Some of the creepiest, skin crawliest crap I have ever come across.

[thunter34]

Behold the horror that is Josef Fritzl.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/04/29/austria.cellar/index.html

A man who raped and tortured his own daughter while keeping her captive beneath his own home for 24 years.  He even fathered 7 children by her, but only 6 of them lived.  The other, he burned away.  Three of the six children he sired by his own daughter came above to live with him and his unknowing wife in the regular world.  The other three were kept below their entire lives.  Now late teenagers, they had never seen sunlight before a few days ago.  Their whole existence has been in these few tiny rooms, where they doubtlessly were all through the years while this man raped their mother. 

He is 73 now and is facing up to 15 years. Now I understand that he will most likely never be free again and will die in jail, but how does one get a possible sentence of less time than the period for which he kept these people entombed?

And how these children are ever going to be "right in the head" is beyond me. 

[woodshere]

Saw this on the news, how does the wife not know?!?!?!

[BT65]

I just heard about this on CNN.  I cannot understand how his wife could be "unkowing."  Where did she think the kids living with them came from?  

I certainly do not understand what would make someone act like this Josef Fritzl did.  And I wouldn't care to delve into his psyche to find out.  Torture and burn him, I say.  

I don't know if (and possibly how) those children kept underground (let alone his daughter) will ever have a "normal" life.  They won't.  Those are memories that simply can't be therapied away.  

[Dragonette]

I read this yesterday and am still shuddering...

I think Betty, from seeing the pics, that the secret door was so hidden in the basement, and their house is quite big, and probabaly his basement was his "space" and off limits to his wife, she might have rarely ventured down there, for superficial cleaning once in a while or something. The police were not able to find/open the contraption door until he showed them even when they had the testimony of the daughter and knew about it!
As for the kids, he pretended that the girl was runaway and left them there for her parents to take care of. I guess the wife was very susceptible, who knows... it just something that doesn't bear thinking about and yet you can't stop thinking about once you hear about it. 

Added: people wrote on talkbacks "why didn't the children cry for help, they were teenagers why didn't they hit him and overcome him together?". The place was bolted and sound proof, but even apart from that, the children wouldn't shout, because they didn't know there is anything more or anyone else in the world asides from where they were kept. If they killed him, they would have probably died down there. In fact, if something would have happened to him at any point in those years, all of them would have died and no one would have known about it.

This story needs to change the way in which households are scrutinized, even if it's undemocratic. Just too much horror going on.

[thunter34]

 I don't know if (and possibly how) those children kept underground (let alone his daughter) will ever have a "normal" life.  They won't.  Those are memories that simply can't be therapied away.  

That's what I'm saying.  

And apparently they were all kept in a sound proofed dungeon and couldn't ever be heard.  No one...not wife, not neighbors - no one knew they were there all these years.  The man had made the daughter write an "I ran away and don't come looking for me" letter years ago...and had since had her write letters asking them to take care of her kids because she couldn't.  It seems he had everyone (wife included) convinced that his daughter was a troubled child who ran off and then had kids out of wedlock...kids she brought back and left on their doorstep for care.  

To all the rest of the world, he was a kindly man who was doing the good thing by taking care of the offspring of his wild, reckless daughter.  

[thunter34]

I wasn't even in highschool when this girl was imprisoned. I am 37 now.

[Mike2008]

This just does not add up.  There has to be another piece that has not come to light yet.  They apparently had TV!  They did know this was not a normal existence.  An 18 year old boy couldn't overcome a 74 year old man?  I don't understand, have you seen the pictures?  This space had a fully functional bathroom and several rooms!  Lights, drywall, furniture everything! This guy built this stuff all by himself while simultaneously holding them prisoner? He had no help?

[thunter34]

I don't think he built it as he simultaneously held them prisoner.  He built it THEN imprisoned his daughter in it.  The others came years later by way of birth.  And maybe it would seem the 18 year old should have been able to over power the 73 year old man, but don't discredit his life experience.  This was all this kid had ever known, and had probably been taught to fear and obey this man almost like a god. 

[Ann]

According to the article I read today, the daughter was too traumatised (her father had been raping her since she was eleven) and the children were too weak to overpower the father. Same goes for the daughter (being weak) after she'd been down there a while.

Remember, vitamin D is crucial for strong bones and good health and the main source of vitamin D is sunlight. Also, the rooms were so small and cramped they would not have been able to get any normal exercise, therefore their muscles as well as bones would be very under-developed.

And don't forget about Stockholm syndrome, in the case of the daughter.

The article also alluded to the three underground children having some sort of illness - perhaps it was congenital. After all, that's one of the main reasons that incest is taboo in the entire animal kingdom. The gene pool needs diversity or disease can result.

The whole thing is pretty sickening.

[thunter34]

I am just reeling from it.  I really am.  I can't even stand to see the man's face when it comes up on the screen. 

[Mike2008]

The logistics of it are all wrong.  Think of how how much you spend on food per month.  Multiply it times four.  How can a 74 yr old man carry all that down to the prison?  Who would take away the waste?  Every day, week month for 24 yrs? How could the wife not know?  Would she or the neighbors no notice something?  This crazy situation could exist for for weeks maybe even months, but not years!  Of the four human minds one of them would would seek escape at some point. 

The wife was an accomplice and the husband is trying to protect her.  May they both burn in hell for eternity!!

[AlanBama]

Just when I think I've heard the worst of the worst that life has to offer, someone like this nut comes along and trumps it all... 

Unbelievable.   How could one human being do this to another one?   I can't wrap my mind around it.

 

[Snowangel]

The logistics of it are all wrong.  Think of how how much you spend on food per month.  Multiply it times four. 

I am not sure you can think logically about it, logically ,you would never have sex and father 7 kids with your own daughter, he might have been feeding all 4 the equivalence of what one child would eat?  Who knows, the whole thing is disgusting.  4 people in 100 sq feet, I would be completely nuts!
Hopefully, they have the same rules in the prisons in Austria that they do over here and he gets tortured for a while before getting shanked.

[AndyArrow]

This is truely a horrible story and I'm surprised (although I guess I shouldn't be) that it took the US media so long to report it  This story was all over the BBC on Saturday.  It looks like he will get more than the 15yrs since they are also planning on charging him with "murder through failure to act" in the death of one of the twins who died shortly after birth.  He was a bit of a recluse and many of the neighbors hadn't seen him in a long time thought he might have died.  What a sick man

AA

[BT65]

That's another issue I have re wondering what role the wife played- how were the children birthed?  Was there no notice?  Were they birthed in that dungeon?  Too many unanswered questions.  Which is normal during initial reporting.  I'm sure there will be more facts in the days to come.  I just don't know if I can watch them.  This whole thing sickens me to the core.

[thunter34]

That's another issue I have re wondering what role the wife played- how were the children birthed?  Was there no notice?  Were they birthed in that dungeon?  Too many unanswered questions.  Which is normal during initial reporting.  I'm sure there will be more facts in the days to come.  I just don't know if I can watch them.  This whole thing sickens me to the core.

Yes, from what I have read & heard, they were birthed in the dungeon...and that is why one of the kids (a twin) died early on:  no medical care.  I'm like you...part of me wants answers to earn how something like this could happen, but the other part can barely tolerate reading about it.  It's absolutely dismal.

[AndyArrow]

Yes, from what I have read & heard, they were birthed in the dungeon...and that is why one of the kids (a twin) died early on:  no medical care.  I'm like you...part of me wants answers to earn how something like this could happen, but the other part can barely tolerate reading about it.  It's absolutely dismal.

He threw the body of the twin who died in a furnace he had going down there ... just made me cry all over again when I read that.