The Haunted House of My Mother

Alex Ellis

Editor In her new bestselling memoir, Shari Franke exposes the true darkness of being the eldest daughter of vlogger turned felon Ruby Franke. She details the abuse the children faced and reveals the impact of the Mormon church on her family. 

Shari Franke and her family were a part of a YouTube channel called the 8 Passengers. Her mother, Ruby Franke, was arrested in 2023 after one of her sons escaped from her home with duct tape on his wrist and ankles. He went to a neighbor’s house asking for food and water. She “plead guilty to four felony counts of second-degree child abuse and was sentenced to one to fifteen years in prison,” according to USA Today. 

Ruby’s involvement with Jodi Hildebrandt, who was her business partner and great friend, worsened her behavior. She joined Hildebrandt’s alleged cult, ConneXions. Through ConneXions, Hildebrandt spread extreme parenting methods that are considered abuse. Hildebrandt received the same charges as Franke.

As detailed in the book, Ruby has been abusing her children before her involvement with Hildebrandt and it was all aired out on their YouTube channel. In the memoir, Franke revealed her parenting methods that included locking her children in a concrete bunker, starving them and holding her child’s head underwater while forcing his mouth and nose closed.

Cape Junior, Lauren Marchetti recalls watching the vlogs and noticing Ruby’s strange parenting style that was shown on their YouTube channel. She specifically remembers a video where “her son Chad talked about how he was forced to sleep on a bean bag for 7 months as punishment, and his bed was taken away.” When Ruby was arrested, it was revealed that CPS knew about the abuse, but nothing was ever done.

In the memoir, Shari connected her own sexual assault experience with Ruby’s abuse. She believes that Ruby’s emotional abuse primed her for sexual abuse she endured at the hands of an older church member. Shari became close with an older man at church and he became a father figure for her. When she attended Brigham Young University, the assault became frequent. Eventually she cut him off, and was punished by the church.

The Mormon religion is known for their questionable behavior when it comes to situations like Shari’s. As Mormonism becomes more popular through TikTok and television shows such as The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, more people are speaking out about the church and its strict rules. The beliefs and behaviors of members of the Mormon church have led to a lot of controversy, including their treatment of members such as Shari. 

After all she faced as a Franke, in her Rolling Stone interview she advised, “Making money off your kids [with] no oversight as to how much the kids are getting paid — there’s no way to do that well for me.”