Drenthe Hermits
An online religious community led by a man who completely isolated and abused his children for almost a decade
late 1990s - 2019
The Drenthe Hermits was an abusive cult existing right under the nose of a small community.
In 2019, a 25-year-old man went into a local pub and said that he had run away, had never been to school, and needed help. It was discovered that his father was a spiritual leader "John Eagles," who had over 3,500 online followers. Investigations revealed that John had moved his six children to a farm and kept them isolated for ten years, where he abused them and his followers outside the commune.
Even though Eagles had such a significant online presence, no one knew he lived there. Only one of the residents had ever left the commune and only did so at night; Eagles had stopped talking to his family in the 1980s; and the landlords did not know that multiple people were living in their house. The family lived self-sufficiently out of a hidden room and only communicated with the world through the internet.
After his son left to get help, authorities rescued the children, and Eagles is currently under investigation.
Religion: New Age
Founder: Gerrit Jan van D. ("John Eagles")
Founded: Late 1990s; lived on the farm since 2010
Ended: 2019
Location: Ruinerwold, Netherlands; Online
Size: 3,500 (online followers)Â
A member of the Drenthe hermits said he had not been outside for ten years (source)
John Eagles hit his children and choked them until they became unconscious (source)
Drenthe hermits members were beaten, kicked, had their hair pulled, forced to take ice-cold showers, and were locked up in cages (source)
One of the disciples in Austria was beaten, tied up, hung from a ceiling beam for hours, then locked in a shack for weeks, eating only honey and apples and using a bucket as a toilet (source)
Eagles is suspected of denying an elderly Austrian man of his liberty for several months in 2009 (source)
John Eagles claimed to have received divine revelations (source)
At least one member, who was 25 years old, had never been to school (source)
The location of the Drenthe hermits was monitored, and anyone who got too close was sent away (source)
The children were kept hidden in a secret room, with virtually no access to the outside world (source)
Some children did not know that other humans existed, and they developed their own language to communicate with each other (source)
John Eagles is accused of sexually abusing two of his children (source)
Other info:
The Drenthe hermits combined ideas from Theosophy, Anthroposophy, the Nature movement, Christianity, New Age, and personal revelations (source)
John Eagles has four more children who were not part of the group and didn't know what he was doing (source)
People who knew the Eagles thought didn't know about his family or religious beliefs but thought he died or lived in South Korea and that he didn't attend his mother's funeral (source)