I am Natascha Kampusch: how a girl spent 3096 days in a basement (9 photos)

The story of the girl who managed to escape from her kidnapper became known to the whole world in 2006. Kampusch lived in his basement for eight long years.





In March 1998, Natasha was 10 years old. She went to school in the morning and the day was supposed to be completely ordinary. Natasha was full of impressions from her trip to Hungary with her father on vacation (her parents were divorced and the girl spent time with them separately) and dreamed of telling her friends about her trip

Abduction



Loved into her thoughts, Natasha did not pay attention to the van that pulled up next to her, driven by 34-year-old Wolfgang Priklopil. He grabbed the girl, pushed her into the car, and from that moment on, the life of the ten-year-old girl changed forever: for eight years, Wolfgang kept Natasha in a soundproof basement with three doors. One of these doors weighed 150 kg.



Wolfgang Priklopil

Priklopil immediately told Natasha that she had no chance of being saved. The maniac convinced the girl that the windows and doors of the house were mined and that he would kill himself and Natasha as soon as she tried to escape.

Priklopil regularly beat Natasha and then took her photos. At the same time, the tormentor brought Kampusch books, giving her the opportunity to study. And after a couple of years, he even allowed the girl to walk in the garden and swim in the outdoor pool in the yard. Once Priklopil even took Natasha on a ski trip, but she didn't manage to escape.



The Vacuum Cleaner Liberator

Natasha will remember August 23, 2006, as her second birthday.

Priklopil ordered the captive to vacuum the car, and he himself hung around nearby, not letting Natasha out of sight. A sudden phone call distracted Wolfgang, and he went into the house so that the noise of the vacuum cleaner would not drown out the interlocutor. Natasha, not believing her luck, carefully put down the working vacuum cleaner, and rushed away, not looking where she was going, through the bushes and neighbors' fences - as far away from the hated basement as possible.



Natasha's room at Priklopil's

The girl in a panic started knocking on one of the houses and when they opened the door, she could only say "I am Natasha Kampusch." And asked to call the police.

Of course, they were looking for the girl almost all these years, there were very different versions. At first they assumed that Natasha could have drowned in the river on the way to school. It was also assumed that Kampusch had been kidnapped by a gang filming child pornography.

The captive was searched for in Hungary and Austria, but to no avail and there was practically no hope of finding her alive.

Kampusch's sudden appearance on the doorstep of an ordinary house became a huge sensation. Her identity was quickly confirmed thanks to a childhood scar and a DNA test.

The police did not have time to catch Priklopil... Realizing that his captive had escaped, Wolfgang went to the North Station in Vienna and threw himself under a train there.

Freedom?



Natasha became a real star in just a few days. She was invited to television, endlessly dragged along to interviews - everyone wanted to know exactly how the girl lived in the hell of Priklopil's basement.

And soon many began talking about Kampusch's Stockholm syndrome, that, supposedly, she began to sympathize and sympathize with Wolfgang. The police said that when Kampusch learned of the death of her kidnapper, she burst into tears, and when talking about her imprisonment, she noted that, thanks to Priklopil, she did not start smoking or end up in bad company.

Journalists did not stand aside and began to write articles about how Natasha was mistreated at home and that her mother almost helped Wolfgang kidnap her own daughter.

In 2010, Natasha could not stand it any longer and wrote a book called "3096 Days".

What happened after



After her release, Kampusch became famous and in 2008 she had her own talk show on Austrian TV, although not for long.

10 years after her release, Kampusch published another book. Now it was dedicated to cyberbullying, which, as you might guess, Natasha got in full, because she, like many victims of violence, began to be blamed for what happened.

By the way, in 2013, Natasha's father, Ludwig Koch, also published his own book. There, he spoke very critically about the biggest tragedy in his daughter's life, which simply horrified her. Natasha is still in therapy, which is not surprising, and she was able to pull herself together, starting each day with a smile. However, according to Kampusch, she is unlikely to ever decide to get married and have children, she still finds it difficult to trust people.

Consequences



Natasha Kampusch struggled with social phobia for a long time. It was so severe that she had to seriously overcome her fear of going outside. Traveling on public transport was also a challenge for her - the Austrian people treated her differently, and once Natasha was even attacked.

But this fear was overcome and Natasha began to dream of seeing the whole world. So many years have passed since her release, but the girl says that she is only just beginning a normal life.

"Now is just the beginning of the stage when I am really trying to take my life into my own hands and develop."



She speaks laconically about her tormentor:

"It would be better if he stayed alive, so that he would have to justify himself, and not me."