Woman Describes Eight Years as Slave

Natascha Kampusch is revealing the details of the eight years she was held prisoner in an underground bunker and forced to work as a “domestic slave” after she was kidnapped at age 10. The Austrian woman escaped in 2006 at age 18; her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil, committed suicide shortly thereafter. Kampusch said the man had a boring, conservative appearance, but, she writes, “It was only when you observed him for a longer period that you noticed the traces of madness lurking beneath his conservative exterior.” She was forced to shave her head and work half-naked, and her kidnapper beat her as much as 200 times a week. Priklopil played mind games with Kampusch, saying much worse people had ordered her kidnapping—people who would come and do terrible things to her if she didn’t behave—and that her parents wouldn’t pay ransom. Kampusch’s new autobiography is being serialized in the Daily Mail.