The Truth behind the Amityville House
-by Oliver Copeland
Few paranormal incidents leave such an impact as those that occurred at 112 Ocean Avenue, better recognized as the Amityville Horror House. Inspiring a multitude of films and books, the history of 112 Ocean Avenue is one that is both dark, disturbing, and tragic. While the address has been changed in recent times to steer away visitors, its troubling history still remains. With the many unanswered questions, misaligning facts, and the witness accounts of the Lutz and Defeo family, the conspiracies surrounding the house are vast, begging the question of whether or not the home truly is haunted.
The Murders:
Before diving into the hauntings themself, the history of the house and what kicked off the hauntings should be addressed. On November 13, 1974, a 23-year-old Ronald Defeo shoots and kills his entire family with a .35 caliber Marlin rifle, with absolutely no motive. His parents, his two sisters (18 and 13), and his two brothers (12 and 7) were all found face down, with their arms outstretched above their heads, showing no signs of struggle or resistance. Defeo said he had sedated them, but this proved to be a lie after toxicologists conducted an extensive toxicology report, and didn’t find any sedatives.
Additionally, according to a test done by local police at the time, the rifle used could be heard up to 5 blocks away, yet none of his neighbors heard anything, apart from the family dog barking throughout the night. After he committed the murders, he stuffed the evidence (including a holster to a handgun, different from the rifle) into a pillowcase and threw it into the nearby canal, before confessing to the crime the next day (After local police beat it out of him). He pleaded insanity, pinning the murders on the “voices from the house” (he was also a recorded heroin and LSD user), and was sentenced to 25 years to life, charged with 6 counts of second degree murder. However, during his trial, he had evidence withheld from him and lost his original lawyer, which forced him into an insanity plea. He died in prison on March 12, 2021.
The Conspiracies:
With the murders being executed in such an impossible way, it paves the way for one of the more controversial theories surrounding the murders: multiple shooters. The second bullet found in Louise, his mother, was not that of a rifle, kicking off this theory and introducing the idea that there might have been an accomplice. Defeo, while his story has changed many times during his duration in prison, has stuck to the idea that Dawn, his oldest sister, was an accomplice of his. Detectives found gunpowder spillage on the front of her nightgown, and while this could have been from Defeos rifle spilling gunpowder on her, the gunpowder was on her stomach, and she was found facing down. Additionally, a holster for a handgun was thrown into the water along with the rifle, though the handgun has yet to be found. (Documentary Filmmaker Ryan Katzenback found a piece of a handgun in the canal in 2012, though it had deteriorated past the point of being identified).
Another mainstream theory was the idea that the murder was tied to the mafia. After the murders had just been reported, police called Defeo’s grandfather to the crime scene. Once at the crime scene, he attempted to make a phone call to his brother, Peter Defoe, a caporegime (captain) in the Genovese Crime Family, before quickly hanging up after he noticed police were watching. Ronald Defeo initially blamed the murder on the mob, before confessing to the murders himself. In an interview with Newsday, he pins the murders on his sister, Dawn, but says he took the blame in fear that his great uncle (Peter Defeo), a heavy mob-involved man, would kill him.
Another theory blames the murders on the further history of the house. With the home being built on a Shinnecock Indian reservation, the house was used by them to house the sick and the dying, which some believe to have left a negative energy, acting as a magnet for evil spirits.
The Lutz Family:
Just a year after the murders, on December 18, 1975, the Lutz family moved into the house, after buying it for an incredibly cheap 80,000. Knowing about the murders, the family of 5 decided that they could handle it, and had a priest come in to bless the house prior to their move. According to George Lutz, the priest they hired, Father Ray Pecoraro, had felt an invisible slap on his wrist and someone telling him to “Get out” when blessing the house; he also apparently fell ill with flu-like symptoms after the blessing. Pecoraro later denied this, though he did recall hearing a voice as he was blessing the house (according to Newsday). During the Lutz time at 112 Ocean Avenue, their family dynamic and demeanor changed drastically, and the family began experiencing inexplicable events. Their daughter started talking about
her imaginary friend, Jodi, a red-eyed pig, which George saw staring at him through a window. During their first few weeks in the house, the family reported things like strange odors, green slime running down the walls, and an absurd amount of flies circling their sewing room. As they continued living, the demonic presence only worsened. Kathy Lutz (George’s wife) experienced invisible physical blows, and George would consistently wake up at 3:15 every morning. After George saw his wife morph into a 90-year-old woman and saw her levitate above the bed the next night, the family realized they needed to get help.
After 28 days of living in the house, they vacated in fear that whatever was haunting them was out for blood.
Evidence thrown into river, including handgun holster: Amityvillemurders.com
The Facts:
While George Lutz proclaims his story to be factual, many believe it is an elaborate work of fiction, in collaboration with Jay Anson (author of The Amityville Horror), and William Weber (Ronald Defeo’s defense attorney), and was meant to capitalize off the Defeo murders. Anson’s bestselling book, The Amityville Horror, begins with the subtitle “A True Story” and boasts a preface of “all facts and events, as far as we have been able to verify them, are strictly accurate.” In a 1979 issue of People Magazine, Weber declares that “this book’s a hoax. We created this story over many bottles of wine”.
Ronald Defeo himself believes that the occurrences the Lutz experienced were a hoax, writing in a letter, “Amityville was a hoax that Weber and the Lutzes started.” Ed and Lorrain Warren, two infamous demonologists (whose firsthand accounts inspired more than seven movies, including The Conjuring franchise), conducted a seance in the house in 1976, the year after the Lutz moved out. The two recall experiencing an overwhelming sense of evil in the house, and Ed was reportedly physically pushed while using religious provocative equipment in the basement. Other than that, though, the séance was void of supernatural encounters, and those who lived at the house after the events never reported any paranormal activity. What really happened at 112 Ocean Avenue is up for interpretation, whether or not a demonic presence really tormented George Lutz and his family, but one thing is sure: what happened was a devastating event, exploited and capitalized on by others.
More photos of the crime scene and 112 Ocean Avenue can be found at https://amityvillemurders.com/the-defeos/crime-scene.html/nggallery/page/5 https://www.nydailynews.com/2022/10/13/the-amityville-murders/
Sources:
https://amityvillemurders.com/ https://tonyspera.com/amityville/
https://www.biography.com/crime/the-real-amityville-horror-facts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmC7TPyTdfY
The Amityville Horror, by Andrew Douglas (Movie) The Amityville Horror, by Jay Anson (Book)
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/amityville-horror-true-story-defeo-family-murders https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/murder/amityville-horror-inside-the-defeo-family-s-br utal-murders
https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/murder/amityville-horror-inside-the-defeo-family-s-br utal-murders
https://www.nydailynews.com/2022/10/13/the-amityville-murders/
-Oliver Copeland
