Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor, had a disturbing teenage crush on his own mother. In letters to her, he detailed his dreams of kissing her and other inappropriate desires. Wilhelm’s mother, Empress Victoria, did not reciprocate his advances and instead focused on correcting his grammar. This unusual relationship between a son and a mother has left historians and psychologists scratching their heads.
Many psychiatric experts have theorized that Wilhelm’s obsession with his mother stemmed from a deep-seated complex known as the Electra complex, which occurs in boys as the same stage as the Oedipus complex in girls. The Electra complex is a psychosexual theory suggested by Sigmund Freud that describes a girl’s alleged impulse to sleep with her father and replace her mother. However, psychoanalysts have added the Electra complex to describe a boy’s desire to sleep with his mother and replace his father.
Wilhelm’s Electra complex, however, was different. It was not just a typical adolescent infatuation — he was fixated on his mother to the point of being a sexual fetish. He gradually developed an instinctual attraction to his mother from the age of nine when he saw a portrait of her. According to biographer Gordon Craig, Albert Wagner, Wilhelm’s private tutor, warned Wilhelm’s father about his son’s strange behavior during this adolescence phase. He described how Wilhelm framed his mother’s portrait and spoke of her in a way that seems to go beyond the normal son-mother relationship. This unusual behavior prompted Wilhelm’s parents to seek the help of a psychiatrist.
Dr. Carl Westphal, a renowned German psychiatrist, diagnosed Wilhelm’s exceptional obsession with his mother as an “obsessive love” in his nine-page letter. He attributed it to Wilhelm’s resentment and competition with his mother, whom Wilhelm felt eclipsed his father’s affection for him. The psychoanalyst also argued that Wilhelm’s mother, Empress Victoria, played a vital role in Wilhelm’s infatuation. She is perceived as a strong mother figure who had an excellent relationship with her son. Her motherly confidence reinforced her son’s psychological attachment to her, further enhancing Wilhelm’s obsession with her.
Napoleon’s Magic Stick
The legend surrounding Napoleon’s Magic Stick has fascinated historians for decades. According to the story, when Napoleon’s body was being dissected, his penis, which was said to have been unusually long, was removed separately. The cadaver was believed to have been desalinated and displayed in a test tube to remain forever preserved.
Many historians and scholars have debated the history and authenticity of Napoleon’s Magic Stick. Some believe that Napoleon’s penile size was neither unusually long nor particularly short, relying only on eyewitness accounts and paintings. Several experts have suggested that the legend originated in a satirical posting around the time of Napoleon’s death. Regardless, the legend has persisted, spawning variations such as whether Napoleon himself ordered the preservation and the current whereabouts of the organ.
Hitler’s Museum of an Extinct Race
One lesser-known historical fact about Adolf Hitler reveals his deep-seated hatred towards the Jewish community. Hitler envisioned a grandiose museum dedicated to the eradication of the Jewish community if he won World War II. The museum, according to historians, would be called The Museum of an Extinct Race. According to archive footage from the Nuremberg Trials, Hitler stated, “We shall take revenge; thus against the Jews, who will have ceased to be. Their place shall be handed over to a better people.”
Hitler’s museum’s blueprint was designed by Heinrich Trettau, who was responsible for documenting Germany’s archaeological heritage during the Third Reich. The architect’s diary, which was framed and given to Hitler, detailed his ambition to preserve the Jewish community’s relics after confiscation for posterity. The entries reveal Hitler’s contempt for the Jewish community while highlighting the absurdity of preserving inanimate objects that belonged to a race Hitler envisioned anachronistically worldwide extinction.
King Louis XIV’s Hygiene Regime
King Louis XIV of France had an unconventional personal hygiene routine. Rather than adhere to the conventional ways of bathing, Louis preferred drenching himself in fragrances, fragrances passed through newspapers, and perfumed gloves delivered to his rooms to keep him refreshed. The King’s love of perfumed hygiene came to a chilling conclusion when he requested his physicians to create a medicament to be administered through his rectum.
A primitive clinical procedure of inserting fluids through a person’s rectal cavity already existed during King Louis XIV’s time, known as the Caldarium. It was employed to relieve gastric pain brought about by indigestion. Louis XIV’s adaptation of this medical procedure was also associated with his extramarital affairs, which he conducted in his chamber’s private garden. The rectal medication was considered a quicker way of eliminating any evidence of cohabitation that might be detected on his fingers or genitals via bathing.
King Tutankhamun’s Boner
King Tutankhamun’s mummified remains have gone under intense scrutiny since the 1920s. Tutankhamun’s embalmed body raised curiosity during the autopsy, revealing that his penis was erect. The discovery raised questions about Tutankhamun’s cause of death and, more notably, whether the Boner represented a postmortem erection.
Postmortem erections are not uncommon because a corpse’s blood gradually migrates to the limbs, causing the erection. Yet, Tutankhamun’s physicians argued that the pharaoh’s death could not have been severe enough, considering the cooking smell coming from the mummified Corpse. Tutankhamun’s puzzling boner begs further questions which science and researchers have yet to answer.
In conclusion, history is filled with peculiar tales that are sometimes bizarre, absurd, or downright shocking. From Wilhelm II’s fixation with his mother to Hitler’s museum of an extinct race, these tales reveal details that anachronistically worldwide extinction. Hendecconic love, bizarre personal hygiene regimes, and peculiar prepossessions have poisoned the course of history in unusual ways. These stories, among others, serve as a reminder that our past is dotted with colors, particularly those which society often neglects to acknowledge.
