The Chilling Details of Elisabeth Fritzl Being Held Captive for 24 Years

The Downstairs Children

Elisabeth had one more child in 2002, Felix, who ended up staying in the basement his whole life because as Josef later revealed to investigators, his wife could not take on raising another child. Felix, his two older siblings, and Elisabeth lived day to day by the harsh artificial light of the basement, not really knowing when it was night or day. Elisabeth’s three children who stayed with her in the basement had no knowledge of what the outside world was like, although they had a television that would show them things they never thought they’d experience. What was life like for Josef Fritzl’s captives?

Life In The Labyrinth

By the time all of Elisabeth’s incest children were born, the basement had two bedrooms and one padded room where Josef would allegedly take Elisabeth to rape her. There was also a small bathroom, a fridge, and hot plates. Elisabeth taught her kids to read and write, while telling them stories of what she could remember from the outside world and watching movies with them on their television. Meanwhile, Elisabeth’s upstairs children lived comfortably with Rosemarie, who along with Josef, told neighbors and friends that Elisabeth left them as infants on their doorstep. For 24 years, nobody suspected a thing until finally, the eldest downstairs child, Kerstin, grew fatally ill.