November 13, 1974: Ronald DeFeo Jr. shoots and kills 6 members of his family at their home in Amityville, on the South Shore of Long Island, New York. It inspires a story that turns into the horror film franchise known as "The Amityville Horror."
DeFeo was 21. The victims were his father, Ronald DeFeo Sr., 43; his mother, Louise, also 43; and his 4 siblings: Dawn, 18; Allison, 13; Marc, 12; and John, 9. He had shot them all with a .35 caliber lever action Marlin 336C rifle.
He gave conflicting stories. At one point, he tried an insanity defense, saying he did not remember the murders. At another, he said he was covering up for Dawn, who had killed their father, and then their mother had killed her and the others. He also claimed that his father's father and uncle were involved with organized crime. (Ronald Sr.'s uncle, Peter DeFeo, was a caporegime in the Genovese crime family, but there is no evidence that the killings were a Mob hit.)
He was convicted of second-degree murder a year later, and sentenced to 6 separate terms of 25 years to life in prison. He was taken to the Sullivan Correction Facility in Fallsburg, in the Catskill Mountains of New York State, and was held there until his death in 2021.
The house was at 112 Ocean Avenue, about 33 miles east of Midtown Manhattan. The DeFeo family had purchased it in 1965. In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and their 3 children moved into the house. After 28 days, the Lutzes fled the house, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there. This inspired Jay Anson's 1977 novel The Amityville Horror, the film based on it in 1979, and various sequels and reboots.
The Town of Babylon has changed the address of the house, to discourage tourists. Subsequent owners have claimed they have never seen any unusual phenomena there.
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November 13, 1974 was a Wednesday. This was also the day that Karen Silkwood died under suspicious circumstances, and the day of Yassir Arafat's lie-filled speech before the United Nations. I have separate entries for those events.
Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 4 games in the NBA:
* The Washington Bullets beat the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, 118-81 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 98-91 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. Bob Lanier had 40 points and 24 rebounds.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 105-100 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. Charlie Scott scored 41 for the Suns.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 108-103 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
There were 4 games played in the American Basketball Association:
* The New York Nets lost to the Kentucky Colonels, 132-129 in double overtime at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. Julius "Doctor J" Erving scored 44 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. But it wasn't enough, as Louie Dampier led the Colonels with 32.
* The Spirits of St. Louis beat the Memphis Sounds, 97-92 at the St. Louis Arena. Marvin "Bad News" Barnes scored 31.
* The Utah Stars beat the Indiana Pacers, 114-103 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.
* And the Denver Nuggets beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 132-108. Travis Grant scored 35 in defeat.
There were 8 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New York Islanders lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 8-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens, 8-6 at the Montreal Forum. René Robert scored 3 goals and an assist. Guy Lapointe had 3 goals and 2 assists for the Canadiens.
* The Atlanta Flames beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at The Omni in Atlanta.
* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Detroit Red Wings, 7-4 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* The Kansas City Scouts beat the team that was meant to be their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Blues, 5-3 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City. But the Scouts went just 2-8 against the Blues, failed after just 2 seasons, and the Blues' arch-rivals remained the Chicago Black Hawks. The Scouts became the Colorado Rockies in 1976, and the New Jersey Devils in 1982.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-0 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* The California Golden Seals beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-0 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
* And the Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled.
And there were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:
* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Indianapolis Racers, 10-3 at the Colisée de Québec.
* The Houston Aeros beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 8-5 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. This was only the 2nd game the Oilers played there, following their November 10 opener, a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Crusaders. They had played their 1st 2 seasons, and the start of this, their 3rd, at the Edmonton Gardens.
* And the Toronto Toros beat the Vancouver Blazers, 5-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
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