Love in the Time of Fairy Tales
This page is a transcript of the exhibit video. Images and items featured in this video were donated by the King family.
The Fitz house where the abduction occurred.
Opening scene, photo lay. Close-up on image of Tyrone and Gladys Fitz holding Rapunzel as a baby.
Narrator: Rapunzel was born into a standard family. Each of her parents wanted her fiercely. That's why when she went missing at only three months old, they were heartbroken.
Cut to video of older Rapunzel telling her story.
Rapunzel: I never got to know my parents. Everything that I've heard about them has been kind though. They wanted me. They really did. They had no idea what was going to happen or how I would grow up. They never knew...
Image on screen changes to a photo of the family home.
Narrator: Rapunzel was taken from her family home at three months old, with only her favorite toy missing from the scene. There were no fingerprints or physical evidence for the police to find. The trail went cold.
Cut to video of Sgt. Berry interview.
Sgt. Berry: I was the lead detective on the case at the time. There was just no evidence. Nothing to suggest that who had taken Rapunzel. There was no perceived motive beside the wanting the child.
Cut to image of Gertrude Hopshead.
Sgt. Berry: As we later learned, Gertrude Hopshead snuck into the house expertly and took the child without leaving any sort of clue. We had nothing to go on.
Cut to Rapunzel interview.
Rapunzel: I guess that she was good at what she did. I wish that I had been found sooner but... I didn't know. How could I grow up with her and not know? I never knew she wasn't my mother, but looking back there were all these odd little hints.
Cut to images of the house Hopshead kept Rapunzel in.
Narrator: Through the reading of Hopshead's journals, we found that her motive for taking Rapunzel was a perceived wrongdoing by the parents. They had taken a flower from her garden as they walked past one day.
Cut to interview with Rapunzel.
Rapunzel: I guess she named me after that garden, and her favorite plant. Rapunzel. My real name was Margaret. That's what my parents named me. But I just, I can't get the name I grew up with out of my mind. I hate that I'll have to take that with me for the rest of my life. How could she take away my name?
Cut to interview with Henry King:
Henry: I found her in the house by accident. I looked up one day on my way home from work and there she was. She was so beautiful even then. I couldn't believe that I had never seen her in the neighborhood.
Cut to interview with Rapunzel.
Rapunzel: He came to me, asked me to let him in and I did. I don't know why I did. I wasn't allowed. It wasn't allowed.
Cut to interview with Henry.
Henry: She had the longest hair at that time. It stretched on and on in the house. It almost went through every room. We started talking and really hit it off. I came back a few times to chat more. Then, she was my strange eccentric neighbor who never left the house.
Cut to interview with Rapunzel.
Rapunzel: She discovered out that he found me. He hadn't even put it together who I was. How could he? I was only a baby when I was taken.
House where Rapunzel was kept.
Rapunzel's hair in evidence.
Cut image of her locks of hair.
Rapunzel: But she cut off all my hair and moved me when she found us talking. He was so kind. I had never talked to... well, anyone but her before.
Narrator: The locks of hair were found in the basement of that first home.
Cut to interview with Rapunzel.
Rapunzel: The next time he visisted, she was home. She cut my hair and threatened him . I think that's the first time that he knew something was wrong.
Cut to interview with Henry.
Henry: Hopshead... She just went nuts. Started cutting off Rapunzel's hair, which was weird, and then started going after me with the scissors. Saying stuff like "if you ever tell anyone about this I'll make sure you can never talk again." And I don't really remember what happened next. All I know is that my eyes were burning.
Cut to interview with Rapunzel.
Rapunzel: She threw something at him. Some sort of acid or... I don't really know. It burned his eyes. He couldn't see. And she just left him there clutching at his eyes and took me away again. Packed up all my things and left. I don't know why I went with her....
Cut to interview with Henry.
Henry: I couldn't see. I somehow managed to make it to the door at some point, because they found me wandering the streets clutching my eyes. I woke in the hospital a few days later and I couldn't see.
Cut to interview with Sgt. Berry.
Sgt. Berry: I wasn't on that case, the acid throwing. But as they searched the house, they found all that hair. It was just the weirdest thing. We had it tested and, sure enough, it belonged to the Fitz baby.
Cut to interview with Henry.
Henry: I began living like that, blind. I managed to get around all right. I adapted. And then one day I was lost in a new area of town, I was trying to find this restaurant to meet some of my friends, but I heard her voice. Clear as day. It was her. I found her again.
Cut to interview with Rapunzel.
Rapunzel: He found me again. He called the police and they took me away from her. He stayed with me the whole time. Telling me I would be okay [pause] he stayed with me the whole time.
Cut to photo lay of the court trial and Rapunzel and Henry together.
Narrator: Hopshead was located later that day and brought into custody. She was found guilty of the kidnapping of Margaret Fitz and the assault of Henry King, along with various other charges. Rapunzel and Henry are doing well and have been bonded by their experience. They are engaged.
Author's Note: This story comes from Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm, an audiobook recording available at LibriVox based on a Project Gutenberg publication. I chose to tell the story like a crime TV show, looking through the narrative of a crime and interviews and evidence that lead to the capture, in this case mostly luck. In the original, the husband trades something undisclosed in order to get rapunzel for his pregnant wife to eat. In this version, I chose to make the parents innocent parties to the abduction. Names were changed or added in order to fit the modern setting and also to make it easier to read. I also chose to eliminate the different aspect of magic and set it in modern day. Rapunzel's hair serves as an identifying feature rather than a method to get into the house. The prince's eyes are not taken out by thorns, but by acid. And he never got his sight back through the power of love.
Header Image Information: Kota Johor Lama Museum. Found on Wikimedia.
Fitz House Image: Abraham Hill House, Belmont MA. Found on Wikimedia.
- Hopshead House Image: New house at Windy Arbour. Found on Wikimedia.
Hair image: Bulk Indian hair. Found on Wikimedia.