Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 In May 2007, a new father in Kuřim, Czech Republic, tested a baby monitor that relayed video. The boy in the video looked like he was about six or seven years old, and his hands were bound up. Trdý considered it worth letting the police know about. #2 The police investigated, and after hearing the conversation between Trdý and Klára, they were able to figure out that the baby monitor had been transmitting from a nearby house. They went to search the house, and found the baby monitor transmitting from a closet under the staircase. #3 The police and firefighters had to physically remove the three children from the door. Ana, on the other hand, put up a fight. When responders laid hands on her, she got up and began kicking and scratching at them. #4 Ondrej’s brother, Jakub, told authorities that the scars on Ondrej’s body were the result of scratches from a pet gerbil, and welts from wasp stings received while camping. The authorities believed him, as he was extremely reluctant to speak.

"In May of 2007, in a small, quiet town in the South Moravia region of the Czech Republic, a technical glitch, a simple, accidental crossing of signals, revealed just such a case, and an entire nation watched transfixed with horror as the grisly extent of the perversion of the maternal instinct was revealed. Two small brothers named Jakub and Ondrej, nine and seven years old respectively, were revealed to have suffered confinement, mutilation, psychological brutality, and cannibalism at the hands of several people, foremost among them their own mother and her sister."--Back cover.

In May 2007, the baby monitor feed of a man in Kurim (in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic) began to show distressing images of a naked boy who seemed to be chained up in a cupboard or cellar. His brother also appeared to be a captive. The police were quickly on the scene but the case was strange to say the least. The apparent perpetrators of this abuse turned out to be Klara Mauerova (who was the mother of the two captive children) and her sister Katerina. Klara was university educated and had never harmed her children in any way before. Katerina was also well educated and had nothing in her past to indicate she was a danger to children. Katerina had even worked in a children's home in a professional capacity. The police and authorities were understandably perplexed and confused that these two normal and placid looking young women appeared to have subjected Klara's children to dreadful abuse and treated them like prisoners. Yet more confusion was layered into this case when it transpired that a mysterious thirteen year-girl named Anna also lived in the house. Klara claimed that Anna was an orphan from Ukraine but the true identity of Anna would turn out to be the most confusing twist of all when it came to what became known as the Kurim Case. This bizarre and rather grim case only started to make any modicum of sense when it transpired that the women were connected to a breakaway religious sect that was enigmatic and eccentric to say the least. This was an exceptionally complex and knotty case with a large (and occasionally confusing) gallery of alleged conspirators. We shall do our best to explain who these people all were and what role they played in this bewildering case. The Kurim affair is a tale of abuse, manipulation, mystical delusions, brainwashing, and the belief systems and modus operandi of a cult. Hopefully, by the end of this book you will have a much better understanding of what happened in Kurim and WHY these things happened in the first place. This was a mysterious case full of remarkable twists and shocking revelations. It was a classic example of how truth really can sometimes be stranger than fiction.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 Ronald’s life was turned upside down when his father died and his mother remarried. They moved constantly, which contributed to Ronald’s lack of social skills. He was expelled from school at age 16 for his violent outbursts. #2 Ronald’s life was completely turned around when he entered military school. He thrived under the strict order and pressure of the school’s rigorous routines, and he found a sense of peace and purpose that he had been lacking his entire life. #3 Ronald was a man who was house proud, and he was very particular about how things were done around the house. He was kind and caring, and never raised a hand to Becky. She was lucky to have found such a man. #4 When she was done, she dumped the pot onto the clean pile, lifted the rest of the pots back onto the other side, and dried her hands on the dishtowel. He didn’t even look up when she came over to empty the ashtray, but when she reached out, he caught her wrist in his hand with almost casual ease.

In July 1965, teenagers Sylvia and Jenny Likens were left in the temporary care of Gertrude Baniszewski, a middle-aged single mother and her seven children. The Baniszewski household was overrun with children. There were few rules and ample freedom. Sadly, the environment created a dangerous hierarchy of social Darwinism where the strong preyed on the weak. What transpired in the following three months was both riveting and chilling. In October 1965, the body of Sylvia Likens was found in the basement of the Baniszewski home, where she had been imprisoned. She was starved, beaten, burned and had the words "I am a prostitute and proud of it" carved into her stomach. Gertrude Baniszewski oversaw and facilitated the torture and eventual murder of Sylvia Likens. While she played an active role in Sylvia's death, the majority of the abuse was carried out by her children and other neighbourhood youths. The case shocked the entire nation and would later be described as "The single worst crime perpetuated against an individual in Indiana's history". [CAUTION: This book contains descriptive accounts of abuse and violence. If you are especially sensitive to this material, it might be advisable not to read any further]

Accompanying CD-ROM contains ... "the full paper [version] for all 30 chapters as .pdf files."--Page 4 of cover.

In 1894, Leonarda Cianciulla was born into an abusive household. As a young girl, she attempted suicide twice to rid herself of the misery. After decades of abuse, Leonarda sought stability and married Raffaele Pansardi. Her mother did not approve and conveyed her anger in the strongest possible sense. She cursed the marriage. Leonarda believed that her mother's words had power and they haunted her for the rest of her life. Following the curse, Leonarda experienced fits and seizures, was imprisoned for fraud, lost her home to an earthquake, had three miscarriages and lost ten children due to ill health in their youth. Her fears were exacerbated when she visited a Romani fortune teller who informed her, 'In one hand I can see prison. In the other, a mental asylum.' In 1939, Leonarda's eldest son, Giuseppe, informed her that he was going to join the Army. As one of only four remaining children, she needed to protect him at all costs. She decided that the only way to do that was through the most extreme means - human sacrifice. The Curse is a chilling account of one of the most brutal and bizarre true crime stories in history. Ryan Green's riveting narrative draws the reader into the real-live horror experienced by the victims and has all the elements of a classic thriller. CAUTION: This book contains descriptive accounts of abuse and violence. If you are especially sensitive to this material, it might be advisable not to read any further.