RIVERSIDE AVONDALE PRESERVATION

Amityville is kind of misnamed, isn't it?

“Murder is bad. Very bad. But, Murder Houses are kind of awesome”

So opined This Old House, which sent out that irresistible Tweet to announce the on-line publication of a terrific slideshow of “murder houses.”  The list includes several famously spooky places (such as Lizzie Bordon's home, and the Mercer Williams House in Savannah, inspiration for Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil), as well as several not-so-famous but wonderfully named places such as the “Villisca Axe Murder House” and the “Hex Murder House.”  Many of these historic houses have used their horrific back stories as a way to preserve and maintain the homes (in case you’re interested, an overnight at the Axe Murder House will put you back a cold $400). Others, like the “Amityville Horror House,” have been returned to residential use by owners "who don’t care for thrill-seeking visitors.”  


We don't know about you, but we can only salute the bravery of someone willing to sleep in the Amityville house where, only a year after the grizzly 1970s murders, subsequent owners “reported everything from [the murderer’s] dark shadows and voices, to black slime oozing through keyholes and swarms of flies.”