WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AT THE HINTERKAIFECK FARM ON THAT DREADFUL NIGHT?

 

 

 

 

With Halloween only two weeks away, I’m writing about ghoulish unsolved crimes! So lock the doors, pull down the shades and put your fright cap on, because this scary crime is about to begin!

When friends and neighbors living in a small community near the city of Munich hadn't seen Viktoria Gruber of the Hinterkaifeck Farm at church services the week before, they became suspicious and formed a search party to investigate.

 

What they saw inside that barn on that day is still thought of as one of the grizzliest-murders in German history.

The bodies of the mother, father, their daughter Viktoria and granddaughter, were neatly stacked, one on top of the other, covered with hay. When they suddenly realized Viktoria’s youngest son wasn’t among them, the horrified party searched the rest of the farmstead and found him dead in a cot in his mother’s bedroom, and the body of the Gruber’s maid, Maria Baumgartner in her chambers, who’d just begun working for them that day!

 

   

 

 

All had been killed with a Mattack, a tool similar to a pickaxe.

When police arrived on the scene, they noticed several odd things about the case. First, the neighbors reported having seen smoke coming from the chimney over the weekend, although the congealed blood and state of the bodies indicated the killings had happened the previous week.

Surprisingly, in addition to the chimney smoke, all the farm animals had been fed and properly cared for, as well as the family dog who was found tied near the barn, upset but unharmed. Further investigation showed signs of meals having been prepared, and one of the beds appeared to have been slept in.

Because the family was well-off, the police initially suspected robbery, but it was soon discovered that aside from some petty cash missing, no other valuables had been taken-including several gold coins and pieces of jewelry. The very fact that the killer stayed in the house for three or four days after the killings strongly indicated the killer was familiar with the surroundings.

Police also believe that whoever the killer was, he’d managed to lure each family member to the barn independently to murder them. Ultimately, the killings were labeled a “crime of passion.”

Although over 100 suspects were interviewed, police eventually eliminated all but three suspects, and two of them were dead at the time of the murders. The live suspect was one Lorenz Schlittenbauer, who was a neighbor who had allegedly had an affair with Viktoria and was rumored to be the youngest child’s father. It’s possible that Viktoria was considering suing Lorenz for alimony, something he could not afford, mainly because he was married with a child of his own.  

Some circumstantial evidence pointed toward Lorenz’s involvement in the search party and his lack of emotion, shock or otherwise, when the bodies were discovered, something pretty difficult to hide when looking at mutilated. Those present said he calmly unstacked the bodies and when asked why, he’d said he was “looking for his boy.”

The fact that Lorenz was able to expertly lead the search party around the farm, the dog barking furiously whenever he was in sight, made him all the more suspicious. Police questioned Lorenz at length, but without physical evidence, they had to release him.

Grasping at straws, police another suspect was Viktoria’s supposedly deceased husband, Karl Gabriel who had served in the German Army during World War One, and although it was said he was killed during an invasion, his body was never found. Speculation was that he’d made his way back to the farm and upon seeing that his wife had moved on without him, he killed the family in a fit of rage.

 

There are several things about this theory that doesn’t add up. Despite Karl’s comrade’s swearing they saw him get hit by a mine-shell that killed him instantly, it wasn’t unusual for bodies to be missing, never to be found.

 

Now, here’s where the Halloween spirits come to light in this article . . . that is, if you believe in ghosts.

Prior to the murders, Hinterkaifeck experienced some unexplained and paranormal activity. During the previous winter, foot tracks were found leading to the farm from a nearby wooded area, but there were no foot tracks leading back into the woods. It was reported that the family also heard what sounded like footsteps all over the house, but when these were investigated, nothing was found. This is especially odd, considering that some of these footsteps came from the attic. These occurrences spooked the previous maid so much that she fled the farm several months before the murders. In the days leading up to the murder, the father reported missing keys and scratches on one of the barn door locks-almost as if someone or something had been trying to get in.

 

The police obviously did believe in ghosts, so much that they beheaded the bodies and sent them to a clairvoyant in Munich. Nothing was ever found and surprisingly, the heads were never returned..

If you suspend your disbelief a bit, the idea of a supernatural killer doesn't seem all that far-fetched when you consider that the father, Andreas Gruber was a terrible man who was known for beating his wife and children relentlessly. Although no connection with these beatings was ever made, Viktoria is the only one of his children to survive to adulthood.

All this made Hinterkaifeck a place full of negative energy and possibly the site of previous murders. According to legend, this combination makes a place ripe for a haunting. A haunting would certainly explain the noises the family heard in the months leading up to the murder. Could one of the Gruber children have returned from the dead for revenge?  But why kill the entire family?

 

In 2007, the case was reopened by a group of police academy forensic students, but they concluded that the lack of evidence and the time since the murders makes the case nearly unsolvable. They did point to a likely suspect, although the name was withheld from the public report to prevent embarrassing surviving family members. Perhaps someday this information will be released to the public, but even when it is, the identity of the true killer will remain a mystery.

Hinterkaifeck was demolished in 1923, and today, the only thing that remains is an old monument dedicated to the family. Perhaps it’s better that way; it allows the ghosts of Hinterkaifeck farms, whomever they were, to finally rest in peace!