Johann Georg Schröpfer

Johann Georg Schröpfer (1730–7 October 1774, Leipzig) was a German illusionist, freemason,^[1] and occultist. He was a pioneer of entertainment séances, being one of the first people to use a magic lantern to project ghosts. He staged routines doing this at his coffee shop in Leipzig, convincing people that he could indeed talk to the dead.

Schröpfer was a Freemason and performed his first demonstrations to others in the fraternity. The earliest shows featured a number of backstage staff and actors, one of whom was Schröpfer's wife. He wanted to improve his performances particularly in light of increased questioning about the legitimacy of his claimed supernatural powers and developed ways to project images using a magic lantern. Schröpfer's shows went on to use a variety of techniques that would be adapted by Paul Philidor and later by Étienne-Gaspard Robert. Philidor initially named his shows "Schröpferesque Geisterscheinings" (Schröpfer-style ghost appearances). This developed into phantasmagoria, a highly popular show throughout much of Europe.

Schröpfer was driven mad by his own illusions, and shot himself after promising an audience he would later resurrect himself.^[2]

Friedrich Schiller's unfinished novel The Ghost-Seer is believed to have been inspired by Schröpfer.

References

Bibliography

Friedrich Kittler, Optical Media, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2010, pp. 98–101.