US3 min(s) read
Published 10:22 14 Jul 2026 GMT
ABC 6 recreated the cramped conditions that investigators say 16 children endured inside a 12-by-12-foot room in the Ohio home now being referred to as a "house of horrors", with volunteers left shaken after spending just minutes inside.
The recreation came after Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost described what authorities discovered inside the Vinton County property as one of the most disturbing child endangerment cases the state has ever investigated.
"I can tell you this... this is pure evil what we saw down here," Yost said.
Recalling his visit to the home, he added: "Looked through the door. That was yesterday. I can still smell... I can't get the smell. I cannot get the smell off."
Authorities allege the children, who ranged in age from 18 months to 18 years old, spent much of the last four years confined to a single room measuring just 12 feet by 12 feet.
Investigators described the conditions as "deplorable," with one official saying: "For 16 bodies to occupy that small of a space... it appears that they would have been in the room quite a bit. The filth... it redefined it for me."
To help viewers understand just how small that space was, ABC 6 first created an AI-generated illustration before taking the experiment a step further.
The news outlet assembled 16 adult volunteers, choosing not to use children for safety reasons, and placed them inside a room of similar dimensions to recreate the alleged living conditions.
Within minutes, participants said the confined space became overwhelming.
One volunteer remarked: "Definitely not any personal space."
Another said: "When I first walked in, the room seemed much larger than it was. As we continued to stand in the room... it was difficult to move around."
As the volunteers tried to reposition themselves, one suggested: "Feel like we should try to sit down."
Others described the room becoming increasingly uncomfortable.
"It got stuffy. It got crowded. We didn't know what to do with our arms and we were all trying to just really be in the space," one participant said, adding that everyone soon found themselves asking: "'Can we come out yet?'"
For many, the exercise quickly became emotional as they reflected on the children who allegedly spent years living in those conditions.
"It's really upsetting to think about this is just all they knew," one volunteer said.
Another participant, a mother, became emotional when asked how she felt imagining children growing up in that environment.
"I couldn't imagine... I'm sorry. I could not imagine," she said.
Holding back tears, she continued: "I know that that's all they know and there's such a pureness sometimes with kids that they just adapt and just... exist in the environment that they're in. You know, it breaks my heart truly that someone had to endure this. They spent a lifetime in there."
Family psychologist Dr. David Lowenstein told ABC 6 the children now face a long road to recovery after being removed from the home and placed into state care.
He said healing begins with helping them understand that their upbringing was not normal.
"They're going to find out that wasn't the norm," Lowenstein explained. "Part of why these kids didn't say anything is they thought all the houses had 16 kids in them."
He described the alleged abuse as "a major trauma," adding: "Short of death, this is as close as you can get."
Reflecting on the recreation, another volunteer summed up the emotional impact by saying: "It's really heartbreaking to me... I just feel so much for those children and what they went through. It's unimaginable. It's inhumane."
