This real life story is creepy, kind of like an episode of the X-Files without the blood and gore but creepy nonetheless.

A man in Austria was caught by the police and charged with locking his daughter in a dungeon underneath the house for 24 years. Yet this was just the tip of a horrific iceberg, as it was revealed that the woman was repeatedly raped by her father producing seven children.

The man, Josef, whose last name has not been revealed, was arrested by Austrian authorities in the town of Amstetten. He is charged with luring his daughter into a windowless basement or dungeon he had constructed underneath his home when she was 18. Elizabeth last saw daylight and freedom in 1984.

According to the Guardian, Josef’s wife and Elisabeth’s mother was unaware that their daughter was imprisoned down in the basement for 24 years. Apparently he had constructed a secret room of which the entrance was also hidden behind a secret door and accessible by code which allegedly only Josef knew. Josef had Elisabeth write a letter when she disappeared at 18, telling her family that she wished to be left alone, that they “should not search for her”.

Elizabeth’s Children

Elizabeth had seven children by her father. Incredibly three of the children were allowed to live upstairs after they were purportedly “left” at the home with accompanying paperwork stating that Elisabeth was the mother. Her father and mother raised them as foster or adopted children.

One child died after childbirth and three more were not allowed to escape the dungeon. The three children, ages 19, 18, and 5, were forced to remain below in the hidden rooms since birth, never to have seen sunlight. No word as to why Josef favored the other three who were between the ages of the three left below and were allowed to come “live” with Elisabeth’s parents.

The story took another strange twist when the oldest, a 19-year-old girl, became critically ill. Josef took her from the dungeon and left the unconscious girl on the doorstep claiming she had “just shown up”. The girl was taken to the hospital where she remains in critical condition. It was then that Josef allowed Elisabeth and the other two children to come out of their prison. Josef claimed that his daughter and her other two children had “returned” home.

Elisabeth stated that her father had begun abusing her at age 11. Curiously the authorities garnered a promise from Elisabeth that she would have no further contact with her father who is under arrest.

We suppose Josef’s dungeon scheme ended once he “allowed” the 19-year-old girl to be taken to the hospital. The girl was one of the three children who were forced to remain with their mother in the dungeon. Josef had to have known that once the girl retained consciousness it was a matter of time before the story of her life would emerge.

The Basement

We find it strains credulity to believe that Elisabeth’s mother was unaware of the secret room in the basement. We’d want to know how Josef was able to bring in adequate food and necessities for the daughter and three children locked away in the secret rooms. We also wonder if Josef was molesting any of the other children.

The authorities are offering counseling to Elisabeth and her children and her mother while Josef remains in custody.

For some reason the story of Elisabeth and Josef reminds us of the truly scary 1997 episode of the X-Files entitled “No Place Like Home”. “Mommy” wasn’t in the secret basement, she was under the bed.

By LBG
Source – The Guardian – Austrian Man hid daughter in cellar for 24 years
Image – Cellar

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