In 1922, a family on a remote Bavarian farm was slaughtered one by one with a pickaxe. For days before, they had heard footsteps in the attic, found strange keys, and seen a face at the window — yet stayed. A century later, the killer who apparently lived above them has never been named.
A tight, well-researched primer on the case that still haunts German criminology — six victims, one farm, and no arrest in over 100 years.
The full dossier: footprints leading to the house but never away, a missing house key, and the eerie signs the family reported in the days before they died.
A slower, atmospheric retelling that lingers on the most chilling detail: someone had almost certainly been living in the attic before the killings began.
A narrative deep-dive into the timeline — the maid who fled claiming the house was haunted, and the fresh maid who arrived hours before her own murder.
The details that make this case linger: the killer stayed for days after, feeding the cattle and lighting the stove, while the bodies lay in the barn.
An investigation-focused documentary that walks the ground itself and weighs the suspects — including the one modern police students identified but refused to name.
The murders never left German culture — this award-winning 2006 novel (and its film) fictionalizes the case, proof of how deep it burrowed into the national memory.