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Pamela · (This post was last modified: 08-20-2016 06:19 PM by Pamela.)

The above document is Chris Ritter's death certificate from the hospital for the insane.
I just saw the movie Florence Foster Jenkins and **spoiler alert** you probably should not read any further if you want to see the movie, which is a very good one. The titular character, played by Meryl Streep, contracted syphilis from her husband and suffered from the effects the rest of her life. She was born a few years after the civil war and lived to age 76. Her great passion was music and as her life went on she became lovably delusional about her singing ability. Due to her wealth and a supportive life partner, a thespian played by Hugh Grant, she was able to buoy up her spirits, and lengthen her life by indulging her delusion.

Which brings me to a theory as to what was going on with Chris Ritter. Maybe he had syphilis which affected his brain; he developed a delusion which he passionately believed in and pursued until his disease progressed into mania which became irreversible and led to his death. The carbuncle, which endangered his health and led to his hospitalization, may have resulted from his compromised immune system.

I researched syphilis for a bit but I'm too squeamish to handle much of that, although I read that it can cause all kinds of things, including mania. I know his death certificate didn't mention syphilis but possibly the doctor wouldn't have known for sure without a post mortem. Mania is often associated with bipolar, so that's another possibility, but there is no mention of what they called melancholia in those days.

I'm sure crackpots are motivated by all kinds of things, but I found it interesting that he was driven to literally set up shop in Weichmann's town, for the purpose of, I believe, meeting him so he could incorporate him into his story in a realistic way. And he may actually have believed in Weichmann's membership in the secret society since he was delusional. That behavior suggests, to me, at least, more than just a person who wants to see how many people he can fool with a hoax.