Trainwreck: The Real Project X has landed on Netflix, telling the shocking true story of Merthe Marije Weusthuis, whose innocent 16th birthday party invite led to riots and chaos in the quiet Netherlands town of Haren – but did it also lead to death?
Each episode of Netflix’s Trainwreck documentary series focuses on a different high-profile scandal, with the latest batch exploring everything from the Travis Scott Astroworld tragedy to the infamous Carnival Poop Cruise.
Now, it’s turning attention to Project X Haren, which started when Merthe Weusthuis set up a Facebook invite for her 16th birthday party on September 21, 2012. She clicked ‘public’, not thinking anything of it… within days, tens of thousands of strangers had RSVP’d.
Even after she deleted the invitation, it took on a life of its own, with local residents, council members, and even the police unable to stop it from happening. On the night in question, thousands of people descended on the town, leading to riots, looting, and destruction.
Did anyone die at Project X Haren?
Although reports surfaced that two girls were crushed at the event and died, the Netflix documentary reveals that these reports were false. However, at least 36 people were injured as a result of the rioting.
One of those was Mariska Sloot, a councillor for Haren, whose desperate pleas to mayor Rob Bats to step in were ignored. At around 8pm on the night of the event, Sloot headed over to the town center while walking her dog to see what was happening.
Little did she realize that approximately 5,000 people had shown up. As she approached, she heard chanting and shouting. “Suddenely I felt a hit on the head, and immediately I heard glass breaking,” she says. “They threw a bottle at my head.”
NetflixThe party itself started out with a friendly atmosphere, with police cordoning off the street of Merthe’s family’s house. But as the crowds grew larger (and drunker), the situation quickly escalated – much like it did in the movie Project X, which the event’s name was inspired by.
When riot police tried to control the crowds, they retaliated – Molotov cocktails were thrown, cars were set on fire, supermarkets were looted, and the street became a sea of broken glass.
Photos show party-goers with slashes on their heads and bodies, with numerous attendants being sent to hospital for their injuries.
Many paid the price for these incidents. After police analysis of video evidence, over 100 people were arrested and 17 were charged with crimes related to the riots.
Where is Merthe Weusthuis now?
NetflixMerthe appears in the new documentary to describe the events as they happen. She has since moved away from the Netherlands, and is now living in Dubai. She works as the Head of Product and Experience at Whiteshield, a public policy and AI economics firm.
“I don’t come home that much anymore,” she says. “I don’t think the Dutch have forgotten what happened.”
On the night of the incident, Merthe and her family were moved to another location for their own safety – except for her father Coen, who decided to hang back and try to keep an eye out for their neighbors.
When the situation got out of hand, Merthe recalls not only being scared for her dad’s safety, but also the attendants’. The moment she believed two girls had died has had a lasting impact on her.
“Later, luckily, we heard that nobody had died,” she says in Trainwreck: The Real Project X. “But I think the emotional impact is already done.”
A couple of years after the incident, Merthe ran into Jorik Clarck – a then-18-year-old from Groningen who created a copycat event when she deleted her original invite. He felt bad about his role to play in what happened, but Merthe approached him and said it was in the past.
She has a similar view now. “I don’t think that most people who came to the party were intending to riot or to commit a crime,” Merthe says.
“I think a lot of people came because they wanted a party. I think it’s sort of a normal, inherent thing in teenagers around that age that they want to rebel and take their freedom, express their personalities.
“I definitely would have gone if it wasn’t my party.”
Was the identity of ‘Ibe DerFuhrer’ ever discovered?
NetflixUltimately no, the person behind ‘Ibe DerFuhrer’ – the name of a Facebook account that created a separate Project X Haren event page after Merthe and Jorik deleted theirs – never came forward.
As you can tell by the name, the user appeared to have fascist beliefs, with a report by local outlet HanzeMag saying that their page even shared Nazi quotes and references. When Merthe reached out to them begging to remove the invite, they replied, “Eat sh*t.”
A second person then-21-year-old Jesse Hobson, a man from Christchurch, New Zealand, who claimed he accepted the request from a Dutch person to host the Facebook event.
Jesse later said, “Project X Haren was nothing more than a poor decision on my part. I had nothing to do with the event besides being given administration rights for it on Facebook – everything else just seemed to happen of its own accord.
Netflix“From my point of view, it was all spread by people inviting other people. Coverage about it in the media may have given it a boost as people were made aware of it, when they may not have known about it otherwise.”
Trainwreck: The Real Project X is streaming on Netflix. You can also read about where Olivia Gondek is now after Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem, why viewers of The Astroworld Tragedy called for a Live Nation boycott, and the most disgusting moments in Trainwreck: Poop Cruise.
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