"Then my Father took an ax with a long handle......"

The English Version

The Well

"My Father was rather restless in that evening," said the son to his investigators later.

The Well is a name of one part of a well known TV serial here in Czech republic. Its name is Thirty Cases of Zeman The Major. Originally we watched its thirty parts gradually (each part lasting for one hour was going on our TV always on Sundays from 20:00 PM). You saw one part and then you had to wait for the next one for a week. This serial was given here in the seventies of the past century. It was a sophisticated form of the communist brainwash.

Some of parts of the serial are stupid at the first glance but some of them have certain qualities. The part named The Well belongs to the better ones. I must write, too, that some parts can't be forgotten because of their naivety.
The Well was done after a real crime, the case happened really. The tragedy occurred in a village. The case was investigated by Mjr. J. Zeman, the main hero of all the police serial. This case was something like a family horror. The family consists of three members: a father, a mother and their adult son.

This family was in bad relationships with all other villagers and therefore it separated from them more and more. The head of the family suffered from a strong paranoia, the Father trusted nobody, all the villagers were his enemies, he thought that they wanted to damage him and all his family. His family came into continuous conflicts with other villagers. There were frequent attacks and quarrels from either sides. The Father built a tall wall up around his lot. In this isolation his mental illness reached its peak.
 "My Father was rather restless in that evening", said his son to his investigators later. He was rocking from one side to another, he was smiling and he was murmuring something to himself. Then he took an ax with a long handle and he went upstairs where his wife was sleeping already. A while later he stepped down again and joined to his son. He took his son to their large garden with a lot of young apple trees forming an orchard. He urged his son to take an ax, too, and then they started felling the young trees down together. The son understood nothing, he didn't agree with his Father, but he was obedient and fulfilled his commands. When this work of the doom was finished the Father took him to the well. He wanted him to cut his wrists with a knife and then to jump in it. Also this Father's order was done and his son found himself in water of their deep well. He didn't wished to die and so he was trying to stay above water. Suddenly he was hit by falling body of his own Father. His Father was still alive and blooding from cutting wounds and trying to get his son under water together with himself. The son was still resisting to killing attempts of his Father. He wanted to live and this fact gave him an incredible power to rescue himself.
By punching his Father into his head he gave him up 'cause his Father disappeared under water surface. He seemed to loss his consciousness and he drowned himself. His semi-mad son was free but his life was still in a great danger. He was swimming in water of their deep well. Somehow he had to climb up to the well's edging high above his head. His way up was a matter of his instincts rather than of his mind. Instinctively he did the same as a climber in a narrow vertical rocky pitch. With help of his body, arms and legs leaning against the well's wall he was able to push himself up slowly and gradually to his rescue. After several falls back he was successful in the end. His hands rested on the well's edging.

He saw their house in fire. A time later the police found a dead female body in the house. The body was the one of his mother. Though her body was damaged by the fire, the police investigation showed that the woman was beaten to her death with the ax used by her husband. Before than he left her dead body upstairs and came back to his son he made a fire there.
While he was trying to finish both his life and his son's one in the well the fire started doing its work only.
The young man felt to be exhausted absolutely but he was driven by fear, he wanted to escape from all the horror. With last rests of his powers he could stumble from their lot with their house in fire to find any help but he lost his consciousness on his way to Černošice the village (about 2 km distant from the crime place). Fortunately, he was found by somebody soon and transported to a hospital. His wounds weren't serious, his body recovered quickly, but his mental conditions suffered from the hard shock. He had to be hospitalized in a mental hospital and it took a long time before than he was able to tell about his fearsome experience to his investigators.

The Epilogue
The Father decided to destroy all his family, their house with the garden including himself. Except for his son almost he was successful. The Father found his solution: He wanted his family to live their lives after lives. Surely, he wanted the best for them only. He wished to live with his family out of all the hated villagers.
Our brains have been very complicated and in the same time they´ve been very week, too. We´ve never known what they´ve been able to produce next time.
Well, after recovering mentally, too, his son became to be an excellent and very talented  physicist. For a time he worked in The Physical Institution in Řež near to Prague. Later he was employed in a top secrete scientific working place somewhere in The Orlické Mountains. I read that both the Russians and the Americans were interested in outcomes of his research. What was the theme of his scientific research exactly has remained a mystery so far.
This case happened in 1968 in Vonoklasy the village. The only man who survived the family destruction has already died. It was in 2002. He has left for his parents. Maybe it has been a happy reunion.

"Jump into the well!", the Father urged his son.

The Czech Version

Studna

"Ten večer byl otec poněkud neklidný," řekl později syn vyšetřovatelům.

Studna je název jedné části velmi známého TV seriálu zde v ČR. Jmenuje se Třicet případů majora Zemana. Původně jsme jeho třicet dílů sledovali postupně (každý díl trvající hodinu běžel v TV vždycky v neděli od 20 hodin).Zhlédli jste jednu část a pak jste museli čekat týden na další. Seriál se zde vysílal v sedumdesátých letech minulého století. Byla to rafinovaná forma komunistické propagandy.

Některé díly seriálu jsou stupidní na první pohled, ale některé z nich mají určité kvality. Díl nazvaný Studna patří k těm lepším. Musím napsat, že některé díly nelze zapomenout pro jejich naivitu.
Studna byla natáčena podle skutečného zločinu, ten případ se skutečně stal. Ta tragédie se odehrála v jedné vesnici. Případ vyšetřoval major Zeman, hlavní hrdina celého policejního seriálu. Tenhle případ byl něco jako rodinný horor. Rodina sestávala ze tří členů: otec, matka a jejich dospělý syn.

Rodina byla ve špatných vztazích se všemi ostatními vesničany, a proto se od nich stále víc oddělovala. Hlava rodiny trpěla silnou vztahovačností, otec nikomu nedůvěřoval, všichni vesničané byli jeho nepřátelé, domníval se, že chtějí poškodit jeho a celou jeho rodinu. Rodina se s ostatními vesničany dostávala do častých konfliků. Z obou stran docházelo k častým napadením a hádkám. Otec kol pozemku vystavěl vysokou zedˇ. V této izolaci dosáhla jeho duševní choroba svého vrcholu.

"Toho večera byl otec poněkud neklidný," řekl jeho syn vyšetřovatelům později. Pohupoval se ze strany na stranu, usmíval se a něco si pro sebe mumlal. Pak si vzal sekeru s dlouhou rukojetí a vyšel do patra, kde už spala jeho žena. O chvíli později sešel zase dolů a přidal se k synovi. Zavedl syna na zahradu se spoustou mladých jabloní tvořících sad. Vybídl syna, aby si také vzal sekyru a poté se společně pustili do kácení mladých stromků. Syn nic nechápal, s otcem nesouhlasil, ale byl poslušný a jeho příkazy plnil. Když bylo dílo zkázy dokončeno, vzal ho otec ke studni. Chtěl, aby si pořezal zápěstí a pak do ní skočil. Také tento otcův příkaz byl proveden a on se ocitl ve vodě jejich hluboké studny. Umřít si nepřál a tak se snažil setrvat nad vodou. Náhle ho zasáhlo padající tělo vlastního otce. Otec stále žil, krvácel z řezných ran a pokoušel se dostat syna spolu se sebou pod vodu. Syn vražedným pokusům otce pořád odolával. Chtěl žít a tento fakt mu poskytl neuvěřitelnou sílu se zachránit.
Otce se zbavil úderem do hlavy, protože zmizel pod hladinou. Zdálo se, že pozbyl vědomí a utonul. Jeho zpola šílený syn byl volný, ale pořád byl ve velkém nebezpečí. Plaval ve vodě jejich hluboké studny. Nějak se musel vyšplhat k okraji studny vysoko nad hlavou. Jeho cesta vzhůru byla spíš záležitostí instinktů než rozumu. Instinktivně dělal totéž co horolezec v úzké svislé kamenné jámě. Pomocí těla, paží a nohou opírajících se o stěnu studny se dokázal zvolna a postupně posouvat vzhůru ke své záchraně. Po několika pádech zpět nakonec uspěl. Jeho ruce spočinuly na okraji studny.

Viděl dům v plamenech. Po čase našla policie v domě mrtvé ženské tělo. Bylo to tělo jeho matky. I když bylo tělo poškozeno požárem, policejní vyšetřování ukázalo, že žena byla ubita sekyrou, kterou používal její manžel. Dříve než mrtvé tělo nahoře opustil a přidal se k synovi, založil tam požár.
Zatímco se pokoušel skončit život svůj i synův ve studni, oheň teprve začínal dělat svou práci.

Mladík se cítil naprosto vyčerpaný, ale poháněl ho strach, chtěl uniknout od vší té hrůzy. S posledními zbytky sil dokázal vyklopýtat z pozemku s hořícím domem, aby vyhledal nějakou pomoc, ale cestou ztratil vědomí poblíž vesnice Černošice (asi 2 km vzdálené od místa zločinu). Naštěstí byl brzy nalezen a přepraven do nemocnice. Zranění vážná neměl, tělo se rychle zotavovalo, ale jeho duševní stav utrpěl tvrdý šok. Musel být hospitalizován na psychiatrii a trvalo dlouho, než byl schopen vyprávět o svém děsivém zážitku vyšetřovatelům.

Epilog

Otec se rozhodl zničit celou rodinu a dům se zahradou včetně sebe. Až na syna skoro uspěl. Otec našel své řešení: Chtěl, aby jeho rodina žila život po životě. Určitě pro ně chtěl jen to nejlepší. Chtěl s rodinou žít bez nenáviděných vesničanů.
Náš mozek je velmi složitý a současně také velmi slabý. Nikdy nevíme, co vyprodukuje příště.
Když se zotavil i duševně, stal se jeho syn vynikajícím a nadaným fyzikem. Nějakou dobu pracoval ve Fyzikálním ústavu v Řeži u Prahy. Později pracoval ve vědeckém pracovišti s nejvyšším utajením kdesi v Orlických horách. Četl jsem, že se o výsledky jeho výzkumu zajímali Rusové i Američané. Jaké bylo přesně téma jeho vědeckého výzkumu zůstává dosud záhadou.
Tento případ se stal v roce 1968 ve vísce Vonoklasy. Jediný muž, který přežil rodinnou zkázu, už zemřel. Bylo to v roce 2002.
Odešel za svými rodiči. Možná, že to bylo šťastné znovushledání.