Born in a wagon amongst midwives and burning sage, cloaked in the darkness of a new moon. The baby that made Eden Boswell and Karl Boswell parents, adoringly named Adeline Yohanna Boswell. The medicine woman nicknamed her "winter baby" as the night she was born on December 10th, 1863 brought nearly two metres of snow to their camp outside of the city of Munich, Germany. Her father was a travelling metalworker, and her mother worked as a seamstress and washerwoman. They worked hard to provide for their children; Adeline remained in the home to take care of her six younger siblings.
In the summer of 1883, a group of German military men visited their camp to trade goods they had collected on their journey: luxurious fabrics, pearls, and gold. In that same beautiful summer, Adeline married the strapping young soldier, Erik Altheim.
Erik's family owned a farm on the outskirts of Munich, just down the road from the Boswell camp. Adeline moved in with Erik's mother and grandmother, and began to work tending the farm. In the evenings, when the work was done and the animals were quiet, Adeline would sneak down the road to have dinner with her Sinti family. Despite their struggles to bring children to the home, the years passed them happily.
On the night of December 26th, 1888, a creature of a man broke into their home, silently, swiftly. The attack left the entire Altheim family deceased. Only, when the sun rose in the morning, Adeline awoke next to the body of her bloodless, beloved husband. Terrified, she ran back to the Sinti camp, screaming for help. The travellers stirred; her own father was the first to awaken to her cries. Only when he exited his wagon, it was not his daughter he found. A terrifying creature, true to their folklore. Too afraid to help her, too protective of her to hurt her, he drove her away, and Adeline Altheim disappeared into the snow.
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