It’s hard to wrap your head around what actually happened in that Tenerife apartment back in 1970. Honestly, when people talk about Frank and Harald Alexander, they usually focus on the gore or the sensationalist headlines that gripped the German and Spanish press for years. But if you look closer at the police records and the psychological evaluations that followed, it’s not just a "true crime" story. It is a terrifying case study in shared delusion and the total collapse of a family unit under the weight of religious mania.
Frank Alexander and his son Harald didn't start out as the faces of a massacre. They were, by most accounts, an ordinary German family who had moved to the Canary Islands seeking a fresh start or perhaps some kind of spiritual clarity. Then things went south. Fast.
What Actually Happened in the Alexander Apartment?
The details are grim. On December 23, 1970, the Santa Cruz de Tenerife police were called to an apartment that looked like something out of a nightmare. Frank Alexander, the patriarch, and his son Harald had killed Frank's wife and his two daughters. This wasn't a quick or "merciful" crime. It was ritualistic. It was slow. They believed they were purging demons.
You have to understand the environment of the late 60s and early 70s. People were experimenting with everything—fringe religions, new-age philosophies, and strict, isolating cult-like structures. The Alexanders had completely cut themselves off from the outside world. This isolation is usually the first red flag in cases of folie à deux—or in this case, a folie à famille—where a shared psychosis spreads from one dominant member to the others.
Frank was the catalyst. He was obsessed with the idea that the world was ending and that his family was being targeted by supernatural forces. Harald, just a young man at the time, didn't stand a chance. He was completely under his father's thumb, absorbing every paranoid thought until it became his own reality.
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The Psychology of the "Purge"
Experts like Dr. Luis de la Revilla Gigante, who looked into the psychiatric state of the survivors/perpetrators, noted that this wasn't just a sudden snap. It was a slow burn. The family had stopped eating normally. They were sleep-deprived. If you’ve ever gone 48 hours without sleep, you know the world starts to look "off." Now imagine months of that combined with a father telling you your mother is a vessel for the devil.
They used hammers. They used knives. The autopsy reports from the time are frankly difficult to read because they show a level of overkill that suggests the killers weren't even seeing "people" anymore. To Frank and Harald Alexander, they were fighting monsters.
The Trial and the Aftermath
Spain was still under Franco's rule in 1970. The legal system wasn't exactly known for its nuanced take on mental health, yet even the Spanish authorities couldn't ignore the sheer insanity of the case. They weren't typical criminals looking for a payout or acting out of passion.
Frank was eventually sent to a psychiatric institution. He died there. Harald, however, became a bit of a ghost in the annals of criminal history. He was also institutionalized, spending decades in the psychiatric wing of a prison in Alicante.
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There’s this misconception that they were part of a larger, organized cult. They weren't. That’s actually the scarier part. They were a self-contained unit. They didn't need a charismatic leader in a robe to tell them what to do; the "leader" was sitting at the dinner table.
Why We Still Talk About Them
Why does this case still pop up in forums and documentaries? It's the "it could be your neighbor" factor. The Alexanders weren't outcasts in the beginning. They were middle-class. They were educated.
The case of Frank and Harald Alexander serves as a brutal reminder of how fragile the human psyche is when it's stripped of social checks and balances. When you're only listening to one voice, and that voice is losing its grip on reality, you can be convinced of anything. Even that killing the people you love is an act of salvation.
Recognizing the Red Flags of Shared Delusion
If we want to take anything away from the Alexander tragedy, it has to be an understanding of how these dynamics form. It’s rarely about the religion itself; it’s about the control.
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- Isolation is the weapon. The moment a family or group starts cutting off friends, extended family, and the news, the danger level spikes.
- The "Chosen" Narrative. Frank convinced Harald they were special, the only ones who knew the "truth." This creates a powerful, dangerous bond.
- Physical Depletion. Fasting and sleep deprivation are classic tools (intentional or not) to break down rational thought.
What happened in Tenerife wasn't a mystery of "whodunit." We know who did it. The real mystery is how a father and son could look at their own flesh and blood and see something that needed to be destroyed. It remains one of the most chilling examples of religious paranoia in modern history.
Actionable Insights for Researching Historic Crimes
If you are digging into the Alexander case or similar historical criminal psychologies, don't just rely on tabloid summaries.
- Check the Archives: Look for digitized Spanish newspapers from late 1970 and early 1971 (like ABC or La Vanguardia). They provide the raw, unfiltered shock of the era.
- Study Folie à Deux: Read up on the clinical definitions of shared psychotic disorder. It explains the "how" behind Harald’s participation.
- Cross-Reference Cult Mechanics: Even though this was a family unit, the mechanics of "high-control groups" apply perfectly here.
The story of Frank and Harald Alexander is a dark corner of history, but it’s one that demands we look at the intersection of mental health, isolation, and belief with a very critical eye.