How The Real Doctor Frankenstein Cured Lead Poisoning

The road to Castle Frankenstein snakes up through a particularly gloomy portion of Germany’s Black Forest. This wood is known as the Odenwald and takes its name from the god Odin, the Nordic patron deity of war and death. We visited the 13th century castle recently and found it a fascinating place with many stories both factual and anecdotal associated with its history.

This sign points the way to Castle Frankenstein (“burg” being German for castle)

Most people think the castle is fictional. It is not. It was constructed before 1250 by Lord Conrad of Breuberg who subsequently adopted the family name “von Frankenstein.” While nobody named Dr. Victor Frankenstein ever lived there, an alchemist by the name of Johann Dippel was born in the castle on August 10, 1673. Many records of Dippel survive from that time and at least one school he attended registered his name as Johann Dippel “Frankesteinensis” which is Latin for, you guessed it, von Frankenstein.

View of the tower of Castle Frankenstein

Glowering over the little town of Nieder-Beerbach, Germany, Castle Frankenstein looks well suited as the dwelling place of the fictional Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who featured in Mary Shelley’s 1818 horror novel, Frankenstein. The novel spawned a multitude of literature and movies and its monster has an almost archetypal presence in the consciousness of people. Shelley no doubt had heard of Castle Frankenstein and its legends during her travels in the area. The square tower which dominates the courtyard was constructed in the 1800’s but the chapel, well and fountain are much older and have legends of their own.

Getting back to Dippel, we find that he started his career as a respected theologian with a Masters Degree from the University of Giessen in 1693. He published under the pen name, Christianus Democritus. Later his interest changed to the practice of alchemy and his writings (eg. Maladies and Remedies of the Life of the Flesh) encompassed such topics as soul transference, exorcism and potions designed to imbue their user with immortality. He often experimented on dead animals, and some rumours said even on cadavers. He was best known for inventing Dippel’s Oil, which was brewed from rendered (animal?) bones and flesh.

Dippel’s Oil was proposed by its inventor to be the Elixir of Life. The tarry, unpleasant substance actually proved to have some uses, the last such being the fouling of wells so the enemy couldn’t use them during World War II. It technically wasn’t poisonous so it was not against the Geneva Convention.

By itself Dippel’s was no elixir…but a scientist named Johann Diesbach, perhaps in collaboration with Dippel, discovered that combined with certain red dyes the oil created a bright blue substance later dubbed Prussian Blue. Besides being a great dying agent it proved useful for microbiologists to stain tissue samples.

But most importantly, the new dye proved to be a true Elixir of Life for some people. Research showed Prussian Blue to be an invaluable tool in treating heavy metal poisoning, for example with substances such as lead and radioactive cesium.

Villager’s home below the castle, marked with an iron cross to ward off evil

Dippel, after a long and contentious career, was recorded as having died on April 25, 1734. Some say it was by poisoning though the official diagnosis was a stroke.

However, only a year previously he reported having discovered a tonic that would extend life by 135 years…which may explain the shadowy figure we noticed in the forest around the castle during our visit.

A Gallery Of Photos From Our Trip
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