• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Stories
  • Games
    • View All
    • FAQ
  • Encyclopaedia
  • About
  • Support TGIMM
  • Shop
  • Contact

The Ghost In My Machine

Stories of the Strange and Unusual

Unresolved: The Hinterkaifeck Murders

November 10, 2014 by Lucia

Previously: UVB-76, “The Buzzer.”

On April 4, 1922 — a Tuesday — neighbors of the Gruber family grew concerned. The Grubers owned the farmstead between Ingolstadt and Schrobenhausen commonly referred to as Hinterkaifeck; although the title was a nickname at best, it accurately described the Bavarian farm: Hidden in the woods roughly, it lay one kilometer north of the hamlet Kaifeck — that is, “hinter” Kaifeck, or behind Kaifeck. The Grubers had not been seen for several days. The family had not been seen at church that Sunday; according to the postman, the family’s mail had been piling up for several days; and the oldest of the grandchildren had not attended school on Monday or Tuesday. So the neighbors, led by Lorenz Schlittenbauer, did what any concerned, socially-minded group of people would do: They assembled a search party and headed over to the Hinterkaifeck farmstead.

Hinterkaifeck

The farm was silent. Calls out went unanswered, so the neighbors began to investigate. Before approaching the house, they checked the nearby barn… and found inside a scene out of a nightmare. Andreas Gruber, the family’s 63-year-old patriarch, his 72-year-old wife, Cazilia, their widowed daughter Viktoria Gabriel, 35, and her oldest child, a seven-year-old girl also named Cazilia, lay dead in the middle of a substantial pool of blood. An examination of the house revealed that Viktoria’s son, two-year-old Josef, and the family’s maid, 44-year-old Maria Baumgarten, had been slaughtered in their beds.

We still don’t know who did it, or why.

[Like what you read? Check out Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, available from Chronicle Books now!]

Police in Munich, the nearest large city, were notified and an official inquiry begun. Here’s what we know about the events of that night in 1922:

  • On March 31, someone lured Andreas, both Cazilias, and Viktoria to the barn one by one. They were then bludgeoned over the head with a pickaxe-like tool known as a mattock; according to farmhand George Siegl, who helped out at Hinterkaifeck during the harvest season, Andreas had made it himself. The bodies had been stacked on top of one another, covered with hay, and hidden with a broken door.
  • After killing the Grubers found in the barn, the unknown person went into the house and dispatched Josef and Maria.
  • No money or valuables had been stolen, ruling out robbery as a motive.
  • Whoever committed the crime remained on the farm for several days, feeding the livestock as well as eating the Gruber’s food and sleeping in their house. Neighbors reported smoke billowing from the house’s chimney throughout the weekend.

A number of other strange facts exist about the Grubers and their farm; these oddities may or may not be directly related to the murders, but they’re still worth noting. First, Andreas was believed to have been involved in an incestuous relationship with his daughter, Viktoria; Viktoria’s youngest child, Josef, may in fact have been Andreas’ son. Viktoria’s husband, Karl Gabriel, had been killed in the trenches in 1914 during the First Great War; his body was never recovered. Some have pointed to the lack of a body as in indication that Gabriel may have returned and committed the crimes himself, but this theory is pure speculation; reports from those who served with Gabriel describe his death and his body in great detail, further detracting from the theory’s credibility.

The Hinterkaifeck memorial.
The Hinterkaifeck memorial.

More relevant is this: Six months prior to the murders, the Gruber’s maid at the time had quit her position, claiming that the farmstead was haunted; the day of the murders had been her replacement, Maria Baumgarten’s, first day. Furthermore, Andreas himself had corroborated the strange goings-on at the farm: He told his neighbors stories of footprints appearing, leading from the forest to the farm but not leading back; the sound of footsteps pacing the attic; a newspaper appearing which none of the family had purchased; keys vanished; and the toolshed’s lock showed signs of tampering. All of these incidents, odd but seemingly innocuous, painted a terrifying picture when taken together as a whole: Whoever had committed the murders had been planning it for a very, very long time — and had been living on the farmstead right under the family’s noses in the months leading up to the crime.

The case went cold, and the perpetrator was never caught. An attempt by students from the Furstenfeldbruck Police Academy in 2007 sought to apply modern criminal investigative techniques to the almost century-old case; the students concluded, however, that too much time had passed, making the murders impossible to solve.

Hinterkaifeck itself has long been gone; a year after the murders, the locals destroyed the farmstead, leaving nothing behind but questions to which we’ll never know the answers. A memorial stands on the site today, with the Grubers themselves lying interred elsewhere in Waidhofen. There’s just one thing: They were buried without their skulls. The Grubers’ heads had been taken to Munich for examination after the murders, but in the chaos of the Second World War, they were lost and never returned.

It’s anyone’s guess whether the Grubers themselves are still searching for their heads.

Recommended reading:

Case of the Month: Hinterkaifeck.

From Beyond the Woods: The Hinterkaifeck Murders.

The Hinterkaifeck Murders and the Devil’s Footprints.

The Hinterkaifeck Murder Case: Most Common Questions.

***

Follow The Ghost In My Machine on Twitter @GhostMachine13 and on Facebook @TheGhostInMyMachine. And don’t forget to check out Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, available now from Chronicle Books!

[Photos 1, 2, 3]

Filed Under: Tales Tagged With: Hinterkaifeck, Unresolved, unresolved mysteries, unsolved murders, unsolved mysteries

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Top Stories

‘Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark’ Is Now Available From Chronicle Books!

15 Creepy Phone Numbers To Call That Actually Work (UPDATED For 2023)

The Backrooms, Explained: How To Make Sense Of The Internet’s Favorite Non-Reality

About

The Ghost In My Machine is an internet campfire of sorts. Gather round, because it wants to tell you strange stories, take you on haunted journeys, and make you jump at unexpected noises.

Continue Reading >

Support

Like what you read? Support The Ghost In My Machine!

 

Support

Follow

Facebook Twitter

From the Vault

  • Bloody Mary & Other Games We Shouldn’t Play

    Scare Yourself Silly

  • This Man

    Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t

  • The Dionaea House

    Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t

  • The Noise Coming From Inside Children

    Scare Yourself Silly

  • NoEnd House

    Is It Real?

  • Killswitch

    Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t

  • Suicidemouse.avi

    Is It Real?

  • 200 Phenomena In The City Of Calgary

    Scare Yourself Silly

View All >

Letters from the Beyond

Enter your email to receive blog posts and updates by email

  • Stories
  • Games
  • Encyclopaedia
  • About
  • Support TGIMM
  • Shop
  • Contact

Privacy Policy

We use cookies to give you the best online experience. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of all the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT