Dutch Doomsday Family Found After Nine Years

On Sunday, October 13, a man walked into a bar in Ruinerwold, a small village in the Drenthe province in the Netherlands. The young man looked confused and told the bartender he hadn’t been to a barber in nine years, and that he wanted to end the way his family had been living. He is part of a Dutch family of seven that has been living in isolation for the past nine years. On Monday, October 14, Dutch police went to the farmhouse on the outskirts of town and found six people living in a small room within the house. There was a staircase hidden behind a cupboard in the living room that lead down to the basement where the family had been staying. Police later confirmed that the six young adults were siblings ranging from 18-25 years old. The family was completely isolated from the outside world, living off a small vegetable garden and some livestock on the farm. The children weren’t registered and had never been to school. On Thursday of the same week, a judge ordered the 58-year-old man who rented the farm to be detained for 14 days on suspicion of involvement in, “deprivation of liberty and harming the health of others.” The family allegedly spent nine years in the basement of the farmhouse waiting for the “end of time” and thought they were the only humans on the plant. The family was entirely self-sufficient, and neighbors believed only one man lived on the farm, as it sits back off the road behind a line of trees. The town is about 80 miles northeast of Amsterdam. The police have launched a full investigation and remain at the farm investigating the whole situation. The family is now in a safe place according to Mayor Roger de Groot. Police are continuing to investigate the situation and haven’t released much information about the case at this time.