10 Horrendous Details Surrounding Natascha Kampusch, Who Survived 3,096 Days In Her Kidnapper’s Cellar

6 /10 Escaping The Cellar... Escaping Hell

Like every other day of her confinement, Natascha was vacuuming on the faithful day of her escape. When fate presented an opportunity to flee, and she took it. It was August 2006, and she was 18 years. 

According to Natascha, Wolfgang had been watching her every move as she vacuumed his car. Still, then he became distracted when answering a phone call. Natascha saw a way out and bolted out to freedom while the vacuum was still on. 

She asked a few bystanders for help but was ignored. And then she ran farther to the home of an elderly lady who called the police after seeing Natascha on her porch, and the rest is history.

5 /10 3095 Days... The Memoir And The Movie

In 2010, Natascha released her first book, 3095 Days, a memoir of her childhood and her stay in Wolfgang’s dungeon – it is also the basis for the German movie with the same title.

In the memoir, she recounted how abusive her mother was and how she attempted suicide several times both at Wolfgang’s and before the kidnapping.

This proves to show that Natascha’s psychological abuse started before her years at Wolfgang’s.

4 /10 Therapy Or Stockholm Syndrome?

Natascha is reported to still stay over at Wolfgang’s house sometimes as the house was given to her after his death. She still cleans according to Wolfgang’s standard.

When accused of having Stockholm syndrome, she refuted the claims by saying that staying in the apartment has a therapeutic effect.

As of 2013, Natascha had refused to lease or sell the building because she didn’t want it to become an attraction for vandalism.

3 /10 Suicide Or Murder?

After Natascha’s escape, Wolfgang enlisted the help of a friend to look for her. While in the latter’s automobile, Wolfgang was reported to have confessed to being a kidnapper and a rapist.

His shocking confession allegedly made his friend throw him out. Wolfgang committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a train. However, some others speculated that Wolfgang could have been murdered.

2 /10 10 Years Of Freedom

In 2016, Natascha released her second book, 10 Years of Freedom. In this book, she explained how she managed to cope and survive while kidnapped and talked about the backlash she got from the media and the public.

Some accused her of role-playing along with Wolfgang, while others blamed her for not escaping earlier.

Natascha showed strength in this book by trying to understand her accusers and explaining her actions post-escape.

1 /10 Life After The Kidnapping

Following her escape, Natascha has reported many cases of cyberbullying, which the police either showed no interest in or believed to be life-threatening.

Now 33 years old, Natascha still thinks of what it would be like to be a mother. According to her, she has always had the urge to have children and be a mother someday.

She also worked towards gradually rebuilding her relationship lost with her mother and two older sisters. 

For the first few months of being kidnapped, Natascha was never allowed to leave the tiny cellar she came to appreciate as her home.

Eventually, in later years, Wolfgang allowed her more freedom and even took her on trips, notably a ski trip. Natascha was also reported to have cried inconsolably when Wolfgang died and had empathized with him in her first memoir. 

Irrespective of the seemingly happy and relaxing moments they both had, it remains that Natascha was the victim of immense physical and psychological abuse, as are many other young people out there in society.