This is WOR New York. Stay tuned for in conversation.
First this bulletin from the WOR newsroom:
Six members of one family have been found shot to death in their night clothes
in their expensive home in Amityville, Long Island.
The only available information at this moment according to the Amityville village police
is that the mem- victims have been identified as members of the DeFeo family.
They were found by a twenty-three year old son, Ronald DeFeo,
who is believed to be the only surviving member of the family.
Six members of one family found shot to death in their home in Amityville Long Island.
We will have further details on the 11 o'clock news.
This was the first radio broadcast to announce the murders which would in no time at all
become infamous across the world: the Amityville murders committed by Ronald DeFeo Jr.
The entire DeFeo family were shot in their sleep by son and brother Ronald. This atrocity would
spark the beginning of a modern day bloody legend. A legend which has been adopted and
adapted in the grotesquely fantastical creations of 15 Amityville films.
Ronald initially claimed that the murders were conducted by a mob hitman, whom he named.
However, this story was soon proved inconsistent, since the supposed hitman was out of state
of New York at the time of the murders. Within a day, Ronald confessed to having committed
the mass murder himself. He said:
"It all started so fast. Once I started, I just couldn’t stop. It went so fast."
That which he referred to as ‘it’ began around three in the morning at 112 Ocean Avenue.
Ronald took his 35 calibre rifle and meticulously shot his two brothers, two sisters, mother and father.
A bullet each for his siblings; double for his parents.
Afterwards, Ronald drew a bath and redressed, disposed of his gun in the family swimming pool, then went
to work as usual. It wasn’t until later that day, around 6.30 in the evening, that
Ronald announced the discovery of his slain family at the local bar.
Ronald’s story has altered many times since the cold-blooded happenings of that morning.
The most well-known version of events was claims that he had killed his family due to
demonic voices in his head. During his trial, Ronald’s lawyer mounted a defense of insanity,
which was supported by a court psychiatrist. Regardless, the final judgement found Ronald
both guilty and aware of his actions, resulting in him being sentenced to six consecutive life sentences.
In the years that have followed, Ronald has claimed that he was under the influence of
drugs and alcohol when he performed the murders. In another version of the story, it was his
sister, Dawn, who was the murderer. Ronald only killing her in a struggle which broke
out upon the discovery of his dead family. His story has changed so many times that the
only truth which we can now be certain of is that Ronald DeFeo Jr. is a notorious liar.
Indeed, perhaps the most demonic aspect of the Amityville murders is the imagination
of the murderer himself.
However, regardless of Ronald’s testimonies, there are certain facts which make this case
particularly strange. All of the victims were found lying on their stomachs, with no signs
of struggle. Toxicology reports have proved that no sedatives were used; and police found
no evidence of Ronald having used a silencer on his very loud lever action rifle.
How then, did the DeFeo family remain asleep in their beds as Ronald killed them one by one?
In the court transcripts, Dr. Howard Adelman, the medical examiner on the case, reveals
that he was “mystified” as to how a single gunman could have ever committed the crime.
In response, there have been several competitive theories from the very earthly to the paranormal.
However, none truly satisfies the question of how Ronald cocked and loaded and shot,
cocked and loaded and shot, again and again and again, murdering his entire family whilst
they stayed sound asleep.
A little over a year later, 112 Ocean Avenue, the scene of such ghastly murders, became
home to a new family. The house with all its furnishings still in place was bought by George
and Kathy Lutz and their three children. Whilst aware of the events that had taken place there,
the Lutzes were optimistic, describing the house as their dream home. They even erected
a sign which named the house ‘High Hopes’.
However, they would only inhabit the house for 28 days. They would end up being forced
from its walls, running out in their nightwear, abandoning all of their possessions, never to return.
The events that allegedly occurred during those 28 days have since become legendary.
"Get out."
Many have claimed that the Lutzes fabricated the fantastical tale to make money. However,
to stake all of one’s possessions, reputation and livelihoods on the unlikelihood that someone
will find your story interesting enough to write a successful book and produce a successful
movie seems too ludicrous a gamble for even the most ambitious of risk-takers.
In additon, multiple sources have suggested that the Lutzes would have enjoyed only marginal profits from
the Amityville Horror franchise. In a 2002 interview, George Lutz named this figure as
close to 300,000 dollars after taxes and legal fees. By way of contrast, the 1979 Amityville
Horror film alone is reported to have grossed over $86,000,000 in theatres.
Skeptics have also argued that the Lutzes got into financial difficulties and needed
a sensational story to rid themselves of the house. However, after just 28 days it is unlikely
that the Lutzes had the time to reach such a dismal point. Indeed, by the time they fled,
they had not even made their first mortgage payment.
The Lutzes had no reasonable motive to concoct this tale. It was only in their eventual endeavour
to exorcise their home that reporters were able to gain access to the Amityville house
and make its story famous. Therein lies the true horror of Amytiville: when you listen
to any of the Lutzes’ testimonies, there is an inescapable sense that they believe
what they are saying is the truth.
It was on the very first day of moving into the house that the Lutzes began to feel as
though something was not quite right. A family friend, and local Catholic priest, Father
Ralph Pecoraro visited the house to perform a blessing. This was nothing unusual for a
family of faith moving into a new home. George described what happened during one of his
final interviews before his death in 2006. Whilst performing the blessing, the priest
was left disturbed by a strange feeling that he got in one of the upstairs bedrooms.
Pecoraro described the room to George, who told him that it would be the sewing room. The priest
supposedly looked relieved, then said: “That’s good, as long as no one sleeps in there.”
Paranormal events began to unfold immediately.
Within a week Kathy's hand had been touched by something that we discussed and couldn't explain.
It was just something unseen.
We also had - um - hoards of flies that would appear within two rooms.
And, no matter how many times we would kill them they would reappear.
It wasn't in the water.
The china itself turned black. And at first it was one bathroom, and then another and then another.
And then telephone repairmen came three times because each time we tried to communicate with
the priest we would run into faulty connections.
Repeatedly, noises would jolt the family from their sleep in the night. It was George in
particular who reported the most disturbance. He described how he would hear the front door
violently open and close, only to then investigate and see it locked with the dog asleep in front of it.
Paranormal investigator, Ed Warren, drew attention to how a lot of activity would happen at around
3 o’clock in the morning - the same time that Ronald DeFeo murdered his family.
Kathy Lutz reported that she was lulled into a state of deep, contented, lethargy by the
house. She would never want to leave. Even the simplest of chores was too much for her.
Others have even stressed how the house seemed to age Kathy, both mentally and physically.
On the night that the family fled the house, George claims to have witnessed his wife transform
into an elderly woman before his very eyes. A visage which took several hours to wear off.
By the time we left we had lost a considerable amount of weight.
Kathy was passing out quiet regularly.
I had lost over twenty-six pounds.
Arguably, it is all too easy to dismiss the Lutzes story as make-believe. The level of
detail in their testimonies makes their claims captivating, especially when one considers
the consistency with which they maintained their story throughout their lives.
A more recent documentary, filmed in 2012, after the deaths of both Kathy and George,
has added further evidence and intrigue to the Amityville case.
For the first time since the events of 1976, one of the Lutz children, Daniel Lutz, has
come forward to discuss his childhood experiences. Daniel has corroborated his mother and stepfather's
testimonies, whilst adding to them with his own experiences.
One of the most traumatic events, which has haunted him since the day it occurred, was
when he witnessed the door of the boat house open and slam shut repeatedly and with great
violence. The family dog, Harry, was profoundly disturbed, his pen being beside the boat house.
In an attempt to escape, he jumped over the fence of his pen, suspended above the ground
by his lead, seemingly trying to hang himself. After rescuing the dog, it took Daniel and
George great effort to close the door.
It was at this point Daniel recalls one of the most bizarre aspects of his experiences
at Amityville. During the interview, his own disbelief at what he saw - even many years
later - is plain to see. Just by watching you can see that Daniel knows what he is about
to say sounds ridiculous - however, he says it all the same.
What did you see? What was in the window?
It would have been what looked like a cartoon character of a - um --
um --
an angry pig.
With, like, wolf-like teeth.
When he and George went upstairs to investigate, they found a rocking chair moving back and
forth by itself.
Daniel has claimed that he was possessed by a powerful entity in the house. The following
extract is taken from an interview and is in his own words:
Even after leaving the Amityville house, Daniel was sent to a Catholic monastic school by
his parents. There, the priests performed ritual exorcisms for a year to rid him of
the demon which had possessed him in the house.
On the last night the Lutzes spent at Amityville, the two boys and Kathy were lifted up on their
beds by some unseen force. Daniel has described how he was terrified as the headboard of his
and his brother’s beds smashed against each other and the ceiling. They were trapped on
the beds as they levitated. This was the final straw for the family. They could take no more.
After 28 days living in a perpetual state of terror, the Lutzes called Father Pecoraro,
who advised that they leave the house and spend the night elsewhere.
In their night clothes, they left.
Whilst away from the Amityville house, the realisation that they needed help to cleanse
the house dawned on George and Kathy.
So, it was in the March of 1976 that psychics, paranormal researchers and a Channel 5 news
crew were allowed access to 112 Ocean Avenue. Amongst the investigators were Ed and Lorraine
Warren. During the initial investigation, Lorraine was repulsed by one of the rooms,
later discovered to have been the bedroom of Ronald DeFeo. Lorraine believed that whilst
several spirits roamed the house, there was one particular entity which was both of greater
power, and greater malevolence than the others.
When we went to into the house that day
we didn't realise that it was diabolically infested.
This case had everything.
It had the monstrosities of the night, which roamed that house, which infested it, which caused a young man to murder his whole family.
The Amityville case affected our personal lives more than any case we ever worked on.
It was the Warren’s photographer who captured the infamous image of a spectral child in
a doorway. Some have speculated that this is the ghostly presence of the youngest member
of the family to be murdered in 1974, John Matthew DeFeo. However, lots of criticism
surround the paranormal investigations that took place in the aftermath of the Lutzes’
28 days of Hell. Certainly, it is worth mentioning that the Channel 5 news crew did not pick
up anything strange on film.
Since the Lutzes, there have been no reports of any further paranormal activity at the
Amityville house. The lack of subsequent hauntings, combined with the heavy reliance on eyewitness
testimony, has given much credence to the belief that the Amityville Horror was an elaborate hoax.
However, Daniel Lutz, now an adult, tells another tale, one that he was denied a chance
to tell when the event occurred. He states that all the hauntings happened and were triggered
by George Lutz. Despite denials during his lifetime, Daniel asserts that George was a
man who enjoyed to dabble in the occult.
I think somewhere along the line that George’s beliefs and practises, and things that he
was directly involved with triggered and was a catalyst to what was going on in the house
and it was kinda like a magic trick gone bad that you couldn't shut off.
Daniel also states that George was an abusive stepfather, and the catalyst that led him
to leave home at the age of 15. It is interesting that Daniel would corroborate the story of
a man who both personally repulsed him and abused him as a child.
Could this, then, be the explanation? Certainly, that the haunting seemed to stop after the
Lutzes left Amityville can be explained by George’s personal connection to the activity.
What is more, one has to wonder why he would keep all of the material possessions of those
who had died in the house before him. Could it be that, as a dabbler in the occult, George
knew something of the alleged power of death and blood? Perhaps George Lutz had attempted
to tap into this energy. However, rather than harness the residue that had been left behind
by the murdered souls of the DeFeos, George disturbed something darker. He unleashed demonic
forces which he could not control upon himself and his family.
Such an explanation is a concurrent theme in poltergeist activity. There is always someone
involved in occult practices who acts as a trigger. In the case of the Enfield Poltergeist,
it was young Janet Hodgson who played with ouija boards. Could something similar have
happened at Amityville? Furthermore, if this was the case, was this malevolent entity a
new energy? Or, had it been there all along, and part of the explanation behind the mystifying
nighttime mass murder of the sleeping DeFeos?
Unfortunately, all we can do is question. With the death of George Lutz, we shall never
know the secret behind his alleged covert interest in the occult. And so, with the lack
of any physical evidence and the over-dependence on testimony, it is probable that we will
never know for certain the truth behind the Amityville Horror.
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