While most parents are very loving towards their kids, there are some who failed their children on a scale that sounds like something from a horror movie.
Magda and Joseph Goebbels
In May 1945, Berlin was collapsing, and it was clear that Germany was about to lose the war. Joseph Goebbels, a high-ranking Nazi Party official, and his wife, Magda, weren’t ready for that. They went into Adolf Hitler’s bunker with their six children. Hitler committed suicide on April 30.
The Goebbels couple had their own children poisoned the next day before they committed suicide themselves. All six children were aged between four and twelve. They had no say in the matter, their parents decided to end things for them.
Herod the Great
Herod the Great was a man who worried about many enemies. That makes sense since he was the King of Judea, part of modern-day Jerusalem, although his fear wasn’t just of people beyond his palace walls. Yes, he also turned on his own sons.Â
Alexander and Aristobulus, his children with Mariamne, were strangled in 7 BC after years of accusations against them. But that wasn’t all. Herod had Antipater, his oldest son and once his chosen heir, executed in 4 BC. All that, just to remain on the throne.
Chlothar I
Chlothar I isn’t a man you might’ve heard of. He was the leader of the Franks who lived in modern-day France and Germany, and he hated any kind of rebellion. So much so that, around 560, his son Chramn fled toward Brittany, France, after rising against him and tried to escape.
Chramn was with his wife and daughters. They didn’t make it. As soon as Chlothar’s men caught the family, the king ordered that Chramn be strangled inside a poor man’s hut. They then set the hut on fire while Chramn’s family was inside. How brutal.
Shah Abbas I
Being the son of Shah Abbas I was dangerous enough in itself. The shah ruled Iran from 1588 to 1629, and he ordered that his oldest son, Mohammad Baqer Mirza, be killed in 1615. That wasn’t enough, though, because he had another son, Emam-qoli Mirza, blinded 12 years later.
It’s all because the shah was suspicious that the two would try to challenge him for the throne. A blinded prince couldn’t rule, so the shah was hoping that’d get Emam-qoli out of the way. The shah’s own children had to pay a terrible price for their father’s own greed.
Theresa Knorr
Sacramento, California, seems like a peaceful enough place. That is, unless you’re part of Theresa Knorr’s family. She spent years abusing, and eventually killing, her two daughters. Suesan Knorr was shot in 1984, and Knorr made two of her sons help burn the body.
She then beat the next daughter, Sheila Sanders, and starved her. Sheila was left to die in a closet the following year. Terry, the only surviving daughter, escaped, and the truth behind Theresa’s house of horrors was finally revealed. Knorr is currently serving a life sentence.
Josef Fritzl
Elisabeth Fritzl was forced to live in hidden rooms beneath her family’s home in Amstetten, Austria, for nearly 24 years. It started when her father, Josef, locked her there in 1984 when she was 18. Fritzl repeatedly assaulted her and had seven children with her.Â
Three of the children only knew a life underground, while three others were taken upstairs to be raised in the house. One baby died soon after birth. Elisabeth finally escaped when one of her daughters was taken to the doctor for urgent medical care, and she told the staff what had happened. Fritzl was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.Â
Fred and Rose West
25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester, England, was one of the sites of the worst cases of abuse in English history. It was where Fred and Rose West lived. They abused, tortured, and murdered children, including Charmaine, Fred’s daughter from an earlier relationship.
They also killed their own daughter, Heather. The couple was later accused of murdering at least twelve children, and they both received life sentences in 1995. Fred, however, served none of his time and committed suicide in prison. Rose is still in prison.
Susan Smith
Susan Smith’s story started with her saying that her car had been taken by a Black man while her two sons were still inside. That led South Carolina police to search for the car for nine days in October 1994, until the story changed.Â
Turns out, Smith admitted she’d let the car roll into John D. Long Lake. She deliberately left three-year-old Michael and fourteen-month-old Alex strapped inside. Smith was convicted of murder in 1995 and sentenced to life in prison.
Marybeth Tinning
The case with Marybeth Tinning built slowly, over the course of thirteen years. All nine of her children died in New York, although authorities do believe the first death was natural. The rest of them weren’t. She allegedly abused and eventually murdered each of these children.
It wasn’t until the death of four-month-old Tami Lynne in December 1985 that police started to get suspicious. Tinning was convicted in 1987 of smothering Tami and received twenty years to life. She was never convicted over the other deaths, however, and was released on parole in 2018.
Waneta Hoyt
It seemed like Waneta Hoyt couldn’t escape a string of unfortunate family tragedies. At least, that’s what it looked like. Five of her biological children died between 1965 and 1971, seemingly because of sudden infant death syndrome. They were all less than 3 years old.
Hoyt later confessed to murdering her children during questioning in 1994, but then she withdrew her confession. That didn’t matter, though. A jury still convicted her of five murders in 1995, and she received seventy-five years to life in prison. She died of cancer in 1998.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
