08/19/2021 7:00
Clarín.com
International
Updated 08/19/2021 10:44 AM
The
Amityville house
, on Long Island,
New York
, on the early morning of November 13, 1974, became more than just a home in the suburbs of the United States.
There took place in
a brutal scene of the crime
when
Ronald DeFeo Jr
.
he raided the corridors of the
Amityville home,
with a rifle, and murdered his parents and four of his siblings while they slept.
Then DeFeo spawned the most haunting legend of what could have happened that night.
The criminal claimed that there were voices in his head urging him to kill
, and some still today believe that he was actually listening to the
evil spirits residing in the house
.
Ronald DeFeo Jr. The murderer of his parents and the perpetrator of the heinous crimes in Amityville.
Photo / AP
Ronald de Feo's crimes at the Amityville house
During the middle of the night on November 13, 1974, 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo Jr.
killed six of his relatives with a 35-caliber rifle.
They were his parents, Louise and Ronald DeFeo Sr., his brothers Dawn. , 18, Allison, 13, Marc, 12, and John Matthew, nine.
Although he confessed to his actions,
DeFeo's defense tried to plead insane
.
DeFeo claimed that he
was guided by evil voices in his head
and that he could not control his behavior.
By this confession, and the cruelty of the murders,
the legend
was
generated that the 112 of Ocean Avenue itself was haunted
, and that the DeFeo family as a whole was a victim of the dark powers of the house.
However, a look at the life of DeFeo Jr. offers an alternative
and more real
reading.
of the facts.
With an abusive father and a mother who did not intervene in that violence,
little DeFeo's complex childhood led him to abuse drugs as an adult
.
Not only did he lash out by murdering his father, but once, as a precedent, he threatened him with a pistol.
The parents thought that letting him live in the house and with a weekly payment would help him.
since
DeFeo Jr. had a very low paying job
.
What happened on November 14, 1974 in the life of Ronald DeFeo at the Amityville home
That day, DeFeo Jr. got off work and went to a bar
.
He called his home from a public telephone located in the place, no one answered him and he complained about it out loud in front of all the clients.
Photo was taken by the police during the early morning of November 14, 1974. Photo / AP
He finally left the bar, but came back a few hours later, around 6.30am, shouting "
You have to help me! I think my mother and father have been shot."
When police arrived at
the Amityville home they
found
all six of the family members dead in their beds
,
with a rifle shot
around them and placed face down.
There were no signs of a fight, or that they were drugged
.
Neither did the police record testimonies from neighbors about shooting.
DeFeo Jr. changed his alibi multiple times, from claiming he was at the bar
at the time of the murders to a mob hitman, Louis Falini, killing his family.
It was all in vain, no one believed him, and he
finally confessed that he had killed his own family
.
That is why he was tried on October 14, 1975.
Although DeFeo Jr.'s attorney, William Weber,
tried to allege insanity, the prosecution argued that the killer was a drug addict
who was nonetheless well aware of what he was doing that night.
Ultimately Ronald DeFeo was convicted of six counts of second degree murder and sentenced to
six terms of 25 years and life in prison
.
Melissa George and Ryan Reynolds in The Amityville Terror.
Photo / Archive
The black mystery of the Amityville house
Despite the brutal murders of 1974,
numerous families have been in and out of the
suburban
home
that is now listed at 108 Ocean Avenue.
And the supposedly paranormal events that occurred there
and that led to a series of books and films, such as
The Amityville Terror
, are a magnet for tourists who continue to visit the place in search of answers or to enjoy a bit of curiosity.
Although DeFeo's grisly crimes were all too real,
is it possible that he really was under the control of the evil spirits that inhabit the house?
Terror of the Amityville House
It was only in December 1975 that
the alleged Haunting of the Amityville house
was established
.
George and Kathy Lutz thought their $ 80,000 purchase of the huge house was a bargain
, but they had no idea what they were up against.
The truth is that only 28 days after arriving at that house,
some truly terrifying incidents forced them to flee.
A scene from the film Horror in Amityville with Melissa George) and Philip Baker Hall.
Photo / file
From the green slime that was supposedly gushing from the walls and the eyes peeking into the house from the outside,
to bad smells and Kathy's supposed levitation in bed
, they made the month they lived in Amityville more than
unsettling for the Lutz family.
George, for example, claimed that
he woke up excited at 3:15 a.m. each night
, the exact time of death for members of the DeFeo family.
The book on the paranormal events of the Amityville house
Horror in Amityville
is the title of the book Jay Anson published in 1977.
To do so, he took the facts denounced by the Lutz family.
This material was used as the basis for the 1979 film of
the same name, which had a remake in 2005.
Anson's book became a bestseller
, while the film became a classic of the genre, with thousands of horror fans flocking to town.
The
Horror in Amityville
book
was comprised of
45 hours of taped interviews with testimonies from the Lutz family
.
And one of the three Lutzes' sons, Christopher Quaratino,
confirmed that the apparitions occurred
.
Although he also pointed out that
the events were exaggerated
by his stepfather, George Lutz.
George Lutz was curious about paranormal activity
and actively tried to summon spirits, but
was financially motivated to sell his story to the media
as his family was full of debt.
Even Weber, DeFeo Jr.'s attorney, pointed out more than once that
the spell Lutz publicized was an outright hoax
.
The end of the Amityville house
With the passage of time, the Dutch colonial-style house is still intact and looks like one more in the neighborhood
.
It has five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a boathouse that can navigate a Long Island Sound canal
.
The horror of Amityville.
Movie poster.
Photo / Archive
Despite its appeal, after the Lutz family moved, it
was repossessed in 1977.
That year it was acquired by James and Barbara Cromarty, the owners of Riverhead Raceway
.
They changed the address of
the Amityville horror house from
112 Ocean Avenue to 108, hoping to scare away the bullies and maintain the value of the house.
After an uneventful decade living within its walls, it was sold to Peter and Jeanne O'Neill in 1987.
The O'Neills, in turn, resold it in 1997 for $ 310,000 to Brian Wilson
.
Finally,
the house was
purchased by people who prefer to remain anonymous,
for $ 605,000 in 2017.
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