Hans Holzer, author - dead at 89
Hans Holzer, whose investigations into the paranormal took him to
haunted houses all over the world, most notably the Long Island house
that inspired "The Amityville Horror," died Sunday at his
home in Manhattan. He was 89.
The death was confirmed by his daughter Alexandra
Holzer.
Mr. Holzer - who wrote more than 140 books on ghosts, the
afterlife, witchcraft, extraterrestrial beings and other phenomena
associated with the realm he called "the other side" -
carried out his most famous investigation with the medium Ethel
Johnson-Meyers in 1977. Together they roamed the house in Amityville
in which a young man, Ronald DeFeo Jr., had murdered his parents and
four siblings in 1974.
The house had become notorious after its next owners claimed to
have been tormented by a series of spine-chilling noises and eerie
visitations, set forth in the best-selling 1977 book "The
Amityville Horror: A True Story," written by Jay Anson.
After Johnson-Meyers channeled the spirit of a Shinnecock Indian
chief, who said that the house stood on an ancient Indian burial
ground, Mr. Holzer took photographs of bullet holes from the 1974
murders in which mysterious halos appeared.
Mr. Holzer went on to write a nonfiction book about the house,
"Murder in Amityville" (1979), which formed the basis for
the 1982 film "Amityville II: The Possession"; he also wrote
two novels, "The Amityville Curse" (1981) and "The
Secret of Amityville" (1985).
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