9 agonizing years in a basement waiting for the end of the world

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In the northeast of the Netherlands, on a remote farm near the village of Røinerwold in the province of Drenthe, police found six children aged 18 to 25 who were hiding in a basement with a 58-year-old man for at least 9 years, RTV Drenthe reports. The hermit family did not maintain any external contacts and lived at the expense of their own economy - they grew food in their garden and kept a goat, several geese and a dog.

They were able to rescue the prisoners thanks to beer. The eldest of the children, a 25-year-old Dutchman, ordered a beer from Røinerwold's bar on October 13, and then told his story. Visitors to the pub, after listening to the story of an unkempt man in old clothes, called the police. The law enforcement officers who arrived found out that the guest of the bar had not been on the street for at least 9 years, like his brothers and sisters, but he did not want such a life anymore.

As a result, a basement was discovered on the farm, leading to a staircase hidden behind a closet in the living room. Going down it, the police found six more people - five children and an adult 58-year-old man who had a stroke several years ago and was bedridden. The adult prisoner did not contact the police and was arrested.

The authorities are currently investigating what happened. The head of the village, Roger de Groote, said that the children did not have any documents and therefore were not known to any state authorities, neighbors claim that only one person lived on the farm and they did not know anything about other people. About whether the discovered man is the father of the children is not yet reliably known as it is not clear where their mother is.

Local resident Jans Keizer said that the territory of the farm was monitored by video cameras, the gates were constantly closed, and the only resident constantly used binoculars to observe the surroundings. At the same time, the man contacted other residents of Røinerwold twice - the first time, when he was greeted after his arrival with gifts that he received outside the gates of his farm, and the second time, when another neighbor asked him to calm down the dog barking at night.

Several times the police came to the mysterious house, but they were not allowed to enter the gate and the police did not influence the tenant in any way. According to the locals, the house was occupied by a visitor from Austria, but there is neither his name nor any other information about him.