In 1922 a German farmer by the name Andreas Gruber woke up and found footprints in the snow leading from the forest right up to his back door. Whoever had come to his house hadn't left as there were no other footprints leaving the house, other then the ones leading up to the door. He went to make sure it wasn't just his family. It wasn't. he then searched everywhere on his property in his house everywhere. Nothing, he could not determine who made the footprints or where they went. Weeks leading up to this incident, Kreszenz Rieger, the family maid abruptly quit. It was later found out she claimed hearing stranger noises coming from the attic. She believed the house to be haunted.

On the afternoon of Friday March 31, 1922, a new maid arrived at the Hinterkaifeck farm. Maria Baumgartner had been escorted to Hinterkaifeck by her sister, who left the farm after a brief stay. It was likely that Baumgartner’s sister was the last person to see the Gruber family and her sister alive. A few days go by and No one hears from the Gruber family. Saturday and Monday, little Cecilia was supposed to attend her school, but she didn't show up to. and on Sundays, none of her family members went to church. On Tuesday April 4th, a mechanic visited the farm and spent a few hours fixing farm equipment, but none of the family came out. When the repairman thought it was strange and told the villagers of Kaypek, the villagers also wondered, The family of Hinterkaifek Farm are nowhere to be seen.

At some point during the night of March 31st. Andreas and his wife Cäzilia, along with their daughter Viktoria and granddaughter Cäzilia, were lured away from the house one at a time to the barn, where they were attacked and murdered. The killer had used a hatchet that belonged to the family farm, inflicting blows to the head. The killer then went into the family's house, and using the same weapon, killed the youngest son Josef, while he slept as well as Baumgartner, who was found in her bedroom. The bodies of the family and their maid would remain undiscovered over the next four days. The day after the murders, April 1st at around 3:30pm, Lorenz Schlittenbauer sent his sixteen-year-old son Johann to the Hinterkaifeck farm to see if they could find the whereabouts of the Gruber family. He eventually returned home and reported he hadn't seen anyone at the Hinterkaifeck farm. Schlittenbauer headed to the farm the same day in the company of Michael Plöckl and Jakob Sigl. The three men entered the barn and there found the bodies of Andreas Gruber, his wife Cäzilia Gruber, his daughter Viktoria Gabriel, and his granddaughter Cäzilia. Schlittenbauer stacked on top of each other, he then went into the house alone shortly afterwards, and there found the maid, Maria Baumgartner, and the youngest family member, Josef, murdered inside the house. The victims in the barn suffered horrendous injuries. Cäcilia Gruber was found to have eight holes in the right side of her skull, while her daughter Viktoria’s skull was found to have nine holes after being hit repeatedly on the right side of her head.

Both of the murder weapons belonged to Andreas Gruber, who suffered significantly different injuries to the other members of his family. He was found to have died from a fall onto the tip of the heavy pickaxe, which was found in the animal feeding trough. This wound tore open his carotid artery, causing him to bleed to death within a very short time. The flesh was torn open on the right side of his cheek and the cheekbone protruded. He only had this one injury. Detectives believe the killer had remained in the house for three days with bodies of the victims, and despite a thorough investigation, this gruesome crime remains unsolved to this day.

The police set about questioning eye-witnesses who came forward with information. One such person questioned was artisan Michael Plöckl. In an interview with Michael, he States he would walk past the Hinterkaifecker's property every morning and evening as he went to and from work. According to Michael, On Friday night March 31st around 9:00 o'clock, as he was returning from work, he was illuminated with a lantern by a man who was coming towards him from a field near Hinterkaifeck. This man, whom he did not know very well, then jumped back into the field without saying anything. As Plöckl told me, the figure of the man matched that of Lorenz Schlittenbauer.

As he continued walking, Plöckl noticed that there must have been a fire in the Hinterkaifecker's oven because he saw smoke rising. This smoke had a disgusting smell, as if old rags were being burned. Plöckl also told me that that evening, or rather, on that night, the inhabitants of the Kaifeck were killed, at least that night was described by the homicide squad as the night of murder. Plöckl said "I am convinced that Schlittenbauer burned his blood-stained clothes in the oven that evening". For many years people speculated that Schlittenbauer murdered the family after Viktoria demanded financial support for young Josef. Before his death in 1941, Schlittenbauer initiated and won several civil claims for slander against those people who described him as the “murderer of Hinterkaifeck”. If Schlittenbauer had knowledge of who committed the Hinterkaifeck murders, he took the secret with him to the grave.

( Thank you guys for reading I hope you enjoyed it, I spent a whole day reading and watching documentaries and what not on this story. I know I didn't get all the details but I tried to cover most of it lmk what you think! )

Despite differences like eye color and accent, Bourdin convinced authorities and Nicholas’s family he was their missing son.

He lived with the family for nearly five months, fabricating stories about his changed appearance and trauma.

Article about the story: https://historicflix.com/frederic-bourdin-historys-greatest-imposter/