Episode 10: The Amityville Horror House

Mar 27

A photograph of a supposed spirit in the Amityville Horror House.

“How could anybody find peace in that house? And how could you live in a home without peace?” — Lorraine Warren

Episode Transcripts

There’s a place off ocean avenue, that has an incredibly dark history.

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It was around 6:30 pm on Wednesday November 13th, 1974 when Ronald Defeo Jr. stumbled into Henry’s Bar. I can only imagine that he looked somewhat erratic to staff and patrons when he swung open the door and began pleading for help.

“Please! You’ve got to help me!” He cried. “I think my mother and father are shot!”

Given the… urgency of his pleas, a few bar patrons accompanied Ronald back to his home at 112 Ocean Avenue where they ultimately discovered that his words were true. As it appeared, a murderer was on the loose on Long Island. A sobering thought, indeed.

At some point during the chaos, the authorities were called. And along with his parents, Ronald Sr and Louis, the bodies of Defeo’s four younger siblings were discovered—each shot in their sleep by a .35 caliber lever action rifle.

Upon their arrival, Defeo told Amityville PD that he had returned home from an afternoon spent with friends, when he discovered his parent’s bodies. Then in a panic he ran bar for help. However, during their official questioning, his story began to change—ultimately leading investigators to believe that Ronald Defeo Jr played a sinister role is his family’s demise.

So the following day Defeo was arrested and charged with 6 counts of second degree murder.

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While the Amityville murders, as they are famously known today, are nightmare inducing in their own right, this is only the beginning of our story. Because as I’m sure you already know, the residence of 112 ocean avenue is the site of one of America’s most infamous hauntings.

I’m Courtney Hayes and you’re listening to haunts. Stay tuned…

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I was in high school the first time that I watch the Amityville horror. In fact, it was right around the time that my own family moved out of the smaller house we shared within the city limits of Augusta, to a much larger abode that was nestled into the suburbs of Atlanta.

My mom and I were unpacking boxes in our living room, flipping through the channels on the TV we’d just set up, when she recognized the opening scene. And while she didn’t share the same affinity for horror films that I did, I had been a particularly moody teenager when it came to the recent move, so she let the movie play.

It was eerie to watch the scenes unfold, as my mother and I found ourselves in a very similar situation to the characters on screen. And as we sat there in silence, watching the story of a dream home turned nightmare haunting, we began to wonder: are we in for a similar fate?

Fortunately, nothing too sinister ever happened in my parents house and they still live there happily to this day. Although the same cannot be said for the Lutz family who moved into 112 Ocean Ave in December of 1975.

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George and Kathy Lutz were married in July of that year. And while they both had their own premarital homes, the newlyweds wanted a fresh start. So they couldn’t pass up the opportunity when this prime piece of real estate hit the market for just $80,000.

The house was quite literally perfect. In fact, it was everything this newly blended family could ever need and then some. With a total of 5 bedrooms, this 4000 square foot Dutch Colonial Style home had enough room for Kathy’s three children with plenty of living space for the family to spread out in. Not to mention the property was expansive—featuring an in-ground pool along with a boat house that sat on the canal near south oyster bay.

Simply put, it was George and Kathy’s dream house. Well, aside from the one major elephant in the room.

Of course, the couple was made aware of the home’s grim history, the details of which I’m sure would have been hard for them to swallow. But in the end, George and Kathy were able to push past their inhibitions for a chance at this once in a lifetime opportunity. Because, logically speaking, they had no reason to believe that history would repeat itself. Nor would they have any inclination for the events were about to unfold.

So on a crisp December morning, the Lutz family moved into their new home, with the expectation that this fresh start would bring them a lifetime of happiness. Yet, only 28 days later, they ran screaming from the property, never to return again.

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In a radio interview from 1979, George and Kathy Lutz described their initial impressions of their defamed home. They called the residence charming, with superb workmanship. But outside of these physical descriptors, in a much more esoteric sense, they said that it felt like the home was calling to them, as if something behind those walls wanted them to be there.

Now if you want my opinion, this isn’t a very surprising or even that outlandish of a claim. In fact, there are several reasons why the Lutz Family may have felt drawn to the property.

For starters, Ronald Defeo Jr. claimed that he heard voices in the house, that told him to do unspeakable things. I will let you form your own opinions there, but for now, it’s worth mentioning that this is where rumors of demonic possession began.

Not to mention, the home came fully furnished with the defeo’s furniture, right down to the children’s bed frames. Now as you may recall from our discussions of the Basano Vase in episode one, there is a theory in paranormal research that claims inanimate objects have the capacity to sort of remember significant events. Specifically, it is thought that these objects can trap energy, both positive and negative.

So when George and Kathy purchased the fully furnished site of a grisly mass murder, that was perpetrated at the hands of someone who claimed to be possessed, well it’s no wonder why the energy would have felt… off. Even from the very first day.

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So in light of that, let’s focus our lens on the afternoon of December 18th, 1975. It was the first of this 28 day long affair and at the advice of friends and neighbors, George had invited a priest out to the house for a blessing.

Father Ray Pecoraro was a very dear friend of George Lutz. In fact, Pecoraro even arranged the annulment of his first marriage. So when George called him asking if he would bless their new home, the priest was happy to oblige. Although this jovial attitude would falter as soon as he reached the second floor.

He had already walked through the main level, and anointed each room with holy walked along the way. Nothing at all seemed out of the ordinary until he ascended the stairs and walked into the first of several second floor bedrooms. Immediately, the priest noticed it was unseasonably cold, even for December in Long Island. Which was strange given that the rest of the house was comfortably warm.

Now needless to say, this sudden drop in temperature put Father Pecoraro on edge, but he kept working. That is until he heard a guttural voice telling him to do one thing and one thing only:

“Get out.”

Understandably, those two syllables sent the priest racing back down the stairs, only stopping to ask who would be sleeping in that room. Kathy assured him that the space no longer functioned as a bedroom and that she would be using it as her sowing room. Then he simply told the couple that it was good no one would be sleeping there and left without another word—leaving the top two stories residence without a blessing.

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Up until the day he died, George Lutz swore that this blessing is what ultimately made the house uninhabitable. That instead of removing any negative residual energy, the act simply agitated an already delicate situation. So as the weeks slowly slipped by, this once happy family began to devolve into madness.

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The Lutzes only had a few days of peace before their own experiences began.

It started with George developing the peculiar habit of waking at exactly 3:15 every morning. Now, as I’m sure you are all well aware, 3 to 4 AM is known by paranormal researchers and investigators as the witching hour, or rather the time of day when the veil between our world in the spiritual plane is lifted. Meaning that this is the time when paranormal activity is at the highest. But beyond that, there is something even eerier about George’s nightly insomnia.

As it turns out 3:15 AM is the time of death listed on Mrs. Defeo’s death certificate. Meaning that George Lutz was waking every night at the exact moment that the murders were committed in the very same room that they took place in.

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By December 21st, the other members of the Lutz family began to notice similar oddities. On that afternoon, for instance, Kathy was in the kitchen on the main floor when she heard the kids screaming for her from the second floor.

So Kathy raced up the stairs where she found her three children in the bathroom, staring down into the toilet bowl. I can only imagine how puzzling the scene must have looked from Kathy’s perspective. I mean, what could make a toilet so interesting that it captivated the minds of 3 school aged children? Well when Kathy peered into the bowl for herself, she understood.

A black sludge was oozing from the top of the bowl. Actually as they later discovered, each of the 4 toilets in the house had this substance secreting into the basin. And no, in case you were wondering, it wasn’t mold. In fact, muck actually stained the toilets, even bleach couldn’t dissolve the residue.

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The days that followed were once again quiet, save for George’s nightly insomnia. The family was allowed a peaceful and happy Christmas—the only one they would be spend in that house. But by 3:15 the following morning, the activity resumed with a vengeance.

George awoke as he normally did, only this time he noticed a strange noise coming from the boat house. And out of fear that the noise was an intruder, he got up to investigate.

He was on the way back up to the house when he saw it. There in the window of his step daughter missy’s room, was a tall shadow. But when George raced up the stairs and threw open the bedroom door, he found a completely empty room, aside from missy still fast asleep in her bed.

Later that day, missy began talking to what only could be described as a disembodied voice. Now to be clear, the voice wasn’t missy’s—she wasn’t speaking on behalf of a toy or having a play pretend conversation with an imaginary friend. She would speak and low guttural voice would respond. Oh and to George and Kathy’s horror, they heard it too.

When her parents asked, Missy claimed that the voice was that of an angel who she called Jodie. And apparently this “angel” appeared to the child in the form of a pig.

Now if you know are familiar with biblical descriptions of pigs, you would know that Jodie’s physical appearance wasn’t exactly angelic. In fact, pigs have long been associated with demons. A fact that George and Kathy were well aware of.

So they once again called Farther Pecoraro. But in spite of their pleas, the priest refused to return to the home and complete his blessing. Apparently he had developed blisters all over his body since his initial visit, and given how physically affected he had been, Pecoraro was not too keen on helping the family any further.

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Meanwhile, back at the house, things only continued to get stranger. The following morning, for instance, George awoke to a loud banging coming from the main floor—only to be followed by utter silence the moment he got out of bed. Then that very afternoon, Kathy made a horrifying discovery in the basement.

Concealed behind a seemingly bookshelf, was a small, cramped room—painted from floor to ceiling in a blood red hue. So it would seem, they had finally discovered the heart of their home’s dark power.

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In the days after Kathy’s alarming discovery, the family began to notice a foreboding energy emanating from this red room.

For starters, Harry, the Lutz family dog, would cower in whenever he was in close proximity to the room—as if the poor thing could sense something sinister dwelling within the space. Not to mention, the Lutzes began to smell a putrid stench.

It wasn’t constant by any means, it sort of came and went with no rhyme or reason for its pattern. But when the stink did manifest, it would always be radiating from the red room, usually in conjunction with some form of negative activity. Take the night of the Defeo murders, for instance. According to the responding officers of Amityville PD, that very same smell enveloped the home while they were surveying the scene.

And to make matters worse, activity seemed to heighten from that day forward. The black sludge that I mentioned earlier began to manifest in other places throughout the house—specifically dripping down from the ceiling and out of keyholes. They also started to find this green gelatin like substance on their carpets every single morning, even when the floors were clean the night before.

Now it was George in specific suffered the brunt of the activity. During his waking hours, he could not for the life of him get warm. Even when the Lutzes heated the massive domicile to extremely warm temperatures, George would cover himself in blankets while his body involuntarily shook and shivered. Not to mention, his sleep was more disturbed than ever—waking every morning exactly at 3:15 to violent images in his mind that George swore were not his.

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Eventually, the activity became so severe that George and Kathy felt they had no choice but to take matters into their own hands. So on day 27, they decided to hold their own blessing of the property. And while it was unbeknownst to them at the time, this decision would ultimately be the beginning of the end for the Lutz Family and their dream home.

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On the evening of January 14, 1976, George and Kathy Lutz walked through their newly purchased home with holy water in hand. They entered each room, opened a window, and demanded the demon to leave in the name of Jesus Christ.

Now given the grave outcome of their first attempt, George was doubtful that their efforts to bless the house would be successful this time around. And rightfully so, because as they ascended the stairs to the second story, they were met with a chorus of voices telling them to stop.

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That night would be the last that the lutz family spent at 112 Ocean Avenue. And perhaps unsurprisingly, it would be a night that they would never forget.

For the last time, George Lutz awoke 3:15 am. Or at least his mind did, but the rest of his body was frozen in an episode of sleep paralysis. Throughout the entire episode, George remained lucid and very aware of his terrifying surroundings. He could hear a constant banging noise coming from down the hall—that turned out to be the sound of his son, Danny’s, bed slamming against the ceiling.

George struggled to break free of this paralysis, knowing that Danny was likely in peril, but after several moments he was only able to manage a sideways glance toward Kathy’s spot in the bed. And to his horror, he finds that she is not sleeping in the bed beside him but rather is floating several inches above the mattress.

Now if this wasn’t startling enough, it was at this exact moment that George felt something—with hoofed feet—climb into the bed on top of him. Maybe it was fight or flight, or perhaps sheer dumb luck, but before this invisible hoofed creature could reap anymore havoc, George managed stretch out his arm and pull Kathy down to the mattress. Then everything when quiet.

But that is not to say that the nightmare was over. Because when George looked over to his newlywed bride, he saw her as an elderly woman. As it appeared, Kathy had aged several decades in a matter of minutes.

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Eventually, Kathy’s features returned to normal. And though it did take some convincing, they were eventually able sooth a very frightened but otherwise unharmed Danny. But be that as it may, the event brought George and Kathy to their breaking point.

So at a more reasonable hour later that morning, they once again called father Pecoraro, if only for a bit of guidance. And in the end the priest quite literally begged them to leave the house at all costs.

George and Kathy were a bit reluctant at first—evidently still well rapped in the house’s clutches. But after everything that had happened, even they could not l deny that the priest was right. It was time to leave.

They spent the rest of the morning and the better half of the afternoon tracking down their necessities and stuffing suitcases. And by that evening, the family was piling into Kathy’s minivan. They tore out of the driveway and drove like hell out of Amityville with intentions of never setting foot in that house again.

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It goes without saying that the Lutz Family’s story of their time living in the Amityville horror house has been a topic of debate for paranormal researchers and investigators.

There are some of us who believe that it is all an elaborate hoax. A falsified story intended to captivate the masses and launch George and Kathy Lutz into stardom. And whether or not the theory is true, that is more or less exactly what happened. I mean, the lutzes were offered book deals and press tours. Documentaries were made about their story and let’s not forget the 1979 box office hit that raked in over $107 million.

Not to mention, the home was investigated by some of the biggest names in parapsychology, including the renowned Ed and Lorraine Warren, and more often than not these investigations were broadcasted to the world by local and national media outlets.

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But the flip side of this coin paints a slightly different picture of this now world famous family. One that claims this so called unbelievable story is true. So let’s unpack this theory and I’ll let you separate fact from fiction.

First, it should be mentioned that the Lutz Family quite literally fled the state of New York. In fact, they moved all the way to California about as far away as they could possibly get without emigrating from the country entirely. And in doing this, they left everything of value that they owned behind.

They left Kathy’s car at the airport, handing the keys and title to the first staff member that they saw. Likewise they left George’s motorcycles and the family‘s boat back in Long Island, along with their lavish Dutch colonial style home that sat on a quarter acre waterfront lot. Oh, and in case you were wondering, they were still making their mortgage payments, evidently being morally opposed to selling the house to another unsuspecting and undeserving family.

And for what it’s worth the Lutzes spent many years trying to evade the press. According to George himself, they were no longer in control of their story, of their own lives even, and that the reporters always seem to manage to take their statements out of context, and paint the family in a poor light.

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Now there is another argument that claims Ed and Lorraine warren had their own financial hat in this ring. But to set the record straight, it should be noted that outside of having their travel expenses covered, the warrens never accepted a dime for their services with this case. And while we’re on the topic of Ed and Lorraine Warren, I would like to bring one piece of physical evidence to your attention.

During one of these investigations, there was a photograph taken on the second floor landing of the Amityville horror house. The image was shot right at the top of the stairs, with the camera’s angle facing two of the 4 bedrooms on that floor. And peaking out from the behind the banister is the face of a little boy.

Now according to Ed and Lorraine as well as Gene Campbell, the professional photographer who captured the image, there were no children in the house that night. Not to mention, several investigators were present at the precise moment that the photo was captured and none of them saw anyone standing in the doorway.

As always, I will have this photo posted to this episode’s show notes at hauntscast.com. If you haven’t already seen it, or if you are skeptical to this entire story, I encourage you to go see it for yourself. Because according several experts, the photo is an authentic image of the ghost of John Defeo, the youngest of Ronald’s victims. And if that claim is true, then one thing is certain, the Defeo family may still reside within the walls of 112 Ocean Avenue.

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Quote: “how could anybody find peace in that house? And how could you live in a home without peace?” And excerpt for radio interview with Lorraine Warren circa 1979.

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Credits