson. Heavily in debt, Jefferson sold his 6,500 volume collection to the US government for just under $24,000. The previous US library had been destroyed by the British in the War of 1812.
4. John Quincy Adams. His verse, inspired by nature scenes, was published after he left the White House.
5. Herbert Hoover. He and his wife learned the language in China in the early 1900s while Herbert worked as a mining engineer.
6. Theodore Roosevelt. He wrote biographies, histories, nature studies, books on patriotism. He also allegedly read over ten thousand books, sometimes a couple a week and some in other languages. It's also stated by biographers that he had a photographic memory. Puts a different spin on the rugged cowboy image with which he’s often portrayed.
7. John Kennedy and Bill Clinton. Their failure to release these records have spawned many rumors, but the conclusive reasons for withholding them are unknown.
8. Ulysses Grant. Despite the best efforts of his wife to get him to attend theater and musicals, General Grant was no lover of culture.
9. George H. Bush, in WW II. In his 39 months of service he logged over 1,200 hours of flight time and was one of only four pilots in his fourteen pilot squadron to survive the war. After being shot down he was rescued by a submarine. He commemorated the incident by parachuting from a plane again, fifty years later.
10a. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both signers of the Declaration of Independence. Both died in 1826, 50 years after the signing. Adams outlasted his foe and later friend by a few hours.
10b. Calvin Coolidge was born July 4, 1872.
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