Who would’ve thought a family YouTube channel many of us watched as kids had a deeper and much darker story behind it… The well-known family channel 8 Passengers was known for a happy family vlogging their daily chaotic lives. The mother, Ruby Franke, was the one in control of the camera. What was once an innocent way of documenting memories quickly took a complete 180.
Their videos used to get a lot of attention simply because they were based on entertainment. As time went on, the videos started circulating again, but this time for the wrong reasons. The viewers voiced their concern for the kids due to Ruby’s harsh words and punishments. For example, Ruby took away her son, Chad’s bedroom for 7 months for bad behavior and was forced to sleep on a bean bag during that time. Ruby Franke did not handle the hate on the internet well, and 8 Passengers shortly after came to an end, but this was not the end of Ruby’s YouTube career. Ruby eventually started working with Jodi Hildebrandt, where they taught counseling within the Mormon religion. Together, the more dangerous they were. It was assumed that Jodi and Ruby had a deeper connection with each other than just platonic.
Ruby Franke destroyed her marriage and relationship with her eldest kids, meanwhile, the two youngest were still under Ruby’s supervision. The two youngest kids endured a lot of physical and emotional abuse. Ruby shaved her daughter’s head of hair, stabbed her son with cactus thorns, put a kian pepper mixture onto their wounds, and they were both extremely malnourished. Their cruel acts quickly caught up to them. On August 30th, Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt got arrested for child abuse. Her children were found in very bad condition and were immediately taken to the hospital. Ruby Franke resulted in getting sentenced to a four-one to 15-year sentence. Since then, there has been a documentary about their devastating case released on Hulu. This documentary raises awareness of child abuse and the 8 Passengers’ experience specifically.
