"Girl Found in Cellar" Story Gets Curious...

by **Gouda** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 1:20 pm

I would not assume she could not have written it that well. Anyway, update. Her first interviews are public now: <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/06/austria.kidnap.ap/index.html">edition.cnn.com/2006/WORL...index.html</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Face of girl held 8 years revealed VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- The young Austrian woman imprisoned for 8 1/2 years in an underground cell "thought only of escape" during her entire ordeal, and once tried to jump out of her captor's car, she told a magazine and a newspaper in interviews published Wednesday ... The magazine said it interviewed Kampusch at Vienna's General Hospital, where a cardiologist examined her for possible heart trouble. She said she had suffered throughout her captivity from heart palpitations that at times made her dizzy and rendered her memory of some events "fuzzy."<hr></blockquote>

by **isachar** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 1:29 pm

What drugs might he have been giving her that could have caused these symptoms?

by **Gouda** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 1:29 pm

The "fuzzy" bit is worrisome. Why did they make a point to include that in the story? Also worrying, from her previous statement: Many people are taking care of me. Give me some time until I can tell the story myself.

by **Bismillah** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 1:36 pm

The German newspapers are reporting that she is going to be interviewed on Austrian TV tonight.

by **Et in Arcadia ego** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 2:04 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>To me, it looks like this young woman is being counseled to keep the media away. <hr></blockquote> These words of hers above are incredibly professional and adult for someone that's been tucked in a basement for 8(?) years, with only a single person to speak to and television to provide an eductation..And the literary skill in what she said is a profound contrast to how most people her age speak and write even without an interupted schooling. Just like Karr, she comes across as a professional victim/captive. And the Gosch photos surfacing over here.. WTF is going on, because SOMETHING is going on here.. ____________________ Some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night.

by **Ouish** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:28 pm

I don't find Natascha Kampusch's statement unbelievable myself. It sounds very awkward and bookish to me, just what you would expect from a girl raised in social isolation but with access to books (such as the one on knitting) and (European-style) television. Professional writing is much more influenced by how people talk.

by **Avalon** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:07 pm

I've worked with younger teens teaching some writing skills in the past couple of years, and both my daughters have been involved with high school literary publications. I've kept abreast of the writing skills of the top 18 year olds at our school, most of whom come from families where the parents are articulate, committed, and able to be there for their kids. Some of them are heading to Ivy League schools. My assessment is that even if she's got the inherent talent, under the circumstances and so close to her liberation from her dungeon it would be very unlikely for her to have produced that on her own. It just doesn't ring at all true to me.

by **Gouda** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:56 pm

Transcript: Natascha Kampusch TV interview ... Natascha Kampusch has given her first TV interview, which was shown on Austrian national television tonight. During the interview Natascha smiles a lot and went from being quite relaxed and happy to tenser, when questioned about Priklopil, and back to relaxed and joking. Because of the bright lights and her sensitive eyes she spends a lot of time with her eyes shut. There is something strange about the way she talks, difficult to put your finger on, but she speaks almost with the exaggerated care of a deaf person, though she is obviously articulate. Throughout the interview she looks over at her advisers often for advice or the right word. Before the interview started the presenter, Christoph Feurstein said he wanted to make three things clear. 1. The interview was made with the agreement of Natascha’s doctors. 2. Her psychiatrist and media advisor were present 3. She had a major cold and her eyes are still sore. The interview started with Natascha being asked who she trusts at the moment. “Right now I trust Dr. Friedrich the most for example and all the psychologists, but mainly I trust my family and myself. When asked about the relationship with her psychological team she said: “Sometimes it was difficult, for example the first nights they tried to make me go to sleep, and they didn’t understand why I was wandering around at 4am. But I explained I can control that myself without sleeping pills or whatever.” “I haven’t been shopping yet though I went to eat ice cream ‘incognito’ on the Waehringerstrasse with Dr. Berger. I had sunglasses and a head scarf on and I went by tube, and it was great to smile at all the people and with none of them recognising me. “The strange thing about seeing my parents again for the first time was that they cried and hugged me and squeezed me and me, I don’t know, in that moment, I was a bit overcome and I felt a bit constrained.” Answering the question of whether she follows the current media reports, she said: “In principle I don’t want to be burdened with such slander, defamation and humiliation. Its too much. I have so many medical examinations, talks, all sorts of things.” When asked what things annoyed her the most, she said: “Things that simply are untrue, like the abuse... above all, I’m annoyed about the pictures of my dungeon, because it is nobody’s business. I also would not look into the living rooms and bedrooms of other people. Why should people be able to open up a newspaper and look into my room? “I will perhaps write a book about myself, or perhaps not, but I don’t want anyone to pretend to be an expert about my life. And I do want to be an actress, but I’m not thinking Hollywood. My mum always told me that when I grow up I’ll be on the Burg.” [Famous Austrian theatre] “The media interest is too much, but on the other hand through this fame I have some responsibility and I want to use to this advantage to help other people, to make a foundation and do charitable projects. For example to help lost people who were never found like me. And I want to work with the hungry. “I have been starving very often during the time of my captivity. I experienced the consequences of it: circulation problems, troubles concentrating. You are then only able to have the most primitive thoughts. You cannot focus on anything anymore. Every sound, every scratch is irritating and painful. Every thought is torture.” Talking about her wish to set up an foundation to help the hungry children in Africa, she said: “We all pretend to be very smart, but if we did not have anything to eat, then we would also be stupid. That’s why I wasn’t to do something so at least the children there get something good to eat. “I had always the feeling that I was lacking something. A deficit. So I wanted to make that better and I tried to educate myself, to teach myself skills. I learned to knit for an example.” When asked if she celebrated birthdays, Christmas and Easter with her kidnapper, she said yes. “With Mr Priklopil?” asked the interviewer. “Of course Mr Priklopil!” she replied, seemingly annoyed. “I forced him to celebrate them with me. Yes, he gave me lots of presents. Easter eggs or Christmas presents and so on. Other children or young people can buy things for themselves. I could obviously not buy anything. “And he was obviously thinking that he would give me in that way at least some kind of compensation or some equality with other people there in the normal reality. I believe he had a very bad conscience. “Every once in a while he even in some way suggested how I could escape and get away from him. As if he wanted that I get free some day. That it all falls apart. That somehow justice prevails, or something like that. “I think I was stronger, he had an unstable personality. He had insecurity issues.” Discussing her escape her said: “ I knew in that moment, if not now then maybe never. I looked at him, he had turned away. In the months before I had told him I can’t live like this, I will definitely try to run away from you. “As you know everyone had this nice idea of him as really helpful and whatever. So I didn’t want to do it to his mother that she would learn this other side of him. They had a very good relationship. I feel terribly sorry for Mrs Priklopil. That her image [of him] is now destroyed. She lost her faith in the world on that day. And her faith in her son. And her son, too. “I was entirely aware as I ran away that I was sentencing him to death, because he always threatened to kill himself. He indirectly made me, and the man who drove him to the railway station, and the train driver as well, into murderers.” Discussing the actual kidnapping she said: “He told me at the beginning that nothing would happen if I did what he said and that I should be still and not move. And then a few minutes later he told me it was a kidnapping and if my parents paid I could go home that day or the next. “I thought I could notice something about the house that would help the police catch him later. At that point I was sure the police would get him and it would all have a good ending.” She said he spoke of her parents, saying, "He said my parents were not caring for me or looking for me. And later he told me they were in prison. It was sort of true, because at that time many of people were picked up by the police for questioning, he just exaggerated. But I of course knew that that wasn’t the case that my parents were now sitting in jail. I didn’t believe him. “The first time I went down I didn’t see anything of the cellar room as it was totally dark. And he left me there for half an hour or so. I was in despair and very angry at myself for crossing the street. It was horrible. And this female lack of power that I couldn’t do anything against him. “I could hardly stand the smell of the ventilator at the beginning, it got on my nerves so much. It was horrible. I don’t know it was just horrendous. “If he hadn’t taken me up to the house now and then where I could move, I don’t know, maybe I would have gone crazy. “I swore to myself that I would get older, stronger and more powerful so that one day I could free myself. I made a pact with my later self that I would free that little 12-year-old girl.” When asked again about her dreams she laughed and replied: “So we’re back to dreams now again? Well OK, I want to travel, to go on a cruise with my mum and maybe even on a‘graduation trip’, but not a drunken one, a nice one." <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2345787_1,00.html">www.timesonline.co.uk/art..._1,00.html</a>

by **FourthBase** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:02 pm

Holy shit, those really were her statements earlier. She has to be among the strongest-willed people alive.

by **Bismillah** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:27 pm

It's important to realise that her statement has been translated into English. I've lived in Germany half my life, and I've read her statement in German. It is very articulate, and it's also encouragingly sane and decent and generous and unhysterical. But it is NOT some weird work of genius; it's an admirable piece of writing by a strong, clever 18-year-old, with a couple of slightly clumsy formulations in it. No more and no less than that. She's clearly a remarkable person, but I see no reason whatsoever to believe that she's been the victim of some weird mind-control experiment (which is what some posters seem to suspect). P.S. By the way, it's been announced that she'll be using most of the money she got from the media to set up a foundation for victims of kidnap and trauma. But she also very wisely made sure that the media group that scooped the interview will finance her education and an apartment. Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=bismillah@rigorousintuition>Bismillah</A> at: 9/7/06 2:35 pm

by **Et in Arcadia ego** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 4:51 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>But she also very wisely made sure that the media group that scooped the interview will finance her education and an apartment.<hr></blockquote> Your arguments have the soothing effect of reason about them, but I'd like it explained why she's treating her own family with less respect then the man who held her captive for eight years. ____________________ Some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night.

by **HMKGrey** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 5:02 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>“In principle I don’t want to be burdened with such slander, defamation and humiliation. Its too much. I have so many medical examinations, talks, all sorts of things.”<hr></blockquote> - "burdened with such slander..." If you were working on the mind of a young, vulnerable girl you might easily give her the impression that she was being talked about and slandered by people - that you were her de facto protector. - "so many medical examinations..." Hmmm. I bet. - "talks, all sorts of things." About 3 days worth apparently. I don't recall Elizabeth Smart being kept from her family for 3 days. Maybe we're all being crazy paranoiacs but I'll wager here and now that this story will get stranger yet.

by **Bismillah** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 5:21 pm

"burdened with such slander..." If you were working on the mind of a young, vulnerable girl you might easily give her the impression that she was being talked about and slandered by people - that you were her de facto protector. - Which is what her kidnapper did to her. Since she escaped, though, the corporate media (in their turn) have indeed been full of speculations about her sexuality, computer-simulations of her current appearance, and made-up stories which she vehemently denies (that she was refusing to see her parents, for instance). "so many medical examinations..." Hmmm. I bet - You bet what, exactly? Please specify. "talks, all sorts of things." About 3 days worth apparently. I don't recall Elizabeth Smart being kept from her family for 3 days. - She was not kept from her family. And there is absolutely nothing suspicious about a young girl who was kept in a hole for eight years wanting to recover, avoid the mass media and talk (and be listened to) by sympathetic people for three days. Maybe we're all being crazy paranoiacs - Not all of us, no. I'll wager here and now that this story will get stranger yet. - And if it doesn't, I'll wager you'll regard that as further evidence of a cover-up.

by **Et in Arcadia ego** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 5:59 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>3. She had a major cold and her eyes are still sore.<hr></blockquote> Media prep must be a real bitch these days.. <img src="http://www.weblogsinc.com/common/images/4225657244488645.JPG" style="border:0;"/> ____________________ Some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night.

by **HMKGrey** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:31 pm

Hey Bismillah: This is the post that started the thread. The post that you take exception with was informed by this and the preceeding one. I don't think I'm that far off. Let's face it, after the scandal in Belgium and after the Operation Ore scandal/cover-up in the UK, it's not at all a stretch to wonder what might have really gone on with a young girl in Belgium, is it? I hope you're right and that I and others posting here have no real grounds for being suspicious... but questioning the 'official' line is... well, it's what we do here. And I take issue with your characterization of me as someone who might assume a conspiracy regardless of the evidence. I certainly don't begin from that point. VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- The young woman who resurfaced last week after being held captive in a dingy, windowless cell for more than eight years has the right to privacy, authorities said Sunday, adding that she is not under police supervision. The decision to seclude herself -- and to avoid seeing people, including her parents -- was hers alone, police s "If Natascha decides to go into ... Vienna's inner city and get a coffee, then she can do that," Police Maj. Gen. Gerhard Lang of the Federal Criminal Investigations Bureau told the Austria Press Agency. "If she wants, she can go everywhere," Lang said. Natascha Kampusch resurfaced last week -- more than eight years after being abducted while on her way to school when she was 10 and escaping her captor Wednesday while he was busy with a phone call. Her captor, 44-year-old Wolfgang Priklopil, committed suicide hours after she fled by throwing himself in front of a commuter train in Vienna. Her parents, though overjoyed to learn Natascha is still alive, have expressed frustration that they have not been able to spend more time with their long-lost daughter. In an interview in the Sunday edition of the newspaper Kurier, Kampusch's mother said she had seen her daughter only once since her escape.[/b] "Natascha is now locked away again. That's terrible for me," the newspaper quoted Brigitta Sirny as saying. The mother added that she did not think it was what the 18-year-old wanted. "I really couldn't imagine that. I think the mother should be close," she told the newspaper. "Psychologists and doctors are all well and good, but a daughter also needs her mother. Why can't I see my daughter?" Sirny told the newspaper that a fortune teller told her that Natascha was alive in a cellar to the north and that she prayed every day that her daughter would make it through her ordeal. "Every day I prayed: Please Natascha, hang in there," Sirny said. "I celebrated her birthdays, baked cakes that I threw away afterwards," she said. She said her "biggest wish" would be that Kampusch would now come to live with her. The teen, who is in a secure and undisclosed location, was "in a good mood" and met with young people her age, according to Monika Pinterits, an attorney who said she spent several hours with Kampusch on Saturday and met with her again Sunday afternoon. Kampusch had engaged in excited conversation with the other young people, and enjoyed their company, Pinterits said, according to APA. Kampusch had one brief, emotional reunion with her parents after her escape, but has not asked for them since, police said. story.priklopil.ap.jpg Kampusch's father, Ludwig Koch, begged police to be allowed to have a cup of coffee with her and snap a few photographs to share with the extended family, APA reported Saturday, citing a senior investigator. Police declined, fearing the photos would end up in newspapers and on television because of intense interest in the case, long one of Austria's greatest unsolved mysteries. But Koch later told reporters his daughter, who has her mother's maiden name, sent him a letter that read, in part: "We'll have all the time in the world." Kampusch will spend Sunday night at the same location she has been since Friday evening, but what happens next is "her decision," Lang said. A medical exam showed she was capable of making her own decisions, Lang said, as quoted by APA. Investigators will decide Monday or Tuesday -- with Kampusch -- if and when she would be ready to continue to speak to them about her experience, Lang said Sunday on Austrian radio. Reinhard Haller, a well-known Austrian psychiatrist and professor, said in an interview on Austrian radio Oe3 that Kampusch must now learn to trust her loved ones and get to know the feeling of security. It sometimes can take kidnapping victims a long time to "rebuild a bridge" to those they love most, and sometimes they initially might show feelings of rejection, Haller said. "The affected people shouldn't take this personally because it is part of the entirely normal integration mechanism," Haller said. Taking shifts, investigators continued Sunday to search for clues in the house in the semi-rural community of Strasshof, north of Vienna, where Kampusch was kept, for the most part, in a dungeon. "A lot of what Priklopil told Natascha was wrong," he said. "He manipulated his victim." Investigators have found videos and books that will be analyzed in great detail, Lang said. With the help of one book, Kampusch taught herself how to knit, according to Lang. Police also were examining notes and shopping lists found in Kampusch's cell and the house, Lang said, adding that investigators had not found a diary. Police also were trying to determine if Priklopil had an accomplice, but "questioning of Natascha has shown that there was no second offender," Lang said. Based on information available so far, neither Priklopil's mother nor a male friend he contacted while on the run Wednesday before committing suicide were involved in the act, Lang told APA. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

"Girl Found in Cellar" Story Gets Curious...

Interviews out

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TV interview

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Her remarkable statement to the press and public

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Re: Art imitates Life

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