Girl In The Box

Did you know that there was once a woman locked in a box for many years? Went through slavery, torture, and was brainwashed into believing that there was a company watching her 24/7, ready to torture her to death and harm her family if ever they caught her trying to escape?

There are probably some of you who had heard or watched a film titled "Girl in the Box", and knew that this is based on the case of an American woman named Colleen J. Stan (born December 31, 1956)

Did it pique your interest? Idk what I'm waiting for, let's get the story started.

Grab a time-turner and leap back in 1977 with me. That is when a 20-year-old Collen Stan decided to go hitchhiking. During those times hitchhiking is a common practice, which means she had successfully experienced it before. We all know that there are times when something goes fine the first time we try it, we believe that it's going to be consistently alright, and if not all the time, then most.

She has decided to surprise a friend who lived in Northern California for a birthday party. What a nice friend; and when she said surprise, nobody knows about it, not even her parents, nobody. This is where you'll learn the importance of telling people where you'll go, where you're at, and when you'll be back.

Imagine being on a road of a small town somewhere from her home in Eugene, Oregon. Standing a few feet farther from Stan who is patiently waiting for a ride with her backpack and all. Vehicles come passing by until a car full of guys offered her a ride. Stan being an experienced hitchhiker, she won't just jump in, of course, she'd know when to say no. A vehicle full of masculinity and a single girl? Things might go wrong, she thought.

Not all men are bad, you're right, true, but some people would thank her for "avoiding" a possibly drastic fate. "You're a woman, you shouldn't do these, do those," yes, that kind of mentality. Plus, we all know that it's for the best. So she didn't jump in, that's great, she knows what she's doing, after all, you think.

She'd said no to two vehicles already when a blue van pulled over to offer her a ride, and inside are a man, a woman, and a baby.

A family! What could go wrong? You thought, and that's what she thought too. Confident, she hopped in, and little did she know that her trip is going to be bad. How? Because the man driving that blue van is Cameron Hooker, and the woman beside him is his wife, Janice Hooker, holding their baby in her arms. What's wrong with that? Nothing, really, except that this is their trick to get a hitchhiker hooked. It's their bait, a family-friendly impression as an advantage, because who wouldn't pick them over a car full of men? Honestly speaking, I'm gonna be choosing the family.

Before the hitchhiking incident, Cameron Hooker and his wife, Janice, had an agreement that he is allowed to kidnap a slave who will be taking Janice's place who's being used by Cameron for sexual bondage, a part of BDSM that stands for bondage and discipline, domination and submission, sadism and masochism. Who would want to endure that, anyway? A masochist, of course, but not her. There are times that he almost drowned her to death.

So she agreed on letting Cameron have a substitute, she loves him, of course, so there is one thing she forbid, Cameron must not have penetrative sex with Stan. She's the wife, that's her part. Now how could she stand living with Cameron, then? I will be explaining that later in the story. Let's go back to Stan, who is now sitting at the back seat of the Hooker's van.

Along the way, they stopped at a gas station where Stan went to use the restroom and suddenly, she heard a voice say, "Run, Jump out the window and never look back." But she didn't listen, she calmed herself down, shrugged away her fears and went back to the van, where the family is waiting. She settled herself in and beside her, she saw a wooden box who wasn't there before. She got curious but didn't do anything about it.

They are now in an isolated area when the family asked her if they could stop by and look at the place, which is what they are traveling for. She agreed, since she's just a hitchhiker, grateful that they let a stranger ride with them, so they did what they had to do, pretend and pretend, pulled over and the next thing she knows, Cameron has pulled a knife on her throat. Cameron Hooker then put her head inside the big wooden box which is a do-it-yourself sensory deprivation box.

Now, this box won't let you see anything or hear anything. It only has small spaces where little air goes in and out so she won't die due to suffocation. The name of the box says it all.

So they went home after the long drive and put Stan in the basement, where her first night was proved horrible. She was tied and strung up by her hands, left blindfolded and suspended, her naked body attacked repeatedly while she hears the couple having sex below her. That night was miserable, but it's just the first night, she has to be ready for what's to come next. She was kept in a box for 23 hours a day, being let out only to be fed and tortured by Cameron.

Trapped in a dark box with little to no air, she would go someplace else with her mind, reminiscing good memories with her family and friends, she went on picnics and holidays with them and it worked. There are times when she could feel God speak to her during her dark times in the basement, even though she's not religious. Like that one night when Cameron went down the basement to torture her and slithered beside her to say "Go ahead and scream," that if she did, he will "cut her vocal cords," threatening her that he had "done it before."

Scared, she heard God spoke to her and told her not to scream because he's telling the truth. That is why she never dared to scream whenever she's being tortured by Cameron. She thought about what he meant when he said that he had done it before, and that's when she remembered the photo of a woman she used to see propped up against her purse that was placed in the space between the pedestal of the bed and her box. So every time she's given the chance to leave the box she saw the photo of the woman. Yes, there was a different victim (1976) and her name was Marie Elizabeth Spannhake, whose body was never found.

Now a little history of the couple before we continue. Cameron had normal parents and normal life, nothing new, nothing wrong. While Janice grew up with strict parents, verbally abusive mom, and an absent father. Parents who did not allow her to have a partner. They don't talk about dating, relationships, and men, because they're just plain strict.

Then one day, when she was just 15, Cameron who was 19 at the time approached her and asked her to a date. She told him that he would have to go to her parents and ask them for their permission, and so he did.

Cameron is the type of boy who looks nerdy, he does not look dangerous at all, so the parents let them have a date, which surprised Janice. So they went on a date and what happened was terrible. On their first date, Cameron tied Janice's wrist to a tree and began whipping her while she's naked. On the other hand, Janice was scared, she was hurt, but then mind manipulation took place, some sort of grooming. He was nice and affectionate and caring after and Janice having no reference at all because her parents didn't talk about relationships and men, liked it. That is why you have to let your children know when something is okay and something is wrong so they will know what to do.

Janice loved Cameron, they got married after a couple of years and when she thought things will get better, things just intensified.

While Janice's view of marriage is love and family, Cameron wants nothing but a slave. Someone who doesn't work, someone who stays home, serving him. So he beat her up and have sex with her until Janice can take no more. She told Cameron that she wants a baby, but Cameron doesn't, he said that he couldn't beat Janice if she's pregnant, and that's why they came up with the agreement of letting him have somebody else to beat.

Now back at Stan. She was then given little work, like a few of the house chores, and a couple more. It happened to her until January 1978 when a contract was introduced to her, a contract she's forced to sign. It would give her additional privileges, but why would force be needed? That's good, additional privileges unless you want to be a slave for life. The contract says that she would surrender herself to the Hookers for the rest of her life. But then, she didn't have a choice, so that's a contract made it less bad, but still the worst, yes.

Stan's name was then changed to K. She's forced to endure BDSM-inspired torture for hours and forced to call Cameron "Master." Cameron forbid Stan to speak without permission, and because he wanted Stan to be like the female character in the 1954 French erotic novel, Story of O, he started raping her orally. Since Cameron and his wife Janice had an agreement that there will be no vaginal sex and did not want to breach it, he raped her vaginally and anally with implements.

After the contract signing, she was told about an organization called "The Company" an organization that does things for people like Cameron, buys and sells slaves, and makes sure that slaves do not escape. A company that is watching her 24/7, a company that will torture her relentlessly and will kill her family if she tried to leave.

Janice, however, loves Cameron, so she doesn't like Stan getting his attention. Even though Janice doesn't want to get beaten, she doesn't want to share her husband's attention with somebody else. There are times when she's cooking, cleaning, doing house chores upstairs and Cameron will yell "attention" where she will immediately remove her clothes so he could beat her. Janice started to hate Stan, because not only did Stan take the abuse from her, she is also taking her husband away.

There was this one time when Janice tested her husband and said that she would let him have sex with Stan once to see if he would do it, and without saying anything, Cameron went down the basement to get Stan and bring her on their marital bed. He raped Stan with the door open, and Stan could hear Janice throwing up in the bathroom. Janice thought that it would be a one-time thing only but whenever she's not home, Cameron would **** Stan repeatedly.

The Hookers moved into a mobile home in Red Bluff, where Stan was kept locked in a box under the couple's water bed. It was still 1978 that time, when Janice Hooker, the wife, gave birth to their second child, on their waterbed right above Stan's box.

"The Company" is what scared Stan most, which Cameron never failed to reinforce daily. Reminding her of what she'd become if she tried to escape. However, her belief that there is a chance of escape and her faith in God helped her survive during those trying times.

She then started to show Cameron that she's willing to do everything he asked. Obeying his commandments to avoid punishments. The build-up of trust is slow, they take her out of the box in the wee hours to do house chores, cleaning, and cooking which was what Janice used to do until she let her sleep outside the box but still tied up so she wouldn't dare escape. Cameron then softened for a bit, she finally got his trust.

He then let her go outside. She worked in the yard, she helped take care of the children in the mobile home, to jog, and help Cameron build bigger accommodations, like a dungeon, underground, just so he could have more slaves in the future. With neighbors and telephones, Stan never tried to yell for help. She lived her life with fear, thinking that anyone who is near her worked for The Company. She felt like everyone knows her and everyone is looking at her, so she's scared that she might ask one for help and that she will get her family killed.

Now let's get some time-turner again and leap for a few years, 1981. You're standing outside the mobile home and you watch the Hookers tell her that she's been allowed to visit her family on her own. The Hookers are pretty sure that Stan will not confess about her current situation. Her family was relieved to see her, but they did not force her for details. They fear that she will not visit them again if they pressured her. They just believed that their daughter joined a cult-like what the police once said, because of her home-made clothing, lack of money, and absence of communication. Her fear of the company kept on keeping her quiet, she felt like they're just outside the house watching, so she did not give anything away.

The next day, she went back home to her family, but with Cameron as her boyfriend. Nobody in the family suspected that she's being tortured and raped by the man she's introducing as her partner. Her family then took a picture of her and Cameron smiling happily together, they look like there is nothing wrong at all.

After the visits, Cameron got scared and felt that he had given Stan enough freedom so he took her back to the mobile home and kept her locked in the box under their waterbed for the next three years. She was given a bedpan, a receptacle used by bedridden patients for toileting, Stan uses her feet to position it under her. The Hookers told their children that K had gone home so they wouldn't suspect, but every night when they had gone to sleep, Cameron will take Stan out of her box to feed and torture her. Threatening her not to make a noise and making her lie still in the dark with little to no air for 23 hours, even in the summer when the temperature in her box would reach over 100 °F or 38 °C. When she's hungry, she would feed herself with only scraps of food.

Let's leap for a few years, 1983, she was again introduced to their kids and neighbors. She was allowed to go outside and have a job as a maid at a motel, later on, Cameron stated that she wanted Stan to become her second wife, and Janice, his jealous wife, did not approve of it, but she cannot do anything at all. She then confessed about how she was brainwashed by Cameron starting from their very first date. She stayed with him by engaging in denial and compartmentalization which means subconscious psychological defense mechanism that is used by a person to avoid mental discomfort and anxiety caused by a person having conflicting values within themselves.

By August 1984, Janice couldn't take it anymore. There's too much jealousy and such so she went to Stan and told her that The Company is real but Cameron isn't a part of it. Stan then went straight to the bus station and called Cameron to tell him that she's leaving. Cameron reacted by bursting into tears as a response, and Stan then went home to her family.

Months passed by and Stan did not inform the police by following Janice's request to give Cameron a chance to reform. Stan still called the hookers, Janice was hoping that her husband would change but he didn't. Three months later, Janice called the police and turned her husband in, informing Lt. Jerry D. Brown of the Red Bluff police about the murder of Marie Elizabeth who disappeared on January 31, 1976, and the kidnapping of Colleen Stan who disappeared a year later.

In exchange for full immunity, she testified against her husband, Cameron, who in the end, was sentenced to consecutive prison terms totaling 104 years for sexual assaults, kidnapping, and using a knife in the process. He is originally ineligible for parole until 2023 and had his hearing date moved up 7 years to 2015 by California's Elderly Parole Program. His request for parole on April 16, 2015, was denied, and now he'll be eligible for another hearing in 2030.

After the trial, Colleen Stan studied for an accounting degree, tried to move on but misery followed her, had strings of failed marriages, and a troubled daughter who is now in jail. She volunteered to help abused women, became a registered associate social worker, worked as a mental health professional, changed her last name, and lived her life; both she and Janice still live in California but do not communicate with each other.

Who would've thought that a nerdy and tame-looking driver with a wife and a baby is going to be the ones to ruin your life? Nobody. Who would say that a person can choose to avoid such incidents? We do not know which ones have bad intentions. Ted Bundy does not look like someone who would kill, making it easy for him to escape a couple of times. Who would have thought that a 13-year-old adopted child is a 34-year-old Barbora Skrlova who caused a mother to skin her child alive and undergo cannibalism?

We never know. I'm not saying that we shouldn't trust, but there shouldn't be victim-blaming or telling people that they are the ones who caused the abuse, torture, or **** that they had gone through. Brainwashing is a powerful thing. You can talk someone into doing a massive crime, you can threaten someone to keep quiet, there's a lot of things it could do. Yes we have to be careful, but we don't hold the choices other people make, bad people will do whatever they can to get what they want. Nobody truly wanted to live a miserable life. Nobody.