Providentia

The Zamenhof Legacy

It was a noble idea.  Who knew that such tragedy would spring from it?

When L._L._Zamenhof developed the artificial language known as Esperanto, he intended it as a method of international communication to promote peaceful coexistence among nations (the name of the language stems from a word meaning "hopeful"). He devoted the greater part of his life to promoting Esperanto's use and waived any authorship rights to his creation. In 1905, the first World Esperanto Congress was held in France with nearly seven hundred participants and Zamenhof was decorated with the Legion of Honour. By the time of Zamenhof's death in 1917, there was a dedicated Esperanto community with numerous literary works being translated into that language.

And then the persecutions began...

Almost from the beginning, Esperanto was viewed with deep suspicion by totalitarian states with little sympathy for Zamenhof's internationalist ideals. The rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi movement in Germany proved to be especially intolerant of Esperantists due to Zamenhof's Jewish background and political beliefs (he had been a prominent Yiddish scholar and part of the early Zionist movement). In his work, Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler specifically mentioned Esperanto as a tool of international Jewish Conspiracy and the language that they would use once they dominated the world. It probably didn't help that Esperanto use became popular in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and, as such, became strongly associated with Bolshevik movements. The fact that Stalin reversed this policy in 1937 and ordered Esperanto's suppression meant nothing to the Nazis.

Once Hitler came to power, the fate of Esperantists in Germary was essentially sealed. The Ministry of Education banned the teaching of Esperanto in 1936 and eventually ordered the suppression of all Esperanto activity in Germany. At the same time, Stalin was busily purging Esperantists in the Soviet Union (thousands of Esperantists were either executed or exiled).

While Ludwik Zamenhof was safely dead, the same couldn't be said for his three children, sadly enough. Adam Zamenhof, Ludwik's eldest child, had followed in his father's footsteps and became an ophthalmologist. While actively involved in the Esperantist movement, he was also a prominent physician. As Chief of the Starozakonnych Hospital in Warsaw, Poland, he was a natural target of the Nazis when the country was invaded in 1939. After being arrested in 1939, he was sent to the internment camp in Palmirach and shot by the Nazis on January 29, 1940.

His sister, Zofia Zamenhof, was a pediatrician and internist who was living in the Warsaw Ghetto when Poland was invaded. Despite the Nazi presence, she continued her medical practice until she was arrested and transported to Umschlagplatz. As a medical doctor, she was considered sufficiently valuable to avoid being sent to Treblinka but she chose to accompany her young patients there anyway. She was gassed at Treblinka in 1942.

Lidja_Zamenhof is the most famous of the three Zamenhof children. As a member of the Bahai faith, she was actively involved in teaching her religion as well as Esperanto and had gone to the United States in 1937 to promote both movements. After a long stay, she was forced to leave in 1938 when the Immigration Service refused to extend her visa (teaching Esperanto was considered was considered illegal "paid labor"). Following her return to Poland, she traveled the country teaching Bahai and Esperanto until the Nazis invaded. She was arrested at her home in the Warsaw ghetto on the charge of having gone to the United States to spread anti-Nazi propaganda but was later released. Despite opportunities to escape Poland, she refused because didn't want her helpers to endanger themselves (Poles caught hiding Jews were often executed).

In her last known letter before being transported to Treblinka, Lidia wrote the following: ""Do not think of putting yourself in danger; I know that I must die but I feel it is my duty to stay with my people. God grant that out of our sufferings a better world may emerge. I believe in God. I am a Bahá'í and will die a Bahá'í. Everything is in His hands." It is believed that she was eventually killed sometime in 1942.

Despite the end of World War Two and the elimination of the Nazi persecution, Esperanto continued to be banned in the Soviet Union and the rest of Eastern Europe until 1956. Esperantists in China were often imprisoned (or worse during the Cultural Revolution) and its current status is still uncertain in most authoritarian countries.

Of the entire Zamenhof family, only Adam's son, Krzysztof Zaleski-Zamenhof, managed to survive. Along with his mother, Zalenski-Zamenhof managed to escape from Umschlagplatz and remained in hiding until the end of the Nazi occupation. Now a retired professor of architecture, he remains active in the Esperanto movement and has arranged for the World Esperanto Congress to be held this year in Bialystok, Poland (Ludwik Zamenhof's birthplace).

Hopeful, indeed.

Parental Romance and the Health of Children

Prior work has shown that negative aspects (e.g., conflict) of marriage or marriage-like relationships are associated with poor health of offspring, but much less is known about the effects of positive aspects (e.g., affection) of parental romantic relationships. A study published in the journal Health Psychology investigated links between conflict and affection within parents’ romantic relationships and the health of youth with asthma. Eighty youths with asthma aged 10–17 answered daily questions over a 4-day period about conflict and affection within their parents’ romantic relationship, as well as their own daily mood, asthma symptoms, and expiratory peak flow. Multiple regression analyses revealed that romantic affection—but not conflict—was directly associated with higher expiratory peak flow. Further, there was a significant indirect effect of romantic affection via youth positive affect on lower asthma symptoms. These results are the first to the knowledge of the researchers to demonstrate that youth-reported positive characteristics of parents’ romantic relationships are associated with better health among youth with asthma. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

Guilty Plea Entered in Psychiatrist's Murder

A former Honors student has pleaded guilty in the October 2015 killing of a Delaware psychiatrist.  Christopher Frick, 22, admitted to stabbing 55-year-old Caroline Ekong to death after he broke into her Hockessin, DE home in the middle of the night.    He then drove to his parents' home where he phoned 911 and confessed to the murder.   Frick, a long-time psychiatric patient, had first met Ekong three years before when he was admitted to Rockford Centre, a private psychiatric hospital in Stanton, Delaware.  At the time of his admission, he had been a student at the University of Delaware but was placed in Rockford following what has been referred to as a "crisis" at the university. 

Frick apparently developed a hatred for his psychiatrist following her refusal to let him leave the hospital.   After being forcibly held for six days, he apparently  became obsessed with Ekong and conceived the murder scheme as a way of getting back at her.  On one online site, he described Rockford as "a prison which is owned by a for-profit company, Universal Health Services.  Even the most virtuous and non-suicidal person in the world will be imprisoned so that the staff can keep their corrupt jobs and aid in UHS's endeavor to exploit as many people as possible..... The person who imprisoned me was Caroline Ekong, whose ego is so large that she would never be able to admit that she was doing wrong."

After his release from Rockford, Frick refused all medical treatment, including basic medical and dental checkups.   He also reportedly began hearing voices that mocked him for not having the nerve to kill her.  Believing the voices would stop after her death, he drove to her home and broke in around 4 am.  After confronting the doctor, he stabbed her numerous time before driving to his parents' home to confess the murder.   Dr. Ekong's daughter found the body a short time later.   Police later found emails, journal entries, and letter showing Frick's obsession with the psychiatrist though he had no contact with her and showed no indication that he was planning murder. 

Following his arrest, Christopher Frick was charged with first-degree murder, possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony, first-degree burglary, home invasion and possession of burglary tools.   The last three charges were eventually dropped.  While in custody, he has been receiving psychiatric treatment at the Delaware Psychiatric Center.   When appearing in court, Frick responded to all questions appropriately and appears to be stabilized under his current medication.  Three medical doctors have submitted reports with a series of diagnoses including autism-spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder. 

He is expected to be sentenced on November 18 and will likely receive a mandatory life sentence for the murder charge and 25 years for the weapon charge.  He has already announced that he has embraced Christianity while in prison and studies the Bible every day. 

For more information

 

 

The Snailmail Solution (Part One of Two)

History is filled with examples of pseudoscience and quack inventions, often described in glowing terms meant to attract investors.  While some of these supposed discoveries were outright scams meant to separate foolish people from their money, others appeared to have been proposed by inventors who were often as deluded as the people who came to believe in them.   And, once in a while, there are some quite spectacular examples of pseudoscience that were a bit of both.

Much like the story I am about to share with you....

While we tend to regard the "wired society" as a fairly modern development,  finding better and more efficient ways of sending information over long distances has been an obsession for  tinkerers and industrial barons over the centuries.   Despite early attempts using semaphore flags, reflected lights, smoke signals, etc, it was that mysterious force known as electricity that provided the first practical form of telecommunications.   Following early experiments by Ampere, Oersted, and Summering, the 1830s saw a flurry of inventors developing electric telegraph systems that were rapidly put into effect across Europe and the United States.   Though patent wars would be fought over who should have the credit for first developing the telegraph, the familiar telegraph tower became a common sight on both sides of the Atlantic.   Instant communication over long distances became a reality and life would never be the same again.

Unfortunately, while the new telegraph was a success in linking cities and countries across dry land, there were still technical problems involved in sending messages across large bodies of water.  Though the first cable was laid between England and France in 1850, it wasn't particularly successful.  The cable kept breaking and the costs of repairing it added up over time.  Considering that the English Channel was a fairly narrow strip of water, it was hardly surprising that many pundits began arguing that laying a cable across the Atlantic Ocean would never be practical.

In 1851, not long after news came out that the cable across the English Channel needed to be repaired (yet again), a curious article was published in the French journal La Presse.   The article was written by a somewhat eccentric writer and inventor named Jules Allix.  Largely known as a die-hard socialist and feminist, Allix also had a fascination for fringe science, which happened to include a strong belief in the idea of animal magnetism.   Decades after Franz Mesmer's animal magnetism cult had come and gone, practitioners of "animal magnetism" continued to pack lecture halls and give demonstrations purporting to show the strange power associated with the energy of living things.   While animal magnetism would eventually lead to our modern understanding of hypnosis, the suggestion that a mysterious force existed which could be exploited in the same way that electricity was was hard for many people to resist.

And, according to Allix's article, two previously unknown savants had apparently accomplished that and also solved the problem of long-distance telegraphy once and for all. These two savants, M. Jacques Toussain Benoit de l'Herault and M. Biat-Christien had used their expertise in animal magnetism to develop "a new system of universal intercommunication of thought, which operates instantaneously."  

So, who were these two inventive geniuses, you might ask?   Allix was actually vague on that in his article, likely since he didn't really know himself.   All that can be determined  about Jacques Benoit, is that he didn't have any scientific credentials to speak of but did seem to be blessed with a gift for selling his ideas to credulous investors.   As for "M. Biat-Christien",  there doesn't seem to be any real evidence that anyone of this name even existed.   It likely just added an air of verisimilitude to Benoit's fancies to have an "American inventor" sharing the credit.

In describing this great discovery, Allix went on to say that:

"The discovery of MM. Benoît and Biat depends on galvanism, terrestrial and animal magnetism, also on natural sympathy, that is to say, the base of communication is a sort of special sympathetic fluid which is composed of the union or blending of the galvanic, magnetic and sympathetic currents, by a process to be described shortly."    He then elaborated by stating that " And as the various fluids vary according to the organic or inorganic bodies whence they are derived, it is necessary further to state that the forces or fluids here married are: (a) The terrestrial-galvanic current, (b) the animal-sympathetic current, in this case derived from snails, (c) the adamic or human current, or animal-magnetic current in man. Consequently, to describe concisely the basis of the new system of intercommunication, we shall have to call the force, 'The galvano-terrestrial-magnetic-animal and adamic force!"

In basic terms, Benoit and Biat supposedly discovered that common snails, when brought into contact, continued to have a "sympathetic link" due to an invisible fluid they secrete.  Based on the principle of animal magnetism, this "escargotic fluid" was similar to the thread of a spider except that it was completely invisible and unbreakable.  Using the Earth as a conductor,  the escargotic link would allow the full exchange of information no matter how far the two snails were from each other.  Also, because water was no barrier, there were none of the difficulties associated with laying expensive telegraph cables either. 

To make this "snail telegraph" (also known as the pasilalinic sympathetic compass), Benoit  designed an elaborate communication system which, among other things, required  metallic bowls with a snail at the bottom of each one.  Each bowl rested on top of a galvanic spring delicate enough to respond to the reaction of the snail as it received a sympathetic vibration.   To allow the full exchange of messages, 24 snails were used, one for each letter of the alphabet.  The total apparatus reportedly had the shape of a mariner's compass, hence the name "pasilalinic sympathetic compass."

To get the money to build this wondrous new invention, Jacques Benoit convinced a Parisian businessman named Triat to fund the research (and also to provide him with a place to live).  According to Sabine Baring-Gould, Triat was a man of "common sense, but not much of education."   Carried away by Benoit's enthusiasm, Triat allowed him to continue his work with no real oversight.  Still, after months of stalling,  Benoit eventually received an ultimatum: build a working model of his machine or else lose his funding.   Not long afterward, Benoit announced that his invention was ready to be tested.

The bizarre contraption he devised filled nearly half of the apartment Triat had rented for him.  Not only was it mounted on an enormous scaffold but featured twenty-four sympathetic snails glued to their bowls (and undoubtedly trying everything to escape their strange captivity).  According to Benoit, his friend and co-inventor Biat in America had built an identical device and they communicated on a daily basis.   While Triat insisted on a demonstration, Benoit did everything he could to put him off by warning that other inventors might steal the idea.  He eventually agreed, though. 

Finally, on October 2, 1851, Jules Allix and Monsieur Triat arrived at Benoit's flat for the demonstration.   While they had misgivings about both of Benoit's working devices being located in the same room (it was a one-room apartment), Benoit insisted that it couldn't be helped.   For the demonstration, Benoit would be on one device sending a message using his snails while Allix tended to other device to ensure there was no cheating. 

And then the demonstration began...

Continue to Part Two

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starving Sarah

Think of this as your word for the day: inedia. Defined as the ability to live without food, it's most commonly associated with certain religious traditions concerning saints or ascetics who, through divine intervention or yogic discipline, were able to go without food for long periods of time. Closely linked with breatharianism (ability to live without air), those few cases of reported inedia that have been tested under controlled conditions have invariably found that prolonged fasting leads to starvation and dehydration.

Which brings us to the tragic case of Sarah Jacob...

Born in 1857 in rural Wales, Sarah first became famous due to her apparently miraculous fasting. As one of seven children, she lived in an isolated farmhouse and her life seemed normal until she turned 10. After developing health problems (including seizures, abdominal pains, and fainting) Sarah's food intake gradually reduced until she apparently lost interest in food altogether by late 1867. Her parents, Evan and Hannah Jacob, began announcing Sarah's "miraculous" ability to go without food and she quickly became a celebrity. Spectators came from all over to see the "Welsh Fasting Girl" and were often obliged by Sarah's parents to leave donations after their visit.

Interest in Sarah Jacob picked up after a local vicar published an article on her in a national newspaper on February 19, 1869. In the article, the vicar was enthusiastic about the "wonderful little girl" and suggested that she be scientifically investigated. When a public meeting was called, a committee was appointed to watch Sarah over a two-week period to make sure that she wasn't being fed secretly. It wasn't a particularly thorough investigation and many of the watchers even left Sarah unattended on occasion  (her parents had full access at all times). One critic described this first investigation as "the greatest possible farce and mockery".

Since the watch had failed to find any evidence of faking, interest in Sarah Jacob became even more intense.  Crowds came from all over England to see Sarah and visitors to the local train station were often greeted by little boys offering to act as guides (for a generous tip of course). The boys would carry signs that said, "Fasting Girl" and "This is the shortest way to Llethernoryadd-ucha".  As they were escorted to the Jacob home, the visitors found Sarah, lying in bed, with a wreath of flowers on her head and dressed as a bride.  Her healthy appearance, despite her apparently not having eaten in months, was featured in newspapers around the world.  Physicians continued to be skeptical and suggested that Sarah was suffering from some sort of hysteria but Welsh nationalists rallied to her defense (she was one of their own after all). The case became a political minefield for the U.K. government.

After another public meeting, a second investigation into Sarah's inedia began. She was taken to Guy's Hospital in London on December 9th, 1869 and was watched around the clock by eight nurses.  The nurses were told not to deny food if Sarah requested it but to monitor her carefully. After just a few days, Sarah grew noticeably weaker and her parents were urged to suspend the test so she could be fed. They refused despite pleas from the hospital staff and the vicar. The parents maintained that Sarah often appeared weak and that she was in no danger. On December 17, Sarah Jacob died after eight days of fasting. To nobody's surprise (except possibly the parents), the cause of death was starvation.

The public reaction to Sarah's death was pretty much what you might expect.  Sarah's parents were tried and convicted of criminal negligence following a coroner's inquest.  Evan Jacob was sentenced to a year in prison and Hannah was given six months.  Although the attending physicians were tried for their role in Sarah's death, they were exonerated since they had urged that Sarah be given food. I haven't been able to find out what happened to Sarah's parents or their remaining children although the Jacobs were forced to sell their farm to pay for their legal expenses.

There have been other cases of fasting girls before and after Sarah Jacob but Sarah's death made physicians more willing to speak out against the practice. It was Sir William Gull who first identified the syndrome that he named anorexia nervosa in 1868 although it's hard to apply the diagnosis in Sarah's case.  Whether Sarah's inedia began as a trick that she played on her parents or motivated by the financial benefit that her visitors' donations brought to her family, the fatal outcome was the same.

While inedia continues to be viewed with skepticism by the modern medical community, 20th century cases that have been reported include Therese Neumann, Prahlad Jani, and Jasmuheen.  Whether through self-deception or fakery, the movement goes on.

Brother XII

It all began with a vision. At least, that's what Edward Arthur Wilson told his followers.

Born in Birmingham, England in 1878, Wilson's early life seems to be a mystery. While he drifted from job to job, his chronic health problems made him unable to stay in any one place for long. Whatever Wilson was seeking during his travels, he apparently found it when he first visited British Columbia in 1905. The vision that he claimed to experience there would change his life. Returning to England, Wilson became a pupil of Helen Blavatsky and her fellow theosophists in the 1920s. Drawing on Theosophical teachings, Wilson founded the "Aquarian Society" in 1926 and announced that he had been "translated to the Higher Realms in order to meet the eleven Masters of Wisdom".

Under his new name of "Brother Twelve" (based on the twelve astrological signs of his birth), he made a series of announcements that were published in various English metaphysical journals.It's hard to do justice to Brother XII's philosophy in just a few sentences (the name was usually written in Roman numerals). Not only did he claim to be the reincarnation of the Egyptian god Osiris, but also differed from the other Theosophists of the time in proclaiming the need for a utopian community which would enable a "world teacher" to rise who would transform all human life.

In one essay, titled "A Message from the Masters of Wisdom", Brother XII announced that his new community would be formed in British Columbia and mobilized his followers to make his dream happen. More than a hundred Theosophists followed him to Canada in 1927 and money was no problem for them. Not only did these followers turn their life savings over to their leader, but numerous wealthy patrons made large donations. The self-sufficient farming commune that he established was named "Cedar By The Sea" on Vancouver Island near Nanaimo.

Whatever the followers expected, it was nothing like the reality of their life in this utopian community. Brother XII developed an elaborate set of prayers and rituals that had to be followed and his rule was absolute. He also introduced new "sexual teachings" to enable his followers to become "the sixth rootrace". Various females in the community were selected to serve as Brother XII's concubines (regardless of marital status) and the resulting children were to be trained to welcome the coming teacher. While this "free love" philosophy alienated many of his core followers, Brother XII's popular writings still attracted new recruits. At the community's peak, there were as many as four hundred inhabitants (though he would claim far more) .

One of Brother XII's special followers was a woman named Myrtle Baumgartner who had been recruited during one of his fundraising trips. He convinced her that she was the reincarnation of the goddess Isis and was destined to bear the expected world teacher (to be named "Horus"). A separate house was built for their "important work" in conceiving the teacher and Brother XII arranged for another settlement to be built on nearby Valdes and DeCourcy Islands as a refuge for the new "rootrace".

In reality, Brother XII's bizarre rule had antagonized most of his followers and he decided to establish the new settlement to rid himself of malcontents. It didn't help that the British Columbian government was starting to take a hard look at the group and whether any laws were being broken. The new settlement, known as the "City of Refuge" was established in 1929 so the faithful could wait out the coming Armageddon (Brother XII was big on apocalyptic prophecies). This colony became increasingly isolated with only rumours trickling out about what was happening there. Cedar By The Sea was abandoned completely.

Sadly, Myrtle had difficulty in bearing Brother XII's male heir and suffered a mental breakdown. By 1930, she was replaced by Mabel Skottowe (who was given the name of "Madame Zee"). Mabel and Brother XII ruled over the settlement jointly but revolt began to brew. The Aquarian Foundation finally had enough of Brother XII and a series of lawsuits were filed in 1933 accusing him of misusing funds and "harsh treatment".

In the courtroom, disgruntled followers gave lurid testimony about the abuse they had received from Brother XII and Madame Zee. One follower claimed to have been ordered to kill a Canadian government official using "black magic" while others testified about Madame Zee and her fondness for whips. The number of followers had long since dwindled to only a dozen stragglers (mostly female). In 1934, the court decided against Brother XII but, when the bailiffs went to Valdes Island to collect what was owed, there was a surprise waiting for them.

Most of the buildings had been destroyed and Brother XII's sailboat, the Lady Royal, had been sunk in the harbour (witnesses later said that he used dynamite to blow a hole in the hull). Almost nothing of value was left and Brother XII and Madame Zee were never seen again (neither was the money that they had taken with them). Despite various sightings around the world, their ultimate fate is a mystery. While one report had Brother XII (who was back to being Edward Wilson) dying in Switzerland of a heart attack in 1934, this was never confirmed.

The Theosophy movement is still around but the strange Aquarian cult founded by Brother XII faded into obscurity after his disappearance. Like other believers before them, a few followers went on to live quiet lives in the area (minus their life savings). One of the last Aquarians, Mary Connaly, lived on De Courcy Island until her death in 1947. Nowadays, Cedar by the Sea is a charming oceanfront community that thrives on tourism. Visitors to the area still hear colourful stories about Brother XII and Madame Zee (and rumours of a fortune in gold hidden in the former commune). That seems to the only surviving legacy of one of the strangest cult leaders of the 20th century.

Can Dental Noise Trigger Depression?

Studies have indicated that depressive disorders are observed frequently in dentists. It’s suggested that dentists encounter numerous sources of stress in their professional career. We noticed that the noises in dental environments are very unpleasant. The animal modeling studies suggested that stressful noise could produce depressive-like phenotypes in rodent animals. We hypothesize that the dental noise may be one of the primary stressors causing depressive disorders in dentists. Results: We treated C57BL/6 mice with programmatically played wide-spectrum dental noise for 8 h/day at 75 ± 10 dB SPL level for 30 days, and then tested the behaviors. After exposure to dental noise, animals displayed the depressive-like phenotypes, accompanied by inhibition of neurogenesis in hippocampus. These deficits were ameliorated by orally administered with antidepressant fluoxetine. These results suggested that dental noise could be one of the primary stressors for the pathogenesis of depressive disorders and the dental noise mouse model could be used in further depression studies.

For the abstract

So Who Wants to be a Demonologist?

With the popularity of recent movies such as The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2, there seems to be more interest than ever in "demon hunters", as represented in the films by real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.  Though Ed Warren died in 2006, Lorraine Warren continues to be a major figure in the New England Society for Psychic research (which she co-founded with her husband).   While skeptics may dispute many details of the cases the Warrens have supposedly investigated together, the website and museum describing their paranormal claims still draws believers from around the world.

Given the rising fascination many people have with demonic possession and exorcisms, it's hardly surprising that Lorraine Warren and many other self-professed "demonologists" continue to be in demand for lectures, media presentations, and, yes, the occasional exorcism as well.   Perhaps inevitably, we are seeing a rash in new online and off-line schools claiming to teach demonology to anyone with "genuine faith."   Even the Warrens' website offers a couple of courses on demonology and paranormal investigation though they aren't intended to be a stand-alone program like what other schools are offering.

I should note that these demonology programs should not be confused with "legitimate" exorcism schools run by the Catholic Church and other major religions which are reportedly much more rigorous and limited to trained clerics.   There is also no such thing as a certification process for demonologists,  so, as with many other programs offered online, caveat emptor seems to be the main principle would-be demonologists should  follow.

Here are some of the programs I have been able to find.  Please note that they are only presented for your amusement and not meant as an endorsement. 

• American Association of Exorcists (AAE) -  Yes, this is indeed a thing.  According to the mission statement listed on their web page, the AAE is a "Bible-based Christian organization" that provides formal certification in exorcism/deliverance as well as help for people experiencing demonic possession.  Along with the annual membership fee of $5.00 a year, the AAE also offers 19 courses on various aspects of demonology and exorcism.   Grading is done through an open-book exam format and successful graduates get included in the AAE's referral service for anyone seeking a local exorcist.
• John King Hill Ministries -  Open to anyone with a "love of learning and commitment to Christianity,"  the web site states that their course will "give you riveting experience as we cover the different kingdoms that are in relentless warfare, which affects the daily lives of people. We will examine the five critical areas of deliverance, which are the keys to freedom from demonic powers."  One of the pricier options, the course fee is $450. 
• Bishop James Long's Demonology Course -  According to this website, "Bishop Long has performed 27 Exorcisms on individuals who were possessed and he will share his experience and what he has learned throughout his seminary training with you as well."    According to his Facebook page,  James Long is a Bishop in the United States Old Catholic Church and his demonology course is only $49.99  (limited time only). 
• Institute of Metaphysics -  Offers a range of courses covering a wide range of paranormal topics including Aquatic Cryptids, Mysteries of Mars, Anomalous Hominids, etc.   According to their website, the Demonology course "will provide the student with an in-depth examination of the subject, and will include historical, theological, scientific, and philosophical elements... Be warned, few enter this shadowy realm and emerge unaffected."  Costs $140.99 though discounts are available with multiple purchases.

And there you have just a few examples of what is available for any would-be demonologists out there.  Again, I'm not endorsing any of these courses, pursue or not as you see fit.

And remember what I said about caveat emptor.

The Hitler Hoax

Long after the end of World War II,  persistent rumours continued to be heard that Adolf Hitler had somehow faked his death and was living in hiding while preparing for a Nazi comeback.  Certainly, it was true enough that countless high-ranking Nazis, many of whom were still wanted, had managed to flee to South America and relative safety (some even managed to hide in plain sight right in Germany).   If those Nazis could escape arrest why not Adolf Hitler?  

For many Nazi sympathizers (and there were still quite a few back then), the idea of a Hitler-led movement that would restore Germany to greatness had a strong appeal.   And it wasn't just in Germany.    People of German origin living  in countries around the world helped spread the rumours, spurred on by reported Hitler sightings in South and Central America, and even in the United States.  One elaborate rumour had Martin Bormann arranging for two innocents to be murdered so their bodies could be burned and passed as Hitler and Eva Braun.   In the meantime, the originals were spirited away to a hidden base at the South Pole (where a German colony was supposedly being planned).   Another rumour placed Hitler in hiding in a mountain retreat in southeastern Kentucky (and no, I have no idea what he would be doing there either).

Against this backdrop of wild speculation,  German-Americans living in Kentucky and West Virginia began receiving some very odd letters during the early 1950s.   The letters, which were often signed "Adolph Hitler", "Eva Hitler", or "General Kannengeiser" (who had the title of "chief of staff"), explained that the dictator's death had been faked by the Russians who then took him into custody.  After a few year though,  Hitler had managed to escape and flee to safety.  Not only had he managed to find his way to Kentucky, but the Fuhrer (in the letters, it was spelled "Furrier") was planning to marshal his forces for a "surprise attack" that would overthrow the U.S. government and create a new regime  that would restore Nazi power.

Except, of course, for the slight problem of Hitler and his fellow-revolutionaries needing money.   A great deal of it, in fact.   Despite claiming that the Nazis had 116 hidden factories in Kentucky and Idaho producing "invisible spaceships",  these daring revolutionaries were apparently short on cash.  Which was the point of the letters promising a place in the new regime to anyone willing to give generously to the cause.  We tend to be somewhat cynical about financial requests these days, considering the endless stream of scams that besiege us by email, but these letters apparently were successful enough to draw in t a few true believers.  It likely helped that stories speculating that Hitler was alive and hiding out somewhere in Kentucky continued to be run by many local newspapers.

Though we will likely never know for sure how many people were drawn in by the confidence scheme, one name that became especially important in the investigation afterward was a deceased stonemason named G.A. Huber.  A native of Bristol, Tennessee, Huber had apparently been targeted due to his German ancestry though relatives had no idea of what was happening until after his death.  When searching the modest shack where Huber had been living, the relatives discovered a series of money-order receipts totaling $10,000 or more.  This must have been quite a revelation considering Huber had supposedly died penniless.   They also found one hundred letters describing the "new revolt" as well as the important role that Huber would play in Hitler's new regime (one letter suggested that he would be "Furrier # 2", right after the "Furrier" himself). 

Spurred on by complaints from the Huber family, along with his own suspicions,  a postal inspector named W.W. Lewis launched an investigation.   After sending several "decoy" letters, along with a modest money-order for $5, Lewis managed to draw the letter-writer out of hiding to pick up a new money-order for $15 at a post office in Middlesboro, Kentucky.  It was there in August 1956 that the inspector managed to arrest the  "Furrier" himself.   Likely expecting someone fitting the traditional Aryan mold, the inspector must have been astonished to discover that his perpetrator was  a 60-year-old African American man named William Henry Johnson.

As investigators would later discover, Johnson was  a former coal-miner and part-time mountain preacher who apparently had quite an imagination as well.   When asked why he had come up with such a scheme, Johnson insisted that he had become involved after being hired as a private detective by an unnamed Chicago firm to act as an intermediary.    He then explained that he had only gone along with sending the letters and collecting the money in order to discover if Adolf Hitler was really alive.   Once he had enough proof, he alleged, he would have gone to the Federal Bureau of Investigations.   Unfortunately, he had a tendency to change his story somewhat during the course of the trial (at one point he claimed that some of Huber's relatives had been behind it all).  He also didn't show much empathy for his victims and testified that "if they (the victims) were crazy enough to send me money, I was crazy enough to spend it."

While there is no way to say for sure how many of Johnson's intended victims actually sent in money, one estimate of how much money he took in over a ten-year period was about $15000.  Even though the late G.A. Huber had supplied most of that, several other victims also came forward.   One of them, a Bristol, TN native named Charlie Brown (yes, really), actually testified on Johnson's behalf, after showing that he had gotten all his money back.    Brown must not have seemed like a likely Nazi supporter (he was African American like Johnson) but his contributions entitled him to the title of "Furrier #3" after Huber and Adolf himself. 

Along with testimony from the postmaster, W.W. Lewis, as well as a graphologist who verified that all the letters were in Johnson's handwriting, the court was also entertained by passages from the letters that Johnson had written.  According to one letter:  "God give me to all of you for to bring the superior race in to lead the world.  You is the next in line of great leaders to lead Germany and rule the world."  The letter also magnanimously offered to make Brown "assistant world ruller for his bravery act last week (in sending money.)"   Not only were supporters assured of important positions but also their "choice among diplomat German virgins that he might take a wife of our peoples to hand down German rulers to rule their race."

Whenever Huber or Brown began to express doubt and ask to meet Hitler in person, Johnson would invent a fresh "crisis" to ensure the Furrier was unavailable.  Whether it was because Hitler was ill, or trapped by FBI agents, or whatever, their glorious leader seemed  incapable of greeting his supporters in person.   In addition to requests for money, the letters would occasionally ask for clothing such as a sport coat and a pair of white shoes (size eleven) since "it is necessary for Adolph to dress sporty so he won't be recognized."  But Johnson could be whimsical at times as well, along with "Adolph" and "Eva Braun", some of the letters were signed "A. von Boguslowski" (postal inspectors were divided as to whether this "bogus" name was deliberate). 

While Johnson tried his best to lay all the blame on two mysterious men whom he insisted had dictated the letters to him, his final confession was a masterpiece in its own right.   "I am guilty of everything," he wrote.  "That is pertain to G.A. Huber and Adolph Hitler.  I am guilty of it all, and Charley Brown and W. A. Roger of Cincinnati, Ohio (Lewis' pseudonym) and beg the mercies of the Hon. Judge and Court.  And if you can forgive me and allow me another chance at freedom, I will prove my worthy and make a good citizen.   If not, and please be merciful to me, a poor guilty criminal."

In the end, it only took a jury 15 minutes to find him guilty.  Following this verdict, Judge H. Church Ford sentenced him to three consecutive three-year sentences in Federal prison.   The case was largely forgotten afterward and, Johnson, along with his victims faded into obscurity.  Today, Johnson's only real claim to fame is his inclusion in the Notable Kentucky African Americans database maintained by the University of Kentucky.  

If you can't be notable, it helps to be memorable.

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The Salieri Rumour

If it ever becomes possible for the dead to sue the living for slander, there aren't many who would have a stronger case than poor Antonio Salieri...

Although he was one of the most important Viennese composers of his time, he is mainly remembered today as the villain in Peter Shaeffer's 1979 play Amadeus.The play, which was later made into a film of the same name in 1984, presents Salieri as a mediocre musician who becomes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's archenemy out of jealousy. After sabotaging Mozart's career and having a role in his death, Salieri eventually ends up in an insane asylum following a suicide attempt. In a futile effort to be remembered, Salieri leaves behind a confession that he had poisoned the great composer but eventually dies in obscurity.  If Salieri is remembered at all these days, that memory is largely shaped by F. Murray Abraham's haunting performance as Salieri in the movie version

While Shaeffer took considerable liberties with the story of Mozart and Salieri, the actual facts about their relationship, the circumstances of Salieri's death, and what happened afterward is considerably more complicated. Although Mozart and Antonio Salieri had been rivals (they both wrote Italian operas) and Mozart would accuse Salieri of using his influence with Emperor Leopold against him, their relationship seemed friendly enough on the surface. There is evidence that Salieri had undermined Mozart's success at times (although Mozart often caused many of his own problems with his abrasive personality) but never to the extent suggested in Shaeffer's play. After Mozart's premature death, Salieri was one of the few mourners who attended his sparse funeral and would later train Mozart's son, Franz Xavier, as a musician.

There were numerous theories surrounding the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on December 5, 1791 but modern historians tend to agree that he died of natural causes (probably due to rheumatic fever as well as the repeated bleedings that doctors gave him to treat his final illness). Despite numerous rumours at the time that Mozart had been poisoned (with possible villains including the Freemasons, fellow musicians, or even the husband of one of his students), Salieri wasn't implicated.

Until..

After a lifetime as a successful composer and musician, Antonio Salieri's health began to decline. His music began to fade in popularity as more prominent composers came along although he trained some of the greatest musicians of his generation. Salieri began to suffer regular episodes of depression and, by the early 1820s, had become increasingly frail. In the spring of 1823, Antonio Salieri fell and struck his head which apparently left his legs paralyzed. While his eldest surviving daughter cared for him at home, she eventually arranged for to be transferred to the Vienna Allgemeine Krankenhaus in October of that year.

Which is when the rumours started...

Although there is some evidence that Salieri had somehow injured his throat before being taken to hospital, the rumours suggested far more. Old allegations that Mozart had made against Salieri accusing him of sabotaging his career emerged.The story that Salieri had confessed to poisoning Mozart and cut his throat out of remorse became the talk of Vienna. It probably didn't help that Mozart's widow Constanze did nothing to put the rumours down (despite the help that Salieri had given to her son in launching his musical career). The idea that Mozart had been poisoned had never really died down and the circumstances of Salieri's illness made him a perfect suspect. If there's any mercy, it's that Salieri was probably too ill to even be aware of the allegations made against him (which also made it impossible for him to defend himself).

While his friends and colleagues rallied to his defense, the rumour-mongers were hard at work. At an 1824 performance in Vienna, a leaflet was distributed to the members of the audience containing a poem which pictured Salieri as Mozart’s rival “standing by his side with the poisoned cup.” Letters on the subject were written back and forth and Mozart's own physician was pressed to provide details of the composer's final illness to rule out the possibility of poisoning (since Mozart's grave was lost, an autopsy would have been out of the question even for nineteenth century medicine).

Even after Salieri finally died on May 7, 1825, the accusations continued. To try settling the rumour that Salieri had confessed to the murder, his physician Joseph Rohrig and the two attendants who had been with him continually during his illness signed sworn affidavits that no confession had been made in their hearing. Although the accusations died down, a juicy rumour isn't so easily suppressed.

In 1831, Alexander Pushkin published his play Mozart and Salieri which featured a jealous Salieri poisoning Mozart out of envy (it later became an opera). The poisoning rumour seemed largely forgotten until the Peter Shaeffer play and the movie version of it brought it back to public attention.  Ironically, the publicity from the poison rumour has also sparked a renewed interest in Salieri's music. Many of his operas have been released on DVDs and there's even been a push by opera companies around to feature some of his works as part of their regular season.

If Salieri does manage a comeback, it may represent an intriguing example of the lasting power of rumour. Even after centuries, a good story can still linger, especially when Hollywood is involved.