As fate would have it, my work has taken me to visit some clients in Amityville, NY. I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone what this city is notorious for, since the movies and books have done a better job of this than I will ever be capable of. Being the curious fellow I am, however, means that I have an obligation to myself (and to this blog) to drive by the place and check it out for myself to form my own impressions.

Normally, I would not consider myself to be such a snoop. I don't even believe in the whole story. To be blunt, whether I was a priest or held any other profession, if a house told me to "get out", I would assume I was unwanted and would promptly leave. The whole tale smacks too much of the blarney for my taste and I've never bought into it. Still, there is a morbid curiosity which overcomes us on occasion and I simply had to find the place

This turned out to be a fairly simple task and I willingly drove there (in spite of the date being Friday the 13th). The address is published all over the internet and a simple programming of the GPS led me directly to the doorstep. The house is in a very quiet neighborhood and looks, remarkably, like it's equivalent from the film. The current owners have allowed the surrounding trees to overgrow the infamous double windows on the top floor (who could blame them) but otherwise, the grass is trimmed, the lights were on, and the place looked well-kept.

All in all, it was a fairly unremarkable trip and not worth my time. The passers-by just gawked at me as if I were "just another kook coming out to see their infamous neighbors". Otherwise, I have nothing to conclude from this pilgrimage other than an assumption that Satan likes Dutch Colonial architecture.