From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jay Anson (4 November 1921 – 12 March 1980) was an American author whose most famous work was The Amityville Horror. After the runaway success of that novel, he wrote 666, which also dealt with a haunted house. He died in 1980. His work, The Amityville Horror, was sold as "a true story", and it was based on the reported experiences of George Lutz and