Kaspar Hauser

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Kaspar Hauser (April 30, 1812 (?) – December 17, 1833) was a mysterious foundling in 19th century Germany with suspected ties to the royal House of Baden.

Contents 1 Life 2 The "prince legend" 2.1 DNA analyses 3 Documentation 4 Medical aspects 5 Films, books and art 5.1 List of adaptions 6 References 6.1 Contemporary sources 6.2 Footnotes

[edit] Life

On May 26, 1828 a teenage boy appeared in the streets of Nuremberg, Germany. He would barely talk, but he carried a letter with him addressed to the captain of the 4th squadron of the 6th cavalry regiment, Captain von Wessenig. It was dated "From the Bavarian border / The place is not named [sic] / 1828". The anonymous author said that the boy was given into his custody, as an infant, on the 7th October 1812, and that he had instructed him in reading, writing, and the Christian religion but had never let him "take a single step out of my house". The letter stated that the boy would now like to be a cavalryman; thus, the captain should take him in or hang him. There was another short letter enclosed, purporting to be from his mother to his prior caretaker. This letter was found to have been written by the same hand as the other one. It stated that he was born on April 30, 1812 and that his father, a cavalryman of the 6th regiment, was dead.

He was wearing a round felt peasant's hat lined with yellow silk, an old pair of high-heeled half boots that didn't fit, a black silk scarf, a grey cloth jacket, a linen vest, and grey cloth trousers. He was carrying a white and red checked handkerchief with the initials K.H. embroidered in red and some rags decorated with blue and white flowers. He also carried a (possibly) German key, a small envelope containing gold dust, and prayer beads made of horn. Additionally, he had some printed religious texts in his pockets, including a spiritual manual entitled "The Art of Replacing Lost Time and Years Badly Spent".

Shoemaker Georg Weickmann took the boy to the house of Captain von Wessenig, where he would only repeat, "I want to be a cavalryman, as my father was," and "Horse! Horse!" Further demands elicited only tears, or the obstinate proclamation of "Don't know". The boy appeared to be in extreme pain and wept continually, pointing to his feet. He was taken to a police station, where he would write a name: Kaspar Hauser. He showed that he was familiar with money, could say some prayers, and read a bit, but he answered few questions, and his vocabulary appeared to be quite limited.^[1]

He spent the following two months in Vestner Gate Tower in the care of a jailor, Andreas Hiltel. Despite what many later accounts would say, he was in good physical condition and could walk well; for example, he climbed over ninety steps to his room. He was about four feet nine inches tall, of a "healthy facial complexion"^[2] with light brown curly hair, and was stocky with broad shoulders. His skin was very fair and delicate and his hands were small and soft. He was approximately sixteen years old, but appeared to be mentally retarded. Mayor Binder, however, claimed that the boy had an excellent memory and was learning quickly. Various curious people visited him, to his apparent delight. He refused all food except bread and water.

At first it was assumed that he had been raised like a half-wild human in forests, but during many conversations with Mayor Binder, Hauser told a different version of his past life, which he later also wrote down in more detail. According to this story he had, for as long as he could think back, spent his life always totally alone in a darkened behältnis (box) about two meters long, one meter wide, and one and a half high, with only a straw bed to sleep on and a horse carved out of wood for a toy.

He claimed that he found bread and water next to his bed each morning. Periodically the water would taste bitter, and had been apparently drugged: drinking this would cause him to sleep more heavily than usual, and when he had awakened his straw had been changed, and his hair and nails had been cut. Hauser claimed that the first human being he ever had had contact with had been a mysterious man who had visited him not long before his release, always taking great care not to reveal his face to him. This man, Hauser told, had taught him to write his name by leading his hand. After having learned to stand and to walk he was taken outside, the boy fainted from the light and the air, his next memory was of walking through Nuremberg. Furthermore, the stranger allegedly had taught him to say the phrase "I want to be a cavalryman, as my father was" (in Bavarian dialect), but Hauser claimed that he had not understood what these words meant.

This tale, still famous today, aroused great curiosity and made him an object of international attention. Rumors arose that he was of princely parentage, possibly of Baden origin, but there were also claims that he was an impostor. It is nowadays consensus among serious researchers that Hauser's account cannot possibly be true.^[3] As Psychiatrist K. Leonhard explained: "If he had been living since childhood under the conditions he describes, he would not have developed beyond the condition of an idiot; indeed he would not have remained alive long. His tale is so full of absurdities that it is astonishing that it was ever believed and is even today still believed by many people."^[4]

Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach, president of the Bavarian court of appeals, began to investigate the case. Hauser was given to the care of a schoolteacher, Friedrich Daumer, who taught him various subjects and thereby discovered his talent for drawing. He appeared to flourish in this environment. Daumer also subjected him to homeopathic treatments and magnetic experiments. As Feuerbach told the story, "When Professor Daumer held the north pole towards him, Caspar put his hand to the pit of his stomach, and, drawing his waistcoat in an outward direction, said that it drew him thus; and that a current of air seemed to proceed from him. The south pole affected him less powerfully; and he said that it blew upon him."^[5]

On October 17, 1829, Hauser did not come to the midday meal, but was found bleeding from a cut wound on the forehead, in the cellar of Daumer's house. He asserted that while sitting on the privy he had been attacked and wounded by a hooded man who had also threatened him with the words: "You still have to die ere you leave the city of Nuremberg." Hauser said that by the voice he had recognized the man as the one who had brought him to Nuremberg. As was obvious from his blood trail, Hauser had at first fled to the first floor where his room was, but then instead of moving on to his caretakers, he had returned downstairs, and had climbed through a trap door into the cellar. Alarmed officials called for a police escort and transferred him to the care of Johann Biberbach, one of the municipal authorities. The alleged attack on Hauser also fueled rumors about his possible descent from the House of Baden. Hauser's critics are of the opinion that he had inflicted the wound on himself with a razor, which he then had brought back to his room before he betook himself to the cellar.^[6] He might have done so to arouse pity and thus escape chiding for a recent quarrel with Daumer, who had come to believe that the boy had a tendency to lie.^[7]

On April 3, 1830, a pistol shot went off in Hauser's room at the Biberbachs' house. His escort hurriedly entered the room and found him bleeding from a wound to the right side of his head. Hauser quickly revived and stated that he had climbed on a chair to get some books, the chair had fallen, and while trying to hold on to something he had accidentally torn down the pistol hanging on the wall, causing the shot to go off. There are doubts whether the (benign) wound had actually been caused by the shot, and some authors associate the incident with a preceding quarrel where, again, Hauser had been reproached for lying.^[8] In any case, the occurrence led the municipal authorities to come to another decision on Hauser, whose initially good relationship with the Biberbach family had soured. In May 1830, he was transferred to the house of Baron von Tucher,^[9] who later also complained about Hauser's exorbitant vanity and lies. Perhaps the sharpest judgment passed on Hauser was the one by Mrs. Biberbach, who commented on his "horrendous mendacity", his "art of dissimulation", and called him "full of vanity and spite".^[10]

A British nobleman, Lord Stanhope, took an interest in Hauser and gained custody of him late in 1831. He spent a great deal to attempt to clarify Hauser's origin. In particular he paid for two visits to Hungary, as Hauser seemed to remember some Hungarian words. Stanhope later declared that the complete failure of these inquiries had led him to doubt Hauser's credibility. In December 1831, he transferred Hauser to Ansbach, to the care of a schoolmaster named Johann Georg Meyer, and in January 1832 Stanhope left Hauser for good. The lord continued to pay for Hauser's living expenses, but never made good on his promise that he would take him to England. After Hauser's death, Stanhope published a book in which he presented all known evidence against Hauser, taking it as his duty "to confess in public that I have been deceived."^[11] Followers of Hauser suspect Stanhope of ulterior motives and connections to the House of Baden, but academic historiography defends him as a philanthropist, a pious man, and a seeker of truth.^[12]

Schoolmaster Meyer, strict and pedantic as he was, disliked Hauser's many excuses and apparent lies, and thus their relationship was quite strained. In late 1832, Hauser was given employment as a copier in the local law office. Still hoping that Stanhope would take him to England, he was much dissatisfied with his situation, which deteriorated further when his patron Anselm von Feuerbach died in May 1833. This certainly was a grievous loss to him.^[13] (Some authors, however, point out that Feuerbach had, by the end of his life, apparently stopped believing in Hauser; at least he had written a note, to be found in his legacy, which read: "Caspar Hauser is a smart scheming codger, a rogue, a good-for-nothing that ought to be killed."^[14])

On December 9, 1833, Hauser had a serious argument with Meyer who once more was annoyed by Hauser's lies. Meyer said that he did not know how to face Lord Stanhope, who was expected to visit Ansbach at Christmas. Five days later, on December 14, 1833, Hauser came home with a deep wound in his left breast which proved to be fatal. He stated that he had been lured to the Ansbach Court Garden and that a stranger had stabbed him there while giving him a bag. When the police searched the Court Garden they found a small violet purse, but only one man's tracks in the snow. The purse contained a penciled note in "Spiegelschrift" (i. e., it had to be read in a mirror). The message (in German) went as follows: "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 from _ _ _ the Bavarian border _ _ On the river _ _ _ _ _ I even want to tell you the name: M. L. Ö." The note contained one spelling error and one grammatical error, both of which were typical for Hauser — who, on his deathbed, kept muttering incoherences about 'writing with pencil'. Although he had been very eager that the purse would be found he did not ask for its contents, and furthermore the note was folded in a specific triangular form — just the way Hauser used to fold his letters, as Mrs. Meyer immediately realized. In addition, Hauser's account of what had happened was full of inconsistencies and improbabilities. For these reasons it was suspected that he had stabbed himself, and the forensic doctors agreed that the wound could indeed be self-inflicted. He may have written the note to fake a proof of the attacker's presence, and he may have chosen the "Spiegelschrift" to disguise his hand-writing more easily. Many authors believe that he had accidentally stabbed himself deeper than he had planned, and that his intent was to revive public interest in him and to convince Stanhope that he was insecure in Germany, hoping that the lord would fulfill his promise to take him to England.^[15]

Hauser died on December 17, 1833, without agony. He was buried in a country graveyard; his headstone reads, "Here lies Kaspar Hauser, riddle of his time. His birth was unknown, his death mysterious." A monument to him was later erected in the Court Garden which reads Hic occultus occulto occisus est: "Here a mysterious one was killed in a mysterious manner."

[edit] The "prince legend"

According to contemporary rumors – probably current as early as 1829 – Kaspar Hauser was the hereditary prince of Baden who was born on September 29, 1812, and who, according to the official version, had died on October 16, 1812. It was claimed that this prince had been switched with a dying baby, and had subsequently surfaced 16 years later as "Kaspar Hauser" in Nuremberg. In this case, his parents would have been Karl, Grand Duke of Baden and Stéphanie de Beauharnais, cousin-by-marriage of Napoleon I of France. Because Karl had no male progeny, his successor was his uncle Ludwig who was later succeeded by his half-brother Leopold. Leopold's mother, the Countess von Hochberg, was the alleged culprit of the boy's captivity. The Countess was supposed to have disguised herself as a ghost, the "White Lady", when kidnapping the prince. Her motive evidently would have been to secure the succession for her sons. After Hauser's death, it was claimed further that he had been murdered, again because of his being the prince.

In 1876, Otto Mittelstädt presented overwhelming evidence against this theory, based on the official documents about the prince's emergency baptism, autopsy and burial.^[16] Andrew Lang summarizes the results in his Historical Mysteries (1905): "It is true that the Grand Duchess was too ill to be permitted to see her dead baby, in 1812, but the baby's father, grandmother, and aunt, with the ten Court physicians, the nurses and others, must have seen it, in death, and it is too absurd to suppose, on no authority, that they were all parties to the White Lady's plot." Furthermore, letters of the Grand Duke's mother, published in 1951, give detailed accounts of the child's birth, illness and death, strongly corroborating the evidence against the alleged switch of babies.^[17]

[edit] DNA analyses

In November 1996 the German magazine Der Spiegel reported an attempt to genetically match a blood sample from pants assumed to have been Kaspar Hauser's. This analysis was made in laboratories of Forensic Science Service in Birmingham and in the LMU Institute of Legal Medicine in University of Munich. Comparisons with the members of the royal family proved that the blood examined could not possibly stem from the hereditary prince of Baden.^[18]

In 2002, the Institute for Forensic Medicine of the University of Münster analyzed hair and body cells from locks of hair and items of clothing that were also alleged to belong to Kaspar Hauser. The analysts took from the items used in the test six different DNA samples, all of which turned out to be identical. They differed substantially, however, from the blood sample examined in 1996, whose authenticity is therefore questionable. The new DNA samples were compared to a DNA segment of Astrid von Medinger, a descendant in the female line of Stéphanie de Beauharnais, who would have been Kaspar Hauser's mother if he had been indeed the hereditary prince of Baden. The sequences were not identical but the deviation observed is not large enough to exclude a relationship, as the difference could be caused by a mutation. (The mitochondrial DNA, which was examined, is passed only through the female line and thus cannot change except through mutation.) On the other hand, the relatively high agreement does by no means prove the alleged relationship, as the "Hauser samples" showed a pattern that is common among the German population.^[19] The House of Baden continues to be silent on the matter of Kaspar Hauser and does not allow any medical examination of the remains of Stéphanie de Beauharnais or of the child that has been buried as her son in the family vault at Pforzheim.

[edit] Documentation

What follows, is a shortened version of the letter addressed to Captain von Wessening:

From the Bavarian border, the place is not named, 1828

Honoured Captain,

I send you a lad who wishes to serve his king in the Army. He was brought to me on October 7th, 1812. I am but a poor laborer with children of my own to rear. His mother asked me to bring up the boy, and so I thought I would rear him as my own son. Since then, I have never let him go one step outside the house, so no one knows where he was reared. He, himself, does not know the name of the place or where it is.

You may question him, Honoured Captain, but he will not be able to tell you where I live. I brought him out at night. He cannot find his way back. He has not a penny, for I have nothing myself. If you do not keep him, you must strike him dead or hang him.

The other, enclosed letter, which purported to be written by the boy's mother mentioned in the first letter, read as follows:

This child has been baptized. His name is Kaspar; you must give him his second name yourself. I ask you to take care of him. His father was a cavalry soldier. When he is seventeen, take him to Nuremberg, to the Sixth Cavalry Regiment: his father belonged to it. I beg you to keep him until he is seventeen. He was born on April 30th, 1812. I am a poor girl; I can't take care of him. His father is dead.

[edit] Medical aspects

On autopsy, the brain of Kasper Hauser was notable for small cortical size and few, non-distinct cortical gyri — all consistent with cortical atrophy. ^[20] Legend and analysis of the Kaspar Hauser case continue to this day. In addition to theories of royal blood and outright imposture, medical hypotheses include amnesia caused by hypnosis or that Kaspar Hauser had been suffering from a kind of epilepsy, autism or psychogenic dwarfism^{[citation needed]} (see Feral children).

[edit] Films, books and art

Jakob Wassermann's 1908 novel Caspar Hauser oder Die Trägheit des Herzens was perhaps the most influential fictional treatment of the legend, and was largely responsible for its popularization in Germany.

In 1974 the German filmmaker Werner Herzog made Hauser's story into the film, Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (Every Man for Himself and God Against All). In English the film was either known by that translation, or by the title, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser.

The case of Kaspar Hauser has also inspired other artists like playwrights Paul Verlaine and Peter Handke, theatre composers like Elizabeth Swados, and musical artists like Suzanne Vega and Moth!Fight!. Robert A. Heinlein refers to 'Kaspar Hausers' as an analogue to persons popping in and out of metaphysical planes in his novel Glory Road. He is also cited in Billy Budd by Herman Melville, "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides and in City of Glass (among other similar cases) from the New York Trilogy by Paul Auster. Fredric Brown offers a theory about "Casper Hauser" in his science-fiction story "Come and Go Mad". Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson's book on Kaspar Hauser is Lost Prince : The Unsolved Mystery of Kaspar Hauser.

Anthroposophists have written several books on Kaspar Hauser. One in particular, a detailed work by Peter Tradowsky, addresses the mysteries surrounding Kaspar Hauser's life from the anthroposophical point of view. His analysis delves into the occult significance of the individuality he sees as incarnated in Kaspar Hauser.

"Self-Portrait as Kaspar Hauser" is a poem in Lucie Brock-Broido's Trouble in Mind

In 2007, artist Diane Obomsawin published Kaspar, a graphic novel in which she tells the story of Kaspar Hauser. This book has been published by L'Oie de Cravan, in Montréal, Québec.

[edit] List of adaptions

• Jakob Wassermann – Caspar Hauser or the Inertia of the Heart
• The movie The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle), by Werner Herzog, tells the story.
• Another movie was made in 1993 : Kaspar Hauser was a German-Austrian production directed by Peter Sehr.
• Marianne Hauser's novel Prince Ishmael is a fictional account of the life of Kaspar Hauser.
• Katharine Neville's novel The Magic Circle mentions the life of Kaspar Hauser.
• Paul Auster's novel City of Glass compares the life of Kaspar Hauser to the situation of one of its characters.
• There is a song called Kaspar Hauser , by the German band Dschinghis Khan.
• German rock band BAP's song 'Kaspar' deals with the story in Cologne's dialect, Kölsch
• There is also a song called Kaspar by the singer Reinhard Mey
• Suzanne Vega included a song called Wooden Horse (Caspar Hauser's Song) on her 1987 album, Solitude Standing.
• As mentioned in the article, the French poet Verlaine wrote a poem about Kaspar under the French translation of his name "Gaspard," which was later made into a song with the same name by the French singer/songwriter Georges Moustaki.
• In the Japanese horror movie Marebito, Masuoka, the main character, believes the girl he found chained up underground is a feral child (from her lack of speech and social skills), and refers to her as his "little Kaspar Hauser".
• Harlan Ellison, in his story "The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World," from the Dangerous Visions anthology, suggested that Hauser had been plucked out of time and later murdered by a female sadist named Juliette.
• Eric Frank Russell, in his story Sinister Barrier, mentioned Kaspar Hauser as a person who originated from a non-human laboratory.
• A short story by Steven Millhauser called "Kaspar Hauser Speaks" in the book The Knife Thrower and Other Stories.
• In the movie Fahrenheit 451 (1966 film), Guy Montag discreetely puts a copy of a book entitled "Gaspard Hauser" into his bag before the rest of the books in that residence are torched.
• British progressive rock band IQ released in 1997 the concept album "Subterranea", loosely inspired by the singular story of Kaspar Hauser.

[edit] References

• Duchess of Cleveland: "The True Story of Kaspar Hauser from Official Documents", Macmillan, London, 1893.
• Andrew Lang: The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser (in: Historical Mysteries, 1905)
• Ivo Striedinger: Hauser Kaspar, der „rätselhafte Findling“, in: Lebensläufe aus Franken, III. vol., 1927, pp. 199–215
• Ivo Striedinger: Neues Schrifttum über Kaspar Hauser, in: Zeitschrift für bayerische Landesgeschichte, 6. Jg. 1933, pp. 415–484
• Jean Mistler: Gaspard Hauser, un drame de la personnalité, Fayard 1971 [ISBN 978-2213593616]
• Martin Kitchen: Kaspar Hauser: Europe's Child, Palgrave MacMillan 2001 [ISBN 0-333-96214-1]

[edit] Contemporary sources

• Anselm von Feuerbach: Caspar Hauser, Boston 1832
• Philip Henry Earl Stanhope: Tracts Relating to Caspar Hauser, Hodson 1836

[edit] Footnotes