Johann Georg Schröpfer
Johann Georg Schrepfer, or Johann Georg Schröpfer (1738? – 8 October 1774 in Leipzig) was a German charlatan, independent Freemason, and necromancer. He performed ghost-raising séances for which he secretly used special effects, possibly including magic lantern projections of ghosts on smoke, which inspired the phantasmagoria shows popular in Europe from the 1790s to the 1830s.
Little is certain about Schrepfer's life. Many accounts stem from either adherent or opposing Freemasons and Schrepfer was an impostor who told many lies about himself.
General biographical information
Schrepfer's year of birth is often stated to be 1730 and sometimes as 1739, but he was baptized in Nürnberg on March 26, 1738. He was listed as the eighth child of the patron of "Zum Roten Roß". Father Schrepfer later ran the "Goldenen Lamm" and seems to have gone bankrupt in 1753. Johann Georg reportedly served as a hussar in the Prussian army during part of the Seven Years' War. However, he also claimed to have been a cavalry commander with the imperial troops and having received many wounds in battle (although his autopsy report clearly stated that no scars or signs of old injuries were found on his body). He was registered as a waiter in Leipzig in August 1761. September 20, 1761 he married Johanna Katharina Herr, the daughter of the quartermaster of the local tailors. In 1769 he purchased the "Weisslederische Coffeé-Hauß", a tavern with a billiard room in the very center of town (at the corner of Klostergasse and the Barfußgäßchen). Schrepfer was described as a big, subdued and handsome man, well educated, but with an inconsiderate behavior.[1]
Masonic necromantic sessions
Schrepfer had become intrigued by the meetings of the Leipzig Freemason lodge "Minerva zu den drey Palmen" of the Order of Strict Observance in the establishments where he worked as a waiter. By 1772 (possibly since 1769) he founded his own competing independent lodge of Freemasons, claiming to be the sole person with knowledge of the true secrets of Masonry and to be able to communicate with the spirit world. He carefully renovated his tavern to house his lodge meetings, séances and necromantic experiments. For a typical night of necromantic activity his followers would fast for 24 hours and were served a salad (possibly drugged) and punch before the midnight start of séances in a darkened room with a black-draped altar. A robed Schrepfer performed the rituals and demanded his followers to remain seated at a table or face terrible dangers if they didn't. He made use of a mixture of masonic, Catholic and Kabbalistic symbolism, including skulls, a chalk circle on the floor, holy water, incense and crucifixes. The spirits he raised were said to be clearly visible, hovering in the air, vaporous and at times screaming terribly. He also made a star shine much brighter at his command and raised a storm in a forest. Schröpfer later also performed his "magic" in Dresden, highlighted by a session for the court in the Dresden palace early in the summer of 1774. This event was impressive enough to still be described more than a century later in Germany and Britain. Apparitions reportedly raised by Schrepfer over the years included Frederick III, Elector of Saxony the beheaded Danish "traitors" Johann Friedrich Struensee and Enevold Brandt with their heads in their hands (in 1773, about a year after their execution) and the Knights Templar's last Grand Master Jacques de Molay. During a séance in Dresden Schrepfer ordered De Molay's spirit to bring a letter to a companion in Frankfurt. De Molay obeyed and returned half an hour later with an answer signed in Frankfurt by the companion. Another spirit appeared engulfed in flames begging Schrepfer not to torture him so.[2]
Most spectators of Schrepfer's séances were convinced that the apparitions they saw were real. No clear evidence of deceit seems to ever have been found, but critics have described several suspicions. A merchant reportedly hid under a table and recognized the shoes of a ghost as the shoes he had sold the day before. This same merchant is also said to have locked some doors, which apparently withheld some spirits to appear while actual disembodied souls were expected to be able to move through closed doors. Schrepfer had once rather suspiciously refused to raise the spirit of the famous poet Christian Fürchtegott Gellert who had been known in person by some of the spectators.[2] Among the techniques that Schrepfer reportedly used for his elaborate effects were actors performing as ghosts, ventriloquism, hidden speaking tubes, glass harmonica sounds, aromatic smoke, live camera obscura projections, magic lantern projections on smoke, concave mirror projections and staged thunder.[3]
Schrepfer had been friends with pharmacist and Freemason Johann Heinrich Linck the Younger and regularly held lodge meetings in Linck's garden. Schrepfer even allowed Linck's wife into his lodge, while women were usually excluded from Freemason lodges. Schrepfer needed materials that only a pharmacist could provide and Linck also knew a thing or two about optical and acoustic devices. A magic lantern from his collection is now in the Museum Waldenburg and is decorated with a crucifix and a skull with wings.[4]
It has been suggested that Schrepfer genuinely believed in his necromantic abilities and only used actors and effects to convince others.[2]
Conflicts with Masonic lodge Minerva
Schrepfer had several conflicts with the Minerva lodge, whose members he tried to recruit for his own lodge. There are some indications that Schrepfer was connected to the secret Rosicrucian Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross, that wanted to infiltrate Freemason lodges to weaken them from within. Schrepfer claimed support of the Jesuits to hide this connection and to win people for his own lodge. After many dismissed attempts Minerva allowed Schrepfer to speak at a meeting on January 15, 1773. With much aplomb he declared himself the true Freemason of knowledge and power in front of the gathering. Minerva's leaders pleaded to show more respect for their lodge, as they had heard that he had accused them of being impostors. They reminded Schrepfer that Minerva had the protection of Prince Karl von Sachsen, former Duke of Kurland and said they would make a case of it if they heard more accusations, and then they let him go. Legend turned this event into a story where Schrepfer forcefully entered a Minerva meeting after some of his followers had been denied access and he would then have expelled their leader by threatening with a pistol and taken over the chair.[1]
When Schrepfer won over some Minerva members the lodge send a letter to ask Karl von Sachsen's help. Schrepfer in the meantime went for the support of Saxon court member and Commander of the Infantry Albert Christian Heinrich von Brühl, who was also connected to the Rosicrucian order. One evening during this period some of Schrepfer's men, probably drunk, had plagued Minerva further by loudly and repeatedly calling out the lodge's main secret password beneath the windows of two of Minerva's men. Karl von Sachsen reply to Minerva's cry for help was placatory and the lodge started to fear for their future, hid their secret documents and tried to find some amicable agreement with Schrepfer. In the night of September 4, 1773 Schrepfer distributed 40 flyers stating that Minerva knew nothing of masonry and that people wouldn't get anything worth their money from their lodge. He revealed some of their secrets as well as the high costs of their membership.[1]
The big swindle
Schrepfer gathered more support from clergy and nobility and by spring 1774 he was in touch with minister Friedrich von Wurmb who became the spill figure in Schrepfer's biggest scam. Schrepfer convinced Wurmb that he had access to a sealed treasure of securities deposited in Frankfurt am Main, which included a French Royal patent and would ensure Saxony millions of income and would help it recover from a crisis. Speculators gave Schrepfer large advances, amounting to circa one million euro in today's money. On September 15, 1774 Wurmb had the packages of treasure opened in Leipzig in attendance of lawyer Johann Heinrich Hoffmann, merchant François DuBosc and son. Schrepfer was not present; he apparently had urgent business to do near the Prussian border. The packages contained nothing of worth: mainly worthless paper, tin capsules and boxes filled with sand and stones, underwear and socks. They apparently didn't dare to take Schrepfer to court as too much was at stake; even the Karl von Sachsen had been more or less directly involved with the dubious speculation and a secret Rosicrucian network could become exposed.[1]
Death
According to several witnesses Schrepfer had a cheerful dinner with friends on the evening October 7, 1774 that lasted until 1:00 AM and involved lots of punch. Schrepfer and five of his associates - including lawyer Hoffmann and the Karl von Sachsen's chamberlains Hans Rudolph von Bischoffswerder and Christian Friedrich von Hopfgarten - agreed to have a stroll to the Rosenthal forest on the edge of town at 5:00 in the morning, when it was still very dark. One of the witnesses did declare that Schrepfer had wanted to tell them something on the way. According to legend Schrepfer promised them an event like nothing they had ever seen before and probably would never witness ever again. Schrepfer disappeared from their sight for a moment, the sound of a gunshot was heard and Schröpfer was found dead. Some of the witnesses claimed he had magically disappeared or that only a necromantic ritual would be needed to resurrect him. Within half an hour after his death Schrepfer's body was brought to the nearby hospital where an autopsy was conducted and his remains were buried in silence on the hospital's burial ground for suicides.[1]
The apparent suicide has later often been described as the result of Schrepfer's supposed delusions about his necromantic abilities; he would have been convinced that he could resurrect himself afterwards. However, there are several serious indications that Schrepfer was probably murdered and that investigation was obstructed to cover up the affair, since it probably involved people of nobility including Prince Karl von Sachsen. Important evidence was found in the fact that the bullet went through the front of Schrepfer's mouth, as if the weapon was forced between his lips by another person and the victim resisted by pressing his jaws together. There were also some inexplicable conflicting aspects in the statements of the witnesses and there were many motives to why he would have been killed. Wurmb wrote a letter to Elector Friedrich August III, nephew of Karl von Sachsen, stating that juridical investigation was impossible without implicating the prince.[5]
Schröpfer reportedly had announced his demise in sealed letters to some companions and had bid farewell to his family before his death.[2]
Aftermath and legacy
Several of Schrepfer's associates - including Wurmb, DuBosc, Hoffman and Von Bischoffswerder - managed to become leaders of Rosicrucian circles a few years later and some of them were among the founders of the new Mason lodge Balduin in Leipzig in 1776. Von Bisschofswerder later had some influence on Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia through a Rosicrucian lodge and ghost-raising sessions.[1]
Soon after Schröpfer's death there a plethora of polemic publications attacked or defended his supposed abilities to raise ghosts, including writings by Moses Mendelssohn, Christian August Crusius, Balthasar Bekker a Johann Christian Wiegleb. Schrepfers became quite famous across Europe. Several publications included explanations of techniques he might have used to conjure apparitions, which inspired several people to recreate Schrepfer's séances.[6]
In 1791 and 1792 Phantasmagoria pioneer Paul Philidor advertised his shows under the title "Schröpferische Geister Erscheinungen" (Schröpfer-style ghost appearances).[6]
Friedrich Schiller's unfinished novel The Ghost-Seer, of which installments were published between 1787-1798, is believed to have been inspired by Schrepfer.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Förster, Otto Werner. "Der Geisterseher Johann Georg Schrepfer: Die Legende vom Selbstmord - 1774".
- 1 2 3 4 Geffarth, Renko (2007). The Masonic Necromancer: Shifting Identities In The Lives Of Johann Georg Schrepfer. pp. 181–195.
- ↑ Rossell, Deac. The Magic Lantern.
- ↑ Förster, Otto Werner (2011). Schrepfer und der Leipziger Löwenapotheker Johann Heinrich Linck (in German).
- ↑ Otto Werner Förster: Tod eines Geistersehers. Johann Georg Schrepfer. Eine vertuschte sächsische Staatsaffäre, 1774. Taurus Verlag Leipzig, 2011
- 1 2 Rossell, Deac (2001). The_19_Century_German_Origins_of_the_Phantasmagoria_Show.
- ↑ Eds. Crangle, Richard, Heard, Mervyn, and van Dooren, Ine. "Devices and Desires." Realms of Light. London, England: The Magic Lantern Society, 2005. 11-45. Print.
Bibliography
Friedrich Kittler, Optical Media, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2010, pp. 98–101.