April 30, 2008

Truly Disturbing News

All the talk lately have been about this crazy ass son of a bitch I show you on that picture there. His name is Josef Fritzl, and he's a 73 year old Austrian [insert numerous bad words here].

I don't know how big of a news item this man is over in the States, but that ugly face sure is appearing everywhere all over Europe at this time. While I don't usually post about news items or anything like that, I can't help but want to get some of this out of my system today.

Before you read on - whether or not you've heard the story - I suggest you read the following news article.

Pictured: Inside the cellar where father locked daughter for 24 years and repeatedly raped her

*Taking a breather to collect myself*

*Not really helping*

I don't know what disturbs me the most in this story. Is it the fact that this man held his daughter captive for 24 years in the basement? Is it the fact that he raped her over and over again down there? Is it possibly the fact that she gave birth to 7 children down in that basement?

Maybe, it's the fact that one of those children died because of neglect, and he burned the dead infants remains inside the house. It could also be the fact that he was able to bring three of those kids out of the basement and have them live with him and his wife in a twisted version of freedom. Or, it could be the simple fact that his wife (supposedly) didn't know what was going on in their house for the past 24 years.

Either way - put all of that shit together in one lump, and you probably have the most disturbing set of news that I have ever encountered in my life.

Three kids - 19, 18 and 5 years old - who have never, since the day they were born, seen the light of day... never ever been outside of that cramped living compartment this man had built under his house to keep his family imprisoned.

I would usually go about analyzing a thing like this - but this all goes beyond my ability to comprehend.

I find this more disturbing, even, than the likes of Andrei Chikatilo, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy or any other serial killer who's spread their terror upon us. At least the victims of these people didn't live to experience the horror every day for years and years.

Can either one of those victims - the mother, or the 6 children - ever go on to live a productive and happy life?

Sadly... I don't think so.

Since I am rather speachless on the subject - feel free to discuss this in the comments, where I'll join in to the best of my ability.

31 comments:

Leighann said...

I too find it hard to believe that his wife had no knowledge of what was going on right under her nose. Especially considering the infant that the crazy mother f*cker burned in their very own oven.

I have a morbid curiosity for true crime/serial killers and with all the research I've read, pictures I've seen, this story sickens me.

I'd like to know why he chose the kids he did, over the others, to bring out of the basement.

Knight said...

The wife never knew and none of the kids thought anything was odd? Did they know the house they were living in? Did they ever look around? I can't even imagine what the people kept from light must have looked like. There is no way they can function in society. They will have no social skills. They must be terrified of everything. I just can't believe the disgusting bastard pulled this off for such a long time. Why didn't they kill him when he came in to build more padded rooms?

Karen said...

This has been on the news here, but not a huge story. He is clearly a very, very sick bastard. I hope he gets what's coming to him.

Anonymous said...

I SAY BURN THAT BASTARD ALIVE!!!

I cannot stand this story! Raping your daughter???This is some nasty Azz Bull!!

This subject is something that I cannot get to set right in my mind at all! I hate it!!!!

I cannot wait until we get in sometime on this subject matter in class! UGHHHHHHHH Pisses me off...

Rape, Molestation, what ever you call it, I have something for all of them! This post also hit home!!

On A Happy note.. HUMP DAY Rambles is up!!!

Toodles

Single

Dana said...

There are, no words ... none ...

Sparkling Red said...

This was on the news in Toronto. My reaction boils down to: never underestimate the depths that humans can and will sink to. We have amazing potential for good, and an equal and opposite potential for evil.

R.E.H. said...

Leighann: It appears as though the wife really didn't know... she is apparently an emotional wreck after this.

I also have a strong fascination for serial killers, and while I don't really research the subject, I will always watch the documentaries and read a book or two about them. They are scary and fascinating...

...this dude is just plain scary and disturbing.

Knight: I guess the basement was his area, and the rest of the family weren't really allowed down there. The door was hidden behind some workstation or something... it was more like a hatch. It would not be easy to detect I suppose.

Apparently the mother had taught the kids to read and write down there, but that will never make up for social contact. I can only imagine the horror and at the same time a form of relief they must experience getting out of that dungeon for the first time in their lives.

Karen: It is ALL OVER the news around here, and it's getting under my skin. It's getting to the point where I'll start losing some sleep over this.

Anyway - makes me want to go back to the middle ages and go to the town square and watch him get stoned to death.

Cinder-Single: You do express the same kind of emotions that I have for this story. It makes me outraged, and it also makes me feel helpless in a way. How can anyone do something like this, and yet appear like a normal guy to others?

Dana: There are no words which can explain the horror of this...

Anndi: I would say that is a blessing for us all. To have the ability to understand something like this is probably not a very pleasant thing.

R.E.H. said...

Sparkling Red: I have always known that mankind can be evil, but I have never been able to understand when that evil is directed towards members of the family. I would think that our basic instincts are to protect our own.

Tink said...

It's been all over the news here too. So effing disgusting. There is no punishment bad enough for what he did.

Knight said...

I have to wonder if this happens more often than we know. Maybe it never comes to light. Maybe the survivors never make it out. It's a miracle they did really. If the old man had croaked or if he became seriously ill and was hospitalized they all would have starved to death in there. I'm feeling sick.

tt said...

I've been hearing about this for the last few days. I cannot comprehend this either..if i did....I think it would mean I understand it and to understand it would mean I processed it in my brain and thought about it for a while and made sence of it all....which I refuse to do!!!in other words...it's way to hideous for me to think about. I can't put into words what I hope hapens to that....that....monster!!

Jill said...

REH, it is big news in Canada...
And it is sadening that these 7 would scare for life!

fiwa said...

I'm sorry, but there is no f'ing way the wife didn't know. Bullshit. She's an emotional wreck now because she knows she can be prosecuted too.

What do they do with those poor kids? I do not know. I wish there was some way we could house them in a mansion and make sure they have everything they could possibly desire for the rest of their natural lives. I don't see how they could ever lead normal lives out in society.

As for the dude, I hope they don't fry him. That would get it over with too quickly. Make him rot in jail.

Jay said...

That's a serious freak show there. I've seen the headlines about this story, but haven't been following it. I figured it was too depressing and I was right.

Leighann said...

I also have to wonder if the kids who never saw the light of day are verging on feral. How much could their mother have been teaching them down there?

Maybe I'm way off and it's not like that, but I can't help but wonder.

Angela said...

There are no words to explain how disgusted I am by this story.

Raven said...

There really isn't much to say - or there are four or five books of what to say... and nothing that is adequate to the layers of horror this story carries. Twenty-four years. Stunning. Devastating.

Newt said...

Um, yeah, I got nothing. If I think on this one too long I'll just........

The only thing I heard on the news today multiple times was about the dude that invented LSD - he died at what 102? And they say it's bad for us.........

Jeff B said...

I am so glad I don't have cable right now. I'm sure this story has been all over the news broadcasts. I can not even beging to process how or why an indivual would ever do something like this.

Anonymous said...

I too am pretty speechless. I haven't seen the story plastered all over the news here, but I did see it in a BBC article today. (I have my Google homepage set up to give me the top headlines from BBC, New York Times, and CNN.) It's just sick. I just don't understand why.

Em

Liv said...

I'm not speechless. I just have nothing nice to say. That guy has a special place in hell waiting on him.

L.P. said...

It's somewhat sad that it takes catching someone locking their child up for decades to highlight the horror of incest and parental abuse.
And I agree, there is no fucking way the wife was clueless. They were all in the same damn house. She's as guilty as the father in my book.
I did work for awhile for a children's shelter until I just couldn't take seeing the broken children any longer. We live in a very fucked up world.

R.E.H. said...

Tink: Actually, my mother had a decent suggestion for a punishment (and she's 74) - lock him in a solitary cell for the rest of his life, and send in some brute to rape his ass once per day...

Knight: That's a scary thought, but I would honestly think that these things more often than not are discovered pretty soon. I would think (hope) that this is a rare occurance. They did free a woman who was held captive for 8 years a couple of years ago (and that too was in Austria). That girl had been kidnapped at the age of 8 or something by a pedophile who kept her as a sex-prisoner... I'm getting sickened thinking about all of this.

TT: It truly is too hideous a crime to even want to understand.

Jill: Those kids and his daughter will surely never be able to function in a normal society. That's what makes this a so much more hideous crime than murder.

Fiwa: I'm not so sure. If we assume that the kids didn't know, then it is apparently quite possible to hide the ongoings from people living in the house. And, if the wife DID know, or even the kids living upstairs did - then I find it quite impossible that this didn't come to light much sooner. I mean, I very much doubt he could have threatened his wife to be quiet about such a thing for so long, and since the daughter is speaking - well, it doesn't appear likely that the mother was part of the abuse.

R.E.H. said...

Jay: I totally agree. I'd seen the news for a number of days, but didn't look deeper into it until the other night. I kinda wish I still only heard fleetingly about this...

Leighann: I don't know about feral... but they will certainly not have any form of social skills. The sad thing is that being freed from that prison, might actually be a very scary experience for these kids. All the open space and other people all around them - that is something they have never experienced.

~Angela~: I totally agree - this is so fucked up it really does leave you speechless.

Raven: Yeah, one is either speechless, or words will just start pouring out - most of it will, however, just discuss how heinous and unbelievable this crime is.

Newt: Did the dude who invented LSD use any of it himself? And, if he did - maybe he was just delusive and thought he was 102 ;)

R.E.H. said...

Jeff B: So, sometimes not having cable is a positive thing ;)

For someone to do something like this they would have to be seriously demented. And, I'm talking about being a raving lunatic - which is why it surprises me his neighbors say he was such a nice man...

Emmeline: Yeah, I would have thought something as hideous as this would be big news all over the world - it is just so evil and horrible.

Liv: If there is any time that I really hope there IS a Hell - this is one of those times. He certainly deserves to burn for all eternity down there.

Lakota: This crime is even worse than incest and child abuse... this man did so much more to damage his child, and his (what are they grandchildren? children?) and hers offspring.

I can see how working at a shelter would get to you. I don't know if I could do it either - as much as it must be satisfactory to see a child being helped and guided into a better life - the pain, the hurt and the sadness would be too overwhelming.

Anonymous said...

Human beings will put up with just about anything to avoid being responsible. I've seen a crowd of people surround a man having a heart attack and not a single one of them called 911. I ended up being the first one to call and who knows how long he was lying there.

I've also seem people being robbed on the street or subway while an entire crowd of people just stood there and watched. After I've stepped in to stop the robbery I always get people saying "oh I'm so glad you did something."

It's amazing how fifty people can just stand there and watch it happen. Most people are cowards and will use any excuse not to get involved. I'm sure the wife had all kinds of excuses for what she didn't do. People would rather be safe and comfortable than take a risk to do the right thing.

I wish people cared more about being helpful rather than being comfortable. If all fifty people in the subway car joined in and split the risk equally it's no big deal.

If they called the police on day one this never would have happened. There must have been a point in the past where they noticed that the guy was going nuts. That was the time to get his ass locked up. I guess it was easier to just ignore the problem and not take the risk of calling the police.

People do things all the time that are bad for themselves and others. Their friends and family notice these things and say nothing. I'm not surprised that this happened. It's a simple extension of what happens between people every day.

Anonymous said...

REH...

I read about this the other day and I was horrified. I'm with you on the not being able to decide which part of the story bothers me more. I'm leaning heavily towards the children not seeing the light of day their entire lives (for the 3 that had that happen) or the wife supposedly not knowing. I really don't feel there is a punishment harsh enough for this vile beast. And I'm with you on the productive life thing. MAYBE with a LOT LOT LOOOOOOT of therapy, they may be okay, but something tells me it won't happen. I just can't even imagine why or how someone could do this to another human and children. I just can't. I guess I could only hope that this THING gets stuck in a dark, dirty cell for the rest of his pathetic life and that the guards allow random prisoners to come in and rape him every day.

*apologies if I offend anyone*

R.E.H. said...

Unsigned: There must have been a point in the past where they noticed that the guy was going nuts.

Not necessarily. There are numerous accounts of crazed maniacs who have been able to live a double life, and those close to them have had absolutely no idea. The likes of Ted Bundy comes to mind.

I do agree with you on the subway type incidents. People are much too concerned about their own safety.

Pookie Sixx: You certainly don't offend me (I said the same thing in comments here).

The thing is that even if these kids are taught to live in the society, the mental demons will never leave them. That is what breaks my heart.

Anonymous said...

i.am.sickened.
This is worse than anything I have ever heard about before.
I'd avoided clicking on the headlines, because I didn't want to know...(Thanks a lot, R.E.H.)
The greatest compassion that humans could ever bestow upon the victims will never be enough.
(Dear God in Heaven, please punish this despicably depraved "man" for eternity. Amen.)
I don't even know how to pray for the family involved.


Now go over to my blog and read something inspiring, or your thoughts of humankind will be dark all day long.

Tequila Mockingbird said...

it is indeed super-awful, for lack of a better phrasing. if you read the stories, the neighbors are shocked, cause they said he seemed like a normal dude. it just makes me wonder, how many other people are locked in a cellar. sighs. the things people are capable of never cease to astonish me.

R.E.H. said...

Kcinnova: I am sorry to force this disturbing story upon you. I totally agree - this is probably the most disturbing news story I've ever heard of.

I'll be over to read your inspirations later today.

Tequila Mockingbird: That's one of the things that scare the crap out of me. Any human being as crazy and evil as this man - if they can come across as normal... that is just completely terrifying to me!