One morning in 1828, a young boy appeared seemingly out of thin air. He was found wandering a public square in what is now Nuremberg, Germany.
The boy was 16-years-old and was dressed in tattered clothing. He wore a gray jacket, waistcoat, pantaloons, a silk necktie, and torn-up boots. He had a handkerchief embroidered with the letters “KH” and carried an envelope.
In the envelope were two letters. One of them was addressed to Captain von Wessenig, the captain of the fourth squadron of the sixth cavalry regiment, asking him to take the boy into his charge. It was written by an anonymous laborer who had raised the boy.
The other letter was penned by the boy’s mother, and it stated that she could no longer take care of him. The boy’s father also wasn’t alive, so he would be sent to join the military. The boy had grown up in isolation so that no one would know his whereabouts. To this day, it is unclear who exactly he was or where he had come from.
When he was taken to the captain’s house to be questioned, the boy seemed confused. He only knew how to read and write his own name, Kaspar Hauser. He also kept saying that he wanted to be a cavalryman just like his father and repeated the word “horse.”
Aside from that, his speech was limited. He indulged in bread and water but would turn his nose up at meats and vegetables. Overall, he didn’t have much in the ways of civilized manners.
Eventually, he was put under the care of a British nobleman named Lord Stanhope. Within several weeks, he learned how to read, write, and communicate effectively, much to the surprise of everyone.
Once his vocabulary expanded, Hauser began to tell a story about being raised in a prison. He described being in a cell that was about six feet long, three feet wide, and three and a half feet high.
He slept on a straw bed and was left bread and water to consume. However, the water was always bitter and made him sleep for a long time.
Additionally, he explained how he had a dream where he was in a huge castle with a woman wearing fancy clothes and a man carrying a sword, dressed in all black. It was thought that the dream could be a vague memory of his early life before being confined in the prison.
When Hauser was released from his cell, a man had brought him to the outskirts of Nuremberg, but he never caught a glimpse of the man’s face, as he was instructed to look at the ground the whole time.
Later on, Hauser was put into the care of Friedrich Daumer, a professor and philosopher. He discovered that Hauser had a talent for drawing but didn’t learn much more about his life. Rumors about the boy circulated throughout Europe.
Some people speculated that he was a lost prince and the rightful heir to a royal throne. Perhaps he was the son of Grand Duke Carl von Baden and Stephanie de Beauharnais.
Another theory was that Hauser had epilepsy or was driven mad by the abuse he suffered. However, many others believed that he was just an impostor trying to get rich and famous. The two letters he arrived with seemed to have been written in his own handwriting.
But, in 1829, a mysterious incident occurred that aligned with the theory of his being of royal descent.
On October 17, Hauser was found with a head wound, bleeding in Daumer’s basement. He claimed that the voice of his attacker had been the same man who brought him to Nuremberg. Then, in 1833, Hauser died from a stabbing.
On the evening of April 3, he staggered into his home while clutching his side. He declared that a stranger had lured him to the park and stabbed him. He attempted to lead the townspeople to the spot where he was stabbed, but he dropped dead halfway there.
In 1998, DNA tests were conducted using a sample from his bloodstained shirt. It turned out that he was not a prince after all. So, his true identity is still a mystery. It’s likely that the real truth will never be known.
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By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
