Ronald DeFeo Jr. was an American mass murderer who was tried and convicted for the 1974 killings of his father, mother, two brothers, and two sisters in Amityville, New York. Condemned to six sentences of 25 years to life, DeFeo dies in prison on March 12, 2021.
DeFeo claiming that he killed his family in self-defense because he heard their voices plotting against him.
All six of the victims were found face down in their beds with no signs of a struggle. The police investigation concluded that the rifle had not been fitted with a sound suppressor and found no evidence of sedatives having been administered. DeFeo claimed during his interrogation that he had drugged his family.
The Lutz family
In December 1975, a month after DeFeo was convicted of the murders, the Lutz couple, George and Kathy and their three young kids moved into the house, which they had reportedly snatched for $80,000.
The day they moved, the couple had a priest bless the house. But George claimed the holy man felt an unseen hand slap him in the sewing room and heard a voice say “Get out.”
Soon after, the couple said they began noticing odd things around the house, such as doors being ripped from hinges, cabinets slamming shut and slime oozing from the ceilings.
Temperatures in the house changed violently from bone chilling cold to unbearably hot, swarms of flies invaded the sewing and children’s rooms. And constant loss of the phone service. Eventually the spirits began to physically harm the family, mysterious scratches appeared on family members bodies. And communications were being made to the youngest member of the family by an evil entity
He claimed that he would mysteriously wake up at 3:15 a.m. nearly every day — around the same time the DeFeo murders were believed to have happened.
At times, his wife was physically transformed into an old woman and once levitated, George said. One night, he heard his children’s beds “slamming up and down on the floor” but claimed he couldn’t do anything because an invisible force was paralyzing him.
The family moved out after 28 days, reportedly leaving their possessions behind, including clothes in their closets and food in the fridge.
Ghost hunters
Two months later, a local TV crew did a segment on the house, bringing in so-called “ghost hunters” and paranormal experts to evaluate the couple’s claims.
“It was like a psychic slumber party,” reporter Laura Didio recalled to ABC.
The team took several photos inside, including a now-infamous image apparently showing a “ghost boy” peering out from one of the bedrooms. The psychics agreed that there was some kind of demonic force present in the house.
Films
The Amityville Horror is a 1979 American supernatural horror film based on the real killings of the DeFeo family. There have been several remakes of the film over the years.
Now
After the Lutzs left the houses paranormal activity was minor. Only occasional feelings of over whelming dread or some objects moving around according to some visitors. Eventually the haunting stopped and there has been no paranormal activity since.
Today the house is a private residence and is not open to the public.