Only real life is crazier than a horror thriller although what happens when the onscreen nightmares are inspired by true events? Since horror became a genre, authors and directors have declared that their works are “based on true stories” to add a touch available in multiple colors, but these claims are infrequently backed up by substantial evidence. When The Texas ChainSaw Massacre debuted in 1974, for example, the creators decided to buy it as a romanticized rendition of a historical event. The villain, Leatherface, was based on the real serial killer Ed Gein, but the rest of the tale was completely fabricated. 

Gein, one of the most legendary criminals of the 20th century, generated characters in movies such as With the Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, and American Horror Movie: Asylum. Needing said that, there are these few horror films that go beyond the planetary bodies and showcase happenings that supposedly occurred — or at least did according to one of the people. The lives of Ed and Lorraine Warren, two Connecticut paranormal investigators who died in 2006 and 2019, respectively, provide us with inspiration for everyone in the Conjuring cosmos. The couple reportedly gained notoriety in 1975, when they analyzed a case involving the Lutz family in Amityville, New York. Lorraine told Yahoo in 2013: “Amityville was horrendous, honey.” 

It pursued us the whole way around the globe. I don’t really want to start the conversation. I’m never going back to the Amityville house. You have no idea how long my career has indeed been; it is the only one.” The Lutzes said they were being haunted by some manner of paranormal activity in their new Long Island home, which they bought for an extraordinarily low price, according to Amityville folklore. Among other things, they started to want to see furniture movement by itself and glowing eyes looking out from corners during their time there. They had only been in residence besides 28 days while they opted to abandon. 

While several of their statements were soon refuted, one message of the book was true: previous occupant Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered six members of his family in the house in 1974. In December 1975, he was found to be guilty of six counts of second-degree murder and convicted to 25 years to prison time – the same month the Lutzes moved in. That the very first film in the Conjuring universe bears a passing mention to Amityville in the opening scene, but the majority of the tale concerns another real-life family named the Perrons via Rhode Island.