curious [Did the other owners report paranormal activity?]

[blondiebabe945]

Okay, the family that moved in after the Lutz, are they still living there after all these years?? And did they not find anything haunted in the house?? makes u think....

and another question did the family that lived there before the DeFeos have any thing go on while they lived there?

[Rocco]

Yeah it gets me. On the History Channel special Kapen's acts like its such a horror that the new family living there was getting so much publicity.
NO :) flower :) THERE"S GOING TO BE PUBLICITY. After a family was killed in the house, and a new family moved in and found out it was possibly "haunted" then no :) flower :) there is going to be publicity. And why would the family want to live their anyway.

[BillyCigars]

"Okay, the family that moved in after the Lutz, are they still living there after all these years??"

The family that moved in after the Lutz's was the Cromarty's. They lived in the home for nearly 10 years when they later sold it to the O'Neil family who eventually sold the home to the current residents in 1997.

"And did they not find anything haunted in the house?? makes u think...."

No one really knows for sure but the Cromarty's were adamantly opposed to the notion that their home was haunted. They proclaimed that the house was fine in radio interviews, television shows, and for local news broadcasts. Barbara Cromarty's oldest son, David Roskind (who lived in Ronnie Jr's room), died from a drug overdose while they lived in the house. Its not clear whether he died in the house, in the hospital, or enroute to the hospital in the ambulance.

"and another question did the family that lived there before the DeFeos have any thing go on while they lived there?"

We will probably never know. However, the matriarch of the Riley family was reported to have said something along the lines of, "If I don't get out of this house, it'll be the death of me"; translate that however you will. I'm not certain that statement was ever substantiated but it was something that came up.

[redsun24]

Hey Billy
The history's mystorys doc,said the Cromartys live in the house for only two years.
so it was 10 years.....they screwed up then.

[BillyCigars]

"NO :) flower :) THERE"S GOING TO BE PUBLICITY. After a family was killed in the house, and a new family moved in and found out it was possibly "haunted" then no :) flower :) there is going to be publicity. And why would the family want to live their anyway"

During the "That's Incredible" episode from the late 70's/early 80's where the Cromarty's made an appearance, Jim Cromarty stated:

"I've had uncles and aunts of mine who have played in this house as children, I played in this house myself as a child and there's no doubt about the tragedy that took place. To be very honest, the reason we bought the house at the time was because it was a good buy."

"A good buy" especially when you figure in that they knew exactly which house they were buying. And since the judge in the case that the Cromarty's brought against the Lutz's didn't know that, the Cromarty's were awarded a nice sum. So yeah, in his mind it really WAS a good buy.

[BillyCigars]

I meant to add to that last post:

".....And that is another crock. The Lutzes say that every family that was brought up in this house had bad things happen to them."
-- Jim Cromarty, NBC Press Conference, 1979.

Sadly, no one could know that even the Cromarty's would later suffer a great tragedy while in the home...

"Hey Billy
The history's mystorys doc,said the Cromartys live in the house for only two years.
so it was 10 years.....they screwed up then."

I'm not sure where they got 2 years. I just watched the Documentary to be sure and they did indeed get it wrong. The Cromarty's bought the home on March 18th, 1977 and sold it to the O'Neil's on August 17th, 1987.

[Dreamsaint]

Does anyone remember the name of the man who housesitted for the Cromarties when they chose to live elsewhere during the peak of the Amityville Horror hysteria? I seem to have forgotten his name at the moment.

[CMite]

I submit that any family who lives for any substantial length of time in any house will have unspecified "bad things" and even "great tragedies" happen to them. We all know this, but of course it makes no difference.

That a Cromarty family member may have died of an overdose while living in this house is indeed tragic but not impressive as far as this case goes. We know that it was an identifiable, physical substance which resulted in this person's death - and I'm sure we can all agree that ghosts are not a necessary component to starting or indulging in substance abuse.

What we're dealing with here is the "Curse Syndrome" - it's a psychological hangup that leads one to attribute common mishaps and accidents to some external influence simply by virtue of suggestion. If you drive to work tomorrow and get into a car wreck, you may think nothing unusual of it - slippery road, you weren't paying attention, the other %$#hole needs to learn how to drive, etc. However, if somebody told you tonight that you were cursed, and would soon suffer bad luck or a series of mishaps, and you got in that wreck tomorrow - suddenly, it's some sort of "curse" at work. At least, the person who "cast" the curse will certainly feel that way. If you're suggestible enough, you may too.

Extend this to the Amityville house. People get sick, slip and fall, get burned, flip out, and die in houses all over the world, all the time. It's happening to someone right now. These are all just accidents - and those that aren't accidents can be definitively traced to a specific set of unfortunate yet mundane causes. But nothing will ever be allowed to be mere happenstance in the Amityville house again - the Curse Syndrome will not permit us to allow it.

[BillyCigars]

Does anyone remember the name of the man who housesitted for the Cromarties when they chose to live elsewhere during the peak of the Amityville Horror hysteria? I seem to have forgotten his name at the moment.

Frank Burch

[BillyCigars]

That is true and I agree with a lot of what you (CMite) have said.

However, as long as we can substantiate that indeed something "bad or tragic" has in fact happened to all who have lived there, then that claim would be less of a "psychological hangup" and more of a sound mathematical principle (statistically speaking); ghosts or no ghosts. Afterall, the Lutz's were simply making the observation that tragedies have been associated with all the residents both former and latter rather than asserting that it was because of ghosts or demons.

[CMite]

But I don't think we've quite established that. Somebody unsubtantially musing about "this house will be the death of me" hardly constitutes evidence of a tragedy - or anything else other than perhaps some difficult plumbing repairs.

[Dreamsaint]

Frank Burch

That's him. Thanks so much.

[BillyCigars]

Again I agree.

But my point wasn't that there WAS evidence; rather IF there was evidence.

[Dan the Damned]

It is a seemingly strange list of mishaps and tragedies linked to house. On the surface it seems to be a bit too much for a normal set of coincidences.

The main thing is to determine which items (on the list of coincidences) are true.

For instance the story with David Ruskind's death (the Cromarty's son). Some say he died in the house. Others say he died at a hospital. This has been countered with the argument that David was only pronounced dead at the hospital when attempts to revive him failed, so that his true place of death was in the house.

David Roskind playing bass in Ronnie DeFeo's old bedroom

Amusingly, Ric Osuna's website currently claims David "reportedly died in a hospital," but when he was writing his "pro-haunting" book, he worded it as David "dying mysteriously in the house." A comical glimpse at how Ric tends to slant things to fit his current agenda.

In 2004, Scottie Gee (one of the producers for the History's Mysteries documentary) made this post:

HIS NAME WAS DAVID ROSKIND, AND ACCORDING TO MY RESEARCH, HIS DEATH OCCURRED IN 1986 AT THE AGE OF 28. THE FAMILY THEN SOLD THE HOME IN 1987.

IT IS STILL UNCLEAR WHETHER HE DIED IN THE HOUSE, OR THE HOSPITAL. HOWEVER, ACCORDING TO SEVERAL AMITYVILLE RESIDENTS, HE WAS INDEED PICKED UP BY AN AMBULANCE AT THE HOUSE, WHICH IS EVIDENTLY WHERE THE OVERDOSE OCCURRED.

DAVID ROSKIND WAS BARBARA CROMARTY'S SON FROM A PREVIOUS MARRIAGE.

However, according to this Newsday article, David is said to have died of a heart attack in March of 1988, which would be 7 months after the Cromartys moved out of the horror house.

So what's the truth?

Newspapers have been known to carry bad information, either by mistake or out of sloppy reporting skills, but I also don't know what Scottie's source was. A friend of mine has had no luck in searching death notices for David, so I just don't know what to think.

And with the other coincidences, you have to wonder just which ones are true and which may be rumors, or maybe facts that have been twisted a bit to make for a good story...

[Jacobmarley1]

However, the matriarch of the Riley family was reported to have said something along the lines of, "If I don't get out of this house, it'll be the death of me"; translate that however you will. I'm not certain that statement was ever substantiated but it was something that came up.

That's only because they were not getting along in their marriage, and that's the ultimate reason why the Rileys sold the house to the DeFeos in 1965. When you're not getting along with your spouse, you indeed say things like "if I don't get out of this house, It'll be the death of me."

As far as the History Channel saying the Cromartys only lived there 2 years.....they may have been saying that the Cromartys left the house in the care of the caretaker, that all the publicity was too much for them, so they, too, abandoned the house and put it on the market. However, nobody was buying, and the Cromartys eventually moved back in.

I believe that maybe - maybe - paranormal activity occurred when the Lutz family moved in, due to the Lutzes inclanation to meditation. It made them "sensitive" to paranormal activity, as opposed to regular folks who don't do TM. After the Lutz family left, maybe that's when the paranormal activity ceased. I believe the Cromartys, and the O'Neals and Wilson who say there's nothing wrong with the house.

I wonder if the taxes went down on 112/108 Ocean Ave after numb-skull O'Neal filled in the in-ground pool. After all, in-ground pools raise your taxes. I guess getting rid of the pool would lower them considerably. And it was O'Neal who made all those horrible renovations to the house, making it different on both the outside and the inside. It was his house, he could do what he wants, blah blah blah, but I don't like it. Not one bit.

[costerluver]

From what I remember reading, the house does seem to have a chain of bad luck. I remember someone posted a newspaper article saying that a boy drowned in the river near the house. I remember reading another article saying that Jim Moynahan, the original owner died in the house, the next owners got divorced, the next owners were murdered, the next owners left after 28 days after the supposed haunting, the next owners lost their son to a drug overdose, and the next owners lost their son to 9/11. I don't know if that's supernatural or just unlucky coincidences. I just wanted to point that out.

[Jacobmarley1]

From what I remember reading, the house does seem to have a chain of bad luck. I remember someone posted a newspaper article saying that a boy drowned in the river near the house. I remember reading another article saying that Jim Moynahan, the original owner died in the house, the next owners got divorced, the next owners were murdered, the next owners left after 28 days after the supposed haunting, the next owners lost their son to a drug overdose, and the next owners lost their son to 9/11. I don't know if that's supernatural or just unlucky coincidences. I just wanted to point that out.

Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens to the current occupant. If he just "up and moves" one day, then I guess the cycle is broken.

[Tim]

From what I remember reading, the house does seem to have a chain of bad luck. I remember someone posted a newspaper article saying that a boy drowned in the river near the house. I remember reading another article saying that Jim Moynahan, the original owner died in the house, the next owners got divorced, the next owners were murdered, the next owners left after 28 days after the supposed haunting, the next owners lost their son to a drug overdose, and the next owners lost their son to 9/11. I don't know if that's supernatural or just unlucky coincidences. I just wanted to point that out.

And the current owner got divorced...

[Chichibcc]

From what I remember reading, the house does seem to have a chain of bad luck. I remember someone posted a newspaper article saying that a boy drowned in the river near the house. I remember reading another article saying that Jim Moynahan, the original owner died in the house, the next owners got divorced, the next owners were murdered, the next owners left after 28 days after the supposed haunting, the next owners lost their son to a drug overdose, and the next owners lost their son to 9/11. I don't know if that's supernatural or just unlucky coincidences. I just wanted to point that out.

And the current owner got divorced...

That's right...so yes, I guess the "cycle" continues...

[Jacobmarley1]

The "current owner" (we all know his name, but I guess we shouldn't say it, since he's not a "celebrity") got divorced while living there? Like, when he moved in, his wife was with him? Were there kids, too? Why, then, did he stay alone in that big old house?

The answer is simple: the current owner is an Amityville freak, just like the rest of us.

[Chichibcc]

I wouldn't go quite that far...he probably really likes the house and doesn't want to move.