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    Secrets in the Cellar: The True Story of the Austrian Incest Case That Shocked the World
    Secrets in the Cellar: The True Story of the Austrian Incest Case That Shocked the World
    Secrets in the Cellar: The True Story of the Austrian Incest Case That Shocked the World
    Audiobook7 hours

    Secrets in the Cellar: The True Story of the Austrian Incest Case That Shocked the World

    Written by John Glatt

    Narrated by Gildart Jackson

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Josef Fritzl was a 73-year-old retired engineer in Austria. He seemed to be living a normal life with his wife, Rosemarie, and their family-though one daughter, Elisabeth, had decades earlier been "lost" to a religious cult. Throughout the years, three of Elisabeth's children mysteriously appeared on the Fritzls' doorstep; Josef and Rosemarie raised them as their own. But only Josef knew the truth about Elisabeth's disappearance . . .

    For twenty-seven years, Josef had imprisoned and molested Elisabeth in his man-made basement dungeon, complete with soundproof paneling and code-protected electric locks. There, she would eventually give birth to a total of seven of Josef's children. One died in infancy-and the other three were raised alongside Elisabeth, never to see the light of day.

    Then, in 2008, one of Elisabeth's children became seriously ill and was taken to the hospital. It was the first time the nineteen-year-old girl had ever gone outside-and soon, the truth about her background, her family's captivity, and Josef's unspeakable crimes would come to light.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJul 8, 2013
    ISBN9781452684628
    Secrets in the Cellar: The True Story of the Austrian Incest Case That Shocked the World
    Author

    John Glatt

    English-born JOHN GLATT is the author of more than thirty books including The Lost Girls and My Sweet Angel, and has over thirty years of experience as an investigative journalist in England and America. He has appeared on television and radio programs all over the world, including Dateline NBC, Fox News, ABC’s 20/20, BBC World News, and A&E Biography.

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    Reviews for Secrets in the Cellar

    4/5

    193 ratings14 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This case has always perplexed me since it first broke out. I listen to a handful of true crime podcasts and not one has done a deep enough dive on this case for my "liking". I was always left with more questions than answers, but after reading this book, it helped answer a lot of them. It just blows me away that something like this happened and my heart aches for Elisabeth and her children and Rosemary. It doesn't matter how much time I spend trying to understand the human mind when it comes to rape, murder, and overall crime. I will never understand it.
    • 5/5
      This was a great book. It really draws you into the storyline.
    • 4/5
      An excellent listen, the narrator was mostly easy to listen to, only a little grating when quoting women. The writing was also overall good and easily understood, never once did I feel like I had a hard time following along. Only issue I really had is sometimes the writing didn't land and felt a little cringy but not enough to stop listening. Definitely give it a listen or read if the case interests you.
    • 3/5
      Let me start by saying that the software for posting these reviews is terrible in that it only allows the writer to see six words at a time. Huge typos are easy to miss when you have to scroll horizontally 6 words at a time so please Overlook those. I don't know where these extra capital letters come in either. Regardless: This is a detailed look behind the scenes from a sympathetic third person view point. However, it doesn't really give any insight as to what it would feel like to live that situation or what was going on in the mind of the heroic Survivor. Essentially it's like reading a long newspaper article fleshed-out into book-length. There is a lot of sympathetic detail, but all in the third person and clearly from someone who wasn't on-the-ground with the family day by day at any point. Sadly, many of those details don't contribute to the story or our understanding of the behaviors or inner thought processes of any one involved. I would have been very interested to learn how the one child who woke from a coma experienced her first days outside the dungeon when she had never seen sunlight or other people or any of the equipment around her ever before. But instead we are treated to a lengthy discussion of how fond she became of a popstar she saw on TV while still on bed rest. For another example, the entire wording of a song a former schoolmate wrote for Elisabet after she was released and blow-by-blow descriptions of bad media Behaviors. There is also some speculation about exactly what was wrong with the perpetrator, but it's a mishmash of psychodynamic Theory with a little artistic musing by the practitioner. He admitted that without full access to the perpetrator it is impossible to make a complete or accurate diagnosis with certainty. Some stretches are pretty dry reading.
    • 5/5
      Josef fritzl story it's just amazing. How shocking and how well explained. If you like child abuse stories and other kind of abuse stories, you will really like this one. I saw the documentary right after and it was just like the book itself. I am appalled by this story.
    • 5/5
      Very thorough and detailed with suggested explanations of Fritzl’s terrifying behaviour. Would strongly recommend this true crime account of such innocent victims . The narrator is very precise and clear which is yet another star for this book. It is hard to comprehend the psyche behind such behaviour to your child. Please take the time to listen to this story. You will never forget it.
    • 4/5
      In 1984 in Austria, Josef Fritzl (who had already been raping his middle daughter, Elisabeth, since she was 11-years old), imprisoned her (now 18) in a dungeon under his house that no one knew existed. He had spent six years building it. He kept her there for 24 years, and fathered seven children with her (he already had seven with his wife – Elisabeth being the middle/4th one). This book does look at all the abuses toward his daughter that just went on and on. Not only that, but previous to all this, he had a history of sexual crimes, only one of which he was convicted and went to jail for. His wife knew nothing about what had happened to Elisabeth – he told everyone she had run away (which would have been no surprise, as she had run away a couple of times previous) to join a religious cult. He took three of the children upstairs to raise them with his wife as adopted/foster children, so he could get the money for them. So, three of the children were raised in the “real world” upstairs, while three others in the dungeon, never seeing sunlight, and rife with all kinds of health issues (the 7th child only lived a few days before dying when Josef refused to get him medical help). What a monster! Omg, don’t read this if you are at all queasy. I don’t know if I remember this case. She got out with her kids in 2008, only a couple of years after Natasha Kampusch (and I do remember that one). Maybe I don’t remember as much because the entire family ended up changing their names/identities so they could try to get some peace and try to heal. Elisabeth and her children got out of the dungeon in 2008 and the book was published in 2009. The book still managed to get in much of the aftermath, though I did look up more (the trial and to see how Elisabeth and her kids were doing after the end of the book). There is some repetition in the book, but it was well-researched.
    • 3/5
      Yes this was indeed a very quick read. I finished it last night so read it in 2 days and it was interesting but there are way too many questions left. Come on. we all want to know more about how the family is doing now. Does Elisabeth still not speak with Rosemary? How are the children doing? but you do not get any answers. i guess we have to wait to see if anyone of them will write a memoir.

      I liked the book but I thought it was some what repetitive and most I already knew from the news papers. (and I hardly read the news!)

      I read that someone said he was called insane but on wikipedia I read this:

      "Fritzl's attorney, Rudolf Mayer, confirmed that a disguised Elisabeth sat in the visitors' gallery during the second day of proceedings, at the time her video testimony was aired. "Josef Fritzl recognised that Elisabeth was in court and, from this point on, you could see Josef Fritzl going pale and he broke down," Mayer said. "It was a meeting of eyes that changed his mind." The next day, Fritzl began the proceedings by approaching the judge and changing his pleas to guilty on all charges.

      On 19 March 2009, Fritzl was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 15 years. He said that he accepted the sentence and would not appeal"
    • 4/5
      SynopsisJosef Fritzl was a 73-year-old retired engineer in Austria. He seemed to be living a normal life withhis wife, Rosemarie, and their family—though one daughter, Elisabeth, had decades earlier been “lost” to a religious cult. Throughout the years, three of Elisabeth’s children mysteriously appeared on the Fritzls’ doorstep; Josef and Rosemarie raised them as their own. But only Josef knew the truth about Elisabeth’s disappearance…For twenty-seven years, Josef had imprisoned and molested Elisabeth in his man-made basement dungeon, complete with sound-proof paneling and code-protected electric locks. There, she would eventually give birth to a total of seven of Josef’s children. One died in infancy—and the other three were raised alongside Elisabeth, never to see the light of day.Then, in 2008, one of Elisabeth’s children became seriously ill, and was taken to the hospital. It was the first time the nineteen-year-old girl had ever gone outside—and soon, the truth about her background, her family’s captivity, and Josef’s unspeakable crimes would come to light.ReviewI can across this book and couldn’t resist it. Most of us like to dive into the word of the criminals out there, I am one included in that, just to see what has caused them to make the decisions they have. This is not a story for the faint of heart, there is much violent sexual abuse of Elisabeth from a young child until she bore her fathers 7th child in his dungeon, in his cellar. It really is hard to imagine everything that went on.I was most intrigued with the story after Elisabeth is free and she is reunited with her other children, mother. Learning to live life again with being able to see the sun, moon and stars. It really sent chills down my spine recounting the three children who grew up in the cellar, never seeing sunlight or breathing fresh air and how they reacted the first time they did!Such an amazing story of lies, deceit, horrible violent sexual rages and how Josef could live with himself and how he can just explain it all away. I wish there was more to be known about how Elisabeth and her family are doing now but I know they have new identities to protect them so they can live freely.I highly recommend this book if you are a reader of True Crime, it was superbly written by John Glatt. It does tell of Josef’s sexual escapades with his daughter and other women and so if that bothers you, I would not read it.
    • 4/5
      This book isn't for the faint of heart. Josef Friztl grew up with a domineering single mother during WW II in Austria - not far from a death camp and just down the street from a "clinic" that committed war autrocities. Even with this backdrop to his childhood, it is no excuse for the horrors he inflicted on his family and others. Convicted of rape in the late 60s, he served only 18 months before being released and after 15 years, his record was expunged. In public he became a model citizen, but behind closed doors he was a monster. Although his friends knew of his sexual appetite in Thailand, they never looked closer at what may be happening at home. The local prostitutes refused to service him, but never went to authorities about his devient behavior - letting this monster imprison his daughter in a cellar dungeon for 24 years and fathering her 7 children. The book is mortifying to say the least and Glatt is pretty straight forward in his recounting of the story. He doesn't go into detail about the attacks, or Friztl's perversions. I did find that he repeated himself at times - sometimes within pages. I'm not sure why these repetitions weren't taken out during the editting. They weren't necessary to move the story forward nor were they key points. Although the story was horrifying by it's very nature, I, personally wanted more detail - more humaness to make me hate him more. The book went to print before any final conclusion has been reached - I hope that Fritzl gets his just punishment - but this book won't tell you if he does, unless Glatt puts an addendum on it.
    • 4/5
      Although I found this book to be an interesting account of a horrible crime, I didn't find it fascinating. The author tended to repeat the same facts over and over again; that said, the book is probably about as detailed as we'll find when it comes to the case. Sometimes I found it a little too detailed for my tastes, and I came away feeling like a voyeur of sorts.
    • 4/5
      It amazes me that people have children and can do such horrid things to them. And I am humbled when I read of the childrens courage and hope when faced with the lives they are forced to live. This book is a very gripping look at a child that endured so much pain and sorrow that I'm not sure I can even wrapped my thoughts around how she didn't give up on life. While I agree with other reviews there were many parts that were stale and repetitive it was still worth the read.
    • 3/5
      author repeats the same facts over and over. we get it, get on with the story
    • 2/5
      Parts of this book were interesting, but there was too much background and other information, in my opinion. I skimmed through a lot of parts of this book that weren't interesting to me. I think it would have been much more interesting to read a shorter version of this story, perhaps the length of a magazine article.