Ernst August Wagner

Who was Ernst August Wagner?

Ernst August Wagner was a German mass murderer who, on September 4, 1913 killed his wife and four children in Degerloch and subsequently drove to Mühlhausen an der Enz where he set several fires and shot 20 people, of whom at least 9 died, before he was beaten unconscious by furious villagers and left for dead.

After several psychiatric assessments diagnosed him to suffer from paranoia, and thus becoming the first person in Württemberg to be found not guilty by reason of insanity, he was brought to an asylum in Winnenthal, where he commenced to write several plays and dramas. He died there of tuberculosis in 1938.