A true story about the horror of Amityville: what happened in a small American town many years ago and why this case is surrounded by mystical secrets. Killer Ronald Defeo: biography Lutz family real story

Amityville. The name of this small town thirty kilometers from New York is known not only in the United States, but also far beyond the borders of America. But the prestigious district "for the rich" was glorified by an unsuccessful billionaire or a major scientist. Amityville is best known for the Hight Hopes mansion, the sinister home where American assassin Ronald Defeo murdered his family.

This bloody story, which destroyed the quiet life of the quiet town of Amityville, took place back in the 70s of the twentieth century. Since then, the three-story mansion has become a favorite place for visiting horror tourists, as well as various psychics, mediums, clairvoyants, who seek to confirm rumors of supernatural manifestations in this house.

The killer Ronald Defeo Jr. is still alive today. While in prison, he gave interviews more than once, giving out the most unexpected versions of the events of that November night. The very crime that Ronald Defeo committed has become an "urban legend", acquiring rumors, conjectures and "new facts and versions that have appeared." Interest in the "scary" house in Amityville is not weakening also because the bloody story has become the basis for the book and the plot of several feature films. Now that several decades have passed, the conjectures of writers and directors are firmly intertwined with the official facts of the investigation into the murder of the Defeo family.

So who was Ronald Defeo Jr.? Could he have committed the murder of several people alone? And what events preceded the fact that Ronald Defeo Jr. in November 1974 shot his entire family from his rifle?

Defeo's parents

Ronald's future parents were an outwardly beautiful couple, even though they belonged to different "strata of society." Mother, Louise Meri Brigante, came from a family of a successful businessman and dreamed of a career in the modeling business. The young beauty was not even twenty years old when she met her peer Ronald Joseph Defeo (senior). The decision to get married caused a protest from Louise's parents, who completely cut off communication with their daughter and son-in-law. “The ice melted” only when, on September 26, 1951, the young couple had their first child - Ronald Defeo Jr.

After the birth of his grandson, Louise's father, Michael Brigante, hired Ronald Sr. to work for his company, and later, a few years later, helped the Defeo family purchase a house in prestigious Amityville.

Childhood in Brooklyn

It is widely believed that it was childhood and parents that primarily influenced how the future "famous" killer Ronald Defeo grew up. His biography begins in Brooklyn, not the richest New York area. The first years of the life of Ronald Defeo Jr. can hardly be called cloudless and happy. According to the testimony of relatives and friends of the Defeo family, the upbringing that the father applied to the eldest son was reduced to severe beatings for any offense. Louise could not or did not want to change anything in relation to her father and son, according to rumors, DeFeo Sr. beat her too.

The constant stress and abuse of his father took a toll on Ronald's appearance and health, both physically and mentally. The boy was withdrawn and also suffered from excess weight.

School and classmates

As is often the case, Ronald Defeo, who was beaten at home, also became the target of attacks from other children at school. At first, the boy was teased, because of his extra weight, classmates came up with the nickname “pork chop” for him. Whether Defeo had any friends in elementary school is not known. The bullying and attacks on Ronald continued for several years. Everything changed when the teenager Ronald not only grew up and got stronger, but also became addicted to drugs. Now he has become a "problem" for others.

Butch and amphetamines

Drugs taken by high school student Ronald Defeo made the teenager aggressive. Sometimes he had real bouts of frenzied rage. Of course, no one else dared to tease him with a “chop”, especially since drug addiction made him thin. The teenager, who received the new nickname Butch, is no longer a victim. He rebuffed the aggressive behavior of Ronald Sr. The slightest excuse was enough to arrange a real fistfight with his father.

Then the parents turned to a psychiatrist for advice in order to somehow curb the aggressive and uncontrollable Butch. A visit to the doctor did not give any results - Ronald Jr. abruptly refused the help of a psychiatrist. The family had to find a new way to manage the drug addicted teenager - money. The younger Defeo regularly received expensive gifts and money "for expenses" from his father. Relatives often recalled simply a “royal” gift to a fourteen-year-old son from a “loving father” - a motor boat that cost decent money for that time, about fifteen thousand dollars.

Children of the Defeo family

Despite family problems and the rough aggressive behavior of Defeo Sr., four more children were born in the family: two daughters, Dawn Teresa (1956) and Allison Louise (1961) and sons Mark Gregory (1962) and John Matthew (1965).

The killer Ronald Defeo Jr., already serving a prison term, stated in an interview that not only he had problems with his parents, but also his younger sister Dawn. The harsh "educational methods" of her father extended to her too. In addition, apparently, Dawn Teresa inherited the heavy temper of Ronald Sr. Butch claims that his sister hated their father so much that she once even threatened him with a kitchen knife during an argument.

Later, all four children of the Defeo family, along with their parents, will be shot dead. But at the same time, the death of Butch's siblings is the most controversial. According to close friends and relatives, the children were quite friendly - everyone noticed the affection that the “difficult teenager” Ronald Defeo feels for the younger ones (photo of the children of Ronald and Louise Defeo, taken in Amityville).

Prestigious Amityville

Moving to the town of Amityville, a quiet place for wealthy families, was preceded by several events that are not typical of the Defeo family lifestyle. Tired of the beatings and explosive nature of her husband, Louise Brigante decided to leave after the birth of her fourth child, Mark Gregory. This made Ronald Sr. somewhat change his attitude towards his wife. To bring Louise back, DeFeo even wrote a song for her, which was subsequently sung and recorded for the album by Joe Williams, a popular jazzman at the time. After reconciliation, the couple changed their old house in Brooklyn to a three-story mansion "Great Hopes" (Hight Hopes) in the town of Amityville. Their fifth and last child was also born there.

Their outwardly decent life was now overshadowed by the behavior of their first-born Defeo Jr. Finally addicted to drugs, seventeen-year-old Butch dropped out of school, his relationship with his father was getting worse day by day. The matter more and more often came to a clarification of the relationship "on the fists." Even the employment of Ronald in his grandfather's Buick car manufacturing company, where his father already worked, did not save the situation. Butch ran simple errands and sometimes didn't show up at the office for days at a time.

Ronald Defeo was notable for outrageous behavior outside the family home. The young man had a lot of unpleasant "hobbies" in addition to drugs: buying firearms, promiscuity with women, petty theft. The latter is more than strange, because Butch did not really need money - his father continued to support him, giving Ronald 500 dollars a week.

The last year of the Defeo family

The events of the last months of the life of the Defeo family, before the bloody November night of 1974 happened, seemed to portend a terrible denouement. Passion for weapons and hunting Defeo Jr. began to pose a real danger to others. Even his friends recall cases when he "jokingly" aimed at someone. Once Ronald took aim at his parents in order to stop the quarrel that had begun between them, and pulled the trigger. The shot that time did not happen only by accident, the gun misfired.

A week before the shooting of the family at the Hight Hopes mansion, Ronald, who was not shy about taking and spending family money from home, committed the crime of embezzling money from the company where he worked. When Defeo Jr. was instructed to take a large amount, more than 20 thousand, to the bank, Butch simply “did not take the money”, saying that he was robbed. Despite refusing to help investigate the "robbery", the police found out that Butch and his friend had embezzled the money. Again, Ronald did not receive any punishment for this offense, but this infuriated the elder Defeo. Father and son had a big fight, while Ronald Sr. shouted that "the devil is behind" Ronald, to which the son threatened to kill his parent, calling him a "fat freak." These words were then often heard at the trial from the prosecution.

Murder and investigation

The Defeo family (parents and four younger children) were brutally murdered on the night of November 13, 1974. Friends and colleagues who saw Ronald that day recall that his day passed almost as usual. He came to work unusually early, but explained this by the fact that he suffered from insomnia and decided to leave the house early, leaving the house around 4 in the morning. Butch then acted like nothing had happened. During the day, he called home several times to find out why his father did not show up for work. And at the same time, he was very “surprised” that they did not answer calls at home. Evening Butch had fun with friends, as usual, drinking alcohol and drugs.

After the "party" Ronald went to the family mansion, but soon ran to "Henry's Bar", located on the corner of the street, a few meters from the house, shouting that his entire family had been shot.

The police officers who searched the house that evening found six dead bodies lying in their beds. Both parents received two shots from a Marlin 336C hunting rifle, each of the children was killed with one shot. The following seemed strange: all the bodies were lying on their stomachs, dressed in pajamas. None of them woke up and did not try to get up, run or hide. Initially, the detectives decided that sleeping pills had been added to all family members, but the examination did not confirm this version.

Versions of the crime

At the very beginning of the investigation into the brutal murder of members of the Defeo family, police detectives did not even consider the eldest son as a suspect. After a brief interrogation in the kitchen of the mansion, Ronald was taken into police protection as a valuable witness. Of course, for neighbors and all acquaintances, hostility, almost enmity between father and son was not a secret. But all the witnesses confirmed that DeFeo treated the rest of the family, especially the younger children, very warmly, with love. For this reason, it seemed so incredible that a young man could commit such a crime.

Thanks primarily to Ronald's testimony, the detectives also had a suspect. They became a close friend of Ronald Sr., who even lived for some time in the Amityville family mansion, an American of Italian origin named Louis Falini. Butch said that his father helped Falini, who is a member of the local mafia, hide the stolen valuables in the basement of the Defeo house. The police had a version that the Italian shot the whole family as witnesses.

But upon careful inspection of the house, an unexpected find appeared - a box from a Marlin 336C rifle owned by Butch. Under suspicion, Ronald changed his testimony about that terrible night. He claimed that Louis Falini and an unknown accomplice of the mafia woke him up at about four in the morning and, threatening with a pistol, took a rifle from which they killed all family members. After they left, Butch said, in desperation, he destroyed the evidence, getting rid of the shells and weapons. The latest version was completely implausible and raised many questions that Butch could not answer.

The detectives who conducted the investigation had no last doubts that it was Ronald Defeo who killed his family. And soon Butch himself confessed. The killer told in detail how he single-handedly shot his parents first, and then his sisters and brothers from his rifle, washed himself thoroughly, washing off traces of blood, how he hid all the evidence, a rifle, shells and clothes stained with blood, drowning everything in the Brooklyn sewer.

Trial of Ronald

Despite the confession of the killer, all the details of the crime were established for quite a long time, the beginning of the trial took place almost a year after the murder, on September 14th. The main argument that Butch's lawyer relied on was the statement about the insanity of the killer - Ronald claimed that he was ordered to shoot his relatives by the "voices" that he heard in his own head. But after an examination by a forensic psychiatrist, it was concluded that despite a mild disorder and drug addiction, Defeo was quite sane.

After that, neither cooperation with the investigation, nor a word about remorse and regret helped Ronald. Ronald Joseph Defeo Jr. was found guilty of the murders of six people and received a total of 150 years in prison, 25 for each victim. All subsequent petitions for the release of the "famous" killer, filed to date, have invariably been rejected. To date, Ronald Defeo Jr. (photo below, 2015) is in Green Heaven (Beekman), one of the correctional facilities in New York State.

A lone psychopath or a gang of killers?

Most experts in the field of criminology and just third-party researchers of the events of that night in 1974 agree that there are still many unexplained facts in the execution of the Defeo family. In addition to the fact that during the murder, none of the neighbors heard a single shot, and all the children after the shots in the parent's bedroom did not even try to get out of bed and leave the house, another circumstance was revealed. A specialist hired by Michael Brigante concluded that the Defeo family was shot with at least two guns. This gave grounds to state that Ronald did not act alone.

However, this fact, which emerged during the trial, did not affect the verdict in any way, and Ronald himself made the first statement on this matter only 10 years later. Defeo Jr. said that Louise Brigante took part in the execution of the family. This version was dismissed as ridiculous.

In 2002, the book The Night the DeFeos died was published, the author of which, Rick Osuna, interviewed Ronald. The Amityville story is presented here as follows: there were four killers - Ronald, his two friends and Down Teresa, and the sister, according to DeFeo, offered to deal with the family. And it was she, according to Ronald, who shot the younger children, who were not originally planned to be killed. Thus, Ronald pleaded guilty to only three deaths - the parents and the "killer sister" Down. Ronald cited some controversial evidence in favor of this version. By that time, it was impossible to interview those very friends who allegedly took part in the murder - the first of them died. And the second was under the program for a different case.

Amityville urban legend

The following owners of the Amityville home contributed to the emergence of a halo of mysticism around the history of the Defeo family and the Hight Hopes mansion. Husband and wife Cathy and George Lutz bought the house almost a year after the crime. A month later, the Lutz family left the mansion in a big hurry, informing the public about the unusual phenomena taking place in Hight Hopes. The infamous reputation of the mansion was reinforced by clairvoyants and mediums constantly "conducting research" at home, they all claimed that paranormal phenomena occur at the place of the death of the Defeo family constantly.

All this created the mystical urban legend "The Amityville Horror", which inspired writers and screenwriters to create works in the "horror" genre. Moreover, the film rights to this story belong to the enterprising George Lutz.

Books and filmography

As already mentioned, the main "character" of the entire history of Defeo Jr. is still alive. He is serving a sentence in prison, was married three times and willingly gives interviews and puts forward new versions. Despite the negative reputation that Ronald Defeo deserved, his biography became the plot for the book by Rick Osun, which was mentioned earlier.

Back in 1977, Jay Anson's novel The Amityville Horror was written, based on the stories of the Lutz family about the paranormality of the house. The book was a success, but the film adaptations made the story of the Defeo mansion, and with it Ronald himself, really popular.

The first movie, The Amityville Horror, hit the big screen in 1979. After that, several films were made - sequels, no longer based on "real" terrible events. In fact, only the remake of Horror, released in 2005, could repeat the success of the first film.

In the city of Amityville in 1974, an emergency occurred. On November 13, at 112 Ocean Avenue, the entire Defeo family was murdered. The parents were shot while sleeping in bed, and two sons and two daughters were also shot with them. Their eldest son Ronald remained unharmed, he was arrested, convicted and imprisoned.

Newspaper article about events in Amityville

It was suspicious that all the bodies were lying face down on the beds, as if they were being held by something while they were being shot. The children were not awakened by the shots of the previous murders, although the rifle is a rather noisy weapon. After the tragedy, the house was not sold for a long time. The previously quiet area of ​​Long Island was shocked by the horrific massacre. In 1975, the Lutz family moved into the house. Husband, wife and three children said that their abode was Hell's house. As if the demons that pushed Ronald Jr. to kill were not heard by him, but were actually in the house. The new owners called the minister of the church to bless the house, but something threw him away, leaving blisters on his hands, and he heard a cry of “Get out!”.

Less than a month later, the family broke down and fled without taking anything with them. The public quickly learned about the horrors that tormented them.

Defeo family life

As we have already mentioned above, the police officers found the Defeo family shot dead in the house - six people sleeping peacefully in their bed. Ronald and Louise, sons Mark and John and daughters Dawn and Allison. Their son Ronald Jr. escaped unscathed. Police determined that the murders were committed around 3:00 am with a .35 Marlin rifle. The Defoe family was well known, their children studied with neighbors at the Amityville school. Neighbors watched in horror as the police took away Ronald Jr., who was later tried and charged with killing all six family members.

DeFeo family

The three-story house of the Dutch colonist at 112 Ocean Avenue was near the river, it was quite a lot. The American dream has come true: a beautiful house, a large family, wealth. But Ronald Defeo was evil, prone to outbursts of rage. He often threatened both Louise and his children. Ronald Jr. often got it because of his father's bad mood. The boy grew fat, his friends mocked him. His father humiliated him at home. When Ronald Jr. grew up, he became stronger and no longer tolerated his father's bullying. At the age of 17, under the influence of some drugs, he got involved in petty theft. He was later kicked out of school for drug use. His behavior was unstable, there were outbreaks of psychosis. Having a short temper, he participated in fisticuffs matches. Even the father noticed that his son's aggressive behavior was not normal.

The father and his wife Louise wanted to take the young man to a psychiatrist, but he refused to help. The son was indulged in every possible way so as not to cause outbursts of anger, to calm him down. At 14, he was given $14,000 for a cruise on the Amityville River. As soon as the teenager only asked for money, they immediately gave him. In the family of Ronald Jr., everything was allowed, he got a job at a car dealership, where he came only for a salary. Disputes between son and father became more frequent and more dangerous. Once, when Defeo's parents had an argument, the son took a shotgun, went downstairs and shot at his father, but missed. Ronald senior froze, and his son did not seem to be bothered at all that he almost shot his father. Shortly before the murder of the family, their relationship deteriorated. Dissatisfied with his earnings, the son planned a robbery with his friend. The father exposed his deceit, and the son decided to take revenge. When the police interrogated his son, he became aggressive, became furious. The father already knew that Ronald Jr. had stolen the money. The police asked their son to help them identify the thief, but he refused. The father demanded an answer why he did not want to help the authorities. They fought again, but that was not the end.

House at 112 Ocean Avenue

November 13th was a wonderfully quiet night. The entire Defeo family went to bed, except for Ronald Jr., who sat thoughtfully in his room. He decided to solve all his problems once and for all. Armed with a .35 Marlin rifle, he purposefully walked to his parents' bedroom. With two shots in the back, he killed his father first. The first bullet ruptured the kidneys and exited in the chest, the next shot through the neck. He also shot twice at his mother. Shots tore through her chest and lungs. Then Ronald Jr. went to the little brothers. Looks like the shots didn't wake them up.

Standing between the beds in the boys' room, he shot each of them point-blank. Mark died immediately, John's spinal cord was torn, he twitched for a few seconds, then calmed down. He then shot sisters Donne and Allison in the head. It all happened at 3:00 in the morning, in less than fifteen minutes. Ronald killed his entire family in cold blood, then gathered up the bloody clothes and weapons, wrapped them in a pillowcase, got into the car and drove to Brooklyn, dumping the contents down the drain along the way. After that, he calmly went to work.

Photos taken in the house during the investigation

Later, he himself said: “If I had not killed my family, they would have killed me. With the weapon in my hand, there was no doubt who I was. I'm God".

At the trial, the lawyer tried to prove the insanity of Ronald Jr. Claimed that he heard the voices of demons. He was examined by forensic psychiatrist Harold Zolan. He established that although DeFeo used heroin and LSD, he was aware of what he was doing that night. He was convicted of second-degree murder in November 1975. Now he is serving six terms of 25 years in Green Haven Prison, all his applications are rejected, he will remain there for life.

Photos of Ronald DeFeo after his arrest

Many people continue to worry about:

• how could the children not hear the first shots?
• why were the dead lying face down?
• why did the neighbors not hear the shots of a powerful rifle?

It was assumed that Ronald planned everything in advance and slipped drugs into the food during dinner. It was believed that the house was muffled by the sounds of gunshots, but many who were in the house later reported that street noise was clearly audible from inside. Although the sound of a shot from such a rifle can be heard a mile away, neighbors heard only the barking of Defeo's dog that night. Ronald continues to change his testimony, which is unlikely to be able to shed light on those terrible events.

Police remove dead bodies from home

Arrested Ronald DeFeo

Realtors warned the Lutz family about a gruesome murder, but the young family couldn't resist buying a home in a prime neighborhood. They hoped that all the troubles that frightened them in the new house would disappear as soon as the priest would bless the house. But on the way, the hood of the priest's car burst open, breaking his glass. The right door opened, the car stalled. The priest asked for help. The windshield wipers flew back and forth like crazy, didn't stop.

Hello, friends! If you have landed on this site, then you are probably familiar with one of the most powerful mystical thrillers of our time, The Amityville Horror. But did you know that the events of this film are based on real events?

Cursed House on Ocean Avenue

The small town of Amityville is located near New York. There is a mansion here, which became famous throughout the country, because of the horror that took place there. The house was built by Dutch emigrants in 1924. The first family lived in this house quietly for 35 years. In 1960, a young married couple bought the house. However, young people lived in the house for less than six months. Terrible groans, heavy steps at night and phantoms, did not allow young people to live in peace.

In June 1965, this house was purchased by the De Feo family. For a long time, they lived quietly in this house. Nine years later, a phone rang at the Amityville police station, an unknown voice said that gunshots were heard at 112 Ocean Avenue. The police arrived at this address and found 6 corpses.

All of those killed are members of the De Feo family. The investigation showed that the killer was the only survivor - the youngest son Ronald De Feo. Ronald told the police that some force forced him to pick up a shotgun and kill his entire family. For the crime, Ronald received a life sentence.

In 1975, the Lutz family bought the house. Realtors warned that a brutal murder had taken place in this place, but blinded by the low price, George and Cathy Lutz, along with their daughter, moved into a chic house. Already a month later, all family members felt someone's presence in the house, heard rustling, and sometimes a cadaverous smell.

George and Katie decided to bless the house. During the Christian ceremony, the priest became ill, and without saying anything, he left the house. Later, the priest admitted that some forces forced him to leave.

The situation escalated when the Lutzes' little daughter Macy reported that Jody's girlfriend, a girl who also lives in this house, did not appear. Later it turned out that Jodie is the youngest daughter of the De Feo family, who was shot by Ronald in this house. In total, the Lutzes lived in the house for a month and a half.

In 1976, Lorraine and Ed Warren, famous paranormal experts all over America, became interested in the house. For several weeks they carefully examined the house, and made a statement that the strongest paranormal activity was observed in the house on Ocean Avenue.

Five years ago, the house was sold for $1,124,000. The owner of the house is unknown, and no one lives in the house itself.

In addition to the feature films from 1979 and the 2005 remake, there is also a documentary called The Real Amityville Horror that details what happened at 112 Ocean Avenue.

About the nightmarish murder committed in the suburbs of the North American city of Babylon - Amityville (New York State, Suffolk County), many tales are told. The tragic events of 1974 served as the source for writing the novel, based on which several feature thrillers and documentaries were shot. However, the horror of Amityville, whose real story is still not fully revealed, haunts the modern owners of the house. Today in the United States, the term "Amityville" is in circulation, reflecting the cultural and paranormal phenomenon of the events that occurred.

The Amityville Horror: A History

In the United States, rumors about unusual phenomena occurring in the house of Dutch emigrants began to be exaggerated immediately after its completion and assignment of the address Ocean Avenue 112. Already in the sixties of the last century, after several resales of housing construction, notoriety was fixed behind it. Moreover, the young couple who bought the property in 1960 lived in it for no more than six months, constantly complaining about the poltergeist that bothered them. The house was sold only in 1965, since in those years there were no people willing to buy this dwelling for a fairly substantial amount. This time, the buyers were a large, by the standards of that time, couple of spouses Ronaldo and Louise De Feo, who later experienced the horror of Amityville, a plausible story about which still excites the minds of Americans.

In 1974, on the night of November 17-18, a local resident called the Amityville police station and reported that he had seen flashes resembling fire from firearms. A police squad arrived at the address found the living eldest son of the De Feo family, Ronaldo Jr., five corpses of killed and wounded members of the family from a Marlin 35 caliber shotgun in their beds:

• the head of the family, Ronaldo Sr., was killed with two shots at close range;
• his wife Louise died from a gunshot to the head;
• son Mark (12 years old) died due to a bullet fired in the forehead;
• son John (9 years old) was alive at the time of the arrival of the police, but died on the way to the hospital from injuries incompatible with life in the spine;
• daughters Don (aged 18) and Alison (aged 13) died instantly from wounds to the skull.

The eldest son almost immediately confessed to the murder, but the investigation lasted almost a year and ended with a sentence in November 1975 of life imprisonment for the convicted Ronaldo Jr. According to the police version, on the evening of November 17, 1974, he stayed up late at the TV. Suddenly, the devil moved into him, whose voice the guy felt before, and gave the order to kill the whole family. Despite the absurdity of the explanation and the recognition of Ronaldo by a psychiatric examination as sane, the police did not find any other intelligible explanations about the reasons for the murder. Lawyers at the trial, wanting to mitigate the severity of the charges, pointed out five nuances that the investigation did not pay due attention to, but which may have saved the defendant from the electric chair:

• cause of mother's death unknown- Louise, whom the eldest son in recent years has repeatedly defended from the beatings of Ronaldo Sr.;
• the grounds that prompted the murder of brothers and sisters, especially the younger ones, the girls Alison and the boy John, to whom Ronaldo Jr. experienced tender brotherly affection, are absolutely unclear;
• none of the family members, having heard the rumble of the first shots, did not try to defend themselves or run away– no traces of sleeping pills, drugs or alcohol were found in the bodies of the killed;
• all the dead were found lying on their stomachs, with their face buried in a pillow, while the investigation gave an unequivocal conclusion that their bodies did not turn over after death;
• to date, it has not been established whether Ronaldo Jr. acted alone or not, - in the case of a single murder, it was necessary to spend at least ten minutes on the crime, but none of the neighbors heard the shots of their thunderous shotgun.

The Amityville Horror:continuation

In December 1975, the young Lutz family moved into 112 Ocean Avenue. From the first days of residence, all its members, especially the youngest daughter Macy, began to feel and observe strange things. Windows and doors opened and closed spontaneously in the house, voices were heard at night, the smell of decaying human flesh was felt in the rooms. Macy's story to her parents that she was talking at night with her "girlfriend" Alison (that was the name of the youngest murdered daughter of De Feo), forced the head of the family, George Lutz, to invite a priest.

The priest himself experienced the horror of Amityville, this time the real story ended with the fact that during the consecration of the house and the exorcism procedure, the reverend lost consciousness, and when he woke up, he fled in disgrace. Three weeks later, the family left the mansion and did not return. Today, the house has an owner who bought it for a fabulous sum - just over a million dollars. They say that occult ceremonies are held in the building, and those who want to get acquainted with the spirits, the apartments are rented out for the night.

Today at the "Bar by the Road" we will listen to the legends of Amityville, a small quiet town thirty kilometers from New York.
A beautiful small town, old houses, well-groomed lawns, parks - everything a person needs for a quiet, comfortable life.
Bloody murders, the fact of the most famous case of ghost possession in American history, an exorcist who was defeated in a fight with spirits and the curse of the murdered Indians - this is also Amityville.
Amityville is a creepy story set in a large, beautiful mansion at 112 Ocean Avenue.
One fine morning, a young man named Ronald De Feo, the eldest son in a large and friendly family, opened a closet, selected a bear-hunting .35 Marlin shotgun from a large collection of weapons, loaded it and went to his parents' bedroom.

Before you start reading this story and plunge into the chilling horror of those events, look around.
I hope you have a late evening now and you are completely alone in the house?
Alone?
Are you sure?
The inhabitants of the mansion at 112 Ocean Avenue thought so too, but what happened?
In addition to them, something else lived in the house, and this “something” killed them all.
What happened there?
We will have to look for the answer to this in the distant past.
On the territory that is now called Long Island (New York), in 1644 there were very difficult relations between English and Dutch settlers and Indian tribes. The parties could not agree on how to regard the position of the Massapekua Indians, whose leader Takapausha claimed that the lands occupied by the Dutch colony were handed over to them for use, and not at all sold for all eternity.
In the end, the Dutch decided it was time to end this problem once and for all. They remembered Captain John Underhill, a famous thug whom the Indians feared like fire.
There were reasons for this: a few years ago, in the war with the Pequot tribe, Underhill participated in the massacre of the redskins. 400 Indians were burned alive for daring to voluntarily leave the settlement near the Mystic River.
After some time, John Underhill moved to the island (Long Island) and made a lot of efforts, making it clear that if he was well paid, he would take up this business and solve the problem of Massapequa.
He was a very cruel person. He did not consider the Indians at all to be people, therefore he did not see anything special in the murders of the Redskins.
The Whites paid him well and Captain Jonah Underhill worked the money in full.
First, he staged demonstrative torture and execution of seven Indians, whom he accused of stealing pigs. Then he lured into a trap and killed about twenty Indians (their remains were buried in a mass grave at Fort Neck).
(When a road was laid at Fort Knack a year later, the ground was still red. The bones of 24 people were found, the rest of the victims were never found.)
But what is the connection between the Indians killed at Fort Neck and the events at Amityville?
The Indian grave was just a mile from 112 Ocean Avenue.
After Ronald DeFeo shot his entire family to death, he claimed to have been possessed by the spirit of an Indian chief who forced him to kill.

The story of Amityville began on November 13, 1974, and it began with a murder.
The Defeo family - parents Ronald and Louise and their children - were shot to death in their own beds.
Ronald Defeo Sr. was killed with two shots.
Louise DeFeo survived her husband by only a few seconds - she was shot next.
After that, the killer left the parent's bedroom on the second floor of the house and went to the children's room.
Boys Mark and John were shot at point-blank range.
12-year-old Mark died instantly. 9-year-old John was less fortunate - his spinal cord was interrupted.
Two girls - 13-year-old Alison and 18-year-old Don - were shot in the head.
Ronald Defeo Jr., the only survivor of the massacre, was arrested on suspicion of murder.

On November 19, 1975, Ronald Defeo Jr. was found guilty of six murders and received a life sentence for each of them. It was clear that he would never be released.
So, the family murder case was over and justice was served?
How to say…
There are a lot of questions left in the case.
The most important of them is the motive of the crime.
Yes, Ronald did not love his father, but why did he kill his mother, whom he had defended so many times before from his father's beatings? Why did he kill his brothers and sisters? Neighbors and family acquaintances claimed that Ronald was very attached to little Allison and younger brother John. Meanwhile, it was precisely these two who accepted a terrible death from his hand.
There was also something else.
None of the family members tried to defend themselves or flee. Meanwhile, the shooting continued for more than 10 minutes. At first, the investigation had a version that Ronald slipped sleeping pills on his relatives, but the examination gave an unambiguously negative result.
According to the manufacturer, the 35 caliber carbine of the Marlin brand makes such a roar during the shot that it can be heard at a distance of about a kilometer. Meanwhile, not only the victims themselves, but also numerous neighbors, whose houses are located 50 meters from Defeo, did not hear anything!
The investigation put forward a version that the walls of the house worked as a silencer, but it did not hold water.
And, finally, the strangest thing: all six of the dead were found in the same position - face down. No evidence that the killer changed the position of his victims was found. It turns out that a moment before death they all slept face to the ground?
All this was very strange and the answers to these questions were never received.
Be that as it may, the killer went to jail, the dead were buried, and the house was put up for sale.

The history of the house, of course, scared off buyers, but still, there were those who bought it.
A certain George Lutz and his wife Katie agreed to buy the house that became the legend of Amityville - the house was sold for next to nothing.
(By the way, George and Katie did not hide the history of the house from the children. They asked them if they would agree to sleep in the same rooms where sleeping people were shot a year ago. The children (they were then 4, 7 and 9 years old), this circumstance did not frighten ).
On December 18, 1975, they moved into a new home with their two sons, a little daughter and a dog.
And very quickly, their dream home turned into a real nightmare, which is hard to even imagine.
They lived in this house for only four weeks, after which they left the mansion in a panic, leaving all their belongings there.

Now is a good time to watch the trailer for the Amityville movie - just so you know what it's all about.

George, the head of the family, although he did not believe in otherworldly forces, nevertheless made sure. Just in case, he invited a Catholic priest to bless the house. Father Ralph Pecoraro was sympathetic to the request.
The consecration went smoothly. Father Pecoraro walked around all the rooms, sprinkled them with holy water and said the proper prayers. Nothing worried him except for one room on the second floor - it was the bedroom in which little Mark and John Defeo died.
It was there that something happened that made the holy father flee in a panic from Amityville, without even explaining to the owners of the house the reason for his behavior.
All he managed to say was a strong advice not to make a bedroom out of this room.

The Lutz family had just begun to settle into a new house, when the horror of Amiteville made itself felt. At first, the floorboards began to creak on their own and the doors slammed. There was an unbearable smell of decaying meat, from which it was impossible to get rid of. At night, someone's steps were clearly heard on the stairs, and one day, green slime suddenly began to ooze along the walls of the rooms.
But much more than this, George and Katie were alarmed that their four-year-old daughter Macy suddenly got an imaginary girlfriend named Jody, with whom she constantly talked. No one except Macy saw this girl, who supposedly also lived in this house. Macy chatted with her, played with her, and one day told her mother that Jodie had told her: Macy and her parents would have to live in this house for the rest of their lives.

Something else happened shortly after that.
One night Cathy Lutz face down. (All members of the Lutz family, as soon as they moved into a new house, began to sleep in the same position - face down.) Suddenly, Cathy's body rose above the bed and began to slowly rotate in the air right up to the ceiling. George immediately woke up, but he could not move his arm or leg. Katie's levitation continued for several minutes.
The next morning, George called Pecoraro's father and told him what had happened. Ralph Pecoraro took the story for granted and wondered only one thing: why hadn't they left this cursed place yet?
George himself knew that they had made a mistake by buying the damned house.
He decided to leave the mansion with his family as soon as possible - and the house seemed to understand this.
Whispers, steps and laughter were heard in the rooms, and the air first warmed up, and then cooled down and the house turned into a giant refrigerator.
But the Lutz family, having moved for a while to Kathy's mother, who lived nearby in another city, was not yet going to part with the house on Ocean Avenue.
They wanted the house to be cleansed of spirits and ghosts.
To do this, George contacted the Warren spouses - Ed and Lorraine, the most famous ghost hunters in America.

A pair of fashionable psychics arrived with great fanfare, accompanied by a Channel 5 TV news crew and the president of the American Society for Paranormal Research.
(By the way, remember the legend about the cursed paintings and the painting by Bill Stoneham?
http://community.livejournal.com/americanlegends/18856.html
Ed and Lorraine Warren lit up there too: they offered their services in carrying out the ritual of exorcism - the picture, according to them, was infused with evil spirits. In addition, the Warrens took part in the exorcism of the Smurl house in Pennsylvania. In general, they were present at almost all sensational incomprehensible and mystical cases, offering their services as exorcists and exorcists, but, in my opinion, these "exorcists" are just clever scammers who skillfully use the situation for their advertising. Soon we will listen to another exorcism story and a story about the Warrens, then you can draw your own conclusions).
The results of the session were horrendous: Lorraine and Ed, as befits professionals, experienced the monstrous effects of "evil forces" (!), And the uninitiated leading news channel Marvin Scott was carried out of the house in an unconscious state.
There was no benefit from this visit.
After the Warrens, 7 more famous psychics visited the house. By unanimous opinion, the evil is so deeply rooted in this building that the only way out could be a full-fledged exorcism, which, as you know, is fraught with great danger to the life of the exorcist priest himself.
The owner of the cursed house did not dare to such an experiment, and in March the Lutzes returned the mansion to the bank.

There has long been controversy around the described history of Amityville. Many are sure that it is fictional from beginning to end.
Ronald Defeo's lawyer William Weber admitted that, along with the Lutz family, he "created this terrible story over a bottle of wine." The house has never been haunted, the terrible events that the Lutzes told about were invented from beginning to end. Weber planned to use ghost stories as an extenuating circumstance for his client, Ron Defeo.
They are said to have been spurred into creating the Amityville ghost story by another fictional story, The Exorcist, which appeared in December 1973. Tales of demons and ghosts were in the public domain just as the Lutzes allegedly began to invent their own story about demonic activity a year or two later.
Whether this is so is not known.
There is too much independent evidence to support the Lutzes' story to suggest that they made up or fabricated all of this themselves.
Just one local story about the extermination of the Indians and mass graves is enough to believe that the matter is not clean and, perhaps, the Lutz family still got off lightly ...

Well, a little more Amityville for a healthy sound sleep. :)