10 Horror Movies That Eerily Came True
6. A Couple Believes Their Adopted Child Is An Adult - Orphan
Orphan follows a couple who adopt a nine-year-old Russian girl, Esther, only to find out later that she's a murderous 33-year-old Estonian woman suffering from a hormone disorder which stunts her growth.
It's the peak of too-insane-to-be-true storytelling, and yet, in 2019 a fascinatingly similar case came to light in Florida. Couple Kristine and Michael Barnett adopted a Ukranian orphan, Natalia, believing she was six years old, but quickly came to suspect she was in fact 20.
Bone density tests were done and therapists were visited, and following this the couple went to the courts and disputed Natalia’s age. Her birth date was consequently amended from 2003 to 1989, making her legally over a decade older than they thought she was at time of adoption.
The Barnetts began to feel increasingly intimidated by Natalia's presence, claiming that she had threatened to stab them in their sleep, and attempted to kill mother Kristine by poisoning her coffee and pushing her onto an electric fence.
This led to them moving to Canada without her, resulting in the Barnetts being charged with child neglect.
The wildest part is that the case is ongoing, full of conflicting evidence and nobody can verify Natalia’s actual age. Whether she is 16 or 30 is a mystery, and whilst it’s not quite as bombastic as the events of the film it’s certainly eerily close.