Secrets in the Cellar: A True Story of the Austrian Incest Case that Shocked the World

John Glatt

Macmillan, Mar 3, 2009 - True Crime - 256 pages

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 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.
John Glatt's Secrets in the Cellar is the true story of a crime that shocked the world.

Contents

• PROLOGUE: 1
• CHAPTER 1 A Nazi Childhood: 9
• CHAPTER 2 Starting a Family: 16
• CHAPTER 3 If You Scream I Will Kill You: 21
• CHAPTER 4 Elisabeth: 31
• CHAPTER 5 The Pig Will Beat Us to Death One Day: 40
• CHAPTER 6 Escape: 48
• CHAPTER 7 Brief Encounter: 56
• CHAPTER 8 Taken: 61
• CHAPTER 9 His Second Wife: 69
• CHAPTER 10 Children of the Cellar: 77
• CHAPTER 11 The Foundlings: 83
• CHAPTER 12 Pillar of the Community: 93
• CHAPTER 13 A Double Life: 103
• CHAPTER 14 His Underground Kingdom: 111
• CHAPTER 15 Losing Control: 117
• CHAPTER 16 Into the Light: 126
• CHAPTER 17 Freedom: 132
• CHAPTER 18 A Reunion: 142
• CHAPTER 19 Its Beyond Comprehension: 154
• CHAPTER 20 Hey Satan Come Out and 160 Play: 160
• CHAPTER 21 The Devil Himself: 170
• CHAPTER 22 Under Siege: 177
• CHAPTER 23 I Could Have Killed Them All: 185
• CHAPTER 24 We the Whole Family: 196
• CHAPTER 25 Frankenstein: 204
• CHAPTER 26 Miracle: 216
• CHAPTER 27 A New Start: 223
• CHAPTER 28 Elisabeth Speaks: 231
• EPILOGUE: 243

About the author

English-born John Glatt is the author of Lost and Found, Playing with Fire, and many other bestselling books of true crime. He has more than 30 years of experience as an investigative journalist in England and America. Glatt left school at 16 and worked a variety of jobs-including tea boy and messenger-before joining a small weekly newspaper. He freelanced at several English newspapers, then in 1981 moved to New York, where he joined the staff for News Limited and freelanced for publications including Newsweek and the New York Post. His first book, a biography of Billy Graham, was published in 1981, and he published For I Have Sinned, his first book of true crime, in 1998. He has appeared on television and radio programs all over the world, including Dateline NBC, Fox News, A Current Affair, BBC World News, and A&E Biography. He and his wife Gail divide their time between New York City, the Catskill Mountains and London.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Secrets in the Cellar: A True Story of the Austrian Incest Case that Shocked the World; St. Martin's true crime library
• Author: John Glatt
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Macmillan, 2009
• ISBN: 1429967560, 9781429967563
• Length: 256 pages
• Subjects: True Crime / Abductions, Kidnappings & Missing Persons; True Crime / General; True Crime / Sexual Assault