At first, it was assumed that Kaspar was a half-wild child from the forests. During the course of many conversations with Mayor Binder, Hauser told a different version of his past life, which he later wrote down in more detail. According to the story, Kaspar, had as long as he could remember spent his life in solitary confinement in a darkened cell. He gave the cell's dimensions as approcimately two metres long, one metre wide and one and a half high, with only a straw bed to sleep on and, for toys, two horses and a dog carved out of wood.