- A 58-year-old man and his six young adult children were discovered by police in a basement below a remote farmhouse in the Netherlands, where they had been living in isolation for years.
- They family was waiting for the end of time and had no contact with the outside world.
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A 58-year-old man and his six young adult children — who ranged in age from 16 to 25 — were discovered by police in the Netherlands after spending years in a basement beneath a remote farmhouse waiting for the world to end and with no contact to the outside world.
The family was found after the oldest son ran away and, at a bar in the nearby village of Ruinerwold — which has a population of less than 3,000 — said he needed help, according to broadcaster RTV. He added he hadn't been outside for nine years.
"He had long hair, a dirty beard, wore old clothes and looked confused," bar owner Chris Westerbeek told RTV. "He said he'd never been to school and hadn't been to the barber for nine years."
After contacting authorities, officers visited the farmhouse in search of the rest of the man's family. They found a hidden staircase behind a cupboard in the living room, which took them to a basement where the family was living, according to BBC News. The father was bed-ridden and some local reports suggest he may have had a stroke.
Police in Drenthe confirmed to BBC that the man was arrested and under investigation after refusing to cooperate.
DutchNews.NL, which provides Dutch news in English, reported that, during that time, the children had no contact with the outside world and were completely self-sufficient due to a vegetable garden at the property and animals. They had no idea there were other people in the world.
Neighbors told local media they thought the man lived alone at the farm, and they didn't know of the family. The village's postman said he had never posted a letter there, BBC News reported.
"We still have many unanswered questions," police wrote in a tweet about the situation.
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