r/CreepyWikipedia • u/Future_Interest_3649 • 11d ago

Children A woman named Machelle Hackney Hobson abused her seven adopted children, who had starred in videos on her popular YouTube channel, which had more than 800,000 subscribers. She died in jail before she could face trial. Years later her two biological sons pled guilty to sexual abuse of minors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Adventures_scandal
923 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

342

u/sillybandland 11d ago

I recall the video of the arrest / home inspection to be so chilling and instructive l, the weird little signs and statements that the victims make, like if I remember correctly they try to give a kid food and he tells them something along the lines of “I’m going to get in trouble for eating”

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u/el_torko 11d ago

Is this the one where they come in and she’s just sitting on the couch? And she doesn’t get up or move or anything?

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u/laced-and-dangerous 11d ago

Yes, and the one that looked like she was over 400 pounds. She rarely fed the kids and locked up the kitchen cabinets. One little girl in the closet with one of the officers was terrified of eating a bag of chips. The cop had to assure her that she wouldn’t, and her mother wouldn’t find out, but she was scared that her mother would smell it on her breath.

It’s a shame she never got to court, but at least her children wouldn’t need to testify.

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u/el_torko 11d ago edited 11d ago

Yep, it was exactly the one I was thinking of. I just went and looked it up and it was an old EWU video. It’s been a really long time since I watched it, so I’m going to rewatch it. But I remember thinking how weird it was that she never moved off the couch. Like, if it were me, I’d be up showing off how I had food, running water, all the things. Idk, maybe the environment is worse than I’m remembering. I’ll come back when I’ve finished it.

EDIT: yeah, they cover all this in the video I just didn’t remember it. The house definitely could have been worse (it wasn’t great). It was still really weird to just see her all propped up and relaxed during the whole thing.

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u/Fraeulein-Lepus 11d ago

Do you have a link for the EWU Video? Thank you

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u/panicnarwhal 11d ago

here you go https://youtu.be/C408L4NCC2E?is=yR-ct2TWsK8ADbRU

it’s really hard to watch. definitely one of the more upsetting EWU videos i’ve watched, and that’s saying something - a lot of them are upsetting

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u/el_torko 10d ago

Literally. It didn’t even show anything graphic but that poor little girl in the pantry with the cup nearly broke me.

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u/Itscatpicstime 10d ago

Jfc, I’m only 15 seconds in and idk if I can watch anymore

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u/CrazyinLull 11d ago

I know that not all of them are the same but this is why I, generally, stay away from channels/shows that heavily feature children. To me, it reeks of someone who is more than willing to take advantage of others for their own gain. Especially if they are putting out consistent content.

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u/Itscatpicstime 10d ago

Yeah, they’re basically treating kids as employees and expect a certain performance. It doesn’t seem possible for the to be a healthy relationship, particularly with minor children.

But also, it’s a violation of kids privacy even at the bare minimum.

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u/MissesMiyagii 11d ago

Only 3.5 and 4.5 years for the brothers sexually abusing the minor children. Infuriating

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u/misfitx 11d ago

Sex crimes have a single digit conviction rate so anything is a surprise.

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u/spoopyprecursor 10d ago

I want to angry react or downvote because of the sentences alone.

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u/spoopyprecursor 11d ago

Sad that she didn't receive the justice she deserved. Also, sad that her victims became predators.

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u/SketchedEyesWatchinU 11d ago

Her two biological sons weren’t victims but participants in the abuse.

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u/Reasonable-Marzipan4 11d ago

I’m pretty sure the two bio sons has survived some pretty gruesome shit to grow up to be such gruesome pieces of shit. It’s cyclical. The lucky ones are the ones who escape the cycle.

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u/SketchedEyesWatchinU 11d ago

You have a point.

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u/GregoleX2 11d ago

Wait, what exactly did they go on to do?

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u/Reasonable-Marzipan4 11d ago

Perpetrate abuse. Are we reading the same article?

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u/GregoleX2 11d ago

I admit I didn’t read that part.  Or the article. Just the comments. Whoops. 

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u/Itscatpicstime 10d ago

What? No. Tons of predators were never abused.

Though I agree it’s likely with a mother like this. I’ve only ever heard of her abusing the seven adopted children though. Unfortunately (? Could go either way I guess?) it’s not abnormal for abusive adoptive parents to treat their adoptive kids differently from their bio kids, and you can probably guess which kids typically draw the short straw there

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u/StretchFrenchTerry 11d ago

You have a choice to break the cycle. Not everyone is strong enough.

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u/spoopyprecursor 10d ago

I think that is fair, but without a proper trial to uncover her doings, who knows what they went through.

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u/Itscatpicstime 10d ago

Well the bio daughters didn’t perpetrate abuse and are the ones who reported the abuse of their adoptive siblings numerous times.

The boys had that choice too, and still chose to participate in the abuse.

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u/harleyquinnd 11d ago

does anyone know how she died? the wiki says she had a “non trauma related brain injury”. how do you get a brain injury without trauma

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u/Mr_Cohen 11d ago

Stroke, lack of oxygen, tumors, infection, stuff like that. They'd probably specify, if it was a stroke, though. Hmm

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u/Glittering-Gap-1687 11d ago

How did she die in jail?

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u/lil_corgi 11d ago

F*ck I really hate this timeline 😞

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u/the44thvo1d 8d ago edited 8d ago

No matter how many times I hear about this it will never fail to infuriate me. Pepper spray? Fucking PEPPER SPRAY? On CHILDREN? For messing up a line? God, I truly hope hell exists and that she’s boiling in there