Who is Caspar Hauser?

One version of the Caspar Hauser story has it that he was the son of a Hungarian prince who was prophesied to change the course of history, bringing an end to the Austral-Hungarian Empire. Thus, the ruling elite of the time, learning of the prophecy, sent their agents to kidnap the new-born Casper Hauser from his cot and replace him with a dying baby.

The kidnappers imprisoned the real Caspar in a small windowless hut in the mountains. When he learnt to walk, they kept him chained up in the dark and limited his contact with other people, so that he wouldn't develop linguistically and would therefore be unable to fulfil the prophecy. Why they didn't just kill him is never explained.

Sixteen years later on May 26, 1828, he was set free. He turned up in Nuremberg, Germany. He was wearing peasant clothing and could barely talk. He carried with him a letter addressed to the captain of the 4th squadron of the 6th cavalry regiment, Captain von Wessenig. It said that this boy was taken into custody on the 7th October 1812, and had been instructed in reading, writing, and the Christian religion, but he had never taken a single step out of the house until that week. Now the boy would like to be a cavalryman,it continued, thus the captain should take him in or hang him.

Caspar was later taken in by benevolent Christian people who assumed that he was mentally retarded, but tried to school him as best they could. While undergoing his education, he reportedly had the propensity to confound his teachers with his original and iconoclastic understanding of the world.

In 1833 he died of a stab wound. No-one knows who did it. Some people think Caspar was making too much progress as a thinker, leading the elite to finish him off just in case. Some claim it was suicide.

The debate continues even today. But the truth behind the story isn't really important. And neither is the true identity of this 19th-century Hungarian boy who spent his formative years in a dungeon. Caspar Hauser passed into legend because his story resonates with key aspects of European social history. And in view of last century's development of mass-media, social engineering and the widespread adoption of the Prussian educational system, the relevance of Caspar Hauser only appears to grow.

When reading about Caspar Hauser I ask myself,'how far would our leaders go to protect their dynasty?' Would they kidnap our children? Would they purposefully arrest our development? Dumb us down?

I think the answers are all around us.






Solutions # 12: Ask a different question(Click here).