Who was Kaspar Hauser?
Among history’s greatest unsolved mysteries, is that of a teenage boy who went by the name of Kaspar Hauser. He wandered into Nuremberg during 1828, confused as to where he was and who he was. This was immediately strange to the people who saw him. Dressed in peasant clothes, he did not know how to eat, read, write, or use his hands. Despite the absence of literacy, he could print his name. Carrying two letters, one addressed to an army captain, and one supposedly written by his mother, the dates did not match up. The letter written in 1812 for the captain did not make sense, because the captain was not there until 1828 when Hauser arrived. It instructed the man to either take him into the cavalry, or hang him, for his previous carer no longer could look after him.
When he arrived in Nuremberg, he could only speak a few words. Within weeks, he mysteriously learnt how to read and write, and his autobiography was written, claiming that he had spent his childhood locked in a dark room, with no light, and had been constantly abused. While this would explain his strangeness and confusion, it did not explain why he was in Nuremberg, or the letters, or the assassination attempts that followed. He was cared for by the city’s jailer, who recognised his mental and physical differences. It seemed that he had the mental age of a five-year-old, and only ate bread and water. When Hauser told his story, he claimed that he never saw his carer while he was in the dark room, and had to repeatedly say ‘I want to be a cavalry man like my father.’
Some believed that he was a relative of the royal Grand Duke of Baden, whose uncle had succeeded the throne after his passing. It was rumoured that Hauser was the real heir, but had been imprisoned by his uncle, to prevent him from ever gaining power. This would not have been the first time in history that this had happened. DNA tests in 2002 resolved that the boy had a 95% match of the Duke’s descendants. However, who he was and where he came from, and if this was even true, remains a mystery.
Like his life, his death was also a riddle, as his gravestone indicates.
It was rumoured that Hauser experienced many attempts on his life, including one by a cloaked man with an axe. Another myth (or truth?) was that he had been shot, however it was believed that he had shot himself, and later stabbed himself in the stomach. The stabbing proved to be fatal. He claimed that an unidentifiable attacker had struck him whilst walking in a garden. A note was left, giving an indication as to where the attacker was from. This was not the only strange thing; the note was left in a different place to where he was stabbed, further indicating that it was Hauser himself that planned his assassination. Perhaps he had stabbed himself and not intended the wound to be fatal, but we will never know for sure. What was certain, was that he wanted to bring as much attention to himself as possible. But for what reason?
Were these lies and tricks the effect of an illness, the result of years of imprisonment, or was somebody using him?
Sources:
http://www.livescience.com/44375-the-mystery-of-kaspar-hauser.html
Picture:
By 44886446
Shannen B.
Shannen B.
Comments
Post a Comment