So Supernatural - THE UNKNOWN: Kaspar Hauser

Episode Date: January 6, 2021

In 1828, a town in Germany received a strange visitor: a teenage boy who claimed he had been imprisoned his whole life. His mysterious murder just a few years later made his true identity more elusive — and engrossing — than ever. 

In 1828, a teenage boy stumbled into Nuremberg, Germany. He was pale, and his eyes were raw and unaccustomed to light. As for his feet, they're immaculate-looking, like they'd never been walked on before. When the citizens of Nuremberg finally managed to communicate with him, they were stunned by his story. He'd been locked inside a dark room for 16 years by a man whose face he never saw. And then one day he was just released. The town was frantic with questions. Who was this boy? Where did he come from? And why, as it soon became clear, was somebody desperately trying to kill him? This is Supernatural. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers.

This week's episode is about Casper Hauser, a boy who claimed he had been imprisoned his entire life for no apparent reason. When Casper told the citizens of Nuremberg his story, it set off a citywide obsession that only seemed to raise more questions than answers. We'll have all of that and more coming up. Stay with us. In 1828, Nuremberg is a mid-sized city in Bavaria with a struggling economy. Its citizens are mostly hardworking, middle-class people hungry for a distraction. And then, one day, they get one.

On May 26th, a strange boy hobbles through the city gates. He looks like a teenager, maybe about 16 years old, but his skin is pale and clammy. His eyes are red and raw as he squints against the glare of the sun. And he's wearing a shabby felt hat with toes that poke out of tattered shoes. He doesn't look like a run-of-the-mill vagrant, and he seems disoriented, almost like he needs help. People are stopping and staring. And finally, one of the townspeople brings him to the police station. But when the police try and ask the boy who he is, they can't get an answer from him. At first, he responds to every single question with just this blank look. But eventually, he answers using just two statements.

He either says, horse, horse, or he exclaims, I want to be a writer just like my father was. Now, the whole thing is just bizarre. And police finally conclude that he doesn't understand a word they're saying. He might not even understand what he's saying and they have no clue what to do with him. It's at about this time that they catch a break. Police turn out the boy's pockets and they discover two letters. The first is supposedly from the boy's mother. She writes that the boy's father was a Calvary officer, but she goes on to explain that he has since died. Then she ends the letter with a crucial detail. She says her son's name is Casper Hauser. So at this point, the police probably feel like they're getting somewhere.

At least they have a name. But the second letter catches them completely off guard. It's signed by, quote, a poor laborer. He writes that the boy's mother abandoned him when he was just a baby. Since then, the laborer has raised Casper in complete isolation, as in he never let him leave the house. He also confirms that Casper's real father was a Calvary soldier, and he tells whoever receives this letter to either raise the boy to be a writer like his father, or to, quote, butcher him, end quote. Now, obviously, this sounds bananas to everyone reading the letter,

but the laborer goes on to explain that the young boy doesn't have a scent to his name, so it would be kinder for someone to butcher him than to send him away. Obviously, this is still a pretty unhinged thing to say. Why kill a teenager who has never even seen the light of day? And who is this laborer? Did he have some sort of vendetta against Casper's father? Or was this guy some sort of like creepy kidnapper? Either way, it's up to the police to figure out what to do about Casper. And since Nuremberg doesn't really have anywhere to put lost children, they decide to send Casper to the one place where vagrants

can get a meal and some sleep. It's called Vestner Gate Tower, and it's a local prison for petty criminals. It doesn't take long for the jailers at Vestner to realize their new resident is pretty unusual. Even though Casper looks to be around 16, he acts like a three-year-old. I mean, for one, he keeps saying those same two phrases, horse, horse, and I want to be a rider just like my father was. And it's to the point that one of the jailers buys him some wooden horses to play with. Casper becomes obsessed with his toy horses. He plays with them all day long long and he doesn't seem to understand

that his horses aren't alive because he talks to them and he even tries to feed them food. This happens with other inanimate objects too. Whenever Casper is shown a painting or drawing, he tries to talk to the pastel people inside or pick up the charcoal food. Whenever he can't, he gets confused. It's like he's seeing everything for the very first time. Even bathing seems like a new experience. When the jailers undress Casper for a bath, he's completely casual about it. It's like with kids who run around completely naked. Casper doesn't seem to see the difference between being clothed or being nude, even in front of strangers.

And then there's his feet. Casper has some fresh blisters from his walk into Nuremberg, but otherwise, the soles of his feet are immaculate. I mean, we're talking soft with no calluses, like a baby's. And this just seems like further evidence that Casper really has been sitting in captivity his entire life. And when mealtime rolls around, Casper refuses to eat anything other than water and bread. Anything else makes him gag. As Casper settles into Vestner Gate Tower, the entire city of Nuremberg is still curious about him. And when they hear about all his strange behavior, they can't help but visit.

All at once. Seriously, they start coming to see Casper in droves, like he's some sort of circus sideshow. At first, it's kind of nice, like they're bringing Casper presents, mainly toys, and Casper is excited about all the new things he has to play with. His jailers can hear him chattering away to his toys late into the night. So whatever horrible things this kid has been through, he seems pretty content now. Then a local professor named Georg Friedrich Daumer hears about Casper. Professor Daumer is moved by the story of this strange boy without a home or a family. And a longtime teacher,

he's intrigued by Casper's inability to communicate, to the point that he really wants to help. So unlike Casper's other guests, Daumer doesn't come bearing toys. Instead, he starts teaching Casper how to read, write, and communicate. As soon as Casper starts taking lessons with Professor Daumer, he gets super frustrated with all his visitors. They go from being innocuous bystanders to this irritating constant pressure that Casper cannot stand. All he wants to do is focus on learning. And remember, according to the letters, he was raised in complete isolation.

For a normal person, having hundreds of people troop in and out of your room would be overwhelming. But for Casper, it's downright debilitating. person, having hundreds of people troop in and out of your room would be overwhelming, but for Casper, it's downright debilitating. His stress levels get so high that he starts to have spasms on the entire left side of his body. Casper's mood also plummets. He goes from being excited and joyful about everything to becoming completely depressed. Fortunately, Professor Daumer has grown really fond of Casper, and he can see the toll that these other visitors are having on him. So he offers a great solution. Take Casper home to live with him and his mother and sister. Meanwhile, the mayor of

Nuremberg, a guy named Jakob Binder, has also taken a sympathetic interest in Casper. And when he hears about Professor Daumer's desire to let Casper live with him, the mayor does Daumer a huge solid. He puts out an ad in the local newspaper forbidding curious guests from visiting Casper at his new home. So on July 18, 1828, not quite two months after his arrival in Nuremberg, Kasper Hauser moves in with Professor Daumer, and the sudden peace and quiet does wonders for him. Kasper's spasms go away, he seems happier, and every day his communication skills are getting stronger.

Eventually, Professor Daumer feels like Kasper is ready for some big changes. He introduces Casper to foods other than bread and water, adding soup, vegetables, and meat to the menu. Casper's body is so starved for these nutrients that he literally grows more than two inches in just a couple of weeks, according to the professor. Meanwhile, Dalmar is taking Casper on visits to Mayor Binder's house. The mayor is interested in seeing Casper's improvement, which are pretty remarkable. For one, Dalmar isn't just teaching Casper how to read and do math. He's showing him how to draw and play chess and ride horses. And the whole time, Casper's communication skills are getting stronger and stronger. Which means that just three months after stumbling into Nuremberg,

Casper is finally able to tell the professor and the mayor about his upbringing. And what he has to say is horrifying. Coming up, Casper Hauser tells a twisted story. Now back to the story. When Casper begins to talk about his past, it's not all at once. He offers bits and pieces during his visits with Professor Daumer to Mayor Binder's house. And his story is baffling. According to Casper, his very first memory is waking up on a straw pallet inside a dark, narrow room. There are no lamps and nothing on the walls, and it's impossible

for him to gauge the days except that every day when he wakes up, there's a pitcher of water and a loaf of bread. That's all he has to eat for years on end. Every once in a while, he says the water has a horrible taste. And after drinking it, Casper feels exhausted and falls asleep. And when he wakes up from these drug-induced naps, it's clear that someone had bathed him. He's always wearing a clean shirt with freshly cut nails and hair. Each day passes nearly the same as the last, but once in a while, Casper is visited by a man. The man never speaks, and it's unclear what the purpose of his visits are, but at some point, he gives Casper two wooden toy horses. The horses become Casper's best friends. He plays with them

day in and day out. One day, Casper's making a lot of noise playing with the horses when suddenly the man barges in with a cane. He hits Casper's arm with the cane and then just calmly walks out. According to Casper, this abuse only happened once, and he's never seen the man's face ever. I mean, for one, the room is always dark, but the man also takes precautions, apparently training Casper to face the wall every time he hears him entering the room. Casper lives like this for an estimated 16 years. He never leaves his straw pallet, so he doesn't know how to walk. And he's never learned to communicate. Until one day when he's a teenager and everything changes.

The man enters Casper's room. And as usual, Casper turns on his palette to face the wall. Only this time, the man reaches out and hoists Casper to his feet. Then he begins teaching him how to walk. According to Casper, the man remains behind him at all times so he can't see his face. Next, the man teaches him how to say two phrases, horse, horse, and I want to be a rider like my father was. Once Casper has these words memorized, the man stuffs two letters into his pocket and leads him out of the room and outside. As far as we know, Casper doesn't recall

anything about his surroundings. Whether he was in the country or a town, all he remembers is shock. I mean, after years of being kept in a room with no concept of the outside world, he's assaulted on all sides by the sun in the sky, the grass under his feet, and the wind on his face. But he isn't allowed to take it in because the man keeps pushing Casper from behind, forcing him to walk. They trek along for an ambiguous amount of time. Casper wasn't sure how many miles, and he doesn't say how many days or nights might have passed.

Finally, they reach the gates of Nuremberg. Then the man stops. But he won't allow Casper to slow down. Every time Casper tries, the man prods him to keep going, keep going past the gates and into the town. And that's where his new life in Nuremberg begins. Professor Daumer and Mayor Binder piece together Casper's story, and they have no idea what to make of it. Why would someone deliberately lock a child in a dark room for years junkie, but according to Casper, he was never molested by his captor, which, unless Casper had, like, repressed some pretty grim memories,

just makes the whole thing even more confusing. Like, what was this guy's motive for keeping him? In the end, Casper's story does nothing to verify his identity or identify his captor. Meanwhile, Professor Daumer keeps giving Casper the life he's never had. Daumer even pays for Casper to take riding lessons, and Casper is a total natural. Most new riders would be tired and sore after a little while on a horse, but not Casper. He's able to ride for hours at a time, which if you think about it is kind of weird and suspicious. Like how can Casper be that good that fast? As word of Casper's story gets out, there are tons of people in Nuremberg who think

it can't all be true. They don't buy that Casper recently learned how to walk or ride a horse. Instead, they think he must have been so abused in childhood that he dreamed up an alternate explanation for his life. Others speculate that Casper has a mental illness and that he was never kept in captivity at all. But the most popular theory flying around Nuremberg is rooted in the belief that Caspar really is telling the truth. The reason he's such a natural at riding horses is because he's actually a royal heir. And some people think they know exactly which royal heir he is. The story goes back almost 16 years earlier to October 16th, 1812. The Grand Duke of Baden, Germany, a guy named Karl Ludwig Friedrich and his wife, Duchess Stephanie de Beauharnais, had welcomed the birth of a baby boy.

He was going to be the heir to Baden, a coveted former territory of the Holy Roman Empire. But the infant was pale and sickly, and he died. Or did he? When the people of Nuremberg hear Caspar's story, they point out two things. First, Caspar appears to be around 16 years old, the age the Prince of Baden would have been if he lived. But the real crux of this story is that Caspar bears an uncanny resemblance to both the Duke and Duchess. Now, this isn't some sort of like pretend your baby died scenario. Instead, people think that the Duchess Stephanie and her husband were tricked. Someone had swapped their baby with a sickly imposter.

So when the imposter died, the Duke and Duchess had no idea that their real son, Casper, was still alive. He had been kidnapped to prevent his ascending to the throne. People in Nuremberg claimed that this was the only possible explanation for why Caspar was locked away in the dark for so many years. But even with all the rumors, it's not exactly clear who would have done it. I should also point out that at this point, the Duke has been dead for 10 years. Caspar's siblings, if he had any, would have been three sisters. And none of them ever breathed a word about whether they thought this strange boy in Nuremberg was their estranged brother, at least not publicly. But that doesn't stop people from speculating.

A full year passes and Casper is still Nuremberg's favorite man of mystery. At this point, he's about 17 or 18 years old, and he announces that he wants to write an autobiography. News gets out, and the people of Nuremberg are ecstatic. Up to this point, they've heard rough strokes of Casper's story, but they're desperate for all the juicy details this book could provide. But just a few months after this announcement, Casper is attacked. It's October 17th, 1829, about a year and a half since Casper came to Nuremberg. Casper is visiting with a local doctor and he eats a walnut for the very first time. And then he has what sounds like a bad allergic reaction and he falls horribly ill. Professor

Daumer cancels afternoon lessons and he sends Casper into his room to just rest. So Casper's lying in bed with these terrible stomach cramps, I mean to the point that he has to get up and use the restroom. So he sprints out to the outhouse but while he there, Casper hears a thump coming from the garden outside, and it's followed by the sound of rapid footsteps. Curious, Casper peers through the slats of the outhouse's door. He sees a man in a dark hat standing by the stairs just outside the main house. Casper doesn't recognize this guy at all, so he just figures that he must be a chimney sweep or something. But he notices that the man doesn't make any move to enter the house. He's just standing there like he's waiting for something.

Eventually, Casper leaves the outhouse. But the minute he steps outside, the man in the dark hat sprints over and hits Casper on the head. Now it's unclear what weapon he used, but either way, Casper crumples to the ground. He notes that the man is also wearing a silk scarf underneath his hat that hides his face, and he hears the man telling him that he will die before leaving Nuremberg. Casper hears these words as he's passing out from the blow, and he can't help but wonder where he's heard that man's voice before. Coming up, Casper Hauser's strange death. Now back to the story.

When Casper comes to, he's still on the ground in front of the outhouse, except now he's alone. The man in the hat and silk scarf is nowhere to be seen. Casper is freaked out and his forehead is bleeding badly. So he stumbles into the cellar, lies down on the floor, and passes out again. A few hours seem to go by until Professor Daumer's mother finds Casper curled up in the cellar. She gets a maid and their landlord's son to help carry Casper to his room. And when Professor Daumer gets home, his sister and mother fill him in on everything. And then the three of them sit vigil, just waiting for Casper to wake up. When Casper opens his eyes, he is delirious and ranting. In his broken German, he mutters things like,

Tell the mayor, the man murder me. I love all people. Why man murder me? I too want live. Why you murder me? I to you never anything done. This apparently lasts for 48 hours. And Casper's words fill Professor Daumer and his family with fear. Why would someone have tried to kill poor sweet Casper? And when Casper recovers enough to explain to them exactly what happened, they're even more freaked out.

Because even though Casper didn't see the man's face, he's positive that the voice belonged to the same man who had held him hostage. The guy who taught him how to say horse, horse, and I want to be a rider like my father was. Dalmer relays this information to the police and an investigation is soon underway. Meanwhile, news flies around Nuremberg and theories about Casper reach a fever pitch. Some people take it as further proof that Casper is royalty. They claim his captor tried to kill him

because he found out about his plans to publish an autobiography. Others accuse Casper of being a liar who's just making it all up as he goes. And while the police never have any leads on a strange man in a dark hat and silk scarf, the attack, if it ever really happened, does seem to work

because Casper never publishes his autobiography. The whole episode wears Professor Daumer down to the point that he falls ill. He reluctantly decides that it would be better if Casper were relocated. By this time, the story of Casper Hauser has gone international, traveling all the way to England, which is how Caspar first comes on the radar of a wealthy English nobleman, Lord Philip Henry Stanhope. The minute Lord Stanhope hears about Caspar's case, he's desperate to meet him. And sure, everyone across Europe is intrigued by Caspar. But in 1831, this is about two years after the mystery attack, Lord Stanhope literally travels to Germany just to visit Caspar.

When he arrives, he immediately showers Caspar with gifts. He even posts a large public reward for any information about the man who imprisoned him. And it's weird. Stanhope has absolutely no reason to be getting this involved. Ultimately, no one comes forward with any news. But Lord Stanhope doesn't blink. He just continues mining Casper for information. He wants to know everything he can about Casper's past.

And I'm not sure how this happens, but at some point, Lord Stanhope finds out that Caspar knows a few Hungarian words, which is really weird because remember, Caspar could barely communicate in German. It's bizarre that he knows any words in any other language. But Lord Stanhope seems convinced that the only explanation for Caspar's language skills is that he's a long-lost Hungarian noble. Lord Stanhope even pays to take Caspar to Hungary. He hopes that being in the country of his birth will somehow, like, jog Caspar's latent memories. Caspar doesn't have any epiphanies while he's in Hungary, but strangely, Lord Stanhope doesn't seem to mind.

In fact, on returning to Nuremberg, Stanhope is practically giddy. He announces to anyone that will listen that he plans to adopt Caspar as his heir and relocate him to an estate in Kent, England, a place called Chevening Castle. Professor Dalmer is kind of put off by this. Like, sure, he's been looking for a new home for Casper, but he doesn't exactly trust Lord Stanhope. Still, Dalmer doesn't have any legal claims to Casper, and he's not about to go head-to-head with a British lord, so he doesn't say anything.

Not even when Lord Stanhope demands to be given legal guardianship over Casper and then inexplicably orders that Casper relocate to the home of a different teacher outside Nuremberg, Professor Johann Georg Meyer. This really doesn't sit right with Daumer. Like, Lord Stanhope just promised to adopt Caspar and take him to England. Why is he relocating him to a town near Nuremberg, and when will he make good on his initial promise? And even more bizarre, after making arrangements for Caspar's move, Lord Stanhope just sails off to England, with nothing more than a vague promise to return. At any rate, on December 10th, 1831, Caspar moves in with Professor Meyer. And from the moment he arrives, he is subjected to total cruelty. Meyer starts in on Caspar by

demanding that he convert to Christianity. Having been raised in both literal and figurative darkness, Casper has no interest in religion. Still, he tries to take religion more seriously. But his efforts aren't enough to satisfy Meyer. The professor starts insisting everything Casper says is a lie. Now, I'm not sure if Meyer does this because he's always believed from afar that Casper is a liar, or if his suspicion is based on things Casper does once he comes to live with Meyer. But whatever the reason, Meyer believes that Casper is full of it,

and he does nothing to hide his contempt. Ultimately, Casper finds Meyer's treatment so awful that he starts telling people he'd rather return to the prison he grew up in. And the only thing that keeps him going is the hope that Lord Stanhope will someday fulfill his promise to adopt Casper and take him to England. But that never happens. Instead, Casper is attacked yet again. Allegedly, on December 14th, 1833, Casper receives a mysterious invitation from a man who claimed to have news about his deceased mother. It's not clear how Casper received this news, if it was by letter or maybe by visitor. But either way, he walks to a nearby garden to meet this guy.

He's waiting patiently for the stranger to arrive when suddenly a man runs up to him and stabs him in the chest. Casper doesn't see his face, but this time he isn't left empty-handed because immediately after stabbing him, the man thrusts a bag at Casper. And in Casper's haste to get away as quickly as possible, he drops it. Meyer is stunned when Casper stumbles into his living room, clutching his bleeding chest. Gasping for breath, Casper tells Meyer that he's been stabbed. Then Casper drags the professor back to the scene of the crime because he wants to

find that bag. The two of them search everywhere, but the bag is nowhere to be found. And eventually, Meyer insists that they go home. Meanwhile, the police are informed and they carry on the search for the mysterious attacker and bag. While they don't find the culprit, they do find the bag and it's this expensive looking silk purse. When they open it, they find this strange note inside. It's written completely backwards and peppered with blank spaces. It reads, 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 from where I come. I come from blank, the Bavarian border blank, on the river blank. I will even tell you my name, M-L-O, end quote. Okay, so this note is completely bizarre, right?

Why would someone write a letter to identify themselves, but then fill it with blanks, but then also sign their initials? And above all, why stab Casper? When the police read that note, they don't even know what to make of it. The initials don't match up with any obvious suspects or anyone who Casper has been in contact with. They're just at a total loss. But not Meyer. He is certain that he knows exactly what's happening.

From the moment they return from the park, Meyer starts in on Casper for being a liar. By this point, Casper is laying in bed, bleeding from his stab wound, but Meyer doesn't care. He accuses Casper of making the whole thing up, and he claims Casper stabbed himself just to get attention. Meyer is so convinced that Casper is a fraud that he doesn't call a doctor for hours. By then, Casper's wound is so severe that he is in excruciating pain. But the whole time, Meyer doesn't let up. He even goes as far as telling Casper that he deserves a thrashing. When the police arrive, they are infected by Meyer's suspicions. It's unclear what Meyer tells them, but even as Casper is writhing in pain, they're all interrogating him with

thinly veiled contempt. And that is how Casper Hauser dies, bleeding to death, surrounded by people who think he's a liar, which is completely wild. Like, why would Meyer let that happen? Shouldn't he at least be worried about what Lord Stanhope will say? When the news gets out, everyone in Nuremberg is shocked. And once again, people split into two camps. Some think Casper is a liar who stabbed himself, and others truly believe he was murdered for some reason that must have to do with his true identity. As for Lord Stanhope, he leaps into action.

One week after Casper's death, Stanhope sends Casper a letter promising to visit. Now, this is bizarre because Casper is a well-known celebrity. His death was written about in lots of newspapers. So it's hard to believe Lord Stanhope hadn't heard about it. But he sends that letter anyway. The timing of it makes it seem like Stanhope was trying to somehow clear his name. And when Professor Daumer hears about it, he's suspicious, especially when he learns how Stanhope is behaving. Because in the days after Casper's death,

Lord Stanhope visits several European nobles and he tries to convince them that Caspar was a liar who fabricated everything about his life. Again, this is really shady. I mean, one day Lord Stanhope is writing that he wants to visit Caspar, and the next he's gallivanting around Europe calling him a liar. But nothing is as weird as what Lord Stanhope does next. One night, he shows up at Professor Dahmer's house completely unannounced. Dahmer invites him inside and Lord Stanhope immediately starts trying to convince him to denounce Casper as a fraud. He explains that Dahmer's relationship with Casper carries a lot of weight, so if he discredits the boy, everyone will accept that he was a liar. Professor Dalmer is speechless, but his mother, who's been sitting next to him throughout this

entire conversation, is furious. She asks Lord Stanhope why he is trying so hard to disgrace a dead boy who saw him as a father figure. Then she stands up for Casper, telling Lord Stanhope that she is positive he wasn't an imposter or a fraud. At that, Stanhope turns red, lurches to his feet, and sprints out of the house. He returns to England and never breathes a word about Casper ever again. To Professor Daumer, it's all proof that Stanhope had something to do with Casper's death. But just like the story about Casper Hauser's captivity, it isn't clear what there was to gain, unless Casper was some sort of kidnapped royal. I mean, stay with me on this. Maybe Lord Stanhope was part of some plot to abduct Casper and keep him locked away for 16 years. Maybe he

or Meyer or some other crony attacked Casper after learning about his plans to publish an autobiography. And then when he failed to kill Casper that first time, Stanhope befriended him, sending him to Meyer's house to live before deciding to finish him off. That sort of explains why Stanhope was so interested in Casper's story. But it obviously is full of holes, and it's really hard to believe anyone would have gone to that much manipulative effort. It's almost easier to think that Stanhope really was just an enthusiast of the Caspar Hauser

mystery. Maybe he really did plan to adopt Caspar, but after his death, Meyer convinced Stanhope that he'd been duped and that Caspar was a fraud. In which case, Stanhope may have just been trying to get ahead of his own embarrassment with spreading the truth. But it still doesn't explain who Casper was, why he was locked up, and whether he was telling the truth. And if Casper was just a pretender, then someone should have recognized and exposed him as a fraud. But that never happened.

More than 3,000 books and 14,000 articles have been published on Kaspar Hauser. People have followed the rabbit holes connecting him to Lord Stanhope, Mayor Binder of Nuremberg, and the House of Baden. But the mystery remains. Nobody has been able to explain who Kaspar Hauser really was or why he was locked up. In a way, we know just as much about him as when he first stumbled through the gates of Nuremberg. Thanks for listening. I'll be back next week with another episode. To hear more stories hosted by me, check out Crime Junkie and all AudioChuck originals.