Old Shatterhand is the alter ego of Karl May, and May himself maintained that he experienced all the adventures in person, even though in fact he did not visit America until after he wrote most of his well-known Western stories, and never traveled west of Buffalo, New York.

In some early stories (Old Firehand (1875), Im fernen Westen (1879), Der Scout (1888/89)) there is an anonymous first-person narrator, who was changed to Old Shatterhand during revision for compiling Winnetou II.

The character of Old Shatterhand was played in the German Karl May movies of the 1960s by American actor Lex Barker.

In contrast to the stories in the movies Unter Geiern (1964) and Der Ölprinz (1965) Old Surehand (starring Stewart Granger) was the hero instead of Old Shatterhand.

Karl May dedicated three volumes to him, who, like Old Shatterhand, is a renowned Western hero and best friends with the Native Americans.