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Kaspar Hauser, the “lost prince of Europe”, was the main topic of the Old World in the last century. This wild boy who suddenly appeared attracted unprecedented attention. Even today, people still don’t know who Kaspar really is, but DNA analysis of his bloody shirt and hair revealed who he was not.
“One Sunday in 1828, a ragged boy was found abandoned in the town of N. He could barely walk or speak a word. He later said that he had been locked in a basement since birth. He had never seen another person, a tree, or a house. To this day, no one knows where he came from or who freed him.”
The synopsis for Werner Herzog’s 1974 film The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser might sound like the synopsis for a gothic horror film, or some creepy adaptation of the work of Edgar Allan Poe, writing: Popular MechanicsYet Herzog’s film is not fiction but biographical. It is one of many works about Kaspar Hauser, a wild child who captured the imagination of people across Europe in the 19th century and inspired conspiracy theories involving the Holy Roman Empire.
When 16-year-old Hauser appeared in Europe with letters telling strange stories of being imprisoned in dark and cold dungeons, he became a celebrity. At first he could not speak and could only write his name, and later he only knew one sentence: “I want to be a rider, like my father.” Because of this, it became an obsession for European aristocrats.
Within a year, rumors began to circulate that he was the son of the recently deceased Archduke Charles, ruler of Baden from the House of Seelingen. When Charles died without an official heir, the title was inherited by his uncle Ludwig, after which the dynasty disappeared.
According to a popular theory, Kaspar was Karl’s son, who was replaced by a stillborn child soon after birth. Behind all this, there were rumors in aristocratic circles that the mother of Ludwig’s half-brother had secured the throne for her son.
Although many believed Hauser was just a fraud, his mysterious death five years later sparked speculation about his identity. A mysterious stranger stabbed him on the street, and he died of his injuries three days later.
– It’s said to be the biggest mystery of the 19th century – Turi King, a geneticist formerly employed by the University of Bath and one of the experts who analysed Kaspar Hauser’s DNA, said: Science Express.
They extracted DNA from bloodstained clothes and hair and then compared it with descendants of the Ceringen dynasty.
– The DNA in Kaspar Hauzer’s blood and hair was identical, which allowed us to examine it. It turned out that this mDNA was different from that of the supposed sisters and their descendants. It was clearly different at the mitochondria. This destroys the theory of the “lost prince”. Unfortunately, the information we have does not yet tell us who he was, but we know who he was not – says King.
The study was published in the journal Scientific guidance.
(The Telegraph/Popular Mechanics/Science Alert)
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