London, Mar 21: Local council in Amstetten, Austria, is reportedly planning to buy the "House of Horrors”— the three-storey house where Josef Fritzl kept his daughter Elisabeth as a sex slave for 24 long years.

The move is being made to prevent the house from being turned into a ghoulish tourist attraction, it has emerged.

Currently, the house in Ybbstrasse where Fritzl raped his daughter more than 3,000 times is being guarded by police.

However, following Fritzl’s life sentence the council is planning to do something with the sprawling 66-room property.

Fritzl has been declared bankrupt, implying his creditors are likely to demand the house is sold to help pay them off.

But the local council and police in Amstetten are well aware that if the house was sold on the open market there is a risk it could be turned into a “house of horrors” museum by a private buyer.

Amstetten has seen an influx of “murder tourism” since Fritzl’s arrest last year, and the dungeon, which has only been seen by a handful of police and lawyers, has the potential to become a huge money-spinner.

“The fate of the house has not yet been decided. But we are determined that whatever happens, it will never become a commercial venture offering guided tours of the cellar,” The Telegraph quoted a spokesman for the council, as saying.

For the council, one likely option is to buy the property with a compulsory purchase order and demolish the bunker or fill it with concrete before eventually selling on the property or even demolishing it entirely.

The mayor of Amstetten, Herbert Katzengruber, said: “A dark chapter of our town’s history has finally been closed. The people of Amstetten now want to be left in peace.” (ANI)