Solved Murders - True Crime Stories - Trapped Between Faith and Madness The Haunting True Story of Irina Cornichi PART1 #55

Episode Date: November 23, 2025

#horrorstories #reddithorrorstories #ScaryStories #creepypasta #horrortales #truecrime #realhorrorstories #faithandmadness #psychologicalhorror #basedonatruestory  “Trapped Between Faith and Madness: The Haunting True Story of Irina Cornichi PART 1” dives into the terrifying real-life events surrounding Irina, a young woman whose struggle with mental illness collided with religious zealotry. What began as a search for healing spiraled into a disturbing tale of faith, fear, and tragedy that blurs the line between devotion and madness.  horrorstories, reddithorrorstories, scarystories, horrorstory, creepypasta, horrortales, truecrime, realhorror, hauntedminds, darkhistory, disturbingstories, chillingtales, paranormaltragedy, faithgonewrong, psychologicalhorror, hauntingtruecrime, madnessandfaith, eerieencounters, cultstories, realnightmares

All right, let's set the stage before diving into the actual nightmare. To really understand what went down, we need to look at Romania in the 1980s. Back then, the country wasn't just going through tough times, it was suffocating under the iron grip of a dictator, Nikolai Chaushescu. This guy ruled the state from 1967 until 1989, and his government was one of the most repressive Eastern Europe had to offer during the Cold War era. Romania wasn't just poor, it was collapsing. The economy was a disaster, food shortages were everywhere, and people were constantly afraid.

But Chow Shescu wasn't only brutal politically, he had a very twisted vision for the nation's future. In October 1966, he signed something that changed the lives of an entire generation, Decree 770. Now, you're probably wondering what the hell was declared. Cree 770. Well, in short, it banned abortions and outlawed birth control. Yep, both completely illegal. If you broke the law, the punishments were extreme. We're talking fines, prison sentences, and in some cases, even the death penalty. And to make sure people were obeying, the government went full dystopian. Women between the ages of 15 and 45 were forced to undergo monthly gynecological checks. Their duty, according to the state, was to have at least five children.

Five. If you had more, the government actually gave you awards, like some twisted kind of medal for overpopulating a country that was already starving. The official idea was simple, more children meant more workers, and more workers meant more soldiers in the future. But here's the catch, it made no sense at all. The country was drowning in point. poverty. There wasn't enough food, jobs were scarce, and hospitals were failing. Women were dying during childbirth, and newborns were dying right after being born. It was chaos. The orphanages. Don't even get me started. By 1989, there were somewhere between 100,000 and 170,000 children abandoned in institutions. And these weren't safe havens,

they were nightmares disguised as care facilities. Imagine rows of cribs with babies who never learned to walk because they were never taken out of their cages. Kids left freezing, starving, without medicine, without hugs, without love. Abuses were rampant, physical, emotional, and sexual. According to The Guardian, between 1966 and 1989, somewhere between 15 and 20,000 completely unnecessary deaths happened in these places, mostly children with disabilities who were neglected until they died.

That's the background. That's the kind of world where today's story unfolds. In 1982, in the middle of this hellish reality, a baby girl was born, Marisica Irina Cornicey. She came into the world in a small Romanian commune called Perieni, located in Vassley County. Irina was the second child of her parents, Elena Antohai and Ion Cornicei. They already had an older son, Vasile. But let's be real, they couldn't even provide for Vasile, so when Irene came along, things went from bad to worse. The Cornicey family lived in dire poverty.

They barely had food, money was non-existent, and their home conditions were miserable. It was survival every single day. Ion, Irina's father, eventually reached a breaking point. One day, desperate to feed his family, he stole some chickens. But bad luck struck instantly, he was caught right on the spot. The punishment? For years in prison. Ion couldn't handle the idea of being locked away.

He flat out refused to accept it. Instead, he made a choice that would haunt his children forever. He grabbed a rope and hanged himself inside the house, in front of his kids. Irina was only two years old when she saw her father's body swinging lifelessly. Imagine the scar that leaves on a toddler's mind. That image never left her. As if things weren't bad enough, Elena, the mother, was battling alcoholism. She wasn't capable of raising her kids alone.

No resources, no support, drowning in it. addiction. At one point, she realized she simply couldn't do it anymore. So she called social services. That call sealed Irene's fate. Both Irene and her brother Vasile were taken to an orphanage in the nearby city of Barlet. And from that moment, the real nightmare began. The orphanage was everything you'd fear from that era, cold, violent, abusive, neglectful. The children, were abandoned by the very people who were supposed to protect them. They went hungry, they froze in the winters, they were beaten, and yes, many were abused in the darkest ways imaginable. Irina, unfortunately, bore the brunt of it. She wasn't the same child after those years. People

who knew her as a little girl remembered her as sweet, affectionate, full of light. But in the orphanage, all of that was stripped away. She became distant. cold, reserved. By her teenage years, her personality had completely shifted. She cut her hair short, started dressing and acting more masculine, and built walls around herself. To survive, she toughened up, she even started practicing karate. Violence, she figured, was the only way to defend herself. During this time, one of the most important people in her life entered the picture, her childhood friend, Angel. Some sources say their bond was like sisters, inseparable, always together.

Others claim it was something more. Rumors suggest that Irina was in love with Angel. And here's the problem. Back then in Romania, homosexuality wasn't just frowned upon. It was illegal. So Irina found herself torn apart. She loved Angel, maybe even romantically, but at the same time, she hated herself for feeling that way. Her emotions toward Angel were chaotic, sometimes

tender, sometimes violent. She would beat Angel one moment, then hug her and beg for forgiveness the next. The relationship was toxic, unstable, and painfully complicated. Some say Angel returned her feelings, others say she didn't. Either way, what's clear is that this turbulent bond went on for years. Fast forward to 2001. Irina was 19 years old and finally left the orphanage. She immediately went to live with her brother Vasile, who by then had been placed with a foster family, the Stologeska family.

On the surface, they seemed like the saviors the siblings desperately needed. They offered food, a bed, and love, or at least something that resembled it. Of course, nothing was free. The price? Irene and Vasile had to work on the family's farm. But for the two siblings, this was more than enough. After a childhood of hunger, abuse, and neglect, even this strict arrangement felt like heaven. For the first time, they had a home, people who claimed to care, and a sense of belonging.

Irene, who had never known what love really looked like, felt like she had finally found it with the Stologescus. Irina stayed with them for a while, watching her brother Vasile thrive. He looked happy, and that gave her hope. Eventually, though, she decided to take a chance and leave Romania. She moved to Germany to work as a nanny. Surprisingly, she did well there. She earned good money, what would be the equivalent of around 4,500 euro today. When she returned to Romania with her savings, she went back to the same.

Stalajeska family. She took on different jobs here and there, but her mind kept drifting back to Germany. Life seemed better there. Opportunities were brighter. So she started planning, she wanted to move permanently to Germany. She shared her plan with Vasile, even inviting him to join her. But then another idea crossed her mind, why not bring Angel along too? After all, Angel wasn't just her friend, she was a central figure in Irina's chaotic emotional world. Taking her would change everything. And that's where things really started to take a darker turn. To be continued.