The Lost Founders

The Association for the Study of Unexplained Phenomenon was formed in 1972 by several New York area journalists and paranormal researchers, including Rick Moran, Peter Jordan, Paul Hoffman and Stephen Kaplan.

At least that’s how its explained on ASUP’s official website, hosted by Rick Moran. But something about that statement doesn’t seem quite right. Yes, Rick Moran and Peter Jordan seemed to be a team back in the day – combining forces in 1978 to write their expose on the Amityville case for FATE magazine – but the inclusion of Paul Hoffman and Stephen Kaplan seems out of place.

Stephen Kaplan (deceased) was the author of The Amityville Horror Conspiracy, his attempt at debunking the famous haunting. Published in 1995 and formatted as a diary, “Conspiracy” covers Kaplan’s life from 1974 to 1979 as he runs around investigating, giving lectures and generally getting upset with people who believed the stories of the haunting in Amityville. While Rick Moran claims that he knew Kaplan “long before Amityville,” Kaplan’s book seems to tell quite a different story. Rick Moran is not mentioned until page 101:

“A few nights ago, Joel Martin did a show for WBAB in which he interviewed an investigative reporter named Rick Moran and Moran’s two associates.”
—Stephen Kaplan, Nov 17, 1977, as reprinted in The Amityville Horror Conspiracy, 1995

This diary of Kaplan’s life starts in 1974, but the first mention of Moran comes in 1977 – and he is presented as a stranger. Not “my friend” Rick Moran or “my associate” Rick Moran, or “Rick Moran, whom I have known for years,” but rather “an investigative reporter.”

How is it possible that these two men, both with a passion for debunking the case, belong to the same organization (which they both founded) and not be working together and pooling their resources and information? Why does Kaplan pretend not to know Rick Moran until November of 1977? Why is there absolutely no mention of the ASUP in Kaplan’s book?

And why does Kaplan not know Paul Hoffman, a man who was (according to Moran) a fellow co-founder of the ASUP in 1972? As shown in Kaplan’s book, he first heard of Hoffman in 1976, when Paul wrote a piece on the haunting for The New York Daily News. Kaplan was so angered by this article (which made no mention of a hoax, but merely told the Lutzes’ story) that he wrote an angry letter to the editor:

“The Parapsychology Institute of America has investigated the Amityville house and we found no phenomena of any kind. It is our belief that a hoax is being perpetrated on the public and we feel you are helping to spread this science fiction. I hope that in the future you will see that Mr. Hoffman thoroughly checks out his facts before submitting such an article.”
—Stephen Kaplan, Aug 22, 1976, as reprinted in The Amityville Horror Conspiracy, 1995

Kaplan’s view of Hoffman was that he was working in collaboration with the Lutzes:

“In the News article, the “second floor bedroom” was specified, and later identified as having been Ronald DeFeo Jr.’s bedroom. As I have previously mentioned, I had been informed that Ronald’s room was on the third floor. Hoffman and the Lutzes must have discovered their error and “moved” the evil to another floor!”
—Stephen Kaplan, March 9, 1977, as reprinted in The Amityville Horror Conspiracy, 1995

So we are to believe Moran’s word that Kaplan was a cofounder of the ASUP in 1972 despite the evidence in Kaplan’s book that he did not know Moran, Jordan or Hoffman at the time? Which man is lying? If Moran is being truthful, then Kaplan’s portrayal of Hoffman in The Amityville Horror Conspiracy is maliciously deceiving.

But I don’t think Kaplan is the one lying here. Some more evidence comes into play when we look into Paul Hoffman’s history.

Paul Hoffman (also deceased) was a journalist hired by William Weber (defense attorney for Ronnie DeFeo) to write a book. As mentioned before, Ronnie DeFeo was the young man who, in 1974, killed his family in that now-infamous Amityville home. The book Weber hired Hoffman to write would be a true-crime account of the DeFeo murder case.

In December of 1975 the Lutz family bought the DeFeo house, only to abandon it a month later, claiming it was haunted. The Lutzes try to contact people who can help them cleanse the house, and they also get in contact with Weber, feeling their story might shine some light on Ronnie’s “insane” actions and get the guy some mental help.

When Weber hears their story, he thinks it would be a great addition to his book project. Weber claims that what happened next was that he and the Lutzes sat around drinking wine while making up scary (but fictional) ghostly incidents to be included in the book, such as seeing red eyes in the windows and slime oozing down the walls (a claim the Lutzes flatly deny).

Rick Moran claims Hoffman was present while the Lutzes and Weber were dreaming up the story. When asked if he’d write the book, Moran claims that Hoffman refused and walked away from the deal:

“Then they asked him all, you know, are you gonna write it, and [Hoffman] said, ‘No, I’m not gonna write it,’ you know, because they wanted to write it as a true story, and he says, ‘Well obviously its not a true story since we’re sitting here making it up as we’re going along.’”—Rick Moran, White Noise Paranormal Radio, 2009

However, Moran’s statement goes against the following evidence:

• These meetings between the Lutzes, Weber and Hoffman would have taken place around February of 1976, however…
• Five months later, Hoffman is still on board with Weber’s project, as shown by the article he wrote about the haunting in the July 18, 1976, edition of the New York Sunday News. As Weber explained in a 1979 appearance on the Joel Martin radio show (transcribed in Kaplan’s book The Amityville Horror Conspiracy), this was done on Weber’s behalf “to keep the publicity going for our project.” The Lutzes were no longer involved with the project, but Hoffman was.
• A full year after Moran claims he quit, Hoffman is still involved with Weber and the book project, as he rewrites his previous article and sells it to Good Housekeeping magazine for their May issue. Again, the intent was to keep publicity going as they shopped their book proposal to various publishers.

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