Beard Laws (00:00.182)
We did it. We're back. What's up, Meg? Hey. Another exciting episode of the Your Town podcast. Thanks to anybody who was like, know what? I'm super bored. I'm going to listen to Your Town podcast because we greatly appreciate it. Last week, for anybody that doesn't know, what did you say, Meg, that you wanted this week? Creepy. Creepy. So the first thing that popped in my mind, creepy, was what we're going to talk about here. And if anybody's too lazy to read the title, what is it,

history of the Amityville horror. That's right. This story has it all. It has a tragic murder, terrifying ghostly encounters, and a house that has became a symbol of supernatural horror. You a big fan of horror movies? Yes. Ever heard of Severance Mountain? I've heard whispers. Ooh. Let me say it when it's not a whisper. You guys should all check it out on the Instagram, the Facebook, the Tickety Tock, everywhere. Put it on your calendar. Ready?

Hey, Alexa, save September, Friday the 13th, Severance Mountain. Hopefully your device did it. If not, feel free to just copy what I just said. Going back to what we were talking about. Yeah, Amityville Horror is, you know, whether you're a skeptic or a believer, because there are some people that believe and there are some people that are skeptic people. This one is going to send shivers down your spine. Grab your headphones, dim the lights, and let's dive into the dark history.

of 112 Ocean Avenue. Dun dun dun. you got it out of the way early. Well played. Should we do the intro? Yeah. When? Right now.

Beard Laws (01:54.678)
The story begins in the quiet suburban town of well, Amityville, New York or anybody that was checking out Yorktown .com and the interactive map where we put a pin in every single location. Sorry, we we've already done New York. We're not checking off a state, but we will put one there. And by we, I mean me. Amityville, New York is located 30 miles or so right outside in New York City. Ever heard of that place? I have. ever been there? I have. Crazy. Not as an adult, though.

Fair enough, crazier as an adult. So on November 13th, 1974, 23 year old Ronald DeFeo Jr. was also known as Butch, committed a terrible crime that would forever alter the town's history. In the dead of the night, he took a 35 Martin rifle and murdered his entire family, his parents, his four siblings as they slept. The horrifying act took place in a large Dutch colonial house

112 Ocean Avenue See see what I did there. We kind of tied it in there. And yeah, so is that how you would say it the DeFeo? DeFeo? DeFeo. The DeFeo murders shocked not only the you know local community not only the state of New York But the nation Ronald claimed he heard voices telling him to kill which played a significant role in his defense He was convicted of second -degree murder

and sentenced to six consecutive lives. That's a lot. Not one life, not two, not quite nine like a cat, but six consecutive lives, one for each of the people murdered. It was, you know, obviously there's a tragic event that happened, but it was just the beginning of the house's dark legacy. just a year later, Meg, was December, 1975, snow in Amityville, New York.

You know, the buzz of Christmas, the Christmas lights, Rockefeller Center, skating in New York City is all buzzing. The Lutz family, don't they make pretzels? That's Oots. Oots. Lutz. I was close. Can't have Oots without the L. Can't have a… Anyways, this family, apparently they don't make pretzels. They move in to the infamous DeFeo house. They're hoping for a fresh…

Beard Laws (04:21.238)
I think that's, anytime you're moving into a new house, you're hoping to start over. Note that it was drastically reduced price. Of just what? 80 ,000. Yes, because if it's gruesome history and you know, for anybody that does want to know the name of these people, they're George and Kathy. They seem like some nice people. They seem like some people that should have made some pretzels. But they don't. So obviously they're looking for the rest. Huge.

Discount $80 ,000 1975. Remember, it's this Dutch colonial house, big house, very, very inexpensive for the area and especially at the time. So they move in with old George and Kathy and their three children. But their dream home quickly turns into a nightmare. Guess how many days they made it

I'm gonna guess 47. Wrong. 28. 28 days. And what were they claiming Meg? That they were terrorized by paranormal activity. Shocker, huh? Their experience included strange odors, cold spots, green slime actually oozing from the walls. I wonder if that's where Ghostbusters got it. And the worst of

demonic piglet creature with glowing red eyes. That's creepy. Yep. I'm going to flee the house, I believe, just like they did. mean, they left everything behind. They just said, yep, we're gone. So that story obviously started to gain media attention and was eventually turned into a bestselling book by Jay Anson, the Amityville Horror, which was actually adapted into several movies. You may have heard of them. You've heard of them.

pretty big ones. Stepfather George had a history of dabbling in the occult, which probably didn't help matters. I guess not. They even before they fled within, you know, three to four weeks of living there, had a priest come out, blessed the house. And apparently as the priest was in there, he hears ghetto. That's how I would say it if I was a ghost. What do you think it sounded like? That was pretty good. Was it pretty good? Yeah. That's pretty creepy.

Beard Laws (06:42.194)
so that's and then the priest actually was like, hey, George, Kathy, don't ever sleep in this particular room in the house. Not the house itself, just one particular room. It was also reported that a nearby garage door opening and closing an invisible spirit knocking a knife down in the kitchen, a piglet creature with red eyes staring down at George and his son Daniel from a window. George waking up to his wife, Kathy, actually

Levitating off their bed and the son Daniel that we just mentioned and Christopher were also levitating at the same exact time in their bed I'm getting the hell out of there. Bye. Later. I mean, but what do you do? I mean if you walk in and your wife's love it like I'm sitting there Okay, Meg, you're levitating like is it like sleepwalking? Am I not supposed to touch you or move here or wake you? Please what do I do? Please push me back down push you back down. Yeah,

That's what I'm gonna do. You heard it here, everybody on the Your Town podcast, if they do. But if the kids are doing it, I'm grabbing them and we are running for the hills. Well, the truck. And then we're driving away. I'd come back and get the stuff though, I think. I wouldn't just leave all the belongings, would you? Probably not. Nah, come and get it. Find somewhere else to live. Because, I mean, the time that we are, it's kind of really hard to just pack up, go and instantly have a place to live. But we'd figure it out. Hopefully we don't have to figure it Short bursts.

Daytime trips. Yep. We got a camper. That'd be good for some of the months. So we did mention, obviously, that's a couple of the reports and there is a lot of ghost stories. There's a lot more paranormal reports. Some you've maybe heard of, some you haven't, but I think it's important to kind of paint the picture to talk about those. So obviously, the account of the 28 days, we've talked about it. It's probably the most famous haunting ever.

Reported and the kind of the weird thing is he he claimed that he woke up every single night at 315 in the morning And that was the time of the DeFeo murders That's wild, right? Mm and the wife Kathy also reported not obviously the levitation but also just kind of being immobilized by unseen forces So yeah, it's pretty creepy their children also experienced obviously some terrifying encounters one of the most chilling

Beard Laws (09:04.446)
Was a story that involved their daughter missy who had an imaginary friend named jody The demonic pig creature. it's one of the pig names jody. Come on. We're better than that Many visitors, maybe she was seeing it in a different light. Maybe she saw it masked as something Different more friendly like another child that could be seen a lot of shows. I guess. Yeah, that's a good

guess that's possible. The demonic forces of what they say usually present as a child to trick you. That is true. If you believe in all that. If you believe. Or you could be a skeptic and say it's scientifically proven that kids have an imagination. That's my science voice. Does that sound good? Yeah. Let's go through a couple more ghost stories. A lot of the visitors to the house have reported similar eerie phenomena, including cold spots.

disembodied voices and apparitions. Paranormal investigators have flocked to the site, hoping to capture evidence of the supernatural occurrences. And one of the most notable, obviously, besides the Lutzes, was Ed and Lorraine Warren, the famed demonologists. And a lot of the said shows that you report on, we have heard a lot of the reports from them, seen some of the interviews and clips and stuff from not only the Amityville house, but the

the I'm drawing up like the one in Harrisville, New Jersey, the infamous house. They had had episodes on it. And I'm sure I can't think of any. Anyways, it'll come to us mid show and we like, bam, has nothing to do with it. Not 112 Ocean F, but yeah, very famous paranormal investigators, demonologists, and they reported sensing a powerful and a malevolent presence in the house. Lauren, Lorraine Warren claimed to have a vision of the DeFeo family bodies lying on the floor.

She felt an overwhelming sense of evil. They concluded that the house was indeed haunted by demonic forces. That's wild. But the paranormal activity wasn't limited to just those. Subsequent owners of the house also reported eerie occurrences, though not as dramatic as cold spots, mysterious noises, strange odors and stuff like that. And just kind of helps keep that legend alive. If you guys heard that was Meg, she figured it out. It's the conjuring house. The conjuring house. Yes.

Beard Laws (11:27.71)
I knew we'd figure it out. Good work. Yeah, that was the one. That's the one. And then obviously eyewitnesses have also, you know, kind of added to the ghost stories that the, you know, they've seen, they've heard, they've smelled, and it just continues to fuel public fascination. I mean, it's wild. mean, everybody's heard of this house, whether you believe or you don't. Would you stay in

No, not. I don't think I'm going to stay. feel like I'm kind of sensitive. Yeah. so there was obviously let's let's talk quickly about some investigations, some more of that and actually some theories. Over the years, many have tried to kind of debunk the Amityville horror. They were just kind of saying it's a hoax. Skeptics. This is you, if you're listening, would point out inconsistencies in the let's story and argue that much of the paranormal activity.

could be attributed to like natural causes, drafts in older houses, just settling noises, which does happen in a lot of houses, and then psychological stress. So a 1979 investigation by the Committee of the Scientific Investigation of Claims, imagine that, of the paranormal, so the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, they actually found no evidence of any supernatural phenomena. That's my favorite word to say, by the way, phenomena.

Phenomena. Do do do do. Phenomena. But they concluded that the story was largely exaggerated for financial gain. However, there are still those who believe in the supernatural aspect of the case. Some suggest that the house was built on some cursed land, but that the DeFeo murders opened some sort of gateway for malevolent spirits. obviously many people are questioning the let's a story. After telling their story, George and Kathy took a lie detector test.

to prove their innocence and guess what? They passed the lie detector test. So that could hold up, The couple was bogged down in legal and financial issues, which prompted skeptics to believe that they had to move, or they had the motive to not only move, but to create a financial or a fantastical story to actually sell to the public to make this house worth more than it could be. The let's his former lawyer, William Weber.

Beard Laws (13:53.718)
probably invented the Weber Grill, who actually fell out with them over money issues came out in 1979, claiming that the three of them came up with the horror story over many bottles of wine. Never trust a lawyer. The son, Daniel, who lives a quiet life in Queens, New York, as a stonemason claims the house ruined his life and that he actually continues to have nightmares to this day. Murderer, Ron, who's still alive and serving six 25 year

Life sentences at New York Correctional Facility in a New York Correctional Facility claimed he heard voices urging him to kill his family, but he has changed his story several times. You know, if he's trying to change it, so maybe, you know, change the plea less than there, he'd probably do anything to get out of jail. Probably. But either way, this is a little interesting. The Amityville House still stands, but it has a new address. The house officially sold in February 2017 to an undisclosed owner.

for $605 ,000, which was 200 ,000 less than the original asking price. It had been previously owned by four other families since the murders, one of which had the address changed to 108 Ocean Ave. Obviously it stood at 112 Ocean Ave. So interesting, right? So I mean, that's it from the ghost stories to the murders.

I mean there is a lot of details we left out but I don't think people wanted to continue to listen to us for 45 more minutes on the Amityville Horror. If you did, I'm sorry, let us know in the comments and we'll come back with 45 more minutes of Amityville Horror. I love the pace of this 15 -20 minutes, you know what I mean? You all are listening and we can't thank you enough for that. So I'm asking you, Meg, and I'm asking them. So what's the real truth about the Amityville Horror? Is it a genuine haunting or was it a hoax?

I'm a believer. Yeah. I think it probably lies somewhere in between. You know what I mean? Kind of like a fishing story. I'm sure that that person caught that fish. I just don't think that fish was that big. You know what I mean? Yeah. But whether you believe in the paranormal or not, the story of 112 or 108 Ocean Avenue continues to captivate and terrify. It serves as a reminder of how powerful and enduring ghost stories can be. Shout out to biography .com.

Beard Laws (16:18.102)
wikipedia .com. Big fans of you guys, that's our sources and we have a quote. do the quote? Sure. Let's do it. There is also a legend that if one wakes up at exactly 3 a the devil himself has visited you in your dreams. Psychics also believe that the 3 a hour is when the veil between the human and spirit world is at its thinnest all day, thus making humans

more likely to experience paranormal activity. is Francis J. Armstrong. Yeah, the real Amityville horror, the true story behind the brutal DeFeo murders. Thank you for that quote. And hopefully everybody listening isn't creeped out that they wake up between three and four a every single day to have to pee or just wake up because that is what they say is the thinnest time all day in the human and spirit world. We woke up at six this morning, lots of thunder.

loud thunder bang on the door baby bang bang all right that's all we got anything else yeah nice well now i got nothing else okay well next week you want to tell them what we're gonna do or should they come back come back come back i have a pretty cool i have a couple of we have a couple of options but i just wrote a new one that i'm super excited to get out there so i might jump that one up the wagon but if you guys want some true crime some ghostly creepy

or just some wild history. Let us know if you have a story, a place, just pick a place anywhere in the entire US and we'll come up with a story for it or just give us a story or just a town. Let's get creative with it. So can't thank you guys enough. Thank you Meg for taking some time out of your busy day. could have been pickle balling, but we're Yorktowning. It's a windy. We should put that on a t -shirt. Could have been pickle balling, but I'm podcasting.

you want that shirt, let us know. will design it. All right, that's all I got. Take care, everybody. We should wear clip -on mics and record while we're pickleballing. Nobody wants to hear me going, I can't breathe. my god. Yeah. And there's some not great words. Bad idea. Bad Bad idea. We'll edit that. cut that part out. Either way, can't thank you enough. See you next week, Yorktownians. Bye -bye. Bye.