Eerie Encounters : The Creepy Case of Austin Harrouff

Early Life of Austin Harrouff

 Austin Harrouff was born on December 21, 1996, to a dentist and a pharmacist. In 2010, when Austin was 13 years old, his parents suddenly got divorced and in the same year, they got into a new relationship with a new girlfriend and boyfriend. Although this was a complete shock to Austin and his one-year-younger sister Haley, they adjusted to this sudden change. The kids stayed with their mother in the same house with the father moving out into a nearby house with his new girlfriend.

 About a year after this event, Austin entered high school and he immediately made a mark. He was excelling in education and because of his big athletic build, he was engaged in rough physical sports. Despite his size and willingness for rough sports, Austin was never an aggressive guy and he enjoyed helping people. After high school was accepted into Florida State University’s four-year pre-med program just as he wanted and at the end of that summer packed all his stuff and moved into the university dorm to live the life he had dreamed of.

Behavioural Changes

 His university life started on a high note with him getting a girlfriend, excelling in his studies as always and getting into bodybuilding. He managed to establish a decent social media following as he made content regarding fitness and bodybuilding on it. Despite so much working well, he was constantly angry at himself for not making friends. He thought he was very shy and people did not like him. This pushed him into drug abuse and he abused them so much that he started questioning his sanity.

 The next summer, Austin returned home for his vacation and the family immediately noticed that something was wrong with his behaviour. He shifted his bed to the hall saying that his bedroom was filled with demons. He also marched around the house at night knocking on the doors loudly saying that he was protecting them from demons. His family strongly believed that these behavioural changes were because of his drug abuse and with their best efforts prevented him from using them again. It appeared as if all their efforts were useless as Austin’s behaviour never changed. So, they decided to use something called the Baker Act whose guidelines are as follows.

Reason to Commit Someone Baker Act

Based on the instability of a person's mental illness Baker Act is based on a person's instability in their mental illness. They would qualify if they become a danger to themselves or others.

Involuntary Hold Time

A person who is Baker Acted will be involuntarily held in a psychiatric unit for 72 hours.

What Happens After?

Any treatment that is sought after the 73 hours is voluntary. They can not be forced into a long term program.

 However, before they could use it something tragic happened.

Road to the Tragedy

 On the morning of August 15, Austin turned up in front of his best friend’s house. When he opened the door with excitement, Austin asked him what was the year of his birth. When he told 1996, he walked away. Austin’s friend was confused by this and called him in a couple of minutes to check if he was okay. Austin was completely fine while he spoke to him on call and the duo decided to meet Austin’s sister and all their other friends. The place decided as their meetup spot was a nearby beach. While they were almost at the beach, Austin told them that he had some work at the house, promised to turn back soon and left them.

 In a few minutes, Austin turned back just as promised but in a strange outfit. Under the scorching heat of the sun, Austin was wearing a thick jersey with woolen sweatpants. He was also wearing two wristwatches with a pair of sunglasses. His friends immediately started ridiculing him for the strange outfit and within a few moments, he warned to kill them on a serious note. His friends grew frightened ad stopped ridiculing him at once. This incident greatly cut short the time he spent with his friends and Austin, his friend and his sister decided to leave the beach and join Austin’s father and his girlfriend for a meal in a nearby restaurant.

 On their way to the restaurant, Austin told his sister that he was an immortal half-human-half-horse. To prove his immortality, he started intentionally walking into the road to get hit by a car. His sister pulled him back on the pavement and walked between him and the road until they reached the restaurant. Once at the restaurant, the trio met Austin’s father and his girlfriend and the group occupied a table at the farthest end of the restaurant. Austin told them that he had the urge to use the washroom and left the table. After returning in a few moments, he left them again but this time he walked directly out of the restaurant only to return 30 minutes later in completely different clothing with oil stains all over. During those 30 minutes, he was back at his house drinking vegetable oil and eating parmesan cheese. His mother ordered him to stop and thus, he changed his clothes and returned to the restaurant.

 His father was visibly angry because of his behaviour and told something rude to him. Austin lost his cool hearing this and pinned his father to the wall. After a few moments, he let go of his father and walked out of the restaurant. His friend closely followed him but it appeared as if Austin had disappeared in thin air. His father understood that in his current state, Austin was a threat to society and informed the police right away.

The Tragedy

 Four miles away a 50-yeard-old woman was watching TV inside her open garage waiting for her husband John who had taken their dogs for a walk to return. Michelle and John had been married for almost 20 years and were enjoying their retirement. The couple were well-liked by their neighbours who often visited their house.

 One of Michelle’s neighbours named Jeff was relaxing in his house when he heard Michelle scream at top of her voice. He rushed out of his house to see what was wrong and when he entered her property, he noticed that Austin was breaking Michelle’s car right in front of her eyes. Once he was done with the car, he threw Michelle on the ground and started pounding her with his fists. Jeff who was a well-built guy, ran towards Michelle to save her. When he saw Jeff come near him, Austin separated himself from Michelle and warned him not to step closer. When Jeff kept coming despite his warning, he punched him hard on his head but Jeff did not succumb to it and he threw Austin as hard as he could on the ground hoping to knock him out.

 With Austin down, Jeff was assessing the situation around him when he felt a blinding pain on the side he was punched and when he looked around, he noticed that he was bleeding profusely. Austin had a knife in his hand when he punched him and that single blow had caused 5 puncture wounds on Jeff. With Austin back up on his feet, Jeff ran into Michelle’s house and locked himself up. Then, he called 911, told the police about Austin and waited for them to arrive hoping that John returns and saves his wife. A few minutes later, Jeff heard Austin walk down the street grunting like an animal followed by the screams of a person.

 When the police arrived, they found John pinned down on the floor by Austin. Austin held Jeff’s neck with his left hand while pinning him down by sitting on his chest. His right hand was inside Jeff’s mouth pulling his cheek out as much as he could and he was feeding on Jeff’s stretched cheek. One of the police officers tried tasing Austin but it did not seem to affect him at all. Another officer kept kicking Austin’s face but every time he was kicked, Austin got back from the floor and went back to John to eat his cheek without harming the police. The canine units were set loose o pull him away from John but despite the dogs tearing flesh from his arms, he never stopped. Finally, after the combined effort of an officer and a dog, Austin was knocked out for a short period. However, it took the strength of three police officers to restrain him.

 By the time, Austin was restrained, Michelle and John were already dried and within a few moments, Austin fell unconscious. He was in a coma for 12 days as he had drunk some highly poisonous liquid from the couple’s garage thinking it was alcohol. There were no traces of drugs in his blood except Marijuana which was very less. This meant that Austin was sober when he committed the grotesque crime. When Austin got out of the coma, he revealed the motive behind his deeds.

Austin Harrouff's Confession

 He told the police that, when he exited the restaurant, he saw a dark figure with a white face staring at him. This figure kept chasing him as he kept running away from it and he eventually reached Michelle’s house. He approached her to seek refuge but it was then he figured out that Michelle was a witch so he killed her. When he was about to leave Michelle’s house, he saw the same figure waiting on the doorstep with a dog and he attacked it to save himself.