FREE RIDE TO SERVITUDE.

An incredible case in the annals of modern crime was that of a young hitchhiker, Colleen Stan, captured at knifepoint in California in 1977 by Cameron Hooker, 32, a timber-mill worker, a fact that probably explains the abilities he put to good use in fashioning several boxes used to confine his prisoner. Colleen eventually escaped but only after being held in abject servitude as a sex-slave for seven years. [Note that when this story first broke in the world's newspapers in November 1984 the captive's identity was kept secret to protect her; later she was described as 'Ms Gould' and her story has also appeared under the name 'Carol Smith' but her real name is Colleen Stan. Today Colleen lives under a new name but has appeared on TV programs dealing with her captivity under her real name.]

This astounding story well illustrates how an unwilling victim may in time be so subjugated that it is possible in for him or her to become completely submissive, willing to do another human's bidding at all times. This was well demonstrated in the case of many prisoners of the North Koreans and others. In the early years of her captivity every precaution was taken to avoid the slightest possibility of escape. Colleen was kept either chained down in a basement, locked away in a coffin-like box or if allowed into the living area of the home only while closely supervised.

But eventually Cameron became so confident of the control he exercised over his slavegirl that for a time Colleen was actually let out into the world to work. She was also 'rewarded for good behaviour' with a phone call to her family and even one visit to them, although in both cases she was reminded of the dire consequences for her if she stepped out of line and said the wrong thing. Amazingly she didn't and at the end of the family visit left her loved ones believing, if a bit puzzled, that all was well. Cameron Hooker must have felt a sense of triumph after that trip. Indeed, it is more than likely he engineered the occasion and risked the dangers of the trip simply to prove once and for all his complete control of Colleen' very life. As we shall see there was a significant change when Colleen was returned to her regular slave life.

The story that follows may read like fiction but every word of it is fact, at least insofar as the fact are ascertainable! [Incidentally, I believe that the reason why far more crime novels are sold than factual books on crime is that the readers of these works of fiction cannot deal adequately with the reality and horror of the real thing! Any female reader might be a Colleen Stan. And any male might be a Cameron Hooker! Although, interestingly, there has recently been an upsurge in the sale of factual crime works.]

Colleen Stan's ordeal was about to begin when the then 20-year-old woman was hitchhiking to visit a friend. Of course, she was not to know that this day was to be her last one of freedom for many years to come. It was 19 May, 1977; pleasant, if overcast, weather. It was an ordinary road, and an equally ordinary-looking couple stopping their vehicle and offering the girl a lift. The woman in the car, younger than the man, had a babe in her arms. Who among us would feel the slightest degree of unease? Had Colleen felt any doubts, which she didn't, everything appeared normal - and safe.

THE SUBMISSIVE WIFE.

What Colleen did not know was that the young woman with the baby, Janice, was married to a sadist and that she had since her teen years suffered a great deal of bondage, whipping and torture at the hands of her kinky husband. And it was not the consensual play-acting kind but the real thing. She had been hurt - often. Today Janice was a willing accomplice in a kidnapping for reasons that shall soon become clear.

Janice was only 15 and still in high school when she first met Cameron, who was 19 at the time. The young girl was an epileptic and she was pleased by the attention paid to her by the timber worker. Cameron, for his part, had few friends but instead immersed himself in the world portrayed in bondage magazines. He was especially drawn to the concept of a nude woman chained hanging by her arms and being whipped or tortured. Not surprisingly Cameron decided to pressure his newly-found female friend to allow him to turn such a fantasy into actuality. For her part Janice was taken aback when Cameron one day took her into some woodland, stopped the car, and asked her to let him strip her and then tie her hanging from a tree while he whipped her! Any teen girl would be surprised by such a request, to say the least! This had always been a fantasy of Cameron's, a fantasy about to become a reality.

Fearful Janice might be but she was evidently more fearful of losing this strong young man she had become attached to so the teen complied. Thereafter on numerous occasions even while Janice was still at school she would be taken to lonely places in the country there to serve as the object of Cameron's kinky activities. Janice would be stripped naked, hung by her wrists, staked out, stretched, whipped and abused in numerous other ways both before and after she married Cameron Hooker.

Janice had accepted it all, even when very painful, so uncertain had the girl been of herself and her attractiveness to men. Indeed, Janice was plain, wore glasses and was very insecure. When Cameron Hooker dated her she was flattered, and although frightened and unhappy, this naïve girl was submissive in the face of his queer torments. Eventually, in 1975, the pair married and rented a home in Red Bluff. The torments continued unabated, indeed they increased in intensity. There was one torture the young wife particularly hated. Cameron had an old-style rubber gas mask that fitted tightly onto her head. He had painted over the glass face so that when it was locked in place Janice could see nothing. He often put this mask on her while he beat or choked her into unconsciousness.

But after some years of being hung naked from trees, having been whipped until welts appeared and having been nearly drowned while helplessly bound, Janice Hooker readily agreed when Cameron proposed an idea that excited him - to capture a female who would be trained as his own personal slave, a young woman with whom he could do as he wished for as long as he wanted. Janice, believing her own torments might end if Cameron had another female in captivity, readily agreed. She wanted a baby and felt that if she lived a 'normal' life she might fulfil that ambition. There was only one stipulation. He could treat the captive in any way he wished, could hurt her as much and as often as he wished; she would not interfere, but he must not have intercourse with her.

It seems quite likely that one young girl was abducted soon after this, even before Colleen Stan fell into the trap. Although years later Janice told police about this girl the case has never been cleared up. In 1976 18-year-old Marie Elizabeth Spannhake - also referred to as Marliz Spannhake - disappeared in the same area. According to Janice she was the first one abducted by her husband who, as was to happen with Colleen, intended making her his sex-slave. However, the woman had not so readily submitted to captivity. After offering her a lift Cameron and Janice took her to a lonely spot where she was tied up. When she made too much noise a strap was tied around her head and jaw to silence her and then a special timber box was locked on her head. More about this device later.

THE SILENT SLAVE.

The woman was, like Colleen, taken back to the Cameron home in Red Bluff and her first experience of captivity was to be stripped naked and hung by her wrists from the ceiling, then whipped. She was ordered not to cry out while being beaten. She was told she must just hang there and take the whipping without screaming or crying in pain. Alas, the victim was unwilling or unable to comply and kicked up such a fuss that in the end Cameron, it was claimed (but never verified), cut her vocal chords.

Janice later told police Cameron had talked about wanting to have a 'Silent Slave'. Certainly Colleen was kept silent but in a less violent way, for lengthy periods of time. In the end the budding slavemaster decided he'd made a mistake and would have to end the experiment in the only way open to him. It is alleged he shot the girl in the stomach with a pellet gun, but when this failed to kill her he resorted to strangulation. The next morning he and Janice took the body into the hills and buried it. Years later Janice tried to lead police to the burial site but without success and Cameron was never charged with murder.

And so, on this fine morning, Colleen Stan was about to accept a lift from these two strange people! The seven years that followed at times read like the fantasies of a horror fiction writer. The cruelties were many but only on rare occasions went to the point of threatening Colleen's life. Colleen was hurt often but not to the point of irreversible damage. But she was forever suffering degrading humiliation. How else describe being chained face-up absolutely naked on a bench for hours on end, her wrists and ankles fettered and a pulley and chain at one end being tightened as on a rack, so that she was pulled taut, not too much so but enough to be uncomfortable and to emphasize her utter helplessness? How else describe knowing she was being gawked at as she lay exposed, not only by her male captor but the female as well, whenever they wished and for as long as they wished - helpless to hide anything from their prying eyes - and always with the feeling that she was open to any physical abuse they might heap on her as she lay there, her fettered body open and wholly exposed?

How else to describe being locked naked for hours - sometimes chained in a loose hogtie - in a sweaty box. It was a change from the rack but not much of a change. How else to be to describe being allowed to use the bathroom or a bedpan only when her 'master' allowed it? How else to describe being hung naked by the wrists and whipped? Or tied in various uncomfortable ways for hours on end? Perhaps the crowning act of humiliation came when in the later part of her captivity when she was allowed to wear clothes around the home, a time when she might at last be feeling a bit relaxed about her situation. Clothes she might be wearing but on the command from Cameron 'Attention!' she must instantly strip naked - except for her slave collar - stand on tiptoe and reach up with her fingers to the top of the doorway between two rooms. There she would be kept stretched for as long as Cameron wanted.

Janice doubtless enjoying watching the other woman on occasions. For not until the very end was Janice any help. Indeed, there is every indication Janice enjoyed the sights and sounds of her husband's abuse of his slave. There were, for example, many occasions when, for failing to address Janice respectfully as 'Ma'am', Colleen would be reported to Cameron so as to ensure she was punished suitably. (By now Colleen was not being gagged on a daily basis so was able to address her captors - with their proper titles, of course.) Such punishment took many forms but on several occasions she was given electric shocks. On at least one occasion her skin was burnt. Cameron for his part was always quite happy to have yet another excuse to administer discipline. And Janice need not have reported the infraction. She probably on some of these occasions watched the punishment being meted out.

Clearly Janice enjoyed any discomfort suffered by Colleen. One day when Colleen had been set some needlework tasks Janice reported to her husband, saying she had not done a good job. Cameron now trussed Colleen up and punished her with repeated electric shocks. Like so many female partners of abusive males Janice readily fell into step with her man, sharing at least some of the feeling of proprietorship Cameron was feeling about his possession. She might in the end protest to those who would listen that she did not participate in the torture of the captive but indirectly she was involved. She certainly did little to try to alleviate Colleen's sufferings and at times added to them, as we have seen.

TERROR IN THE BACK SEAT.

Colleen Stan left her home in Eugene, Oregon, on the morning of 19 May, 1977. She was heading for the town of Westwood, over 600 km away in California to visit a friend who was having a birthday. Colleen, who had no car, was no stranger to hitchhiking but she was always careful to scan carefully those who pulled up and offered her a lift. She got several rides was only about 160 km from her destination passing through a place called Red Bluff when a driver in a blue Dodge Colt stopped and offered her a lift. Cameron and Janice Hooker had their baby with them; they looked like a very ordinary young couple. The woman and baby were the clincher. The time passed pleasantly enough until they stopped for some petrol. Colleen later described how she had noticed the driver staring at her a lot in the rear-view mirror and she felt a bit uncomfortable. In the service station toilet block she momentarily contemplated climbing out the window and running off but decided she was being foolish; the man would hardly do anything to her while he had his wife and baby there. How wrong these thoughts proved to be!

They resumed the journey but had not gone very far when Cameron, who seemed to have been deep in thought as he drove, announced that he wanted to make a quick stop at some 'spectacular ice caves' nearby. Colleen had no objection as he turned the car down a bush track. The car stopped, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, and Janice got out with the baby as Cameron turned off the engine. Suddenly the whole atmosphere became charged with menace as Colleen found herself being ordered - with a knife pressing into her neck - to lift her hands above her head. Hooker demanded: Was she going to do as she was told? Started and terrified as the knife point was pressed harder into her flesh, the girl simply said 'Yes'. She now found her wrists being being pulled down and handcuffed behind her back. She was then blindfolded. Little did she know that she would remain perpetually blindfolded day and night for many months to come. Next the heavy strap used on the first captive was tightened over her head and locked down so that she could not open her mouth Her ankles were also restrained.

Colleen might have noticed a strange box-like item alongside her on the back seat of the car. It would be hard not to notice it. Now she was to experience its purpose. Forced to lie lengthwise on the seat the blindfolded girl could hear sounds she didn't quite comprehend. They were in fact the sounds made by the hinges and locks of the notorious Torture Box (as I call it), a device purpose-built by Cameron Hooker just for such a great day as this. In this Cameron proved to be a skilled woodworker, skills he was to employ many times over in the days ahead. The box could also be described as a sensory deprivation box. The device was, in fact not one box but two, one inside the other with a gap between them filled with insulation material, made of stout timber. The structure was hinged providing an opening which tightly fit around the neck of the person whose head was forced inside. Colleen was later to report that the box was very tight on her neck, nearly choking here when it was locked down. The inner box was lined with thick carpet. The effect was very like the well-known leather bondage masks but much more severe - especially as it blocked out not only speech and sight but sound.

With her head locked inside this box the captive was effectively isolated from the world around and had no idea what was happening outside. It was also unbearably stuffy and the tight neck hole made breathing difficult. Thus locked up the captive could not eat, drink, hear nor see. This is the experience Colleen was tasting for the first of many occasions as she lay on the back seat of the car, being taken she knew not where. In the years ahead the Torture Box would be locked around Colleen's head on hundreds of occasions, often for hours on end.

Colleen's own sleeping bag was now thrown over her body to hide this strange sight from any prying eyes as the vehicle left the protective cover of the bushland and resumed its journey. All she could tell was they seemed to be descending a mountain road. It was still early, perhaps too early to risk trying to get the girl into their house, so Cameron and Janice stopped off for fast food, leaving their terrified captive to lie there wondering what might lie in store for her. Perhaps she would be murdered for kicks? Or perhaps smuggled over the border - forced into prostitution? These and many jumbled thoughts must have troubled Colleen as she lay waiting for whatever came next. It must have seemed like an eternity as Cameron and Janice enjoyed their meal. If only she had known how many times she would experience being locked into the Torture Box she might have tried some last attempt to escape but this had already become almost an impossibility. She could barely move and she could not cry out for help, even if she dared try to defy her captors. Cameron Hooker had been preparing for this day for a long time and had prepared well. He'd even effectively had a dummy run. There was no way this pretty young girl was going to escape him now he had her in his control. The Torture Box was to become one of the sensational exhibits in the later trial.

A BASEMENT TORTURE CHAMBER.

The next experience was even worse. Darkness had eventually fallen and it was now felt safe to move the captive girl from the car to the house at 1140 Oak Street. Some accounts say the Torture Box was still locked onto Colleen's head when was moved into the house, others that is was removed first, as were her ankle restraints. The box could have been in place. It was heavy but not so heavy that Colleen, with help, couldn't get into the house with it in place. In any event she was half carried, half dragged into the house. She could not cry out even if free of the box as the tight strap around her head locked her mouth shut. She was still blindfolded as she was propelled into the house, through the kitchen and down some steps into the basement. This was effectively Cameron Hooker's torture chamber and he was anxious to put it to use immediately. He had waited a long time for this day. With her shoes kicked off, Colleen found herself being helped to step up onto the top of something; it was in fact an old ice-chest.

Colleen was at first hung by the handcuffs from a pipe but these were soon removed from her wrists - one wrist at a time - so that her clothing could be stripped from her body while she could still not escape. Cameron now enjoyed himself removing every stitch of Colleen's clothing until she was stark naked. Colleen felt Hooker's hands tremble as he went about this pleasurable business. Soon strong leather straps replaced the handcuffs holding her wrists as they were pulled painfully outwards and upwards over some pipes. She was forced to stand on tiptoe, her body stretched taut, but not for long. Suddenly the ice chest was pulled away and Colleen was left with her whole weight hanging on her upstretched arms.

Some of Cameron Hooker's collection of restraints used on Colleen, as displayed in court. There were also handcuffs, gags and masks:

 

The prisoner kicked and screamed through the gag she was still wearing, but to no avail. She was informed coldly that her captor had cut the vocal chords of another woman who created a big fuss and he would do the same to her if she didn't shut up. And Colleen soon learnt another fact. It went better for her if she hung still and silent as the whip cracked over her body. This was hard at first but eventually on future occasions Colleen managed to more-or-less achieve the required demeanour. Not that this stopped the whipping, it just lessened it somewhat. Or so she thought. Hooker was not ready to abandon this pleasurable activity altogether. Rather, he used the promise of a lessened 'sentence' as yet another means of exercising control. After all, if the slave remained still and silent as she was being whipped she didn't really know when he stopped at, say, 10 lashes that he might have gone to 20 if she did not obey or that he planned stopping at 10 anyway! Cameron could quietly smile to himself as his slave obeyed his demand when in reality it had no effect on the punishment meted out. What a delightful idea for the sadist!

Cameron Hooker had many fantasies of bondage and dominance but undoubtedly the one that most excited him was having a naked women hanging by her wrists and being whipped. He had already experienced the thrill of this activity with the first captive girl and many times with his wife. It was now Colleen's turn. Janice had hoped she would be spared from future whipping sessions now Cameron had a personal slave to abuse but, although she was wrong on this score, it was Colleen who would experience the bulk of the whippings from now on - over and over again suffering the pain of being hung and whipped. As the first lashes snaked across Colleen's nude body she was able to see beneath the lower edge of the blindfold a magazine on the floor. It depicted just such a scene - a naked woman being hung and whipped.

It was as if Colleen had been transported from sunny California to the dungeons of the Middle Ages. It would be unbelievable were it not for the pain. The pain of the lash was at this moment the only reality in Colleen's world and, like any of us, nothing in the young girl's experience had prepared her for this! The lashes reigned down both on her back and snaked around the front of her body. Then they stopped and Colleen was left hanging in the straps. Cameron moved something under her feet so that now the tips of Colleen's bare toes could just rest on the object. The idea was to force Colleen to have to shift back and forth - from trying to balance on the tips of her toes to hanging in the straps. Both were difficult and painful. This kind of bondage - the painful kind - was the sort that turned Cameron on the most. He especially enjoyed forcing his captive to chose one type of pain over another. And he loved using his whips - he had four of them to choose from, some, at least, lovingly made by himself.

There remained one further scene to be played out. Cameron was so excited by the fact that this long planned-for day had gone off so successfully he wanted his wife to share his elation. He left the basement and returned with Janice, after which the couple removed their clothing (Colleen could still see a little beneath the blindfold) and had sex on the floor right underneath their hanging captive. It was a bizarre touch but it would not be the last time the couple copulated in the vicinity of their slavegirl. Colleen found it hard to believe all this was happening to her. On 19 May 1977 she had started out hitchhiking and it was still 19 May 1977!. How much had happened in the hours that followed her departure from home.

It might now be late in that first day of captivity but the day had not ended. Janice had by now gone off, leaving Cameron to play with his new pain-toy. Janice mostly left Cameron alone with his slave but sometimes she watched. For a while the support was removed from under Colleen's body and she was left hanging in the straps. Then he tired of this and introduced the blindfolded girl to another box he had made. This was a larger once, about 1 metre square, which sat in the corner of the basement. Not that she could see it; she was kept blindfolded now and for a long time after - in fact, she was kept blindfolded for the first eight months of her captivity. As Colleen had already seen both the husband and the wife the blindfold was really unnecessary; there can be but one explanation for depriving her of her sight like this - it was an added measure of humiliation. it was just one of innumerable sadistic acts experienced by Colleen. She was being treated then as always, as a mere object to bring pleasure to her 'master' whatever her discomfort. In truth, the greater her discomfort the greater his pleasure!

After being 'punished' (although she had done nothing whatever for which she should be punished), she was taken down from her hanging position. Relief at last, she thought, from the ache in her arms and the welts on her body. But there was to be no relief - she now found herself being maneuvered into the large box. There are conflicting accounts as to the nature of this object. The most likely is that it stood on the floor with the open side facing the captive, who was then made to crawl inside and kneel with her buttocks and feet facing outwards, i.e. facing Hooker. Her wrists were then drawn up backwards and attached with chain to the inside top of the box. Finally Cameron fitted the awful Torture Box to her head. This latter was then attached somehow to inside upper part of the larger box. In this vulnerable position Colleen was to be left for the night.

Janice now had to come back into the basement to view this new example of her husband's handiwork. Colleen could not, of course, hear what was being said, but could tell from muffled sounds that they were there. She must have felt especially humiliated knowing another women would be staring at her exposed buttocks and her pudenda and even enjoying the sight of her complete helplessness. Janice went back upstairs. Time passed painfully slowly and Colleen began banging on the sides of the crate in a form of protest. Hooker now returned and strapped or tied her ankles to the sides and added a new control device - a heavy strap pulled tight and buckled around her chest. This only allowed for very shallow breathing. Between the Torture Box and the strap Colleen had great difficulty breathing and experienced a long night of discomfort. She could now barely move a muscle. Another lesson to learn: the added discomfort had come from her rebellious act in banging the crate's side. Conform or suffer was ever Cameron's message to his slave!

Colleen knelt - for she could not move - in her uncomfortable prison through the long hours of this first terrifying night of captivity. She could neither hear nor see anything because of the Torture Box. It was a very effective form of sensory deprivation, leaving the prisoner isolated and helpless, a clever idea from the devious mind of Cameron Hooker. She was conscious of her nakedness, a wholly new experience for the quiet conventional girl. To be exposed as she had been to the man and the woman was humiliating and embarrassing. To be kept immobilized like this for hours on end was frustrating. Colleen was to become painfully acquainted with such frustration from the very next day. She would experience endless days of frustration and humiliation as the prisoner of Cameron Hooker.

Colleen was still blindfolded and gagged and these restraints added to the intense claustrophobic feeling caused by the Torture Box. Meanwhile she ached from the whipping and was in fear of her life. And still there was more - details are scarce but it seems some form of prickly phallic object intended to give electric shocks was pressed into the prisoner's vagina before she was left for the night. Evidently it was a kinky sex aid intended to administer unpleasant but not fatal shocks. It failed to work as intended but was left in place anyway, yet one more source of discomfort.

The hours passed ever so slowly. Colleen could hardly sleep with her body held in that awkward manner. The only interruptions came from her captor who every so often could not resist coming down to the basement to view with intense pleasure the helpless slavegirl. Doubtless Cameron experienced numerous erections that night. With her head locked in the box Colleen would not be aware of his nearness until she felt his cold hands on her bare flesh - feeling up his prize. He was ecstatic - his well thought-out plan had worked beautifully. There had been no complications. Nobody now knew where Colleen Stan was. Nobody had seen them down that back road. Nobody had seen her in the car and nobody had seen her being brought into the house. When, soon after, family and friends started looking for Colleen they drew a complete blank. It was as if she had vanished from the face of the earth, another statistic in a long list of unsolved missing persons cases. When I say nobody knew where Colleen was, there were two people who did know - Cameron and Janice Hooker. Only two. Not even Colleen herself knew where she was!

And now this excited young man had a real live slavegirl to do with as he wished. He was like a schoolboy with a new toy, in this case a pain-toy. With the invasive handling of her naked body by Cameron, Colleen must have have had her worst fears confirmed - whatever lay ahead in the future at this point of time was undoubtedly unpleasant. She might not yet realize it but she was already effectively a slave, completely controlled by Cameron Hooker. This female body stretched and confined was his to do with as he wished! The man could run his hands all over her body, could press and hurt and abuse her as he wished and she was completely helpless. And even when freed of her present confinement she would doubtless be subjected to some other form of restraint, never allowed to gain the slightest hold on possible freedom. This amazing transformation happened in a space of less than 24 hours. And this was in America, land of the free!

THE PLEASURES OF THE BONDMASTER.

Along with his pleasure in hanging and whipping females, Cameron Hooker also enjoyed the sight of having them immobilized in bondage restraints of various kinds. He was a bondage freak but his ideas of bondage were not the benign fun ideas of others. This bondage was intimately linked with the suffering of his victims. Thereafter, for a long period, Colleen was kept for hours and days in various forms of bondage, like a sort of experimental doll, only being released for short periods to eat and use the toilet. Cameron especially enjoyed adding a special measure of discomfort to the 'punishment' - e.g. Colleen may be kept tied so she was standing only on tiptoe on one leg, or hogtied in various uncomfortable ways or tied hanging upside-down. She also had many objects inserted into her orifices, such as vibrators and dildoes, and his own fingers. He also gave her enemas from time to time. He used various forms of clamps on her nipples and genitals and once pierced her labia and threaded a gold earring onto the raw and bleeding organ. This was, he claimed, for 'identification' purposes. In reality it was yet another mark of his possession of the woman's body.

What happened on the morning of the second day is not clear. Some accounts say Colleen was taken from the box and chained by her ankles to a long bench - actually a rack intended to stretch a victim - another piece of Cameron Hooker's handiwork. Her wrists were untied and she was allowed to eat a simple meal. She was, of course, always blindfolded and had to grope for the food. She was then ordered to use a bedpan while Hooker watched, a new experience in humiliation, reminiscent of a Japanese obsession. However, other accounts say she was kept hungry throughout the next day, not being fed until the night and then only being given some potatoes and a drink of water.

She was now strung up again in the large box with the Torture Box attached to her head. The latter was hot and sweaty and it was midsummer. A full 24 hours passed before she was offered any food again but Colleen was so exhausted by the heat she didn't want to eat. This enraged Hooker. He considered it an early sign of rebellion - to be stamped out - and proceeded to hang Colleen from the beam again while he whipped her unmercifully - so severely that she actually passed out. When he took her down and she had recovered she ate as instructed and this would be the last time she refused food. No matter what was offered she would eat it, even when the food comprised leftover scraps from the plates of the family, which was sometimes the case.

The notorious Torture Box locked many times over Colleen's head (an exhibit in the trial):

 

From then on, during the early period of Colleen's captivity she was kept locked in the basement. Day after day she would be laid out on a sort of stretching device, her wrists held by padded leather straps and at her ankles by straps attached to a winch and chain. The latter was used to tighten the 'rack'. Colleen was in the early period kept nude for most of the time and she would be strapped stretched out face-up on this device while nude. The chain would be tightened but not so much as to be painful, just enough to hold her taut. She would be left this way - unable to move a muscle or change position. She could not even stare at the ceiling as she still wore the blindfold and she was also kept gagged most of the time. Thus the captive was left lying for hours in a state of utter boredom and discomfort while Cameron went off to his daily employment. What pleasant thoughts must have wafted through her captor's mind - thinking of the helpless nude young woman lying stretched out for hours in his basement - as he went about his daily task, and he must often have experienced frustration at not being able to return to his plaything sooner.

The only human contact Colleen would have for many hours - and that of limited value as she could neither see her nor talk to her - would be an occasional visit from Janice who doubtless enjoyed viewing the other woman in this helpless state. It would not be surprising to know that Janice on occasions quietly slipped into the basement to view the captive lying there in her stark nakedness - sexual parts open for all (especially Cameron) to see and handle. She would do nothing to help the woman. And for Colleen there would be no respite to use the bathroom, however much she wanted to do so. For this boon to be granted she must wait upon the return of her 'master'. She would then be released, but rather than using the family bathroom she would be made to use a bedpan - in front of her captors. She would then be given a skimpy meal. The prisoner's diet was a simple one - just one meal in each 24 hours and that was not always a solid meal. And at times she was ordered to eat up the family's leftovers. Another humiliation.

Nightfall meant more fun and games for Cameron. The day's work over he could relax with his pain-toy and experiment with ideas he collected from bondage publications. Sometimes he would hang and whip Colleen - nude of course, at other times tie her up in some awkward manner. Sometimes he used the rack in a more painful way, stretching Colleen tightly as he wound the chain and ratchet and leaving her for some time stretched painfully. On these occasions she was almost unable to breathe because of the pressure on her taut body. She later said that sessions like this left her in pain for days afterwards. But she dared not complain - ever. Complaint only led to more punishment. Absolute obedience was what Cameron Hooker demanded of his slave.

At the end of each nightly session of abuse Colleen would again he strapped down naked on the bench and left there to sleep as best she could, quite unable to move a muscle. All too often the Torture Box would be locked into place as well and she would be expected to sleep with her head so confined, adding a strong element of misery to her 'rest'. When the box was not used Colleen could hear the neighbour's cars as they started each morning, the only way she knew another day had begun, a day that might bring forth what? Day 2 of her captivity passed, then Day 3, then Day 4 . . . ever so slowly and painfully. in the end the total of the days of Colleen's captivity is hard to assess but probably ran to over 2500 days!

A surviving actual photo (doctored by the police) of Colleen stretched on the bench. She was naked and police whited over her nude body for purposes of displaying the photo in court. Her bare feet can be seen on the right, pulled tight by straps attached to her ankles and a bar. Her wrists can be seen at the left side. The outline of her breasts and head can be seen. She would lie like this stretched out for many hours without relief, usually gagged and often blindfolded:

Many painful lessons quickly emphasized the necessity for instant and complete obedience at all times. Cameron never slackened in his control over his slave. On one occasion, when stretched out on the rack she realized she had an urgent toilet call. She was wearing both a gag and the headbox at the time but created sufficient noise to draw Cameron's attention. She pleaded to be allowed to use the bedpan ahead of time. For making this very reasonable request she was punished with a whipping. She was told that in future if she couldn't wait for the allotted time she would just have to dirty her pants. One of the techniques used by those engaged in brainwashing is to destroy any sense of privacy in relation to the normal functions of urination, defecation and menstruation. Throughout her captivity Colleen Stan was compelled to abandon any thought of privacy over these functions. She might use the bedpan in her prison box but she had to carry it from the box and empty and clean it in front of her captors. And in the earlier period she was only allowed to use the bathroom when it suited her 'master' to allow her to do so. She must on many occasions during long hours of confinement to have ached with a desire to use the toilet - a desire than would only be satisfied if she dirtied or wet herself. Doubtless this fact pleased Cameron. At one stage her poor diet and confinement resulted in Colleen's menstruation ceasing.

We have already seen what happened when she did ask to be allowed to relieve herself ahead of the allotted time. The published accounts of Colleen's experiences gloss over this aspect, understandably, but there must have been many times when she was compelled to lie in her soiled or wet clothing and this condition brings with it a sense of shame, a return to the accidents of childhood. And then the prisoner must clean her clothes, knowing that her captors are aware she has 'transgressed'. One is reminded of a well-known case in the USA of a teenage girl Sylvia Likens who was kept captive in a basement. The young sadists who were involved in tormenting her delighted in making her wait, tied to the bed, to use the toilet, knowing in the end she couldn't hold in her urine. Then, when she wet herself she would be beaten for doing so.

LEARNING TO BE A SILENT SLAVE.

In the early months Colleen was still kept blindfolded 24 hours a day and often gagged as well, although when locked into the Torture Box it was hardly necessary to use either gag or blindfold. Sometimes her wrists were bound behind her back for extended periods. Naturally her gag would have to be removed for her to eat. But even here obedience was sought; she quickly learnt not to ask for anything nor speak out of turn when the gag was removed, even if she wanted to use the toilet! Punishment followed if she disobeyed. Cameron was ever ready to find any excuse to punish his slave. She would have to wait to be given food and wait to be given permission by her 'master' to relieve herself. Sadism was again evident in all these requirements.

Only a few weeks had passed since that fateful decision to enter the Hooker's car but Colleen was already reduced to real and abject slavery and could only do what her captors permitted. All around them there were houses and people but it mattered not - there was virtually no hope of escape. Janice did not generally participate actively in the girl's torment but she could not aid her in any way even had she wanted to; she was too heavily implicated herself. She would know that if the kidnapping was revealed she too would be in hot water. Colleen was isolated, she had no choice in anything that happened to her. It just happened and that was that.

At a later stage Cameron's devious mind started ticking over with new and (to him) pleasant ways to control his slave. In a further step in her humiliation, she would even be required to kneel when asking permission to do anything. Rarely did she ask anyway. She had early learnt that begging for mercy only further excited him as did the tears she often shed. The more she hid her true feelings the better she was treated. Cameron Hooker was not one to react kindly to tears and entreaties. And as the days passed, then the weeks, the blindfold remained in place day and night. She had to feel her way around in everything she did. This was an extended form of cruelty and humiliating as well. Humiliation was one of the major means by which Cameron Hooker enforced his control. The humiliated person feels powerless and defeated. With every new humiliating experience she felt even less able to rebel against the role her 'master' demanded of her - to be an obedient slave.

The actual chain and rachet assembly attached to the bench upon which Colleen Stan was stretched:

Later Colleen was introduced to another Cameron construction. At least it offered a change from being locked down naked on the stretching bench for hours on end. This was a double-walled coffin-like timber box, just large enough to hold a human body. Now she could be put into this and the lid locked down, especially when the Camerons wanted to leave the house. Air holes provided for breathing, but there was not to be any comfort for the prisoner. Again the sadist in Hooker came to the fore. When Colleen was to be confined in the box she was often loosely hogtied - a chain locked around ankles and wrists and running around her neck. Thus she could not stretch out without nearly strangling herself and had to lie in the box in a backward curled position. The chain would make for greater security while the Hookers were absent. Until now all had gone splendidly and they wanted no slip-ups. It was feasible that in their absence an unchained Colleen might manage to break out of the box and escape. In reality by now the slavegirl was so cowered she was probably too scared to even attempt to get away.

Colleen was to know this form of confinement many times during the months that followed. When not being used as the object of Cameron's fantasies she would either spend hours chained up in the box or stretched out on the bench. Both forms of confinement were unpleasant but at least there was a change from time to time. And every so often yet another change took place. Colleen would be left chained to the latrine, sleeping on the cold bathroom floor for the night.

Colleen was also put to work in various ways to earn her keep. The Camerons were mostly short of money. For a long period she would be locked for hours in another specially-constructed place, a peculiar confining structure built by Cameron under the stairs, where she would have to work for hours through the night while the Camerons slept, undertaking tasks like doing macramé work or shelling nuts. This work started while she was still wearing the blindfold and for the purpose the blindfold and her other restraints would be removed, a welcome relief. The blindfold, and sometimes other forms of restraint, e.g. bindings on her wrists, would be restored as soon as the allotted task had been completed.

As the months passed Cameron's grip upon his captive was so strong that he decided the time had come for the next step, one that would, he felt, ensure Colleen would never willingly run away from him. She would be his slave for life - at least for as long as he allowed her to live. The whole plan was enshrined in a document called The Slavery Contract. This was not an original idea; Hooker had picked it up from elsewhere. It had appeared in an underground newspaper, but it was destined to be used as a very powerful instrument not only to control Colleen Stan but in a number of other cases where women became enslaved. Coupled with the Contract itself was an equally powerful idea - that there was a group known as The Company, a sort of underground brotherhood of slave-owners who helped ensure slaves obeyed their masters and did not try to escape. A story had been woven that beyond the walls of ordinary suburbia a whole network of female sex-slaves was to be found, girls just like Colleen. Cameron claimed that he had paid $1,500 to register his newly-acquired slave and in return for this the organization would an ever-watchful eye on her.

A network of informants made sure of this and if she ventured from the house at any time she would never know who could see her. Someone might watching from a nearby van or from another house. In the event of an attempted escape the miscreant was recaptured and tortured unmercifully. One such torture was to hang the victim with her hands nailed to a beam. She might even die as a result of punishment by her tormentors. In some cases she might be onsold to another 'master' - one with an even greater propensity for cruelty than her present master. Even more worrying was the threat that in the event of an escape the woman's own family would be targeted for cruel abuse.

It might be hard for those of us living freely to appreciate the power of these two controls. Together they formed a strong wall that fenced in the captive. Colleen was told she must sign the Slavery Contract, she had no choice, or suffer the consequences, and she did (see a copy of the contract). After all, by now Colleen had learnt many painful lessons stemming from disobedience. Later events would clearly demonstrate the power of this idea.

Colleen had been Hooker's prisoner for over eight months when the Contract was presented to her. Hooker had copied it out carefully, using a rented typewriter. Reduced by Hooker's many physical assaults, whippings, torture and the almost perpetual restraint of one kind or another she experienced, the young woman, then 21, found herself presented with this weird document. She had been kept blindfolded for all of those eight months. She had even 'celebrated' her 21st birthday, which had just passed, blindfolded as usual, and chained inside the coffin box. In fact there was no holiday celebration for Colleen at Christmas nor for New Year - on both these days in that first year of captivity she found herself locked in the coffin box. Cameron had now decided that, with this new phase, the blindfold could be removed. It was, at least, one less torment for the girl but there were many more to come! Colleen blinked in the unaccustomed light as she tried to grasp what the words in the contract meant. Impressive legal-sounding language was used to add gravitas to the moment:

 

The SLAVERY CONTRACT

This Indenture, made the ___ day of _________ in the Year of Our Lord _________________, between ___________ , hereinafter known as the Slave; AND _____________, hereinafter known as the Master; Testifies and Agrees:

 

That the aforementioned Slave, for and in humble appreciation of such care and attention as the Master may choose to afford her, hath given, granted, assigned, enfeoffed and conveyed, and by these presents doth give, grant, assign, enfeoff and convey unto her Master:

All of Slave's body, and each and every Part thereof without Reservation, and all of her Will as to all matters and things, and the entire Fulness of her Soul, together with every Privilege, Advantage and Appurtenance to the same belonging or in any wise appertaining thereto;

Also all the right, title, estate, interest, property, claims, ego and will of Slave in, of and to the same and in, of and to every portion and parcel thereof;

To have and to hold, the above-described Body and Soul, with all Appurtenances thereof, render unto her Master and any of his Assigns forever.

And the said Slave doth covenant, promise and agree:

1. She shall immediately, with full diligence and enthusiasm, comply with and submit her full being to any and all Directions and Desires of her Master or his Assigns which He or They may express by word, signal, action or any other means.

2. She shall at all times afford her Master absolute respect, and shall address him only as 'Sir' or 'Master', and shall station herself in a physical position subordinate to his whenever possible, and shall speak to or otherwise signal to Him only when granted His permission.

3. She shall constantly maintain her body parts in such circumstances as shall demonstrate and ensure that they are fully open to Him. She shall, if commanded by her Master, remain without clothing for as long as her Master or his Assigns desires. In addition and in particular she shall never cross her legs in His presence, and when wearing such clothing as her Master permits, shall wear no undergarments at any time, and shall cover no part of her body with apparel or material of any description except when the act of doing and the design of the item are expressly approved by Him.

4. She shall preserve her body parts for the exclusive use of Him and His Assigns, which use shall be the sole Source of her pleasures, and she shall engage in no self-gratification nor any physical contact with any other person.

And, further, Slave doth hereby irrevocably declare and acknowledge her everlasting unconditional dedication to serving her Master to His full and complete Satisfaction; And she freely admits that prior indulgence of her unrestrained desires by others may have permitted her to adopt inferior habits that may prove unsatisfactory to Master, from which imperfections she implores Master to free her by re-training with corporal punishment or physical restraint or any other means which He, in His wisdom, deems effective toward directing to her sole ambition and life-destiny of perfectly fulfilling His every desire of her.

In Witness Thereof, the Slave has hereunto appended her signature, and her Master has agreed to Seal these Presents by permanently affixing the symbolic Collar of Submission about her neck, at the date and time hereof.

Beaten, battered and already effectively reduced to a sex object with fading hopes of escape, Colleen signed this amazing document, not without concern and trepidation; but she dared not disobey, especially when she heard about The Company. Henceforth she would be known by her new slave name - 'K' ('Kay' to the neighbours) - while Cameron signed the contract himself with a false name, Michael Powers. Upon signing Colleen found herself having a tight-fitting gold metallic stretch 'slave collar' fitted around her neck. It was uncomfortable but she was now, she believed, an indentured slave so she could not complain; indeed, she could not even speak to her 'master' without being given permission! She must wear the collar at all times as a symbol of her slavery. And her body was now open to Cameron to do as he wished with every part of it. He was already doing this but now it was 'official'. And it meant, she was led to believe, that she was now a slave for the rest of her life. She must give up any hope of escape. She knew the consequences should she attempt to run off.

Upon signing, she read, she would use no underwear (although she was often nude anyway), would kneel when asking permission to do anything and would always adopt a submissive attitude to her master, calling him 'Sir' or 'Master'. Cameron also informed her that she was to address his wife as 'Ma'am'. She would not speak to either of them unless given permission to do so. The idea was to kneel before her master or mistress and wait for a signal giving her permission speak. Doubtless Cameron Hooker included his wife at this point so as to engage her in the day-to-day control of his slavegirl. This was all terribly humiliating - kneeling and awaiting permission to speak, especially kneeling before another woman, even sometimes being nude when doing so - but that pleased Hooker all the more. Humiliation is an important element of sadism. And Hooker knew how to heap on humiliation.

Among the actual photos of Colleen that survived after Hooker destroyed his collection:

If there was any doubt before this Colleen must now accept that her body would be always available to Hooker for his sexual pleasure, to use in whatever way he pleased. She was not even to practise self-gratification through masturbation. Over the years that followed Cameron made full use of the privileges illegally bestowed on him by means of this fake document. The whole episode is reminiscent of the introduction of the heroine to life in the chateau in The Story of O. But O was a willing participant in her debasement and subjugation; she could have run off right from the start. Colleen Stan had no say in the matter. Here, once again, is a case where truth was outdoing fiction!

This new ploy proved, strangely, highly successful. Cameron Hooker must have been relieved to discover the move worked so well. Colleen, although hesitant at first, became, amazingly, an obedient slave. This then enabled Hooker to let his captive out, even to go jogging and cycling alone - for Hooker realized his slave needed some exercise if she were to retain her attractive looks and body. She was fully convinced of the reality of The Company and Hooker reinforced this belief in many ways. Her activities were, however, still carefully controlled and the jogging runs were timed. When one day she came back 15 minutes late she was forbidden to go jogging again. Hooker was taking no chances! It must have been a great disappointment for Colleen to have this pleasure taken away from her. But she did go running outdoors on other occasions. These runs, however, were different - they had a somewhat sadistic twist. Her 'master' would accompany the runner in his car and then demand she run a long distance. She would be forced to keep running, to jog along almost completely exhausted while he watched her idly from the comfort of his vehicle. As always, Colleen dared not disobey nor complain.

THE PRISONER UNDER THE BED.

Eventually Hooker moved from the rented house and set the three of them up in a trailer-home. The reason is uncertain although it did have a lot of space around it, unlike the house, so perhaps Hooker had in mind the need for privacy. No longer having a basement he provided secure confinement for his captive by rebuilding his special double-lined box with a small air-entry hole, setting it actually under their large waterbed. But again we see the sadistic side of Cameron Hooker. By now Colleen was demonstrating complete obedience as a slave. She was evidently prepared to honour the Contract she had signed and was fearful of the activities of the shadowy enforcers she had been told about. But this was insufficient. Colleen would be locked in the box under the bed for hours on end, especially when the family left the trailer. The space was just high enough to allow for a bedpan which Colleen had to manipulate to use when left locked away for extended periods - as she often was. Generally she was allowed out for a one hour period each day during which time she would be fed and allowed to use the bathroom.

By now the Camerons had two small children but somehow successfully hid their peculiar activities from them. Colleen was, to the children and to any inquisitive neighbours, just a friend, 'Kay', who helped around the house. Being fully brainwashed and constantly threatened with action from The Company, Colleen was quite manageable. If she went outside the trailer she made no attempt to escape nor give any hint of being a captive.

But in spite of her excellent behaviour and subservient attitude she would still be locked all too often in the box under the bed - for many tedious hours on end. Cameron obviously enjoyed the idea of leaving her in this confined space even although it was rarely necessary. She was just barely able to move enough to use the bedpan provided for her. The box - the court was later told - was exactly the height between her elbow and the tip of her fingers when her arm was resting on the floor. Her ability to use the bedpan in this restricted space was even tested by police; they found it was possible - just - but very difficult, not surprising for a facility provided by a sadist. Cameron must have smiled to himself as he pictured his slave trying to work her body over the bedpan from time to time. Naturally the couple often made love in the bed above the captive, as she lay naked and confined in her prison. Listening to the grunts and moans of the sex act as it was played out above her head was yet another humiliating experience. There is certainly an element of the perverse in this arrangement. Cameron knew what he was doing!

The prisoner under the bed never had any idea of how long it might be before she was released again. The hours went by unmarked in the monotonous darkness. All she knew were the sounds from the room above. She might be there but an hour or two, perhaps three, perhaps seven or eight. In the darkness of her prison she had no idea of time; she just had to wait patiently until Cameron saw fit to let her out again. This form of open-ended confinement was a peculiarly cruel touch, one typical of Cameron. It was not like some naughty child being told she must remain in her room (a light and airy room at that) for two hours. Colleen was not told how long she would be locked up. The door was padlocked and the time started ticking over ever so slowly. And the darkness was absolute. It was a special form of cruelty that left no physical marks on the sufferer.

Then life in the Cameron home changed again. For a period of about a year Colleen was given a great degree of liberty, Cameron by now being convinced of his hold over the girl. She was often seen working busily in the garden by neighbours, but she did not communicate much with them. Outwardly, to those neighbours she seemed as free as anyone. It is strange to think that these people had no idea that the young woman working nearby was as completely restrained as if she had been locked up in a tiny cage. Even though she was now allowed to go on outings with Janice, including occasional shopping trips and even dances, she always returned, always obeyed. She was thoroughly convinced now of the power of The Company. It was not hard for someone in these circumstances to fancy an agent of The Company was looking at you with special threatening interest, someone was peering through the window of a house or standing behind a bush watching your every move. It is much like it was for Germans living under the ever-watchful eye of the Gestapo. The fear of stepping out of line, the fear of being found out in some infraction, then being grabbed and carted off to some horrid fate was ever present. The idea of The Company was certainly a powerful concept.

At one point Janice lost her job so Cameron drove Colleen to Reno and other neighbouring towns where she was forced to beg on the streets. Once again Colleen was suffering humiliation at the hands of her 'master' but she dared not complain about being 'reduced' to such a role and she made no effort to speak about her plight to the strangers from whom she begged. If she had to beg so be it. It was just another episode in the long saga of the life of a slave.

Colleen was now more often dressed when inside the house than nude although, as she had agreed in the Contract, she was not allowed to use underwear. She was always naked under her outer garments, a thought that must have excited Hooker. And a thought that provided an impulse for a new humiliating activity. Hooker's invented what he called the Attention Drill. Whenever he shouted 'Attention!' Colleen had to stop doing whatever she was doing and immediately strip off any clothing she was wearing and stretch her naked body on tiptoe in a doorway, the tips of her fingers touching the archway, tense and fully exposed except for the 'slave collar' locked permanently on her neck, until permitted to go back to what she had been doing. The period she remained there might be short or long and, of course, not only Cameron enjoyed the sight of the stretched nude woman but so did Janice. Stretched on tiptoe and doubtless feeling very vulnerable she might expect perhaps the crack of the whip on her body at any minute and as always would have no idea how long she might be kept in that uncomfortable position. She dared not complain no matter how her toes and legs might ache.

In many ways to strip off her clothing in this way was nothing special as she was often made to go about her household chores naked anyway. Although now graciously granting Colleen a degree of freedom, Hooker did not intend letting up on his pleasures, and he still frequently subjected Colleen to beatings, hangings and other punishments and kept her confined for long periods curled up inside the box. After all, it was now easier to get her ready acquiescence to whatever he wanted to do to her body. She had signed the peculiar contract and seemed to be ready to obey her master in all things; certainly she made no attempt to run away.

But there were far worse experiences than the beatings, stretchings and suspensions. There were electric shocks and even burnings and on occasions she was nearly drowned as her head was held beneath the bath water. Janice had also experienced water tortures.

The first and probably the worst near-drowning incident occurred after Colleen had been a captive for three months. During this whole time she had not been allowed to bathe properly so Hooker decided she needed a bath. This was the ostensible reason to give her a good washing but undoubtedly, as one of Hooker's constant fantasies involved women being brought to near-drowning point under water, there was a hidden motive at work. Colleen might look forward to getting into a nice bath but she would not be allowed to wash herself, Cameron Hooker would do that, another humiliation. This she soon discovered as Hooker bound Colleen's wrists behind her back. She was at the time still perpetually blindfolded and she was also gagged that day with duct tape so he now taped over her blindfold and gag to hold them in place. This left only her nose through which she could breathe. He then made a makeshift spreader bar from a broomstick and bound her ankles spread wide apart to the bar.

Somehow the nude and hobbled woman was made to struggle upstairs to the bathroom. Even such an operation must have pleased Cameron. It emphasized yet again her helplessness. As she was nude he could also enjoy the pleasure of her exposure while he bathed her. It was another humiliation. In the bathroom Hooker draped the spreader bar across the bath with Colleen held face-down and her head then pushed underwater. He did this many times until the young woman was half choking and nearly drowned. He then left her lying face-down in the half-filled bath while he took explicit photos of her. With her arms tied tightly behind her back and her ankles bound to the spreader bar she was rendered completely helpless and had to struggle mightily to try to bring her nose - the only source of fresh air - up out of the water. Her struggles must have greatly excited Cameron Hooker; clearly he had planned things that way. Colleen later said she felt she thought she had come very close to death on that terrifying occasion. And it was not the last time she experienced torture by water.

Following this episode Cameron told his wife to brush out Colleen's badly tangled hair. It had grown matted and unruly through the weeks of neglect. Janice soon found it almost impossible to tame the hair so she took some scissors and roughly cut off most of it. It was a very unattractive cut but that didn't bother Janice. It was yet another humiliation for the captive.

THE SADIST'S PAIN-TOY

Cameron Hooker was not interested only in control but, like any true sadist, he enjoyed inflicting real pain and looked for every opportunity to do so. Hooker was the complete sadist. The notorious Marquis de Sade might write his catalogs of cruelty but acted out very few himself; Cameron Hooker wrote no books but inflicted pain. And he also took many photographs of his handiwork, which he (for obvious reasons) had learnt to develop himself. In the days before digital photography this was the only way to ensure the images didn't fall into the wrong hands. He managed to destroy most of these before being arrested; but not quite all. A handful surfaced at the trial. One shows Colleen stretched out nude on the bench, her wrists and ankles in leather straps (it is only ever shown with the body covered). Another shows her hanging by her arms from a wall, but this time clothed.

On other occasions the captive was burnt on her nipples with cigarettes, hung upside down, kept bound in various uncomfortable positions for long periods, and, inevitably, made to satisfy Hooker's sexual appetites in the absence of his wife. Hooker had early on promised Janice that whatever he did to his slavegirl he would not have intercourse with her. Janice at one stage went to a job each day and when alone with his prize possession Hooker engaged in every possible sexual activity except straightforward vaginal intercourse. This included frequent sessions of fellatio and sodomy. During this period Colleen became very familiar with Hooker's penis. And many activities involving inserting various objects into the slave's anus and vagina. In the end, though, he succumbed to the attractions of his slave's body and forgot the promise he had made to his wife. Colleen did not, of course, welcome these advances but she could do no else but allow her 'master' to have his way. To do otherwise invited cruel punishments.

Most often Colleen was hung, arms stretched wide in leather bonds, and whipped, this being Hooker's favourite activity. The early whippings in the basement saw Colleen hanging by straps attached to overhead pipes. The later whipping took place as she was hung from two sturdy hooks in the ceiling of the mobile home. The strain on the young woman's arms must have been enormous as she was no lightweight and often she hung there for extended periods.

There was something especially satisfying to this sadist in seeing a young naked woman suffering from the awful pull with the full weight of her body supported by her outstretched arms. And the idea of beating her while she was thus immobilized had an even more arousing effect on the man when joined by the demand that she should not squirm in her painful bonds while being thus whipped! It was altogether a cruelty worse than many the Nazis inflicted on prisoners. And Cameron had the special pleasure of knowing he had with his own hands lovingly fashioned the whips he used on the girl's body.

His wife, in spite of the presence of the slavegirl, was also still, on occasions, hung and whipped, or stretched. He could now experience a double measure of fun. Both women were sometimes taken to the bush, where Cameron hung them from trees and beat both of them to his heart's content. The wife apparently did not object or at least was too scared to do so.

Colleen's year of comparative freedom ended eventually because the women fell to bickering and causing trouble. Janice was becoming jealous of Cameron's excessive interest in his slave. Hooker decided he must regain control and so, for the next four years Colleen Stan was to spend, almost unbelievably, the greater part of a lonely isolated existence confined in the dark box under the bed. Hour after hour, day after day, for long periods she would lie cramped in the confining space and, in hot weather, her body would be streaming with perspiration. She would have to use the bedpan and it would remain there, like her, until Hooker saw fit to let her out for her period of eating and exercising. She never had any idea how long this might be or how long she would be left locked up. She did not wear a blindfold in these days but could see nothing in the dark, having to feel her way to the bedpan and just lie and wait to be released. It is hard to imagine being left like this. It would be more cruel than regular solitary confinement in a prison cell. And it is a fair assumption that Cameron, ever the sadist, would at times deliberately leave Colleen there for a longer than usual period. That he was capable of this will be seen by at least one incident.

During one midsummer period the Camerons decided to go for a trip. With little thought to the slave lying in the cramped space beneath their bed they set out. In doing so they left Colleen locked in the sweltering box without food or water for three full days and nights. Or perhaps they did think of her and decided to add to their enjoyment experiencing the pleasurable thought of her uncomfortable conditions while they enjoyed themselves tripping around. In any event, Colleen found herself locked up - hot, hungry and thirsty - for she knew not how long. She was in a very poor state when they released her. Could she not break out? It was possible as the box was not all that strong but she had on one occasion kicked out the end of the box but then had become scared of retribution. She immediately confessed what she had done and Cameron had repaired the damage without punishing her. She might not be so lucky next time. She decided to suffer in silence.

It was later calculated that In all she spent the best part of more than one thousand days, interspersed only by short periods of freedom, locked in the box under the bed. Some of these days ran to a few hours but many were days or 10, 12 or more hours, even at times 24 hours, without respite. If we take an average figure of 12 hours, and that is probably too low, this meant she was locked away for at least 12,000 hours. This only in the box under the bed. Add to that the months she spent chained up in the first box and the total is even higher, perhaps all told as high as 15,000 hours - long, tedious, dark and lonely hours.

After the fracas with the women Cameron came up with new ways to ensure his slave remained obedient. One day he made her point a gun down her own throat and pull the trigger. She obeyed, not knowing what would happen. Cameron now had Colleen say goodbye to the neighbours, telling them she was returning to California. This would explain her absence because he was about to lock her in the box for lengthy periods. But because she continued to show obedience Cameron first graciously allowed Colleen to write three letters to her sisters - the contents carefully scanned for anything out of step - and have one phone call via a payphone to her family. These actions were to be a reward to good behaviour, a rare thing for Cameron Hooker. Naturally he listened in to the conversation. He need not have bothered. Colleen was so pleased she would do nothing to step out of line.

Colleen's final prison box, kept under the family waterbed - reconstructed for a court display and shown here being tested by someone:

 

Soon a trip was arranged but then something strange took place. Before the trip started Colleen found herself locked up in the box continuously for a full week. This was indeed a very odd turn of events. Doubtless Cameron Hooker did this to remind her of her slave status and make sure she behaved appropriately while visiting her family. It was surely a powerful reminder as she had never before been left for such a long period in the confined space. How that week must have dragged although, as always, when the confinement started she would have had no idea how long it would be before she was freed again. She would be put in the box, the door locked and then left without comment. One wonders what she was thinking as the time dragged on. Had she been left there for good? Would she ever be allowed out? But eventually the strange confinement was ended and preparations made for the trip.

So it came about, three and a half years after Colleen had been abducted (exactly halfway through what was to be a captivity lasting seven years), that Colleen went with Cameron to visit her family. She was to say he was a computer programmer boyfriend. Colleen offered no explanations as to where she had been and the family, thinking they may have upset or offended her in some way, were careful not to press for explanations. The visit was supposed to last for the weekend but after 24 hours Cameron decided to cut it short and collected Colleen again. One of her sisters took a photo showing a very cheery Colleen with her boyfriend. They thought she looked happy; they didn't know how dearly she wanted to tell them the truth, but she dared not.

Colleen's brief time of freedom had come to an end. But she was soon to find out that it had ended in more ways than she realized. When she returned to Red Bluff the fun was really over. Cameron had been thinking about his situation and now decided for reasons known only to himself, that it was time to imprison his slave almost in perpetuity. It was a very strange decision under the circumstances. There is little evidence available to explain it but one wonders if it was simply a new and extended form of sadistic behaviour. Had Cameron tired a little of the endless games of torture and abuse over the three and a half years Colleen had been in his possession? Perhaps now he had decided to enjoy a more passive form of sadistic behaviour - simply keeping his slavegirl perpetually locked away in a dark prison box under a bed. It certainly made life easy and he could always bring her out for a session of torture whenever it suited him.

Whatever the reason for this decision it would result in much misery for Colleen. She was to experience this terrible form of solitary confinement over the next three years - only being released for necessary visits to the bathroom, for feeding, emptying the bedpan and - to be abused by Hooker whenever he saw fit. It is hard to contemplate the almost endless time Colleen experienced locked away, without benefit of radio, television or reading matter, the only sounds the noises from the bed above and movement in the bedroom. On the worst days it was a case of an hour of freedom, then 23 hours confinement.

There has never been any explanation of this change of heart but it does seem that this might be pure sadism at work. The idea of the naked captive lying in darkness in her box for hours on end might well have provided Cameron with an almost continual sense of power and excitement, especially as Colleen was so often right beneath where he was sleeping and having sex with his wife. Clearly Cameron Hooker possessed a very active imagination so it is easy to picture his possible intense satisfaction as he visualized every possible awkward move being made by the imprisoned girl. Trying to work her body over that bedpan without tipping it over. Trying to stretch aching limbs. Trying to fill the mind with something, anything. Day after day, night after night, week after week, for three long years. Sometimes as an added cruelty Colleen would be placed in the box in fetters of various kinds - wrists bound behind her back or ankles locked in leather restraints. The second half of Colleen Stan's captivity - the last three and a half years - could be told largely in terms of that box. There was little else part from the daily humiliations and punishments. Life now centred on the box

Colleen's twenty-seventh birthday came and went without fanfare like her 21st, and like Christmas and like New Year. By now she had been a prisoner for seven years and had learnt to forget her family and friends. This existence had become all she knew of life. This was the way it would be to the end of her days. Whatever Cameron demanded she must acquiesce to. A new twist came when Cameron demanded that Janice and Colleen should engage in mutual sex acts while he watched. This particularly disturbed Janice who was now attending church regularly. Indeed it was Janice who brought the long saga to an end. Hooker's own wife began feeling guilty about what was happening.

By now, Colleen was even being sent out to work, for money was still, as always, short. The wife had been reading a Bible and began to worry about what had been happening. She was, after all, now older and had no doubt lost some of her early naïvety. Finally, she blurted out the amazing tale to a church pastor and then decided she must tell Colleen the truth. The story of The Company, she told Colleen, had been a terrible lie. This was all Colleen needed to break free from her tormentor and run. She contacted her father who wired her some money and she headed for home.

At first Colleen said little to her family but eventually the story unfolded in all its horror. It was hard to believe as the details exploded onto the front pages of the newspapers. When the sensational case hit the light of day, evidence produced in court ran to 140 items, including many bondage devices and the whips. Cameron Hooker's innumerable photos of both his wife and Colleen bound and tormented had mostly been destroyed when he knew the police were closing in on him but a few survived, to act as damning evidence when shown in court.

Also produced were some love-letters written by Colleen to Cameron, submitted by the defence to support the claim that the girl had been a willing participant in bondage rituals. The court decided that these had been written under duress. The girl had, said the judge, been repeatedly threatened with death if she attempted to escape or in any way disobey Cameron.

SENSATIONAL TRIAL

After a sensational trial, in which for a time the strange passive demeanour of Colleen Stan worked against the prosecution, Cameron Hooker was sentenced in 1985 to a total of 104 years in jail. This included 69 years on nine counts of rape, 10 years for using a knife and 25 years for kidnapping. In sentencing the man, Judge Clarence Knight stated that Hooker was 'the most dangerous psychopath I have ever dealt with.' The judge felt that should Hooker ever be released from jail any woman who crossed his path would be in great danger.

Certainly, in retrospect it would appear that Colleen Stan was a ready-made victim. Not for one moment does this excuse anything Cameron Hooker or his wife did. But it does explain her willingness to submit so readily to her brutal treatment, especially in the latter stages when she had very many opportunities to flee. For a time during the trial the prosecutor almost despaired of winning the case, so resigned and submissive was Colleen Stan's attitude.

It is hard to imagine she could have fully swallowed the crazy line about the Slavery Contract, yet this did indeed appear to be a turning point, for from that time on she was allowed a greater degree of freedom, and yet for over six more years she submitted to endless painful abuse. Surely as she lay sweltering for hours in that confining box or hung painfully in the straps or felt the sting of the lash on her naked back, she must have felt some desire to escape, some rising spark of rebellion?

Perhaps, though, strangely, this passivity finally saved her life. Rebellion might well have resulted in her death. After all, she had come close to this in the bath; it was undoubtedly well within Cameron Hooker's capabilities to put to death a rebellious slave! And it seems possible he did kill an earlier potential slave although this has never been proved. Unless she writes her memoirs we will probably never fully understand the strange thought processes that went on through those seven years. It would indeed be fascinating to know more.

Colleen Stan's story as revealed to the public laid heavy emphasis on certain aspects of her captivity - the notorious Torture Box, the nude hangings and whippings, the bondage devices, the near-drowning. Colleen suffered endless physical abuse. She was whipped many times, she was stretched, she was burnt, she was given electric shocks, she was nearly drowned. She was also at times starved and she was sexually assaulted in every possible way. She was kept blindfolded and gagged for lengthy periods - indeed had been perpetually blindfolded for no less than eight months. Sensory deprivation came chiefly in the form of the nauseous Torture Box locked around her head, effectively reducing her to the situation of an afflicted person - blind, deaf and speechless - all rolled into one.

But there is one other aspect to Colleen Stan's slave life that should not be treated lightly - the long and frequent periods of enforced inactivity. These began on the first full day of her new life - the time spent strapped down on the basement rack. Try if you will, lying upon your bed, arms stretched above your head, and spend one full hour without movement of any kind. You will soon grow weary of the exercise. And this is for but one hour, an hour that I feel sure you will never complete. Colleen would be left lying, nude and exposed, stretched out on the bench not for an hour at a time but for many many hours. A whole day would go by with no possibility of movement, no way of relieving the strain, nothing to do but just lie there waiting for the return of the one person who would bring relief - her 'master'. Remember, she was blindfolded and more often than not gagged as well, and was often locked into the Torture Box.

To lie there like that immobile for hours on end is something altogether too difficult for us to contemplate. Hour after hour ticks over but the captive has no idea of time. It is all one blur. You might try counting off the minutes, then the hours, but the exercise will soon become exhausting. In any event, what does it mean? You might even work out you have been there for so many hours but you still have no idea how many more will pass before relief comes. Thirsty? Forget getting yourself a glass of water. Hungry? You cannot get yourself a snack. You will be fed at 8 o'clock that night if you are lucky but you have no idea how far away or how near is that time. Want to blow you nose? Impossible. A fly lands on your naked body or a mosquito bites. Nothing can be done to relieve the annoyance. Feel the urge to urinate or defecate? There is only one way relief can come before the permitted time - the least desirable. How many times must Colleen have wanted desperately to use the toilet but instead had to suffer the rising tension of trying to avoid relieving herself right there? This must have been especially so in the early weeks - before she learnt not ever to allow herself to drink too much water. You may on some days feel hot and sweaty. It was summer when Colleen was first laid along that bench but cold days were to come in time when your exposed body would shiver. It is reasonable to suppose Colleen was covered in the worst weather but probably not well covered. You may lie stretched there for three or four hours, it might go on for ten or twelve hours. Generally she would be there for a whole day, eight hours perhaps, while Cameron was away at his work. And then again through the night. This hard bed upon which Colleen was so often laid out was no benign object, rather it was a refined implement of extended torture. Cameron the sadist knew what he was about when he laboured to fashion this bed.

And little changed when the time came for Colleen to be moved into the first coffin-like box. Here she would lie in the darkness, still blindfolded, sometimes gagged, her wrists and ankles chained together behind her back with the chain arranged to loop around her neck in such a fashion as to make stretching out straight an impossibility. She could only lie in a curled up position. The place was now different but the period of incarceration the same - indeterminate. Hours might pass, the captive had no idea of how long, before release came and she would be allowed, blinking, into the light, to be fed and watered like some animal in a zoo. Day after day, week after week, month upon month Colleen Stan was either left stretched on the rack or locked into the coffin box. Doubtless she would fall asleep for some of this time but for long hours she would be awake - thinking of what? How does one occupy the mind in such circumstances? It was surely sufficient to send a person mad.

Then came the final and most used box - the one under the bed. Colleen was to know the inside of this box not for weeks and months on end but for years! On and off for a time and then for three full years virtually every day - day after day - Colleen was locked in this dark prison. She was not chained but the time she spent there was generally longer than before and she would have to use the bedpan thoughtfully provided for the prisoner. As ever Colleen would have no idea of the time, no way of knowing how long she would be left lying in the darkness. Release was always at her master's pleasure - when he saw fit. Once she was locked up for three hot days without food and water. And once she was there for seven days without respite. How she must have wondered and worried on that occasion. She would, of course, have no idea of how many hours had passed but would realize it was now a very long time since she was locked up. Had she been forgotten? Had the couple gone off and left her? These ideas would be dismissed for she could hear from time to time movement in the bedroom and on the bed above her head. Why were they leaving her there? There was no way of knowing, no way of finding out, no way to end the frightening situation. She dared not bang on the box walls nor scream out. She knew better than to step out of line like that. After all, her captors had not gone away altogether, they were still there, they would surely release her when they were ready to do so.

As always Cameron was demonstrating his complete mastery. The slave could do nothing, could not complain. She must just await his pleasure. When he was ready to release her he would do so. One can only speculate how much Cameron enjoyed himself during that week, enjoyed the sense of his absolute power. He would, of course, well know that his slave would be bewildered. So much the better - imagining Colleen's confused state of mind would add greatly to his pleasure. Day after day he doubtless contemplated opening the box but would then consciously decide to leave it for another 24 hours. And another. He must even have been tempted to keep the game up for longer than the week it did last.

It is fair to suggest that the sum total of Colleen Stan's isolation and immobilization throughout the seven years of her captivity equalled in cruelty the sum total of the actual physical and sexual assaults she suffered. And remember, while she might look forward to the moment when the straps were undone or the door of her box prison opened but the pleasurable anticipation would be heavily tinged with fear - she would not know what Hooker planned to do with her body next. Minutes later she might find herself swinging nude from the ceiling and being flogged or tied in an uncomfortable position, or subjected to sexual assault. She might be given an enema or become the target of some new and fiendish idea that flowed from Hooker's vivid imagination.

In summary then we have here what must be the all-time classic deprivation of liberty story. Many stories of this kind have been and will be told but few have or will equal this one.

FOOTNOTE:

Cameron Hooker is still locked away as I write these notes, in Folsom Prison. In 1991 American TV aired an interview with Hooker, then aged 38, from the jail. Although sentenced to a long term in prison it has been reported he could be released in 2022. There was little he said that indicated he felt any sense of remorse for what he had done. He smiled and laughed as he recounted some aspects of the case. He was, in the words of the TV commentator, apparently 'unchanged and unmoved.' One certainly got the impression that if he had the chance he would would love to capture another young woman and do it all over again! And at one point he had given Colleen the task of helping prepare a dungeon for future slaves. He expressed a wish to have several females enslaved. He forced Colleen to help him dig a deep hole under a shed near the mobile home and then moved Colleen into the dungeon in a trial run. It was fitted out with suitable hooks and pulleys. Evidently it was intended to use these to immobilize the slaves and hold them in any desired position for as long as their 'master' desired. However, heavy rain flooded the hole so it proved impractical. Photos of a reconstruction of the dungeon were shown during the trial. Colleen Stan has also since appeared on TV and recounted her experiences.

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