Editing Amityville, New York (section)

==History==
[[Huntington (CDP), New York|Huntington]] settlers first visited the Amityville area in 1653 due to its location to a source of [[salt hay]] for use as animal fodder. [[Wyandanch (sachem)|Chief Wyandanch]] granted the first deed to land in Amityville in 1658.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=http://www.amityvillehistoricalsociety.org/Hist.Chronological.htm |title=History |website=Amityvillehistoricalsociety.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725195856/http://www.amityvillehistoricalsociety.org/Hist.Chronological.htm |archive-date=July 25, 2011 }}</ref> The area was originally called ''Huntington West Neck South'' (it is on the [[Great South Bay]] and [[Suffolk County, New York]] border in the southwest corner of what once called Huntington South), but is now the Town of Babylon. According to village lore, the name was changed in 1846 when residents were working to establish its new post office. The meeting turned into bedlam and one participant was to exclaim, "What this meeting needs is some amity." Another version says the name was first suggested by mill owner Samuel Ireland to name the town for his boat, the ''Amity''.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[Newsday]]|url=http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-historytown-hist0043,0,3181838.story|title=Amityville: Al Capone Was in the Lineup|access-date=November 7, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041117233412/http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-historytown-hist0043,0,3181838.story|archive-date=November 17, 2004|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Aero-view of Amityville, Suffolk County, Long Island, N.Y. 1925. LOC 75694744.jpg|thumb|[[Panoramic map]] of Amityville from 1925 with list of landmarks and images of several inset]]
The [[place name origins|place name]] is strictly speaking an incidental name, marking an amicable agreement on the choice of a place name.<ref>Room A. ''Placenames of the world: origins and meanings'', p. 6</ref> The village was formally incorporated on March 3, 1894. In the early 1900s, Amityville was a popular tourist destination with large hotels on the bay and large homes. [[Annie Oakley]] was said to be a frequent guest of vaudevillian [[Fred Stone]]. [[Will Rogers]] had a home across Clocks Boulevard from Stone. World-famous classical composer & pianist [[Benjamin Britten]] resided in the village during World War II. Gangster [[Al Capone]] also had a house in the community. Congregants began holding meeting for St. Mary's Church in 1886, building a Chapel in 1888 by Wesley Ketcham under Rev. James H Noble and the church was consecrated in 1889, pre-dating the town incorporation.<ref>St. Mary's Church Historical Marker (hmdb.org)</ref>

===''The Amityville Horror''===
[[Image:Amityville house.JPG|thumb|left|The Amityville Horror House in December 2005. The house's signature quarter moon windows on the top floor were replaced in 1990.|217x217px]]
{{Main|The Amityville Horror}}

Amityville is the setting of the book ''[[The Amityville Horror]]'' by [[Jay Anson]], which was published in 1977 and has been adapted into a series of films starting in 1979. The story of ''The Amityville Horror'' can be traced back to a real life murder case in Amityville in November 1974, when [[Ronald DeFeo Jr.]] shot all six members of his family at 112 Ocean Avenue. In December 1975 George and Kathy Lutz and Kathy's three children moved into the house, but left after twenty-eight days, claiming to have been terrorized by [[paranormal]] phenomena produced by the house. Jay Anson's novel is said to be based on these events but has been the subject of much controversy; the murder case actually happened, but there has been no evidence that the house is or was haunted.

The local residents and authorities in Amityville are unhappy with the attention that ''The Amityville Horror'' brings to the town, and tend to decline requests to discuss it publicly.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amityvillerecord.com/news/2000/1026/Front_Page/11.html |title=Why Hollywood's version of DeFeo murders isn't Amityville's |publisher=Amityvillerecord.com |access-date=June 3, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Mayhew |first=Malcolm |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050508/news_1h08amityvlm.html |title=The reel horror |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune |date=May 8, 2005 |access-date=June 3, 2011}}</ref> The website of the Amityville Historical Society makes no mention of the murders in 1974 or the period that the Lutz family lived at the house. When the [[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]] made its documentary about ''The Amityville Horror'' in 2000, no member of the Historical Society would discuss the matter on camera.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amityvillehistoricalsociety.org/Hist.Chronological.htm |title=The Chronological History of Amityville |publisher=Amityvillehistoricalsociety.org |access-date=June 3, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725195856/http://www.amityvillehistoricalsociety.org/Hist.Chronological.htm |archive-date=July 25, 2011  }}</ref>

The house featured in the novel still exists but has been renovated and the address changed in order to discourage tourists from visiting it. The [[Dutch Colonial Revival architecture]] house built in 1927 was put on the market in May 2010 for $1.15 million and sold in September for $950,000 (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|.95|2010|r=1|fmt=c}} million in {{Inflation/year|US}}).<ref>{{cite web|first=Valerie|last=Kellogg |url=http://www.newsday.com/classifieds/real-estate/real-li-1.812034/amityville-horror-home-becomes-a-dream-house-1.2318995 |title='Amityville Horror' home becomes a 'dream house' |work=Newsday |date=September 27, 2010 |access-date=August 15, 2014}}</ref>