Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Curious Case of Kaspar Hauser

Episode Date: October 17, 2020

On May 28, 1828, a 16-year-old boy mysteriously appeared in Nuremberg, Bavaria. He had a letter in his hand and could only speak a few words. No one knew where he came from, who his parents were, or why he was there. Five years later, just as mysteriously as he appeared, he was found murdered. His tale made him one of the most talked-about celebrities in 19th century Europe. Learn more about the curious case of Kaspar Hauser on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On May 28, 1828, a 16-year-old boy mysteriously appeared in Nuremberg, Bavaria. He had a letter in his hand and could only speak a few words. No one knew where he came from, whose parents were, or why he was there. Five years later, just as mysteriously as he appeared, he was found murdered. His tale made him one of the most talked-about celebrities in 19th century Europe. Learn more about the curious case of Casper Hauser on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Fear is the virus is trending on TikTok. Vaccines are poison.

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you owe it to yourself to get the highest quality images from your trip. That's why I created the Travel Photography Academy. I set out to travel around the world in 2007 with an expensive camera, and I had no idea how to use it. As I traveled around the world, I taught myself the art of travel photography, eventually mastering it to a point where I was named Travel Photographer of the Year three times in North America. The Travel Photography Academy is an online course that teaches you everything you need to know to master your camera and to take better photos on your next trip. To improve your photography and to get better images on your next trip, visit Travel Photographyacademy.com or click in the link in the show notes. The tale of Casper Hauser begins in Bavaria in the early 19th century.

A boy appeared in the streets of Nuremberg, the second largest city in the camp. kingdom, with a glazed look on his face holding an envelope. Eventually, he's taken to a police station where he doesn't seem to be able to understand what the police officers are saying, but he does seem to be able to hear. He is only able to say a few words. In particular, he keeps repeating the following phrase, I want to be a cavalryman as my father was. In the envelope he was holding, there were two anonymous letters. The first was written by someone who claimed that he found the boy at his doorstep on October 7, 1812, and that he was kept in his home the entire time and never allowed to leave. The letter suggested that the boy should become a cavalryman, or if not, quote,

if he isn't good for anything, the captain must either kill him or hang him in the chimney, unquote. The second letter, written in the same hand, claimed to be from his mother and said that his father was a cavalryman in the 6th Regiment and had died. When the police began to guide his hand to make an X on the police report, the boy was able to write a name. Casper Hauser. Thus began one of the most mysterious episodes of the entire 19th century. Casper seemed to have no sense of how to behave in a civilized society. He preferred to eat bread and water over meat and vegetables. He couldn't speak more than a few words. He could say a few prayers,

but it wasn't sure that he actually knew what they meant. The bottom of his feet were smooth, like a baby who hadn't grown up accustomed to walking. The police didn't know what to do with him, so he was arrested for vagrancy and placed in jail. In jail, he exhibited even more odd traits. He had a difficult time reacting to most sensory experiences like the smell of cooked food. When shown a mirror, he was very confused as to what was happening or how it worked. He looked for the person in the mirror, but couldn't find them. Eventually his jailer, Andreas Hilton took him home to live with his family.

There he would play with his son, who taught him out of speak. He also received many visitors who wanted to see him, including the Nuremberg mayor, Bergermeister Binder, who came by almost every day. He also had frequent visits from a local school teacher named Friedrich Daumer. While his language abilities were improving, over several weeks the mayor was able to piece together his story of where he came from. And this is where it gets weirder. The commonly held belief that Casper was raised in the wild was wrong.

Casper told him that he had spent his entire life in a small cell, only occasionally taken out to be washed and have his hair and nails cut. And this was usually done when he was drugged or unconscious. He was fed nothing more than bread and water for most of his life. During most of his imprisonment, he never saw a single person. During the end of his captivity, a man in black appeared who hit his face. He taught him to write his name, although he didn't know what it meant. He also taught him the phrase,

I want to be a cavalryman as my father was, and he didn't even know what that meant. After two months, he went to live with the teacher who visited him, Herr Daumer. He found an advocate in a local attorney, Paul Johann, Enselm Ritter von Fierbach, who worked on his behalf. He was eventually adopted by the entire community of Nuremberg, who donated money for his support and education. Casper was a quick learner. He took to drawing and learned how to read. During this time, he became a cause celebra. Newspapers all over Europe began reporting on him, and he became the hottest subject amongst both the common folk and the aristocracy. Not surprisingly, rumors began to circulate about his origin.

The most popular rumor was that he was the crown prince of the Grand Duchy of Baden, but there was also rumors of him being a member of the royal houses of Hungary and of England. On October 17, 1829, he was found bleeding with a wound to his head. It was claimed that the man who brought him to Nuremberg had done it, leading to more public speculation about his royal origins. However, a skeptic said it was his way of getting out of an argument with Herr Daumer, who had found him telling repeated lies. After the incident, he was transferred to the care of Johann Beaverbach, who was a local magistrate. In April of the next year, there was an incident where he was found with a gunshot wound to his head,

which he claimed happened after an accident where a gun fell off the wall. Here, too, his relationship with Bieberbach went south after he was accused of telling more lies. In May, he was then transferred to the home of Baron von Tusher. Notice he is working his way up the social ladder with every move. Here, too, his relationship soured for the exact same reasons as before. In 1831, a British aristocrat named Lord Stanhope, who had developed an obsession with the case, took custody of him. He spent a significant amount of time and money trying to figure out where Casper came from.

This included trips to Hungary and meetings with Hungarian royals to see if it would jog his memory. He promised to take Casper with him back to England, but that promise was never fulfilled. In 1832, Casper was transferred to the city of Ansbach to live with a schoolmaster named Johan Grigor Meyer. Here too, his relationship with Meyer followed the same script as his relationship with his previous benefactors. On December 14th, 1833, Casper stumbled home with a deep knife wound in his chest. He said that he was lured there by a stranger who gave him a bag with a note and then stabbed him. The note read, and I quote, Hauser will be able to tell you quite precisely how I look and from where I am.

To save Hauser the effort, I want to tell you myself where I come from, blank, blank, blank. I come from from, blank, blank, blank, the Bavarian border, blank, blank, on the river, blank blank blank blank blank I will even tell you the name M-L-O with an umlaut unquote the note was written backward so it was legible in a mirror all of the blanks were literally lines that were a placeholder for something that wasn't there three days later on December 17th Casper died believed to be 21 years old after his death most of his benefactors turned against him Lord Stanhope published a book with all the known evidence about Casper, concluding that it was, quote, his duty to openly confess that I had been deceived. Likewise, the attorney Fierbach, who defended him, wrote, quote, Casper Hauser is a smart scheming codger, a rogue, a good for nothing, that ought to be killed, unquote.

Controversy and speculation about his origin didn't end with his death. For decades after, there were articles and books being written about Casper Hauser. The consensus which developed over time was that Casper was a fraud and that the entire thing was a hoax. There were too many inconsistencies in his story. If he really was raised as he claimed, he wouldn't have survived childhood, nor would he have been able to learn to read and speak so quickly. The belief was that his murder was just an attempt at attention, which went wrong when he stabbed himself too deep. In 1996, the German magazine Der Spiegel did a DNA test on a blood sample that came from an item of his clothing. From this, they concluded that there was no way he could have come from the royal line of the House of Baden.

Over time, Casper Hauser became the subject of many dozens of artistic works, mostly in Germany, including poems, books, songs, plays, movies, and graphic novels. He was also used as the basis for characters in many other fictional works. He has been referenced in clinical psychology where there is a Casper Hauser syndrome and a Casper Hauser experiment where you can raise an offspring away from members of its own species. Casper was buried in Ansbach. His tombstone reads,

Here lies Casper Hauser, a riddle of his time. His birth was unknown. His death, mysterious. Executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is James Macalah. Today's listener review comes from Jid Hat in the United States. They write, super, always interesting, always informative, well done podcast. Varied subjects, you'll never know what you'll hear, but it'll be good. Outstanding.

Well, thank you very much, Jid Hat, and thanks to all of you who listen. Remember, if you leave a five-star review over on Apple Podcasts, I'll read your review on the air.