Hell at Hinterkaifeck

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
Not too far from a thick forest a horrific crime took place in 1922. Five members of the Gruber family and their maid were slaughtered on their farmhouse Hinterkaifeck, located about 43 miles north of Munich.

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Gruber Family

On March 21, which coincided with the Spring Equinox, Andreas Gruber noticed footsteps leading from the wood behind the farm to the house, but there were no returning prints back to the forest. He found a door with a broken lock that led to the farm's machine room, and traces of an attempted break-in at the door to the feed chamber.

A week later on March 31, 1922 the Gruber family was annihilated. Cazilia Gruber (nee Sanhüter), their adult daughter Viktoria and granddaughter Cazilia were lured one by one to the barn and killed with a pickaxe. Maria the maid was killed in the servant's room, and Josef, the baby grandson were murdered in his mother's bedroom.

There seemed to be indicators the family might have been targeted for months before the crime.

The previous year, the family maid Kreszenz Rieger, left their employment in September. She claimed that the house was haunted since she kept hearing weird noises in the attic. The maid while living at Hinterkaifeck gave birth to a daughter on March 27, 1921. It's never specified who is the child's father.

Only days before they were killed, Andreas Gruber found a newspaper from Munich which none of the family remembered buying. Also one of two house keys had disappeared.

During the investigation into the crime, neighbors recalled that Gruber had also complained about hearing footsteps in the attic. When he went into the attic, nothing was found. 

Later it was found that the day before their murder, Cazilia Gabriel told a school friend that her mother fled from the home after a violent argument with her father, and had been found hours later in the forest.

The new maid, Maria Baumgartner was dropped off by her sister on March 31, in time to be killed with the family. It had taken the Grubers 6 months to find a new servant due to the rumors of the strange occurrences at the farm. They settled for Maria who was slightly mentally disabled and a shortened leg made it difficult for her to walk.

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Servant's rom at Hinterkaifeck c.1922

The day after the murder coffee sellers stopped by, but there was no one about. They were not alarmed since the family was known to keep to themselves. They did notice the gate to the machine room was open but decided to leave.

Then clues started to appear that all was not well at Hinterkaifeck. Cazilia Gabriel did not come to school, mail piled up, and the family failed to show up for church services on Sunday.

On April 4, Lorenz Schlittenbauer a neighbor, accompanied by other men came to the farm to solve the mystery . They were met with an eerie silence. In the barn they found four bloody, bodies lying in the hay. They were identified as Andreas Gruber, his wife Cazilia, daughter Viktoria Gabriel and 7-year-old Cazilia. Maria the maid and Josef the baby were in the house.

The police failed to keep the crime scene intact. The bodies were moved and someone even cooked in the kitchen. Fingerprints were not taken, and the farm was torn down in 1923, making recovery of other clues impossible. During the demolition a mattock covered in dried blood, believed to be the murder weapon, was found hidden in the attic and a penknife in the hay in the barn.

The family's yellow Spitz, known as a "good and alert dog" was locked in the stable every evening. The neighbors found him in the stable with an injured eye, acting distraught and aggressive toward anyone who approached him. The dog was adopted by Jakob Gabriel, a relative of Karl Gabriel.

The first theory entertained by authorities was a robbery gone wrong, but a large amount of money was discovered in the house and this had been untouched. More disturbing was proof that whoever had committed the crime had stayed on the farm for several days, while the corpses decomposed where they lay. Farm animals were fed, and so were the killer(s) since they devoured the family's food, as well as lighting the hearth for warmth and cooking.

A hundred years passed and the identity of the culprit eluded police, but there have been suspects, and disturbing facts that came to light which muddied the waters for motive.

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Slaughtered Gruber family in the barn c.1922

In 1915, Andreas Gruber (the elder) and Viktoria (his daughter) were convicted in Neuberg district court of having engaged in an incestuous relationship between 1907 and 1910. Viktoria was 20 years old when the deviant relationship started, but perhaps it predated 1907. He served one year in prison, and she was jailed for one month.

Just prior to this family scandal, on January, 1915 Viktoria gave birth to her daughter Cazilia Gabriel her husband Karl Gabriel.

Viktoria had a second child Josef, in 1919. Andreas was reported once again to the police by Lorenz Schlittenbauer (1874-1941), when she admitted to her lover that her son was conceived by her father's continued sexual abuse. He testified in court against Andreas Gruber, but the courts didn't believe his testimony was sufficient for a conviction, despite Andreas' own incriminating testimony. 

Schlittenbauer agreed to adopt Josef as his own son. He had started a relationship with Viktoria shortly after the death of his first wife in 1918.

Hinterkaifeck farmstead had originally belonged to Josef Asam, Cazilia Gruber's first husband. They married in 1877, and Asam died in 1885 from pneumonia. The marriage had produced four children: Martin Asam (born 1879), Zäzilia Asam (born 1881), Andreas Asam (born 1883) and unbaptized daughter (born 1877). Only Martin and Zazilia survived into adulthood.

Following his death, Cäzilia Asam, now a widow, married Andreas Gruber who had worked as a farm hand, just under a year later in April 1886. Her marriage to the elder Andreas who was 10 years younger than her, produced two more children: Viktoria (b. 1887) and Sophie (1889-1891) and unknown daughter who was baptized on an emergency basis which indicates she died as a newborn (b. 1892).

It was said that Andreas and Cazilia had other children, but only Viktoria survived her father's abusive disposition into adulthood. This might be a reference to Andreas' stepchildren.

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Karl Gabriel who was killed in Dec. 1919, a month before his daughter was born.

Viktoria married Karl Gabriel on March 11, 1914, and ownership of Hinterkaifeck was transferred to the couple by her parents on that date. Karl soon thereafter marched to war.

Others posited that Karl Gabriel did not die in 1914, and when he discovered his wife had children by her father he killed the entire family. However police verified he died on December 12, 1914, based on stories from the other soldiers who saw him fall in the field. His body was never recovered.

A similar theory replaces Karl with the neighbor Lorenz Schlittenbauer (Schiebebauer) as Viktoria's lover, and ultimately the family annihilator. His farm was only 150 yards from Hinterkaifeck. Viktoria had a relationship with him, and both had publicly referred to Josef as their child. Their marriage plans were ended by Viktoria's father. Lorenz went on to marry someone else which produced a child who died in infancy.

Dr. Johann Baptist Aumuller autopsied the bodies inside the barn. Cazilia was strangled and received 7 blows to the head which cracked her skull. Andreas was caked with blood, and he was struck so hard on the face his cheek bones protruded through the flesh. Their daughter Viktoria had her head smashed as well. She had 9 "star shaped" wounds and the right side of her face was hit with a blunt object. These wounds were likely delivered by a pickax-like tool.

Seven-year-old Cazilia's lower jaw was shattered and her face and neck was covered in circular, gaping wounds. She did not die immediately and lay with her dead family members for hours. She ripped out her own hair in clumps.

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Bedroom where Maria the servant and baby Josef were killed c.1922

All the corpses had their heads removed and sent to Munich for metaphysical clues, which didn't yield any answer as to the identity of the killer. The family was buried without their heads and the skulls were lost during WWII.

Maria Baumgartner was killed by blows to her head, and Josef by a heavy blow to the face while he lay in his cot.

Once dead each of them were covered with something: Maria with a sheet like the others, and Joseph with one of his mother's dresses. 

The former maid was interviewed by police, and she told again of hearing strange noises, and feeling that she was being watched.

One fact was inescapable, whoever had committed the crime was familiar with the homestead. It was someone used to farm animals and handling a mattock, a hand tool used for digging, prying, and chopping—similar to the pickaxe. 

On April 1, Simon Reißländer a farmer traveling to his home saw two mysterious figures at the edge of the forest near the homestead. When they saw him they turned around so their faces would be hidden. The following night Michael Plöckl noticed smoke coming from the chimney, which coincided with the police investigation that the killer(s) had stayed in the home. He said the smoke had a revolting stench. An unidentified man approached Plöckl with a lantern that blinded his vision, and left hastily fearing something bad was going on.

Almost 10 years exactly before the murder on the Gruber farm, the infamous Villisca Axe murders took place in Iowa. Like the German family the victims included a married couple and children who were killed inside their home.

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Memorial to the murdered family at the site of the farm

According to the book The Man from the Train (2017) the author posits that Paul Mueller, a German immigrant may have been the elusive perpetrator of the murder at Hinterkaifeck.

He was the only suspect in the murder of the Newton family in 1897. Francis Newton, 40, his wife Sarah, 41, and their adopted daughter Elsie, 11—were found hacked to death with the blunt end of an axe.  He was a hired hand at the Massachusetts farm, and escaped most likely by hopping on a train.

A bounty postcard from 1900 offering a $500 reward described him as being about 35 years old "with small widely spaced teeth, a scar on his head, and a rolling gait."

Mueller is theorized to be the perpetrator of several murders of families across the country, slaughtered under similar circumstances. There were certain characteristics common to these crimes: they occurred near railroads, the use of the blunt edge of an axe or similar tool, and the absence of items or money being robbed.

The primary motive is believed to be a sadistic sexual attraction to pre-pubescent girls. The adults in the household were ambushed and killed while in bed, the girls killed showed signs of struggle and defense wounds. The press of the day hinted at evidence of the killer ejaculating at the crime scene or having had sex with their corpse.

The author believes Mueller left the United States around 1912, when he realized journalists and private investigators were noticing similarities with these different crimes, which led to the belief of one perpetrator being responsible.

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Devil worshippers busted in Berlin c.119

Could the murder have been carried out because of the stain of incest the killer might have believed tinged the entire family, and Maria was killed to silence a witness? Was it a spurned lover, a crazed killer or could they have been victims of a dark ritual?

The six weeks starting with the Vernal Equinox (Ostara) to May 1 (Beltane) is a long series of important satanic festivals. This date coincided with the murders at Hinterkaifeck. 

​During the 1920s, Germany experienced a broader cultural fascination with mysticism, occultism, and alternative spiritualities, particularly among members of secret societies.

In December, 1919 police raided a center in Berlin where a Black Mass was being practiced. Two hundred men were arrested and double the number of girls, all who were engaged in sacrilegious rites. They were using old Catholic vestments, which had been sold for destruction but bought by dealers for this purpose. Others had been taken during the war from churches in France and Belgium.

The case was officially closed in 1955, and reopened in 2007, but with even lesser clues available, the motive and perpetrator remains unknown and it's fated to stay this way.

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