CLAIRVOYANT’S HOAX

Evening Star, Issue 21811, 29 August 1934, Page 10

CLAIRVOYANT’S HOAX

DUG UP TWENTY-YEAR-OLD SKELETON

A crystal gazer who on May 23 led the Bavarian police to a spot where a missing Nazi Storm Trooper was buried, and who received congratulations and a handsome reward, was arrested to-day, says tlio Munich correspondent of the London ‘ Daily Telegraph,’ writing on June 11. It would appear that the Woman, Frau Inderst, of Ingoldstadt, perpetrated a remarkable hoax, and her belated exposure has caused considerable ridicule of the police.

The authorities had been baffled for four years in their attempts to trace the Storm Trooper, named Buekl. At length they yielded to the persistency of the crystal gazer, and after three unsuccessful attempts she led them to a spot where the body was supposed to be buried. The authorities were satisfied and rewarded the woman.

A week ago Frau luderst, whoso reputation. as a clairvoyant and crystal gazer had become nation-wide after her success, started a lottery to discover hidden treasure—gold believed to have been buried in Ingoldstadt during the thirty years’ war. Subscriptions came in from all over the country, and the story of the hidden gold was believed everywhere, even in Government circles. The clairvoyant promised that part of the hidden treasure would go to help the Government’s depleted gold reserves. The rest would be divided among the lottery holders. The denouement came suddenly. A neighbour, jealous of the woman’s success, reported that she had seen the clairvoyant digging in a graveyard at night. As a result the police' were persuaded to send their clues to Munich for examination. To-day they received a report that the body which they believed to be the missing Storm Trooper was really a skeleton buried twenty years ago. When Frau Inderst was arrested to-day she pleaded that the crystal gazing was started as a joke. She said that she came to believe in her powers as a clairvoyant when she saw how graciously the police and the German Press had accepted her story.