Johann Georg Schröpfer
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.
However, he also claimed to have been a cavalry commander with the imperial troops and to have received many wounds in battle (although his autopsy report clearly stated that no scars or signs of old injuries were found on his body).
Schrepfer had debts and his family seemed to live in relative poverty, but he reportedly maintained a frivolous lifestyle and often drank wine with his followers.
When asked about this, they wrote in reply: "Mr. Schrepfer is totally unknown in our grand Lodge, and indeed he has lately been represented to us from Berlin, as a very trifling ridiculous person, not worthy of any Notice or Countenance".
[2][1] For a typical night of necromantic activity Schrepfer's followers would fast for 24 hours and were served an Italian salad (possibly drugged) and much 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.
He started with a long prayer that addressed Jesus Christ, God and the Holy Trinity, asking for the protection of good spirits.
The spirits he raised were said to be clearly visible with recognizable features, hovering in the air with their arms crossed in front of their chests.
Viewers agreed that these spirits were Gallic in origin as their shrieks were reminiscent of the ravings of those unfortunates suffering from the French disease.
Apparitions reportedly raised by Schrepfer over the years included Frederick the Wise, August III, the beheaded Danish "traitors" Johann Friedrich Struensee and Enevold Brandt with their heads in their hands, Count Brühl, Maurice de Saxe and the Knights Templar's last Grand Master Jacques de Molay.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 copies of a pamphlet stating that Minerva knew nothing of masonry and that people wouldn't get anything worth their money from their lodge.
[3][6] At this stage Karl von Sachsen was offended by Schrepfer's conduct and ordered his arrest and sent an officer to Leipzig to chastise the culprit on September 17, 1773.
He asked to be presented to the Elector Friedrich August III, but this was refused by François Barbé-Marbois, Chargé d'affaires of the French convoy.
Schrepfer accepted the apologies and reluctantly promised to come and summon a spirit at the palace at the Prince's repeated requests.
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.
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.
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 Karl von Sachsen had been more or less directly involved with the dubious speculation and the secret Rosicrucian network that some of them belonged to could become exposed.
The ones that I call shall follow me, hear my friend I will pray to God for you: but I advice you by your life, don't leave Bisschofswerter and help him.
[3] The apparent suicide has later often been described as the result of Schrepfer's supposed delusions about his necromantic abilities, possibly partly due to the drugs he may have vaporized at his séances and which he must have repeatedly inhaled himself.
Important evidence for murder 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.
Wurmb wrote a letter to Elector Friedrich August III, nephew of Karl von Sachsen, stating that juridical investigation was impossible without implicating the prince.
[1] 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.
[11] In 1791 and 1792 phantasmagoria pioneer Paul Philidor advertised his shows under the title "Schröpferische Geister Erscheinungen" (Schröpferesque ghost appearances).
