Girl in the Cellar: The Natascha Kampusch Story – A Shocking Report on Abduction, Captivity, and Survival

by Allan Hall, Michael Leidig

Eight years of darkness

On March 2, 1998, while on her way to school, ten-year-old Natascha Kampusch was abducted. More than eight years later, on August 23, 2006, she escaped with a story that shocked and horrified the entire world. She spent the most delicate years of her life hidden in a cellar underneath an ordinary Austrian suburban home. How was she able to survive? What sort of woman had emerged? What kind of man was Wolfgang Priklopil, her abductor—and what demands had he made of her?

Journalists Allan Hall and Michael Leidig covered Natascha's story from the beginning. The result of extraordinary investigative reporting, Girl in the Cellar gets to the heart of this very tragic case to reveal a truth no one would have imagined.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Biography, Crime, Mystery, History, Autobiography

308 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/...
Reporter for UK Daily Mail and tabloids on crime, paranormal, history, and the unexplained.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/searc...
Freelancer: Daily Mail, Daily Star, Daily Express, Observer, Daily Mirror, Daily Record, The Scotsman, The Age, Melbourne, Sunday Times, The Times, Daily and Sunday Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, Sunday People, Sunday Mirror, Sunday Express, Evening Standard, London, Daily Sport.
http://journalisted.com/allan-hall
When based in Berlin worked for: Daily Mail - London, the Age - Melbourne,
Australia, the Scotsman - Edinburgh, New York Post NY. Formerly bureau chief for Britain’s biggest-selling papers – the Sun, then the Daily Mirror – NY.
http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk...
NOT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_H... 1929-2001 wine
http://www.allanhall.com/bio.html musician Selah

Reviews

[Shahrun · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book rather odd. I think that is because it was written and published very early, after Natascha's freedom and without her direct imput. It is also very repetative (I think to make the book long enough to publish). The authors used the same direct quotes to make the same point in various places in the book.

But it did provide me with a little more information than I knew, from hearing of the story on the news. It also made me very angry about the mistakes made in the search and police investigation. There were leads that had the poilce followed up on would have narrowed their search right down and most likly have ended her ordeal much earlier!

I am also very curious about exactly what went on during her captivity. The book hints that others may have been involved. Natascha aparently said that they went somewhere on the way to his house on the day she was knidnapped. And the supposed S&M angle. Bizare

And I can't believe that they were seen together, in public, towards the end, went skiing, shopping and stuff!

So after reading this book I did a quick search and very worringly found that Natascha's case is not so unique afterall. There are other cases of even longer captivity, serious sexual abuse and multiple births as a result! It makes me scared for all those who must still be captive.

Natascha has written a book of her ordeal. I would be interested to see what she has to say.

[Vichta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Natascha Kampusch miała dziesięć lat, kiedy została porwana w drodze do szkoły przez Wolfganga Priklopila. Więził ją w piwnicy przez ponad osiem lat, aż w końcu pewnego dnia, wykorzystując to, że nie domknął bramy, dziewczyna uciekła i powiadomiła policję. Nim go znaleziono, rzucił się pod pociąg i popełnił samobójstwo. Historia powszechnie znana, szczególnie w Austrii.
Książka dość dobrze opisuje nie tylko sam okres uwięzienia, ale także relacje dziewczynki z rodzicami, to co działo się tuż przed porwaniem, a szczególnie czas po ucieczce. Są też szczegóły jak powstał dźwiękoszczelny bunkier pod garażem Wolfiego.
W poszukiwania zaangażowanych było tysiące funkcjonariuszy, a zespoły wymieniały się co kilka lat. Próbowali też pomóc jasnowidze, psycholodzy i wolontariusze. Okazuje się jednak, że policja popełniła wiele błędów. Np. nie przesłuchano dokładnie podejrzanych, nie przeszukano ich domów, nie stworzono portretu psychologicznego. A sprawca był cały czas tuż pod nosem.
Co szczególnie zwróciło chyba nie tylko moją uwagę, to że Natascha po przywitaniu się z rodzicami, nie chciała spędzić z nimi zbyt wiele czasu, tylko poświęciła mnóstwo uwagi mediom. Udzielała wywiadów, podpisywała umowy prawne, nawet zaangażowała się z tworzenie filmu. No, ale nie jestem w jej butach, żeby osądzać.

[Read by Coco ✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Natascha endured over eight years of captivity, and while there is some disagreement about what actually happened in the house, her story still deserves to be told in a well formed and respectful manner, which this author didn't do at all. While the author didnt victim blame, they almost seemed to in a way idolise, or glamorise the captor. Honestly, it felt kinda uncomfortable.

I also have another bone to pick with this story. In Wolfgang's (the captor) backstory, Borderline Personality Disorder is brought up as maybe a reason why he felt the need to kidnap and imprison a child. Let me just be clear, HE WAS NEVER DIAGNOSED WITH BPD, so WHY is this author speculating that this (now dead) man has BDP and that it could be the reason he did this horrific thing. Why is BPD even being talked about or mentioned at all? This just further's the stigma that BPD sufferers are all crazy dangerous lunatics and should be feared. I have BPD, and we are not. I hate it when the disorder is brought up just for the sake of really driving home that "this person was crazy". It's shitty journalism, shitty writing, and just plain shitty.

Without the BPD thing i'd probably give it 2 stars because it was badly written, but the story is interesting. But with the BPD thing, i'm giving it 1 star. Because come on dude, theres no need for that. It's super offensive and hurtful to the people who actually have the disorder (WHICH THIS EVIL DUDE WASN'T DIAGNOSED WITH AT ALL).

So yeah... Maybe give this one a miss.
🌟

[Noella · Rating 3 out of 5]

In het Nederlands gelezen toen de zaak actueel was. Aangrijpend.

[♥ Marlene♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay I did not know much at all about this story. Only that the victim is accused of loving to be the centre of attention in the media.
Did not know what happened, only that she was abducted.
Well this book did tell me a little bit. How she was kidnapped, how long she was there, but I find this all so weird.
Her behavior so crazy. I decided to search the Internet get to understand her, and afterwards I think the writers did explain her pretty good.
So weird, why did she lie about some stuff? Why did she not want to be with her parents after she finally had regained her parents. She seems to be a control freak and surrounds herself with people who oblige her every wish. Interesting book but this was all the authors could do because Natascha does not want to say anything negative about her abductor. it seems she cares more about the mother of her kidnapper, someone she never met then her own parents.

I finished reading this last night Saturday May 24-2008
7.5

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this is obviously a super heartbreaking, tragic thing to happen to someone and I may get nailed to the cross for this, but Natasha is also infuriating. I 100% understand that she was groomed, she was manipulated, she was abused and that will fuck up someone’s mind, but god damn. I mean….I guess get your money girl, but the whole being more concerned with signing deals and making money than healing the trauma is fucking weird.

The dude is a monster.

Overall, the book itself was just okay. It was basically a series of interviews and as has been stated the whole thing is really repetitive.

[Summer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of people know this story. It's so disturbing you just can't wrap your brains around it. The only thing that bothered me with this book is, that it wasn't wrote from a victim's perspective.

[Casondra Mackeller-Stille · Rating 2 out of 5]

I HATED the writing in this. Took me too long to get through as I had to really thibk about what the author was saying about certain things. A little Juvenile with the writing!

[Donna Stroo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wel interessant alleen het verhaal liep heel erg door elkaar heen en er werden steeds weer dezelfde dingen verteld

[April Barber · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was dreadful and boring. The story on it's own was really interesting. That it is a true story makes it sad for the person involved. The way it was put into this book just didn't do it justice though.

The book did not seem thoroughly researched, or very detailed with solid facts. It feels like a school paper, where the student pretty much just copy/pasted things they found online. Then, because it needed to be longer, they restated some of the things, in a different order and said by different people at different times. There seemed to be a lot of repeating. It is very journalistic writing, almost like you are reading a magazine article or a newspaper. A boring magazine or a boring, not well known paper.

I like reading current affairs/true crime stories, but this just didn't work for me.

You would be better off searching online about this story instead of picking up this book.

[Ummu Auni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this while in Manchaster. It intrigued me, plus the cheap price too. I'd been fascinated with the Natascha's story. Her ordeal is extraordinary, for someone who had been trapped underground for 8 years, she displays amazing extraordinary will and strength.

The write up does not focus on Natascha's ordeal in the cellar, but rather from newspapers, interviews with relevant personnel and her families. It's looking at two-sided coin. It's indeed quite difficult to pinpoint whether Natascha wanted only fame after she escaped from the cellar. But, from someone who had gone through as much as she is, it maybe extra difficult to cope with normal life. I pitied her, she had been brainwashed by her abductor saying that if she attempted to run away from him, he would do this this this. As much as I read the story from beginning to end, I still think that Natascha was indeed a victim.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast, intriguing read. As an "instant paperback" it necessarily skims over the top of this amazing story, but it covers the bases and leaves you wanting to know much, much more, even as the authors ask the public to leave poor Natascha alone, already. A great warm-up to my future reading of Natascha's own "3,096 Days."

[Sami · Rating 1 out of 5]

Felt like a lot of victim blaming. Like Natascha had a choice to leave the whole time.
She was held captive, she wasn't given the option of leaving. Then acting like she had sympathy for the creep, she had to adapt to her environment to survive for as long as she did with him.

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring story told in a series of quotes. Not worth a full read.

[Chloe Hynes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book 6 of 2020: “Girl in the Cellar”- Allan Hall and Michael Leidig. Before reading this book I didn’t really know much about what happened to Natasha Kampusch all I knew was that she was held captive in a cellar and escaped and that the public portrayed her as an attention seeker. This book was very factual and very informative and I learnt quite a lot about the Natasha Kampusch case like the fact that Natasha was seen in public with her kidnapper and nobody recognised her. In my opinion, Natasha is quite a strange character I understand that she went through a very disturbing and horrible experience and had Stockholm syndrome but I still find it very strange that she lied about what happened in the cellar and wouldn’t tell the police what actually happened to her as she wanted to protect Wolfgang’s mother. This book is written without Natasha’s input and is very repetitive. The repetition makes it quite boring in parts. This book has left me with so many unanswered questions and I’d love to read what Natasha has to say about her experience. This book has also left me feeling disturbed and sick at the fact that something so terrible can happen in broad daylight. I’d give this book 2⭐️

[Lupurk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un libro molto interessante. Ammetto che non avevo mai sentito nulla di questa storia, benché sia recentissima e non abbia nemmeno la scusa dell'"ero piccola", ma mi era proprio sfuggita.
Il punto di vista dei due giornalisti è il più obiettivo possibile e tenta di mostrare (a mio avviso riuscendo benissimo nell'intento) come sia difficile giudicare da una parte il rapporto che si era instaurato tra la ragazza e il suo carceriere durante tutti quegli anni e dall'altra l'atteggiameno di Natascha nei confronti dei media e di chi la circonda ora che è uscita dall'incubo.
Per altri commenti:
bookcrossing.com/journal/5337438

[Debora · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book written as if multitude of newspaper articles were formed into a book. Very little information directly from the abducted girl. I knew nothing of her story so it was informative- and she escaped captivity on her own. I admire her stance to take charge of her life & she controls what she choose to share/ not share of her life in captivity. She was abducted in 1998 at 10 yrs of age, escaped 2006 @ 18 yrs of age. This Book published 2007…I’m interested to know how she is managing after all these years.

[Soňa Hromadová · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kniha, kterou jsem si chtěla dlouhou dobu přečíst, byla lehkým zklamáním. Očekávala jsem senzaci? Ano. Dočkala jsem se jí? Ne. V knize je uvedeno obrovské množství informací, některé jsou v knize uvedeny i 3x, a to doslova. Očekávala jsem detailnější příběhovou část. Nicméně na konci knihy mám z Nataši spíše negativní pocit i přesto, že si ani neumím představit, co prožila a jak tohle zvládla.
Dočteno spíše ze zdvorilosti a pro fajfku read ✔️

[Janice · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover blurb said shocking...explosive and I will grant her experience was but the book was not. I did not enjoy the writing style. It was dry, occasionally repetitive and the authors inserted their voice and perspective far too often, making judgements that seemed unwarranted. I really did not enjoy the read.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

VERY interesting and a great topic for discussion. 4 stars only because it was rather repetitive at times. It’s a story that leaves SO many unanswered questions. Both about the victim and her abductor. Questions we’ll probably never have the answers to. Fascinating story.

[Keybo Taheri · Rating 2 out of 5]

As other reviewers have mentioned the book is a bit repetitive. There is a lot of speculation about what could have happened. For a true crime novel it is worth a read however there are better books out there. I gave it two star and read it in the period of a couple of weeks.

[Barbara Clifford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is ok but would have liked more info on the case and not speculation.

[Alexis Cerwinske · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it a lot. Left me with a lot of questions and my mind wondering and wanting more. Grammar was a little difficult and the German names tripped me up but overall a good read!

[Faj · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entah terjemahannya yang buruk atau memang isi buku aslinya yang berantakan. Perpindahan sudut pandang dalam dialognya sangat rancu.

[Maree Rexroad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rambling, Didn’t Translate Well

I had a hard time following it. I think it was the translation. I didn’t make it past the first chapter.

[Carol Grihault · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good tead

[Marth Vrolix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het was een heel interessant boek! Het was wel moeilijk om te volgen soms omdat er veel duitse woorden in kwamen.

[Sharona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Waargebeurd verhaal , heel indrukwekkend wat een 12 jarig meisje wel niet heeft mee gemaakt in de kelder. Na 8 jaar eindelijk ontsnapt uit de kelder.

Ik raad dit boek zeker aan je leest het zo weg aangezien je in het verhaal blijft hangen.

[Ape · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up for "light" reading for kind of current affairs/true crime reading. I just feel sometimes that I should know more about what's going on in the world than I do. And this book certainly helps with that. It will tell you one thing, then repeat it several times throughout the rest of the book to make sure that you have remembered it! I'm sure that's not the reason why they've done it like that; it'll have more to do with the fact that they needed to bump this up to a book-length piece of writing, and also because of the style of writing it is. It's very journalistic writing, like you're reading a paper, nearing the tabloid style of writing. They say it's an impartial representation of the facts, but then you get these inserts repeated here there and everywhere about this innocent young girl who didn't know it was to be her last day of freedom, the last of an innocent childhood, whilst the evil man sat in his van with his demonic plans that he had been plotting for years. It was to be the beginning of his dream and the start of her nightmare.... ok, I'm not quoting directly from the book, but it does have moments when it goes into that mindset. The front cover is very manipulative as well. It's obviously aiming for that bookshelf in popular booksellers - true life stories of abused children, poverty childhoods etc etc

I certainly have a better understanding of the case and what happened, although there's a lot of gaps. I don't even know whether her own book would fill everything. Her business when she is released - all the media and the organising, the refussal to talk about certain things because it's private and irrelevant, and anyway, lets make plans for a charity to support battered women... it all screams that she's avoiding the issue and distracting herself from something awful that she can't even bare to think about. I suppose with something like this, where the criminal committed suicide, and you only have a messed up victim left, you're never going to get a completely impartial and total account of events. For starters, we'll never know what was going on in his head. She's been raised by one nasty man and contact with the media through tv and radio - I don't know where you'd begin trying to get your mind back together and trying to live a "normal" life after all of that. But apparently it can be done. They mention a Russian girl who was also kidnapped and locked up by a sadist for four years, and she's since moved on.

With all the criticism about the media, Natascha needing to step away from it all and get her life etc etc, this book is actually just a part of that as well. And I suppose we are too for having read it!

And the really sad part is that this isn't an isolated case. Lots of people get kidnapped and their lives taken away from that as if they're nothing more than livestock. And since Natascha's case there's been the Fritzels, which was, if you can imagine it, even worse. It's horrible what people think they have the right to do to other people.

[Suspense Magazine · Rating 3 out of 5]

As if carefully plotted by a master storyteller, picture the scene: its early morning and an innocent young girl is making her way to school. Maybe her backpack is slipping from the weight of her schoolbooks as she heads unenthusiastically towards her destination. She’s already focused on her day ahead and only momentarily distracted by the sight of an indistinct white van with a single occupant up ahead. It is close to the entrance of her school so she ignores that nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach, which urges her to cross the street, and carries on with her original path, straight into the arms of her abductor.

Regrettably, this chilling storyline did not develop from the vivid imagination of a great writer, but is all too true and was systematically carried out by a modern day monster. “Girl in the Cellar” is the detailed account of the incomprehensible case of Natascha Kampusch. The ten-year-old girl who was stolen from the streets as she made her way to school in March of 1998.

Not your typical true crime novel, “Girl in the Cellar” chronicles the myriad of missteps made by authorities during the almost decade long search for Natascha. If this horrifying situation had been a piece of fiction, the errors of judgment and sloppy police work would be almost comical. Only this wasn’t fiction and the mistakes had very real consequences as Natascha spent her formative years locked in a one room dungeon.

After the abduction, the natural course of life began to take hold and the worldwide media frenzy slowly died down on this subject. Only a few held the slim hope of Natascha’s safe return while others prepared for a different form of closure. No one could foresee what was to happen on August 23, 2006 when a waif of a woman, skin and hair dull from lack of sunlight and nutrients arrived at the police station stating that she was indeed eighteen-year-old Natascha Kampusch.

Though Hall and Leidig were unable to meet with Natascha face to face, this astonishing account is filled with intimate interviews with her family, authorities and those who had contact with the very real monster, Wolfgang Priklopil. While he took the coward’s way out—committing suicide upon her escape—questions to this day remain unanswered as Natasha, now quick tempered and with an understandably stunted maturity level, refuses to discuss many aspects of their relationship. As readers slide through the pages, Hall and Leidig successfully manage to return Natasha to her rightful position of innocent victim.