Andreas Bichel : The Bavarian Ripper

Andreas Bichel lured women into his house tricking them that she is in a possession of a mirror that could show them their future husbands.  The woman would then be blind folded and tied telling them that it is necessary to perform the ritual.  He would then hit their head and hacked them with an axe while they were still alive.  He cut open one of his victims from his breast downward while she is still breathing.  During his trial he told the court that he is too eager and excited while doing the crime that he is trembling all over he said that he longed to eat the pieces of his victims.

Though he was held responsible for some petty crimes which includes theft, Andreas Bichel was not considered as dangerous.  He had a wife, a home and children that made him still a respectable man.  In order to support his family needs, Bichel went into the industry of fortune telling.   He claimed that he was able to see the future through a magic mirror that he possessed, a tool that plays a great part in his series of murders.

His first victim, Barbara Reisinger went into his house while Bichel’s family is not around.  He was initially interested at first as a possible housemaid but something came up to his mind that gave him a different idea.  He told her about his ability to predict the future using a magic mirror.  Reisinger agreed to the said ritual wherein she had to sit in a chair blindfolded and her hands tied.  After Andreas Bichel made sure that she could no longer escape, he took a knife and stabbed her repeatedly on the neck. 

In 1808, he met Catherine Seidel who agrees to undergo the bizarre fortune telling ritual.  He asked her to bring three additional dresses and wore her best dress.  Seidel ended up just like Reisinger.  After a few days, her sister grew worried about Catherine and started to look for her.  Moments after, she stumbled upon a tailor shop wherein the tailor is in the process of making of a waist coat whose fabric is similar to the dress of her sister.  The material was said to be given by the person who owns the garment, Andreas Bichel.

She immediately alerted the police who then went to Andreas Bichel’s house to conduct investigation.  The authorities were not impressed with Bichel’s alibi and perform a search through his house.  They followed a police dog that kept on sniffing at a woodshed.  The police searched through a pile of straw and found a woman severed in half.  They continue to dug up and found several other human head and human corpses.