Today, we talk about the incident before the horror in Amityville, Long Island. 23-year-old Ronnie DeFeo murdered his entire family, parents, and four siblings, at 3:15 in the morning. He shot them in their beds while they were sleeping, then he took a bath and went to work. Ronnie would later claim it was a demon, and the grifters who moved in later would say the house was haunted. Lots of great content ensued. We'll talk about what happened to the DeFeo family, some conspiracies, the aftermath, and some dashed 'high hopes.'
Today, we talk about the incident before the horror in Amityville, Long Island. 23-year-old Ronnie DeFeo murdered his entire family, parents, and four siblings, at 3:15 in the morning. He shot them in their beds while they were sleeping, then he took a bath and went to work. Ronnie would later claim it was a demon, and the grifters who moved in later would say the house was haunted. Lots of great content ensued.
We'll talk about what happened to the DeFeo family, some conspiracies, the aftermath, and some dashed 'high hopes.'
Hi Friends! Our transcripts aren't perfect, but I wanted to make sure you had something - if you'd like an edited transcript, I'd be happy to prioritize one for you - please email doomedtofailpod@gmail.com - Thanks! - Taylor
Taylor: I'm doing well, thank you. How are you doing today
>> Taylor: In the matter of the people of State of California vs. Orenthal James Simpson, case number BA097. And so, my fellow Americans, ask not.
>> Farz: What your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your. Alrighty. We are here, Taylor, recording live broadcasting to the world. How are you doing today?
>> Taylor: How are you?
>> Farz: I'm doing well, thank you. Actually, I'm not doing well. My allergies are acting up and I.
>> Taylor: Heard it's really hot over there.
>> Farz: It's getting pretty hot here.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: So not the best time of the year, but, you know, pretty. Let's try it. Yeah, it's still pretty.
Doomed to Fail brings you history's most notorious disasters and epic failures
How are these going? Oh, wait. Do you want to introduce us?
>> Taylor: Sure. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Doomed to Fail. We bring you history's most notorious disasters and epic failures twice a week. And today is Farza's turn.
Taylor: I'm going to talk about Amityville's underlying story
>> Farz: It is. It is my turn. And it is going to be one that I think is pretty familiar, especially to you, Taylor, and probably to our audience. But I'm going to get into, like.
>> Taylor: The.
>> Farz: Factual elements of it and leave the horror theme aspects of it alone. So not going into that piece of it except to kind of explain how all this all kind of happened, but I'm gonna get into has to do with a sign that is sitting behind me that you ordered for me when I bought my house. Oh, yay, here we go. Taylor knows exactly what's going on. So when I got my house, Taylor had some craftsman artist person on Etsy put together a sign that says High Hopes. Very ornate, very well designed. And the reason she did that is because it was a sign that was hanging outside of the house in Amityville that is part of the Amityville horror theme movies anthologies. I don't know what you'd call them. And so what I wanted to talk about was the underlying story because I went over it again and I just watched a document documentary on the underlying crimes. I was like, this is so much scarier than the actual.
>> Taylor: Than like pretending to have a demon.
>> Farz: Than pretending to have a demon. Yeah.
>> Taylor: Yes.
>> Farz: And so that's why I wanted to go over because I think everybody just hears Amityville side of it, the story of it, and doesn't go into the rest of it. There's also the weird thing with the Ryan Reynolds version where they talked about, like, how was an Indian burial ground and this guy, like John Ketchum or something killed a bunch of Dan. Like, like all. That's like the real story. Yeah, the real story is scary. Yeah, you see the real story.
You said Amityville movies get progressively more ridiculous
So I'M going to start. And you probably know this to death. I do, yeah. So.
>> Taylor: Well, I do, but. I know. But I want to hear more about it. Yeah. And I definitely. You said Amityville movies. There's like, Amityville Horror 7 from the 70s. Like, they get progressively more and more ridiculous.
>> Farz: They just came out with one in 2023, I think the last breath. Amityville, or I forgot what it was called, but I watched a documentary on it and I read the reviews on it, and it's not at the house. It's not Amityville. It's like.
>> Taylor: No, like, the one I saw was with Bette Davis, I think, and it was like they got, like, a lamp from the house that, like, made everything haunted in California.
>> Farz: Yeah, it's. It's getting really out there. And, like, they all kind of suck. I did really like the Ryan Reynolds one. I thought that was really well done, but it was. They threw in a bunch of stories in there that didn't have to be in there. Yeah.
George and Kathy Lutz moved into Amityville house in 1975
So first things first. Just to clear the air, like, what the story was about. So the Amityville horror series. It's based on the accounts of a real couple named George and Kathy Lutz, who moved into the house that was then 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York, in December of 1975. The address is not 112 anymore. The owner changed it to 108 because people were just gawking at it constantly.
>> Taylor: Well, that's been too bad. Everyone knows now.
>> Farz: Everybody knows. They also changed the iconic windows on the. On the outside. And now they made them, like, square, which kind of sucks, but that does.
>> Taylor: It's a beautiful house. And it has that boathouse.
>> Farz: It's huge. It's on the water. Everything.
>> Taylor: Huge. Thanks.
>> Farz: It's beautiful.
>> Taylor: If you have to live on Long island, live there.
>> Farz: Yeah, it's a very upper.
>> Taylor: No good food.
>> Farz: Yeah, it's very upper middle class. Well, back then it was upper middle class. Now it's, like, wealthy. I mean, I think that house probably sold for, like, two, $3 million.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Yeah. That's how, like, houses on Long island are no longer che sleep.
>> Farz: Yeah. So. So going back to the Lutzes, they stayed at the house for about 28 days. This is all factual. This is not about the horse. Right. They also. They stayed the house for 28 days, during which they said they experienced a bunch of paranormal thing. Paranormal things happening. And then they fled the house. Two months later, they got in touch with Ed and Lorraine Warren, who were paranormal investigators who said they sensed the dark energy in the house, because of course they did. It's how they make their money. And then the Lutzes went to Jay Anson, who wrote a book, and that was followed up with a bunch of movies that's called the Amityville Horror. That's the story.
>> Taylor: Amazing.
>> Farz: So let's talk about what happened before this happened, because that's where the meat and potatoes are, and it's really good. So 13 months before the Lutzes acquired the 36, 3600 square foot home, it was five bedrooms for $80,000 in 1975. How crazy is that?
>> Taylor: I know.
>> Farz: Before they did that 13 months earlier, a family named the Defeos lived there. So today's story is about them. And, yeah, it was just inspired by the sign behind me because of your thoughtfulness.
Taylor: Louise Briganti was born in 1931 to a wealthy Brooklyn family
So let's start with. We're going to start the story with Louise Marie Briganti, which is her maiden name, who is the wife of the matriarch of the family, let's call her. She was born in 1931 to a wealthy Brooklyn family. She came from a traditional Italian American family, and she had a very, very opinionated father who was also very well to do, and he owned a Buick dealership. So she met a guy named Ronald DeFeo Senior in the late 1940s when they were both around 18, 19 years old. The records are a little bit fuzzy on that. He did not come from well off family. And my understanding was that, you know, if you're not from that kind of a background and, like, you're kind of a hothead, like, if you're. If you're a guy who's, like, trying to survive in America in this era, like, you're going to be a bit of a hothead. And he definitely had that reputation. And he was Italian. I'm not trying to throw aspersions, but it is what it is. Yeah.
>> Taylor: I mean, is he from Brooklyn, too? Because I can. I can imagine. Yeah. I mean, I just like a newsy. Even though that was like, way before, but you know what I mean? Like a little Brooklyn kid.
>> Farz: You can picture it like fist fights everywhere.
>> Taylor: Exactly. Yeah.
>> Farz: So despite the. Despite the objections from Louise's father, the two ended up getting married. And eventually Louise's dad gave Ronnie a really good paying job as a service manager at his dealership. They would go on to have five kids. And in order of oldest to youngest, you have Ronald Jr. You have Don Allison, Mark, and John Matthew. So you have five kids. On the outside, the family was Perceived as just like a normal upper middle class family living in like a, like I said, like a wealthier neighborhood. In private, the dad kind of ruled the house with an iron fist. This is Ronnie Senior. He was apparently never abusive to anybody else in the household except Ronald Jr, who we're going to call Ronnie from here. Yeah, the more you learn about him, the more you're like, yeah, I probably would have beaten this kid too. Like some kids just need to get beat. Like, I'm sorry. Like, I know that, I know we have like different kind of parenting styles now. You just gotta hate your kids every now and then. Just. I'm not a parent, but that's what I think.
>> Taylor: I'm a parent and I'm a no on that, but keep going.
>> Farz: So Ronnie seems like the first generation of the newly wealthy, like kind of spoiled, more interested in experiences. No matter how dark those experiences ended up being. He was, he reminds me of the people you hate. Taylor, like you talking, went to school with really just.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Why do I have to work? Why do I have to do anything? Why can't everything be fun? And like that's kind of what this guy seems like.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: So Ronnie, his history included being suspended from school a couple of times, being caught with heroin and lsd, using heroin, lsd, getting in fights, getting arrested. He had pulled a gun on his dad before and he'd even been caught embezzling from the dealership, his grandfather's dealership, which is such scum. Bad behavior. By contrast, the other four seemed totally normal. They were like, they were described as intelligent, sweet, nice kids, normal activities, played sports, did band, like all that kind of stuff. They were just little kids.
>> Taylor: Was it chicken and egg? What came first? Was Ronnie always an. So was dad was mean to him or his dad mean to him, so became an a******.
>> Farz: The age old question.
>> Taylor: I don't know.
>> Farz: The age old question. Yeah, well, it sounds like, I mean it's. He was, from all accounts, he was not abusive to his wife, which is like wild time period. So. So I don't know, tbd, I guess. So the house to the layout of the house. So it was a two story house and it had an attic. They named the house, like I said, High Hopes and placed a placard, the one that you got for me. Outside of it, the downstairs was just living area and the upstairs was just bedrooms and bathrooms. So the entire house slept, or the entire family slept upstairs on the second floor in the house, including Ronnie up to this point, which is going to be when he's 23 years old in 1974. So does. Do you care all the ages? Because the age, like it's worth noting that I do.
>> Taylor: Yeah, I do.
>> Farz: Yeah. So Ronnie's 23. The next oldest would have been Don at 18. The next oldest was Allison at 13. Then you have Market 12 and you have John at 9.
>> Taylor: Why does Ronnie still live there? Well, we're gonna get into that, I guess also. Okay. I could get into it. I don't know. I don't know if you moved out as quickly as you did or supposed to or. We think you're supposed to now.
>> Farz: So he had a lot of problems. He had a lot of problems and his mother sounds like she enabled it because she would give him money and let him do whatever he wanted. And so that's, that's kind of the reason why he ended up staying there.
Ronnie Defeo shot his parents and sister face down early November 1974
So with that said about the way, let's get the night of November 13, 1974. That night the Defeo seemed to have a normal evening. No arguments or fighting was reported and the parents and other kids had gone to sleep. By around 10:30pm that night, Ronnie had gone to his room to use heroin.
>> Taylor: Not great.
>> Farz: Yeah, around 3:15am which is why every movie has 3:15am as like the hour.
>> Taylor: The clock stopped or whatever. Yeah.
>> Farz: Around 3:15am Ronnie grabbed his.35 caliber Marlin rifle and went room to room. Oh, sorry. He went from, from his room one over to his parents room. So they were the first ones. They were sound asleep and he shot them twice each while they were face down. He then went one bedroom over from theirs to their 13 year old sister Allison's room and shot her one time in the head. She was also face down, although forensic evidence would indicate that she may have been awake very, very briefly before she died based on the angle of the bullet. He then went to his brothers Mark and John's room and shot each one of them in the back while they were lying face down. Then lastly went to his sister Dawn's room and shot her in the head. She was also found face down. The face down port is called out a bunch because apparently the rifle he used sounds like a cannon going off. And investigators are surprised that nobody seemed to have woken up or any attempt to investigate or flee the scene. Also, none of the neighbors reported hearing anything that night which like you're looking at, hold on, it's six shots. No, it's. It's eight shots that he took because he double. He doubled up on his parents. So he. So there was enough time to Wake up and hear it, I think.
>> Taylor: Do you sleep on your stomach?
>> Farz: No, I'm a side sleeper.
>> Taylor: I don't know anyone else who's on their stomach. It's weird that everyone would.
>> Farz: Well, it's genetic, right? Is it genetic?
>> Taylor: I have no idea. I'm just saying, if we're thinking. I don't know. My mom sleeps like. Like a princess. Like Snow White. She sleep perfectly on her back, like with her hands over her. Like she's Snow White in a coffin.
>> Farz: It's incredible.
>> Taylor: It's incredible. She doesn't move at all. No, I like sleep on my side and teacher over my face and like, usually there's a child in my arms, but like. No, I just think it's interesting. I feel like five, four people. Wait, four, six people sleeping the exact same way is weird.
>> Farz: Yeah. Yeah.
>> Taylor: Just trying to conspiracy this a little bit.
>> Farz: There's plenty of conspiracy, so we can just add this to the list. Ronnie. After he did this, he took a bath and he. He changed his clothes. He also cleaned up his room a little bit, which was typically a cluttered mess because he's a heroin addict. And he wrapped the rifle in a pillowcase and drove 30 miles to Brooklyn and dumped it in a storm drain.
>> Taylor: Okay.
>> Farz: That was his plan. He then went to his job at his grandfather's dealership and was heard complaining to co workers about not being able to get in touch with his family. He even called the house and pretended to be surprised when no one answered. He left work around 1:30 and decided to swing by his girlfriend's place, a woman named Sherry Klein. He also told her that he'd called the house and nobody had answered. He even tried to call again while they're in her company.
>> Taylor: Why would he be doing that?
>> Farz: Yeah, he's trying to make it.
>> Taylor: Who does that? Yeah, I don't call home during the day.
>> Farz: So here's there. There was a reason that you could justify why he was doing that. It's because he'd never had. He didn't have a key to the house.
>> Taylor: Interesting.
>> Farz: And so he needed someone there if he was going to go home, which is why he's not going home based on what he's conveying to people. So he's with his girlfriend Sherry. They would end up going to a shopping mall before swinging by his buddy Bobby's house. And he would also tell Bobby that nobody was answering his calls and try again from his place. Part of, like I said, part of his concern was that he just didn't have keys to the house. So my thought was he was bringing this up because he was like, well, I need to go get home. Whenever they're there, essentially to get inside the house. They visit with Bobby for a bit. And he let him know that if he wanted to hang out later, he'll be at Henry's Bar, a local tavern, around 6pm that night. From there, Ronnie and Sherry hung out a little bit, drank and did heroin, which is what you do. I guess that's a lot. Around 6:30, he burst back into the bar and would proclaim that he needed help because he thinks his parents are shot. A group of patrons, they would go to the house with Ronnie and discover the crime scene. Police would arrive and take Ronnie to the police station after he told them he thinks it was a mob hit carried out by a hitman named. A guy named Lewis Fellini.
>> Taylor: That's very specific.
>> Farz: Well, so Lewis was like an actual known mafia hitman, which makes you wonder, like, why wasn't he arrested?
>> Taylor: Like, everyone knows you're a mafia hitman.
>> Farz: Everybody knows. Yeah.
>> Taylor: I don't know. I feel like that's a great question.
>> Farz: And. Well, yeah, it's Long Island.
Ronnie claimed he had schizophrenia and was planning to kill his family
Yeah, so are we.
>> Taylor: Yeah, exactly.
>> Farz: Basically, Ronnie claimed the two had an argument, like years earlier and that he probably killed his family for that reason. That was his argument.
>> Taylor: Got him.
>> Farz: Ronnie said that he was at home until about 4am the morning of the murders. He came, couldn't sleep, so he decided to go into work early. And police believed him. And to protect him for what they thought was going to be another potential victim of this guy Fellini, they basically let him just sleep at the station while the investigation was going on at the house there, they found a.35. They found a bunch of live.35 caliber bullets in his room. And during the course of the investigation, they also found out that he was a heroin user because he had all his paraphernalia hanging around. They also found out through investigations that he had burned his dad's boat to help his dad collect insurance payout after. After Ronnie had blown the engine doing probably. Stupid.
>> Taylor: Question. What does a live bullet mean? Just means, like, would. How would you. If you had a Not live bullet is that one that's been used or like not.
>> Farz: Yeah, well, not live bullet is when you dig out of someone's head. And the live one is it when you find in a box.
>> Taylor: So.
>> Farz: So basically they were piecing together the insurance fraud thing. They found out he had embezzled money from his job. They basically were starting to realize, like, this guy's not like some decent person. Like, he's a scumbag.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Which is what he was. He was a complete scumbag. So the police started pressing into his written statement on the timeline of the murders. And it was around this time when they were interviewing him again, that they also discovered the murder weapon was a.35 caliber rifle, which matched the bullets that he has in his room. His story started changing. He basically. He was being pressed. He was probably also going through withdrawals at this point, frankly. And eventually he would tell police that this Fellini guy woke him up and let him know that he was going to kill his whole family. That was kind of like the story. He was like, yeah, I was there. You're right. It happened when I was still at the house, but I didn't do it. This guy woke me up. He, like, told me to stay put. He's gonna go kill the whole family. That I ran away. That. That's how the story kind of changed over time.
>> Taylor: A weird thing to have someone do.
>> Farz: Yeah. And by this point, police were like, no part of the story is kind of making sense. And it became clear that he was the perpetrator. And so they ended up charging him with six. Six counts of murder. He went so far as to say that once he started the killings, he couldn't stop himself. And he led police directly to where he discarded that evidence in Brooklyn. So it was obviously him. Like, there's no doubt about it.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Questioning that, his attorney would argue that. That he was not guilty by reason of insanity. The defense's psych evaluation would determine that he was. He did have paranoid schizophrenia and also that he had auditory hallucinations, and so he couldn't be responsible for his actions at that time. The prosecution obviously disagreed, saying that he was just like a narcissistic heroin user and he went into a fit of rage and did this. In frankly, that's probably the most true thing. For insanity to work, you have to not appreciate the banality of what you're doing. The fact.
>> Taylor: Right. You have to, like, not understand the consequences. So you wouldn't hide the gun.
>> Farz: You're going to have the gun. Yeah. This also last podcast episode. If you ever want to get found not guilty for a reason of insane, just, like, walk around with, like, the person's head, like, wearing it as a hat down the street.
>> Taylor: Right. Because then you're nuts. You're obviously not doing great.
>> Farz: So he was found guilty of six counts of second degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in a maximum security prison. Since Then he has claimed that demonic voices told him to kill his family. And that was also discarded because there was a schizophrenia thing. But that wasn't like. That was the defense's argument. And apparently heroin is not a hallucinogenic. I never knew that. I looked that up, but it's not a hallucinogenic, and it just makes you, like, gel out. Yeah. And all he had in the system was heroin that night.
>> Taylor: Is the schizophrenia a real diagnosis or just a defense?
>> Farz: That was a defense. Okay. Well, it was there. The defense's psych eval said that he had schizophrenia, but it was never conclusive.
>> Taylor: Got it.
>> Farz: He would later claim that his sister Don helped him do it. And also that Don was. That at first it was him and Don did it. Then it was Don, and a friend of Don's helped him do it.
Warren claimed that he was framed because someone wanted his family's inheritance
He also claimed that the mother helped him do it. It was. He was losing his mind. Like, he was saying all kinds of crazy. You. At one point, he said the family consented to being killed. He was just nuts.
>> Taylor: That's.
>> Farz: And there was the. The final claim was that he was possessed when he was doing it, but that was only after the movies came out and became, like, hugely successful. So, like.
>> Taylor: Right.
>> Farz: He was just playing that up and. Oh, yeah, I forgot there was another one that he claimed. He claimed that he was framed because someone wanted his family's inheritance, and they wanted it to, like, skip over him, but he killed everyone in the line of succession. Again, he's, like, coming up with ideas that only a heroin addict can come up with. He ended up spending 47 years in prison. And on March 12, 2021. So fairly recently, he died in Albany Medical center for reasons that the government has never released. The typical speculation is that he had some sort of chronic cardiac issue that afflicted him, that he died because of.
>> Taylor: Or more.
>> Farz: More practically, it's probably because he died of COVID and the government didn't want to reveal that.
>> Taylor: Oh, yeah.
>> Farz: Probably it was 2021.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: So. So that's his story. That's how the family all met their end. And, yeah, the house still exists. The house is still there. Somebody bought it fairly recently, I think. I think.
>> Taylor: I mean, it's a very nice house, and no one has ever had any problems in it. Yeah, I mean, the Lutzes obviously lied because they were liars, but good on them from. Well, they didn't make a ton of money, but the good on the Warrens made a ton of money.
>> Farz: Warren's been a ton of money. Jay Anson Made a ton of money. I think the Lutzes. I think I heard they sold their entire rights to everything for $300,000. Which is.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Which is like a bummer because this is huge.
So what do you think happened in Amityville murders
So what do you think? What do you think happened? I have some questions and ideas. Okay, shoot. Yeah. Okay. So, you know, in the second 70s Amityville movie, they say that Ronnie and Don had a relationship with the sexual relationship, which, like, obviously is not true, but, like. And then she helps them do the murders. But okay, I'm looking at all these pictures of them. If you want to find them on the Internet, you can find them in their beds. And you're right, they're all on their stomachs. But then, like, there's a still from a movie. There's so many movies where they're on their stomach crying. We're like one of the sisters. It's probably Dawn's. Our stomach crying and the brothers coming in. So, like, what if he yelled at them and said, everyone lay face down and you won't get killed?
>> Farz: It's definitely possible.
>> Taylor: You know, I just think that the face down thing, I think is really, really weird. And then, like. Because, like, it would have. He would have had to either be telling them to lay down and not do anything. Maybe he was like, someone else is in the house. Everyone lay down, face, close your eyes or whatever. And then he was doing it because otherwise, like, you couldn't do it fast enough. Like, I remember when you did the Vasilka axe murders. We talked about that. Because I read that book, the man on the Train, about that axe murderer that was like, going around the country killing families. And then part of it was like, how could the families not hear him when he walked up the stairs? Because, like, the stairs had creaky stairs. Like, that was, like, known all these things. But, like, the thing that the author of the man on the Train, he suggested that, like, maybe he just went really fast. You know, like, he, like, ran up the stairs really fast, and before you know it, you're being ax murdered. Like, you don't have a chance to think about it. But with this, he had. He'd have to, like, re. I don't know, recock the gun, reload every time. So maybe he told him to lay down.
>> Farz: Maybe that. Maybe that.
>> Taylor: Because.
>> Farz: Because also I mentioned, like, he had pulled a gun on his dad before. Yeah, maybe the whole family. Because he's also, like, fairly significantly older than everybody else. And so they're like. We just listened to what Ronnie tells us.
>> Taylor: Maybe he said like, this hitman's in the house. I'm gonna go get him. Everybody, you're hearing shots from another. Another room at someone else, you know?
>> Farz: Yeah. The argument about Don was that they did find gunpowder on her, but they think that, they think that it was just a close range enough shot to where the gunpowder that it gets naturally emitted could have just settled on her. And like, that's, that's probably what it was. And I heard the whole relationship thing too. Also, it's worth noting that the mafia thing was played up like a ton. And I'm pretty sure that was just blatant racism.
>> Taylor: Racism? Yeah.
>> Farz: Like, it was, it was because it like, they're like, yeah, this guy's like an Italian rich guy. Like, he's got to be in the mafia. Apparently there was some like, uncle or something that was in the mafia. So maybe it's, maybe it's accurate racism. But like, it was, it was like the grandfather's like, uncle or something was a part of like some family, but they were like, it seemed like it was far enough removed where, like, you're kind of stretching.
>> Taylor: Yeah, I agree.
>> Farz: But it is. You're right.
Danny: I live in Texas and I hear gunshots all the time
The more I'm thinking about the whole lying on her stomach thing, I mean, that is the piece that people think about.
>> Taylor: I think that's weird. Yeah. I think it's just like a strange fact that like, like if you went into my house at three o' clock in the morning, you would find four people sleeping in four totally different positions.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: You know, like, you just. I don't know, that feels, that feels like too much of a coincidence. So it makes sense to me that they were like, told to do that.
>> Farz: Yeah, I could see that. I could see that maybe. Yeah, they were just scared. They could also be scared. There's. There's a common thing with people, like, well, if you're in a kidnapping situation, why don't you fight back or why don't you do. And it's like you don't know how you're gonna deal with it.
>> Taylor: Like, I mean, no, you're scared and it's confusing and like I.
>> Farz: If I heard, if I heard something happening in my house, I think it would take me a bit to even register it enough to come up and formulate a plan of how to respond to it.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: And I'm a 40 year old man.
>> Taylor: Did you remember when that guy, like, there was that shooting in my neighborhood a couple months ago. And like, so it was like a house that's like, you can see it from my House, but it's like, across the hill. So, like, it's pretty far. But they, like, a guy had stolen a car. He had driven up a street he thought was a drive. He thought it was a street, it was a driveway. So he kind of got stuck, and the police were following him. And then there were some shots. But those shots went out at like, maybe 2:30 in the morning. And my husband woke up and he was like, I hear gunshots. He did a great job. He, like, got up, woke me up, immediately was like, their gunshots. And then was like, then we're looking out the window, and then we, like, saw a police car. It's like, over the hill, like, whatever. So I was impressed because. Yeah, like you said, like, it's hard to be like, what do you do? Like, last podcast just did the. The. That. That massacre in Tasmania that you did.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: And Martin something. Yeah. And a lot of people just, like, didn't run. They didn't know what to do. They were confused. Because it's confusing. You know, you'd be like, why am I being woken up to this? What is this?
>> Farz: Also, I live in Texas. Gunshots or nothing. Like, a gunshot would not wake me up.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So, no, totally. Like, if you live in a city, you hear gunshots all the time. I don't know.
>> Farz: But I had a friend we both know visiting, a British friend visiting, and we were sitting outside talking, and there was gunshots in the distance. Like, what is that? Like, gunshots? Like, should we duck? I'm like, no, they're just going off all the time. Like, it's our.
>> Taylor: It's our state. Guns in the air. Yeah. Just with shots. Yeah. That sucks. I feel sad for the family.
>> Farz: There's. There's also interviews of Ronnie as, like, an old, older man, like, in his, like, 50s, and he still sounds like a complete dirt bag. Like, if you listen to interviews, he just has that long island draw.
>> Taylor: Did he ever, like, say he was sorry or, like, anything like that?
>> Farz: No, not that I saw. And he also changed the story so many times. Like, this is a credibility crisis with this guy where, like, you don't even know what to believe because his story changed constantly. So. But that being said, I do think I want to watch Amityville tonight.
>> Taylor: I need, like, a list of all the movies. Okay. I'm gonna touch you do this. What are all the movies? Because did you ever watch the. We should also talk about the Lutzes. But, like, she ever watched the documentary about the poor Lutz kid? No, it's, like, called the kid, Danny, I think. Hold on. M I N I T Y B I L E. And it ruined his life, obviously, you know.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: Of course. His parents sensationalized this thing. It was terrible for everyone. And then, like, it just. His life is ruined.
>> Farz: So here's the thing. I would not be surprised if something did happen, because what sane person would take on a mortgage and then leave after 28 days?
There are so many Amityville horror movies on IMDb
Yeah, that is a little bit crazy. But they could have also been suffering psychological issues themselves, or they could have been gassing themselves up and thinking that it's real, you know?
>> Taylor: Exactly. There's the core. The core movies are The Amityville Horror, Amyville 2, the Possession, Amityville 3D that was released in 1983 in 3D. The Amityville Curse. It's about time. Anyville. New Generation. Amityville Dollhouse. That's the one where there's, like, a haunted dollhouse. Then there's the rename. The clock is the one with Betty Davis. And then they horror 2005. Wow. That's 20 years ago. Ryan Reynolds. And then there's like, Amityville Asylum. Amityville Death House. Amityville, the Awakening, Amityville Murders. Oh, that's from Lifetime. And there's Amityville in space from 2022.
>> Farz: That one's not worth watching.
>> Taylor: Yeah. What a wild story is one and a half stars on IMDb.
>> Farz: Yeah, dude, there's so many. Oh, that's what it was called. Amityville, where the echo lives. It looks horrible. If you watch the trailer for it, like, zero part of you is scared. Zero part of you would ever want to watch that movie. The acting looks horrible. The set look looks horrible. Like, the entire premise looks like dog.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Oh, this is 2024.
>> Farz: Yeah, it's, like, pretty new.
>> Taylor: Yeah. It seems like a pretty easy thing to just create a story around. Zero people in this movie have pictures on the mdb. Well, what does.
>> Farz: Yeah, this was definitely done on a Taco Bell budget.
>> Taylor: I love it. Cool. Yeah, I like. You can watch the Ryan Reynolds one tonight or the old one.
>> Farz: So I think the Ryan Reynolds one.
>> Taylor: I don't know when the last time I watched that one was. I think I've watched the old one, like, more recently because then there's like. I love the part with, like, the red closet in the old one.
>> Farz: It's so good when Ryan Reynolds. I think it's good because, like, Ryan Reynolds, like, when he gets, like, insane, he's, like, jacked, and you're like, oh, this guy could literally strangle Everybody in this house with his bare hands.
>> Taylor: Is this before he had his, like, Ryan Reynolds voice?
>> Farz: No, he had his run around the voice.
>> Taylor: He's still. Right, he's still Ryan Reynolds as Ryan Reynolds playing the character.
>> Farz: Yep. Yep. And at times it's like, this is Van Water. Why am I taking him seriously?
>> Taylor: Exactly. Like, oh, am I watching Deadpool? Oh, no, I'm watching this. Oh, is Deadpool just Van Wilder with the mask on? Yes. Okay, keep going.
>> Farz: Everything is just Van Wilder with different set dressing. But, yeah, that's my story.
>> Taylor: Thank you.
>> Farz: It was interesting because it is. The underlying story is pretty freaky. And. Yeah, I think so too.
>> Taylor: I think that's scarier is the thought that someone in your family will murder you at night. And more likely than a deepening 100 more likely.
>> Farz: So at least 50 more likely.
>> Taylor: At least 50 more likely.
>> Farz: There you go.
>> Taylor: Hopefully none of it happens to any.
>> Farz: Of you, but at some point, I gotta figure out what to do with this sign because this hangs back here. And I thought about putting it on my gate, and I was like, I might look crazy.
>> Taylor: No one would know. I feel like one out of, like, a thousand people would know.
>> Farz: And I don't think it's, like, weather treated so, like. I don't know if I want to leave it out there.
>> Taylor: Oh, yeah, you keep it inside. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they just had it. And, like, you know, like we said, props on them for naming their house. You talked about minding your house.
>> Farz: It was very cute, actually. And also adds the grimness of, like, what happened there.
>> Taylor: I know.
>> Farz: It's so much worse.
>> Taylor: Like, what were you hoping for?
The new Amityville of Ryan Reynolds has four and a half stars
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah. It's like when you watch, like, Investigation Discovery and, like, it shows, like, a murder scene. The kitchen has live laugh, love. And you're like, man, I know. Like, you're like, sort of.
>> Taylor: That. That's actually never good. It's never good. Yeah. The new the Amityville of Ryan Reynolds has four and a half stars on things.
>> Farz: Oh, it's a good. It's a good movie. My only point on it is, like, it's not like an.
>> Taylor: They add stuff. Yeah, yeah. And they, like. Yeah, exactly. They need it to do stuff. But I mean, like, when you first hear about the Lutz part, I mean, that picture, that's obviously not real of, like, the ghost in the, And the hall is, like, so scary. And, you know, the Warrens. Weren't the Warrens there for, like, a day or were they there for longer than that?
>> Farz: I think it was just a day.
>> Taylor: And then like, they were like, let's write a book, and everybody was laughing.
>> Farz: Yeah. I mean, they. They literally just figured out how to monetize this stuff. I mean, that's really ultimately what their gift is, is marketability. Like, they're really good at marketing.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So I love that for them.
>> Farz: Cool.
>> Taylor: Cool. Thank you. Very exciting. I will watch that movie as well. You know, I think I might have the old one open. This one's still so good.
>> Farz: It's a bit of a classic. I do love it.
>> Taylor: I was actually thinking about this other day because someone told me they had a bird in their house, someone that I work with, and I was telling them one time we had a squirrel die in, like, the walls of our house when we lived in Queens. And there were. There were flies everywhere. It was just like Emeryville horror. Like, the flies were, like, on. So we would, like, open the window, and Juan would try to hit them with, like, a fly swatter, and I would vacuum them, but it was, like, hundreds of flies. It was awful.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: But it was just like this.
>> Farz: Did it get cold all of a.
>> Taylor: Sudden right when I was saying that?
>> Farz: No. With the flies being there?
>> Taylor: Oh, no, just flies. Because there were dead things in the walls.
>> Farz: Yeah. No demons, Just dead things.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Cool.
>> Farz: You got anything to read out for us?
>> Taylor: No, nothing new, but thank you, everyone, for listening. Find us everywhere. Listen to podcasts, Doomed to Fail, Pod, and on Patreon as well. And if you have any ideas, let us know. We are approaching our 200th episode, so I'm excited. I'm gonna do. I have two big, big ones planned that are, like, very classic doomed stories, and I'm excited to tell you about them.
>> Farz: Is it a series or independent?
>> Taylor: Two independent ones. So sweet, but fun.
>> Farz: Yeah. Awesome. Okay, well, we can go ahead and cut things off as usual. Write to us@dumontflpodmail.com, find us on the socials at doom to fell pod, and we will join y' all again in a few days.
>> Taylor: Thank you.