PRIORITIES

Dutch Family Lived in Farmhouse Basement for Nine Years ‘Waiting for the End of Time’: Report

Upon escaping, one of the family members reportedly went to the local pub and ordered five beers.

A Dutch man turned up at a local pub, ordered five beers, drank them, and proceeded to tell the bar’s owner that he had escaped his family’s basement—where he’d been living for the past nine years. Bar owner Chris Westerbeek told public broadcaster RTV Drenthe that the man “had long hair, a dirty beard, wore old clothes and looked confused.” Once the mysterious patron had finished his beers, he revealed to the bar owner that “he had run away and needed help... then we called the police,” Westerbeek said. The man also told Westerbeek that “he’d never been to school and hadn’t been to the barber for nine years.” The family had reportedly been living in isolation in the basement of their secluded farmhouse waiting for the end of time.

“He said he had brothers and sisters who lived at the farm. He said he was the oldest and wanted to end the way they were living,” Westerbeek said of the man. According to reports, the 25-year-old escapee was living with his siblings, the youngest of which is 18, and a 58-year-old man who is neither their father nor the owner of the property. The farmhouse is located in the Dutch province Drenthe, in the small village of Ruinerwold, with a population of less than 3,000. When police arrived, they discovered a secret staircase leading to the basement behind a cupboard in the living room. Drenthe police said they “still have many unanswered questions.”