3 Big Questions in Strange Case of Dutch Siblings Living in a Hidden Basement for Nearly a Decade

A 25-year-old man’s claim that he escaped from the hidden basement of an isolated Dutch farmhouse where he and his five younger siblings lived with a 58-year-old man for nearly 10 years while awaiting the world’s end has left authorities scrambling to fill in the details of his story.

Among the many unanswered questions:

What is the relationship between the older man and the six siblings?

The siblings, who have not been identified, ranged in age from 18 to 25 years old, according to local authorities in the Dutch province of Drenthe, near the village of Ruinerwold, RTV Drenthe reports.

They allegedly had no contact with the outside world and lived self-sufficiently off their vegetable garden and livestock while anticipating “the end of time,” according to the news channel.

While multiple outlets have reported that the elder man was the father of the children, Ruinerwold Mayor Roger de Groot said during a press conference that the man was not related to the siblings, nor was he the owner of the rented farmhouse.

After authorities acting on the 25-year-old’s claims went to the farmhouse to investigate, they arrested the 58-year-old man after he allegedly refused to cooperate, RTV reports. It is not clear if he has been charged with any crime, and he has not been named.

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Had anyone been looking for the children?

The siblings were not registered anywhere, and the 25-year-old said he’d never attended school, according to Chris Westerbeek, the Ruinerwold pub owner who struck up a conversation with the man after he entered his establishment Sunday evening and subsequently ordered five beers, BBC News reports.

“I had a chat with him and he revealed he had run away and needed help … then we called the police,” Westerbeek said, according to the outlet. “He had long hair, a dirty beard, wore old clothes and looked confused. He said he’d never been to school and hadn’t been to the barber for nine years.”

“He said he had brothers and sisters who lived at the farm,” Westerbeek said. “He said he was the oldest and wanted to end the way they were living.”

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It was not clear how the 25-year-old made his way into town, how far he traveled, why he picked the pub as a stop, or where he’d obtained money to purchase his beverages.

RTV reported that the recovered siblings were unaware there were any other people living in the world.

Mayor de Groot said during his press conference that it is believed the siblings’ mother had died years before they moved into the farmhouse.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he told local reporters, adding that the siblings were in “a safe place” now.

Were they actually being held against their will?

Authorities who moved in to investigate at the secluded property were able to enter the basement through a staircase hidden behind a cupboard in the living room.

According to RTV, authorities found the 58-year-old man in bed and said he appeared to have suffered a stroke years ago. Neighbors reportedly believed he lived alone on the property.

The Algemeen Dagblad newspaper reported that the farmhouse was being rented by a man — but the property’s owners, Klaas and Alida Rooze, claimed to the outlet that they were blindsided by the disturbing discovery.

“We knew absolutely nothing of this. We had rented the house for years to an individual and now we learn that a man was living there with children. We have no idea who this can be,” they told the local outlet.

With apparent access outdoors to the garden and farm animals, authorities are working to determine what might have kept the siblings anchored to the property, why they remained living underground for so long, and whether any criminal charges will be pressed against the 58-year-old man.

“Part of our investigation is to find out what the people in that house were doing exactly,” police spokesperson Nathalie Schubart told The Guardian. “There are still many questions to which we have no answers. The investigation is still going on.”