Skeletons with hands and feet missing are discovered buried at 'Wolf's Lair' home of Hermann Goring: Horrifying find of three adults, a teenager and a baby by amateur archeologists sparks murder probe

Skeletons without hands or feet have been discovered beneath the home of Nazi war criminal Hermann Goring in the sprawling bunker complex Adolf Hitler used as a headquarters during World War II.

Part of Hitler's inner circle who went on to be the highest-ranking Nazi official tried at Nuremberg, Reichsmarschall Goring is responsible for some of history's most heinous crimes against humanity.

His home in northeastern Poland was considered to have been thoroughly researched, until a team of local researchers and amateur archaeologists set out to uncover a wooden floor in the concrete building.

The German-Polish excavators went to the haunting site in the hope of finding some nails or other building materials, and instead uncovered something much darker.

The remains of three adults, a teenager and a baby were exposed in the dig, each of which appeared to have been buried naked and had no hands or feet. A murder inquiry has now been launched into their gruesome deaths. 

'We were completely shocked,' says Oktavian Bartoszewski, who has been working with the research association at the site for some years, Der Spiegel reports.

It is unclear if Goring's residence in the building predated the deaths, with Bartoszewski claiming that the bodies may have been dumped before the house was built in 1940.

He said that workers who laid the pipes would have been unable to miss the bodies if they had been there at that point, meaning Goring himself may have known about the deaths. 

However, there are also theories that they could have been victims of a mass killing that came after the Nazi hideout was abandoned. 

It is also not known if the victims' bodies had their hands and feet amputated or if their bones decomposed over decades.

Piotrek Banaszkiewicz from the Latebra Foundation which was involved in the discovery said: 'During the uncovering of the first skeleton, as they moved from the ribs through the pelvis to the shinbones, another skull unexpectedly appeared, surprising them.

'This prompted the police to decide on conducting a series of exploratory digs to determine if more human remains were beneath the floor.'

'Upon uncovering the second skeleton, below the shinbones, infantile remains appeared.

'The sight shocked us. Initially, we thought they were animal bones, and we weren't sure what we were dealing with until a delicate skull emerged at one point.

'During the third exploratory dig, additional remains were uncovered. This time, we came across the remains of an adult. All of this took place at night.

'After a moment of reflection, the phrase was uttered: 'there is another.' To the left of the last discovered remains, more teenage remains appeared.

'The first set of remains was arranged unnaturally; the spine was highly curved, and the deformed skull without a visible eye socket and a displaced jaw suggests that the individual might have dealt with significant health issues during their lifetime, although this might mean the remains were displaced.

'The jawbone of the skull had worn-down teeth, indicating an elderly person.

'Throughout subsequent stages of uncovering human remains, the police continuously conducted documentation activities, recording what was observed and taking photographic documentation.

'After some time, a hearse arrived to collect the remains and transport them for examination.'

He added: 'None of the skeletons had any clothing on - the bodies were buried without clothes.

The public prosecutor's investigation is ongoing, and its findings will be published in due course.

Located in the Masurian Woods in northern Poland, the Wolf's Lair used to be a sprawling 618 acre complex.

It was used as Hitler's part-time base during the years 1941-1943 and it was from here that he launched a Nazi invasion into the Soviet Union, known as Operation Barbarossa.

Reinforced bunkers on the site are now overrun by foliage and moss, but its looming structures still stands in place after their density made them difficult to rip down.

The discovery of the bones in Goring's home is potentially the most chilling to have been made since the site was turned into a morbid tourist attraction in 1959. 

One of Hitler's right-hand men, Goring held many positions of power and influence in the Nazi state.

He was Commander in Chief of the German Air Force, Director of the Four Year Plan in the German economy, and a key force behind the Holocaust.

It was Goring who ordered Security Police chief Reinhard Heydrich to organize and coordinate a 'total solution' to the 'Jewish question' in 1941.

He was sentenced to death at Nuremberg before taking his own life the night before he was due to be executed.