A gifted magical practitioner, Holzer was a master of the Craft, training with “King of the Witches” Alex Sanders who founded the Alexandrian tradition, and receiving his degrees from Maxine Sanders. Holzer’s works Witches: True Encounters with Wicca, Wizards, Covens, Cults and Magick, and Wicca: The Way of the Witches, helped codify modern witchcraft. The author of 138 books, mostly on the occult, Holzer is best known for inspiring The Amityville Horror.
In January 1977, he and Ethel Meyers, a medium, investigated the Long Island property reputedly haunted by previous owner Ronald Defeo Jr., who murdered his family at the home in 1974. Meyers determined the house was built over a Native American burial ground, and the killings happened because Defeo was possessed by Rolling Thunder, a Shinnecock Indian Chief enraged at the desecration.
Holzer’s daughter, Alexandra Holzer, helps Travel Channel reopen her father’s most captivating case files by “digging into thousands of documents, letters, photographs and chilling audio and visual recordings dating back to the 1950s,” according to the official synopsis. The team picks up where Holzer left off to re-examine the terrifying hauntings that he dedicated his life to researching.
The Holzer Files is a “cryptic mystery, bound by threads of truth, the voices of the past and the exploration of modern paranormal pioneers,” according to the advance press. “Viewers will experience a chilling chase, fueled by Holzer’s rediscovered archival files and haunting cinematography.”
The second season comprises 13 brand new one-hour episodes. The series will explore legendary cases. The famed ghost hunter’s original case files included an investigation which trailed President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth to a tavern in Maryland which hid the assailant after the assignation. The paranormal team will also probe the case of a serial killer in Ohio, and an elegant mansion in New York City, which is “home to one of the world’s most infamous hauntings.”
