THE AMITYVILLE HAUNTING–-
TRUTH OR FICTION?
A PSYCHIC INVESTIGATION BY MARIE ST. CLAIRE, © 2007-2024
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
In December, 1975, the Lutz family moved into a large Dutch colonial at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island, their dream home. They’d managed to buy the property at a bargain price as it had been on the market for over a year. No one else wanted the house, because of its dark history. This was the house where, 13 months earlier, Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his entire family; his mother, father, two brothers, and two sisters, with a 35-Marlin rifle while they slept.
Knowing that information didn’t deter the Lutz family from moving into the house, but they didn’t live there long before they began to experience a bizarre chain of terrifying events, which caused them to flee their new home in terror 28 days later.
Afterward, in conjunction with George and Katy Lutz, Hollywood soap opera writer, Jay Anson wrote a best-selling story about the haunting, called the Amityville Horror, which catapulted the house and its dark history into eternal fame. A movie, starring Rod Steiger, Margot Kidder, and James Brolin followed.
Then Dr. Stephen Kaplan, a well-respected Long Island parapsychologist and the founder of the Parapsychology Institute of America, came into the picture, conducted some research of his own, and denounced the story as a hoax.
But was it a hoax or did Kaplan also hope to cash in on the house’s infamy? Was the house haunted by some dark force that not only drove the Lutz family out but also possessed Ronald Defeo Jr. and made him kill his family?
I decided to attempt a psychic connection in hopes of answering these questions.
Read The Amityville Horror Novel!
PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS:
After reading books on the Amityville case years earlier, I went into this investigation with some bias, but I always strive to remain open-minded during investigations. As it had been over 25 years since I’d read anything about the murder and haunting, the details were far from fresh in my mind.
I’d always thought that the house was haunted, but that the Lutz story was unbelievable, because too many different “types” of supernatural phenomena were reported to have happened during their short stay in the house. The only other comparable case that comes to mind is the Bell Witch haunting. When rumors that the Amityville haunting was a hoax circulated in the 90s, I thought that would be the end of it, but something called me to return to the case after all of these years. And I’ve learned that the truth is not black and white as some would have you believe. In fact, even today, there’s a great division in opinions on the subject, and just what happened in that house during the Lutz stay remains a mystery.
I usually never attempt to connect to a case where a demonic or evil force could be involved as it could put me in danger. But true demon cases are rare. A majority of hauntings are the result of deceased human spirits–not demons. And I, like many others, wanted to know the truth. So, I decided to take a peek and see what’s in that house. Before I began, I prayed for protection from evil.
PSYCHIC CONNECTION:
Focusing on seeing the house at the time of the supposed hauntings, the Lutz era, I immediately connected, finding myself inside the house. I’m not sure what room I was in as the image was too hazy, but I was on the first floor and the walls were white. I believe I was in the hallway. I also saw vague misty images of several spirits roaming the house, what I believed were deceased humans, in the form of shadow people. These souls are earth bound, in torment, and don’t accept their deaths.
I watched the spirits aimlessly move about for a bit and then, to my surprise, I saw a spirit with red, glowing eyes. I can’t tell you what kind of body it had as I couldn’t make out the shape–only that the body was dark and seemed to meld into and become part of the environment. But I got a sense that it was humanoid in form. I wasn’t overly alarmed as spirits can look like this.
Yes, spirits with red eyes are often thought to be negative entities. I’m not sure about that though as it didn’t inspire fear, and there weren’t other “demonic” signs–such as a foul odor. And I think these red-eyed spirits that are sometimes seen, require further investigation and research. They may be nothing more than a physical manifestation of a very troubled soul. I’ve seen many other ghost forms during my life, including shadow people, orbs, and full-bodied apparitions, but I’d never seen a red-eyed spirit either in a vision or outside of one before, and I’ve only come across them a few times in haunting accounts of which I’d always been skeptical. But here it was, a red-eyed being.
I remember that George Lutz had mentioned a pig with red, glowing eyes in his accounts of the haunting. Perhaps this is the same spirit–though I felt that the creature I saw was not a pig in the true sense. That was one of the subjects in his account that I’d thought was fictional. Apparently it was not.
Though most of the images were difficult to make out as shadow people typically are, I repeatedly saw the manifestation of a young girl with dark hair, sitting with her head in her lap and crying piteously. She wore a dress. As the images shifted, so did my vision. I saw her in several areas of the house in what I believe was a bedroom, on the main staircase, and elsewhere. Each time, she was in the same position and crying. I saw her clearly as if I was looking at a living person before me, but I never saw her face.
I didn’t remember what the victims looked like as it had been so long since I’d seen their photos, but I later looked up photos of the DeFeo family, and I’m certain that she was one of the girls, either Alison or Dawn. But I’m not sure which one as they looked much alike and both had lovely, dark hair.
I asked if there’s something evil there and continued to see the spirits moving about, and then something alarming came into view, a woman with wavy, shoulder-length, blue black, hair in a style typical of the 1970s. Her skin was so fair that it seemed almost white like something you’d see in Goth artwork. She wore a clinging pale gown, or maybe it was even a slip. And I saw her face from the front, up close, as if she were standing in front of me and staring directly at me. My fear grew as a short, red, glowing snake emerged from the dark circle of her right eye.
My heart raced.
Snakes are symbols of evil. The Christian bible uses the symbol of the serpent in the Garden of Eden to represent Satan. Some would argue that the serpent also has a positive meaning, representing strength, protection, and even the universal life force. That’s true, however, you have to take a symbol in the context in which it is displayed, and this serpent was not presented in a positive way. Far from it, the serpent gave me bad vibes. I believed the snake represented danger and possibly evil.
The vision scared me so much that I tried to break the connection, but was unsuccessful, and I continued to see the shadowy images of spirits and the woman until she finally disappeared. Once she was out of the scene, I calmed down a bit and decided to continue my investigation.
I asked where the evil is in the house, and was repeatedly shown the main staircase. I don’t know why. As I studied the staircase, looking for some clue or explanation, my fear heightened.
Was I supposed to go up the stairs?
I didn’t want to, felt that I shouldn’t ascend those stairs. In fact, I wanted to quit the connection, but something was pulling me in…deeper and deeper.
When I finally managed to break the connection, relief filled me.
I never wanted to go there again, but I did. Against my will. I connected, very briefly, twice a couple of days later, during the research phase of my investigation. The visions began on their own, which happens occasionally when a spirit wants to give me a message.
In these visions, I saw Ronald Jr. kill Dawn and Allison. I will describe these psychic impressions below.
POST RESEARCH AND CONCLUSION:
What does this all mean? It tells me that the house was haunted when the Lutz family lived there. But one fact doesn’t necessarily refute another. Just because the house was haunted doesn’t mean that the Lutz family didn’t move in with the hope of perpetuating a hoax and profiting off of the story. What I saw tells me that at least some of what they said was true.
I don’t know who the woman with the snake eye was. Her physical description doesn’t match that of the DeFeo mother, who was blonde and much older. The woman looked more like the girls, and had the similar wavy, dark hair, but she was older–in her late 20s or early 30s. Was she, in fact, one of the girls, the same weeping girl I’d seen earlier in my vision? Perhaps she wanted to appear older. The short, red snake I saw coming out of her eye, may represent that her life was cut short due to another’s evil act. And perhaps she grieves because her life was taken from her, and she will never grow into that beautiful lady she envisioned herself becoming.
Or perhaps this spirit is someone else entirely–not a woman at all, but something evil that was trying to trick me and pull me in.
It’s also important to note that the color red stood out in this vision. The snake was red, and I saw another spirit with red glowing eyes. My visions are ordinarily in black and white so if I notice a color, it has major significance. But again, there’s duplicity of meaning here. Red can represent strong emotions such as passion, love, hatred, ire, and excitement, but it can also represent energy, speed, strength, danger, evil, and power. Red is also an attention getter. So perhaps, again, I was being given a warning that danger was near, or, as I’m more inclined to believe, the girl with the dark hair wanted me to know how much she grieves for the precious possessions that she lost–her life, her hopes, and her dreams.
I do believe that this girl was the dominant spirit in my vision, the entity that I connected to, and the world that I was seeing was hers, her hell that she’s locked in.
As for demons, despite the red-eyed spirit I saw, I’m not convinced that there were demonic forces in that house. Again, I believe that demons are rare. After what I saw in this vision, however, I do believe there was strong negative energy in the house when the Lutz family lived there that stemmed from the murders or may have even been there before the murders.
As for other mysteries surrounding this case, I decided to break it down into various sections, covering the most debated topics.
MYSTERIES SURROUNDING THE AMITYVILLE HOUSE PART 1
THE DEFEO MURDERS:
There are many questions about the murders. Why were the victims lying on their stomachs? Why didn’t anyone hear anything that night? And most of the all, was Ronald DeFeo possessed or influenced by a satanic force? Most of these questions can be answered without psychic research, by looking at the facts and using a bit of logic.
WAS RONALD DEFEO POSSESSED?
I had read the Hans Holzer book on the murders years ago, which includes snippets of an interview with Ronald Defeo, and I had always thought that Holzer misinterpreted DeFeo’s statements and falsely concluded that Defeo was possessed at the time of the murders. In fact, I believe that Holzer had hoped to profit off of the case as did many others who’ve come along since.
Even if DeFeo had clearly stated that he was possessed, he has changed his story so many times that nothing he says can be taken seriously. Killers usually say they didn’t do it, someone else did it, or they fake madness, especially sociopaths who can’t take responsibility for their actions. Ronald, to this day, denies his role in his family’s murder. In one version of his account of the events, he states that his sister Dawn and a friend was responsible for the murders, but he said this in hopes of alleviating himself of guilt and getting out of prison someday.
Let’s hope they never let this sociopath out of prison!
I fully believe the police got the right man. No one else was involved, least of all Dawn. Someone else knew that Ronald wanted to murder his family though–one of Ronald’s friends. I sense that Ronald mentioned his murder plans to this friend on more than one occasion, but the friend thought that Ronald was just blowing off steam and didn’t mean it. The friend just couldn’t imagine how one could actually do something so awful to their own family. I feel that this friend, even today, feels immense guilt, because he didn’t report it or try to stop it. But in truth, it was out of his hands. There was nothing he could have done to stop the tide.
Warning the family certainly wouldn’t have helped. The Defeo family already knew Ronald was dangerous as he’d threatened to kill his father before and nearly did on at least one occasion.
During a fight between Ronald Senior and Louise, Ronald Jr. had interrupted them by sticking a rifle in his father’s face. He pulled the trigger with the intent to kill, but the gun never went off.
BUT WAS A DARK FORCE INVOLVED IN THESE EVENTS?
Ronald was a greedy, sociopath, and a drug addict to boot who hoped to collect on his parent’s $200,00 life insurance policy. A deep angst existed within the family, and many articles have mentioned that Ronald DeFeo Senior had been harsh, even abusive, to Ronald throughout the boy’s childhood. Yet, when Ronald became a major discipline problem, even getting kicked out of school, the DeFeo family took a different turn and spoiled him. Instead of discipline, they’d given him money, a car, and a job with a decent salary, but he wanted more, needed more to support his heroin habit.
He and a friend even went so far as to stage a phony holdup while Ronald was transporting some cash and checks to the bank from his grandfather’s Buick dealership about a week before the murders.
In fact, a night or two before the murders, DeFeo and his father had gotten into a fist fight in the basement over the phony hold up. This fight probably triggered Ronald’s murderous rampage. But these facts don’t refute the possibility that he was also affected by some negative entity in the house.
WAS SOMEONE ELSE INVOLVED IN THE KILLINGS?
I only saw Ronald committing the crimes in my vision.
It’s a shame that theories abound about Dawn being involved. In a way, this makes her a victim a second time around as the claim is a great injustice to her. I sense that she did have some angst for her parents, especially her father, and sometimes she might have expressed that to Ronald Jr., but she was never serious about hurting anyone and was, in no way, involved in his murder spree.
It’s ludicrous to believe that she would have helped him with the murders, then got in bed and let him kill her too.
WHY DIDN’T ANYONE HEAR ANYTHING THAT NIGHT?
I don’t know. From what I saw in my vision, I believe a couple of the family members did awaken from hearing the gunshots. As for the neighbors, 3:15 AM is about the time that the average person would be in the deepest mode of sleep. Also, these old homes aren’t modern junk: They’re built well with thick walls, which could have deadened the sound.
Some believe the DeFeo family was up and about during the time of the murders–that the victims were on foot and bled throughout the house. A crime scene investigator later said there was blood in various areas of the house.
I disagree that the family members were roaming the house.
And, in fact, the solution to this mystery is simple and requires no psychic investigation. Ronald DeFeo spread the blood through the house himself after the killings. The blood dripped from his gun, his clothes, or even his person. According to the police transcripts, after the murders, he tidied up, had a bath, trimmed his beard, and even changed into clean clothes. I believe he went to the basement laundry room to get some clothes or possibly even some rags for the cleanup. A crime scene photo reveals that he even lost one of the articles of clothing on the basement stairs.
Afterward, he tossed the evidence into a sewer on Sea View Avenue in Brooklyn. Crime scene photos reveal that the holster and other items he used that night were drenched in blood.
None of the victims moved much after receiving shots like that, and one has only to look at the crime scene photos (which are all over the internet) to see that they did, in fact, die in their beds. The pools of blood on the mattresses beneath each victim provides indisputable evidence.
WHY ARE ALL OF THE VICTIMS LYING ON THEIR STOMACHS, AND WHY DIDN’T ANYONE RUN OR PUT UP A FIGHT?
I’ve thought about this and the only logical explanation is that DeFeo woke each person up, one by one, and told them, at gunpoint, to turn over. No one had time to run or put up a fight. He might have even made up a story to keep the kids calm–perhaps he’d said that someone had broken in and that he was handling it, to roll over, and pretend to be sleeping.
WHY WOULD HE DO THIS?
So that he wouldn’t have to see their faces when he shot them.
WERE THEY DRUGGED?
Toxicology reports revealed that the family wasn’t drugged, and yet the police said that the family slept during the murder spree. I believe that big Ronnie awoke and tried to fight back, but there was no time. I believe Ronnie’s mother was awake through this too and heard her husband being murdered. I believe she begged her son to stop to no avail, and didn’t have time to do anything else. As for the others, a gun to the head is a big motivator. And they were all awoken from the deepest phase of sleep and were probably confused and too groggy to think much at all.
Two other people were awake that night and heard gunshots–Dawn and Allison. I saw this during a vision when I was researching the Demon Boy photo (See below.)
I saw Allison awaken hearing shots, and yet, she laid there in absolute terror, too afraid to move, and it all happened so quickly. She saw Ronald when he came to the doorway of her room with the shotgun, and, awaiting the inevitable, she buried her head beneath her pillow.
Dawn had awoken too, probably early on, when Ronald had shot his parents. She was too scared to go downstairs or investigate. She attempted to hide in the closet, then under the bed, but he found her. Though I heard no exchange of words, I assume that at gunpoint, he told her to get back in bed or made up some other story. After she was on the bed, he shot her.
I think a lot of people just don’t realize how quickly these murders went down. It would only have taken a few minutes for the madman to storm each room.
PART 2–THE HOUSE AND THE LUTZ FAMILY
WAS THE INFAMOUS HOUSE IN AMITYVILLE HAUNTED WHEN THE LUTZ FAMILY LIVED THERE?
Of course. The DeFeo family was brutally murdered there by a close relative, someone they loved. They could not rest peacefully after that. And from what I witnessed in my vision, I’m certain that there was much more in that house than a bit of negative residue.
WHY HAVEN’T RECENT OWNERS SEEN ANYTHING STRANGE?
They either have experienced supernatural activity and are keeping quiet about it–after all, by all accounts, they’re overrun with curiosity seekers. They certainly wouldn’t want to draw more attention to the house by admitting to supernatural happenings. I’m sure the neighbors and community would even disapprove of such tales. Or, they simply aren’t receptive to the supernatural. Some people can’t see, hear, or perceive spirits in any way just as those who are color blind can’t see green.
And sometimes a receptive person, through no fault of their own, will serve as a catalyst that fuels a supernatural fire, making spiritual activity much more intense, bringing it to life. I think that was the case with the Lutz family. I believe that one or more members of the Lutz family possessed strong psychic ability or were dabbling with the supernatural.
It’s also important to remember that the Lutz family were the first people to live in the house after the murders. That would have been quite a shock to spirits that haven’t accepted their deaths. Perhaps the spirits have calmed down since then.
According to Lorraine Warren, who was involved in the 1970s investigation, there has been no activity since the Lutz family fled in the night, because the house was exorcised.
WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RED ROOM?
At first, I thought it was just a space under the basement stairs–a lot of old houses have odd spaces like that. There’s nothing sinister about it. But after giving the matter more thought and reading a bit about the history of the location, I believe I’ve solved this mystery. The first owner of the house owned another house on the location, a small cottage, which his growing family rapidly outgrew. He had the cottage moved (two blocks down the street) and built a new house on the spot. The new house was probably built, in part, on the existing foundation. Thus, the Red Room is mere a remnant of the previous structure.
The idea may sound crazy, but I owned a Victorian and part of the foundation from an earlier house was used on the house built at the turn of the century, which created a creepy, little room.
WHY WAS IT PAINTED RED?
Who knows? Maybe there was a sale on red paint. Maybe someone just liked the color. Maybe the paint was left over from some other project. Red is a color that has goes in and out of style, and it was popular in the early 70s. Look at the crime scene photos, and you’ll see that a lot of red in the house. Even the carpet was red. I don’t see any supernatural connection, and I picked up nothing about the red room during my psychic investigation.
WAS THE LUTZ STORY JUST A HOAX?
I don’t believe it was a hoax. Without a doubt, some of the happenings in the movie and book are mere fiction. But after my psychic investigation, I believe the house was haunted when the Lutz family lived there, and I believe that the spirits had a significant affect on their lives.
George Lutz publicly claimed that a lot of information in the film and bestselling book wasn’t true to begin with.
In a recent interview (just before he died in May 2006) George said that the house had changed him and had a negative effect on his thinking–that the house actually changed the way he thought as if he was a different person. He said his wife drastically changed too. I believe that his statements rang true. Any environment can affect one’s thinking, but throw in six brutal murders, and it’s easy to see how someone who’s psychically receptive could pick up on the negative energy.
What’s more, most of the experiences the Lutz family had there were ordinary things that happen in haunted houses–being touched by unseen hands, seeing shadow people, hearing voices and other strange sounds, hearing footsteps on the stairs, and doors and windows opening by themselves.
If it all seemed much worse than ordinary, that’s because it was as six of the spirits were brutally murdered.
Still, all of that being said, that’s not to say that the Lutz’s didn’t hope to profit off the story and invented some things, and may have even purchased the house for that purpose, knowing that the murders took place there. Only George and Kathy Lutz will ever know for sure. Both of them are now deceased, but they swore to the end that their story is true. If they did move in solely to perpetuate a hoax as some believe, it must have been quite a shock for the Lutz family to learn that the house truly was haunted.
BESIDES THE MURDER VICTIMS, ARE THERE OTHER SPIRITS THERE TOO?
Yes. I don’t know who they are, but I think they’re innocuous spirits, possibly the first owner and his wife (No, I don’t think they influenced DeFeo). And I don’t think there they were involved in witchcraft or Satanism–I encountered this theory online. And there are no American Indian spirits there, and the house wasn’t built on an ancient Indian burial ground. The Warrens made this claim when they conducted a psychic investigation in 1976, and I disagree with some of their conclusions. Learning the identity of the other spirits would require further investigation, and, at this time, I don’t wish to connect to the house again, because of the negativity I felt during my investigation.
DID MRS. LUTZ REALLY LEVITATE?
I’m skeptical about that, but it happened in the Bell Witch case so it’s possible. Lorraine Warren claimed that she also levitated in the house during the investigation after the Lutz family had moved out.
WERE THERE FLIES IN THE HOUSE IN THE WINTER?
Possibly. They could be attached to one of the unhappy spirits in the house. Masses of flies are also sometimes seen in demonic cases.
DID BLOOD AND GREEN SLIME TRICKLE DOWN THE WALLS?
I’m skeptical about that. I never saw this in my visions so I can’t verify that. However, some form of ectoplasm sometimes forms in haunted houses. It’s usually light and more of an oily substance.
GEORGE CLAIMED THAT SOME OF THE SPIRITS FOLLOWED HIM TO CALIFORNIA. IS THIS TRUE?
That’s a possibility. I’ve encountered cases where a spirit will even follow someone home from a cemetery. Sometimes, they attach to certain people, because that person is receptive, and they want to communicate with that person or be near that person in order to draw on their energy. Often, if asked to do so, an innocuous spirit will leave.
WHAT ABOUT THE GHOST BOY?
This photo was taken in the house during the Warren investigation after the Lutz family fled. I don’t think it’s a demon. If the photo is genuine, it looks more like the spirit of one of the DeFeo boys.
As I studied the image, I was pulled into a vision against my will. I asked who this boy is, and, strangely, I saw Allison, lying in her bed. Defoe stood in the doorway with the rifle. He aimed and fired. Her head moved a bit to the side and then back in the previous position. Does this mean that the demon boy is actually Allison? I don’t think so, but I don’t know what to make of it. I don’t understand why the photo evoked a vision of Allison.
Still, this doesn’t look like the typical ghost photo I’ve ever seen. The eyes don’t usually look like that.
CONCLUSION:
A real horror occurred at 112 Ocean Avenue in 1974 that was scarier than any fiction ever written. Six innocent people lost their lives at the hands of a madman. Had a powerful demon or other negative spirit influenced Defoe? It’s more likely that he was influenced by the mighty dollar bill. Drug addictions are expensive, and when you don’t have a conscience, anything goes. But some dark force in the house might have affected his thinking and urged him on.
George Lutz and his family moved into the house on Ocean Avenue and fled with the claim that it was haunted. Of course, it was haunted, but only George and Kathy Lutz will ever know if their initial motive in moving in the house was making money.
At any rate, whatever happened beneath that infamous gambrel roof, the house is determined to keep at least some of its secrets for the time being.
Please note: The Amityville House is currently occupied by people who value their privacy like you do. This website does NOT condone visits to the house or the property, and we ask everyone to please respect the privacy of the current owners. The Amityville Police Department also patrols the neighborhood and discourages sight-seers from visiting the house.
UPDATE 1: 2007
It’s a little early for an update, but a few strange things have happened since I wrote this article and began my research. I’m beginning to wonder if I should have undertaken this investigation. I’m plagued with images of the victims every time I close my eyes. I strongly feel that one of the victims is trying to contact me–one of the girls. I have nightmares about the victims through the night, which often wakes me up. After one such torturous night, I awoke in the morning smelling blood and there was no source for it.
Immediately after I finished this article, something stood behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. I have resident ghosts in my home–not murder victims, but innocuous ghosts that died of natural causes, and sometimes they reach out. Hopefully, this tap on the shoulder was just one of them, trying to get my attention and saying: “Hey, don’t forget me.” I pray that I didn’t call one of the Amityville spirits to me by conducting my investigation.
It didn’t occur to me until last night that George and Kathy said that at least one of the spirits followed them to California. Now that they’re deceased, the spirit could be looking for someone else to attach to. I probably wouldn’t have conducted my investigation if I’d thought of that beforehand. I awoke today, however, feeling that whatever it is is gone–so hopefully, that’s the end of it. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that one of them wants to tell me something.
UPDATE 2: 2009:
Two years have passed since my initial investigation, and I’m happy to report that whatever negative energy I’d connected to in this case is no longer bothering me. I’m still attracted to the case, and I think about it sometimes, but I feel that any negative energy from that vision that came into my house is now gone. After I shut the door, it must have given up and went away.
UPDATE 3: MAY 2015
Eight years have passed since my psychic investigation on the Amityville house. I’ve grown tremendously as a psychic, and I’ve learned so much about the spirit world. I now have a much better understanding of things that I didn’t before, chief among them, the demonic. Looking back on this investigation, I now believe there was a demonic influence in that house. I don’t know why it was there or for how long, but I believe the horrifying images I saw of the snake coming out of the woman’s eyes and the red-eyed being were demons–they may have even been the same demon as they can change their appearance.
I was affected by something in that house for years after this investigation, and the thing that affected me was certainly not human. No human spirit would have that kind of power. What’s more, in reviewing this case, I felt that something was trying to pull me in again. So I will not make another connection to this house at any time in its history.
And though I still believe that Ronald Defoe is an incurable psychopath whose primary motive in the killings was money to fund his heroin addiction, I believe he was also affected by what’s called “demonic oppression,” which enticed him, urged him on, to commit these awful crimes. One fact, however, doesn’t necessarily refute another.
Sociopathy could, in fact, be rooted in demonic oppression. The demonic oppression in that house is the reason for the strife in the Defoe family for years before the murders. Demons hate humans and want to cause us suffering, despair, and death. They’re always at work, a subtle voice in the background that affects our thoughts and actions.
As they work to separate us from those we love and isolate us, their strength and influence grows, and often we don’t even suspect it. Sometimes they begin on a child while it’s in the womb and persecute that person for a lifetime. Eventually, this influence changes how the persecuted person’s brain operates, and, thus, how the afflicted thinks and behaves, for these demons twist and mutilate one’s sense of self and world view.
I was wrong in what I’d said about most houses being haunted by humans. Many hauntings are actually demonic in nature, and it’s best to avoid communication with ghosts as it could open doors. There’s always a battle going on between good and evil. In the Amityville case, evil won when the Defoes died there.
As for the victim who kept trying to communicate with me, I believe it was Allison. I think she merely wanted me to know that her brother had killed her. As Ronald once claimed that Dawn had a hand in the murders, and had recently stated that Dawn killed the boys and Alison (though he’d said in another police statement that he’d seen his youngest brother spasm after being shot), I think Alison simply wanted to set the record straight, or she wanted help.
As for me, I’m going to keep my distance.
Update: March 12, 2021
Ronald Defeo Jr. died while incarcerated from cancer and cirrhosis of the liver.
Latest Update: May 31, 2024
Years ago, I’d said I wouldn’t return to this case, but it drew me back in as it does every few years. I took a brief psychic peek. When I first entered the scene, I was on the second floor in the hallway, and I felt a tremendous amount of negative energy there, and I saw something dark in the shadows. I was terrified and mentally kicking myself for doing this, but luckily the scene changed to what I believe is the first floor living room. Here everything was white, pristine, and ornate, a very beautiful room with an impressive fireplace. I thought all was well in this lovely room until I saw a black demon with horns standing behind the couch and looking at me. This isn’t what he really looks like but how he chose to appear. As I watched on, he sat on the couch and continued to stare. Very odd. Clearly, some kind of game. That was it. I disconnected.
I’d said I wouldn’t return, and that experience with the demon, should have been enough to scare me away, but I will return to the house as I know how to manifest the “White Light” now–the light spirits use to cross over. I can create it in a vision to help spirits reach the other side. If there are any lingering human spirits there, they’re finally going home.
Latest Update: June 1, 2024
Well, the case pulled me in again. I wasn’t yet ready to return to Amityville and start helping lingering spirits pass over. I intended to pray a lot beforehand. I laid down to sleep late last night and awoke, having a vision of the same demon I’d seen in my vision the previous night. This time, it had some kind of pet at its feet. A dog? A cat? I don’t know as it was blurry. My usual commands, “Get thee behind thee, Satan; leave in God’s name,” didn’t work. Usually it makes dark spirits retreat and leave me alone. This one continued to stare at me. I decided to hit up the pet with white light in case it truly was a dog, cat, or some other animal in need of help in crossing over. I succeeded, and this seemed to enrage the demon.
And he wasn’t going away. I recited some Hail Marys and the Lord’s Prayer, but the demon was powerful and withstood it all, gazing at me with its black, hate-filled eyes. I tried to hit him with the white light too, but he became a black fog, floating high in my vision. I would open my eyes, but when I closed them, he was still there. I couldn’t shake him. It was terrifying. I had to get up. I couldn’t sleep. I went to the kitchen and talked to my husband about it.
He said, “Amityville again?”
I nodded, and we talked about the experience.
After the sun came up, we took the dogs out, did some yardwork, and my spirit lifted under the healing rays. I took another peek and was relieved to find that the demon was gone…but another terrifying vision was on the way.
I kept busy during the day to keep my mind off of the demon and decided to tackle a major cleaning project. At the end of the day, I was exhausted. I tried to have a nap, but the moment I closed my eyes, I clearly saw Ronald Defoe’s face. He looked exactly like he did in 1974 at the time of the murders, and he wore a dark, long-sleeve, button down shirt. He was moving closer to me. Beyond him, I glimpsed the unique second floor stairway and knew I was in the Amityville house, seemingly back in time. I believe I was in the master bedroom. Fear filled me when, out of the blue, “Butch” had a rifle, which he aimed at me. I was aware of some dark shadow man just behind him, the demon.
“No, way!” I said, “I’m not playing this game.” And I opened my eyes, hoping it would all go away.
But it didn’t. I closed my eyes to find that Ronald was still in the room with the gun…and me. I decided to hit him with the white light, and I saw his image disappear in the rays. And then I opened my eyes.
So much for a nap! I got out a prayer book and recited several deliverance prayers instead. And thankfully the visions stopped. Then I updated this page.
So what was the meaning of seeing Ronald with the rifle? I think it was the demon wanting to scare and intimidate me.
Had I made Ronald cross over? Most likely not. I think this was all just a trick of the demon. Ronald’s spirit likely wasn’t there.
Latest Update: June 2, 2024
I was forced into another vision at the house on Ocean Avenue and got very little sleep for the second night in a row. Again, I was back in 1974 and saw the young Ronald Defeo clutching his rifle as he headed up the stairs to the third floor with a purpose. I was glad that I wasn’t his target this time.
I was on the second floor near the bathroom at the center front of the house. I tried to blast him with the white light again, and I’m not sure I succeeded. Then I noticed that in the hall several human ghosts were grouped near the banister and were staring at me, including Ronald’s parents, siblings, and other unknown people as well. In small groups–as I could only do a few at a time–I hit them with the white light until none remained. I assume they all crossed over. Perhaps they were waiting there for that very purpose, and I was summoned to do this. I hope they’re all at peace now. I’m not going back there again, and I’m going to pray a lot, focus on something more positive, and spend some time appreciating nature. This whole thing has shaken me up, but it’s good to know that I helped the family.
Marie St. Claire
Originally published in 2007 and later updated.