Hanussen (Pt. II): EJH & Crowley in Cairo, Mandrake Moonchildren, Hitler's Mass Hypno Lessons, Hanns Ewers, & the OSS Langer Report—A PPM + Things Observed Collab

Hey folks, Luke & I are back at it—picking up our saga of the life of psychic spy, Nazi Nostradamus, yacht orgy organizer, sexual blackmailer, & British intel asset Erik Jan Hanussen.

This one contains some shocking & possibly novel speculations... Trust me, it's a good one.

But before we get into an index of what you can expect, a quick note about the audio fidelity. Luke and I unfortunately ran into some difficulties—whether caused by faltering Internet bandwidth or else one or the both of us unknowingly making ambient sounds on our end... You might notice the occasional plosive pop or a background ruffling in some places. It's infrequent & hopefully barely noticeable, or else at least not distracting. Either way, don't worry, we already have a plan in place to ensure we have top-notch audio quality for the final installment. Thanks for understanding this learning moment for the both of us.

As for the content of today's EP:

We pick back up w/ EJH's dalliance in film & the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari-esque silent movie that he produced, which stars himself as a Sherlock Holmes-y psychic detective type who must rescue young Viennese dancers from a "Indian fakir" who is forcing them into sexual slavery thru hypnotic means—a curious inversion of Hanussen's own proclivity for pimping.

From there, we turn our attention to Secret Agent EJH; his hypnotic feeding of tobacco magnate Hans Hauser; their scheme to sell surplus military equipment to the Greeks post-WWI; Hanussen's debut as a British intel asset, likely via the SIS front Tobacco Co Ltd or else the manager of a bar for British officers in Cairo named Philip Neufeld; EJH investigating hashish smugglers for the Brits; and a breakdown of the itinerary overlaps & textual synchronicities that may support my theory that Hanussen & Crowley met as early as 1922 in Cairo. Furthermore, they may have even shared handlers or gotten up to something espionage-related together...

From there, we turn our attention to the strongman Breitbart; EJH's attempt to sabotage his act; and Luke's review of the Werner Herzog film Invincible, which features Tim Roth as Hanussen...

Followed up w/ a discussion of the German propagandist, novelist, & Nazi Hanns Heinz Ewers, who is a node connecting EJH & Crowley in the German occult-espionage nexus; we discuss his early horror trilogy, including The Sorcerer's Apprentice & Alraune—Ewers creepy novel about a homunculus created from the artificial insemination of a prostitute w/ the semen of an executed murderer... We talk about the Nazi overtones of this Frankensteinian inversion & Ewers apparent obsession w/ the mandrake root... Which inevitably brings us to the question of whether Ewers may have been an influence on magickal workings of both Crowley's & Hanussen's—in EJH's case, the Levenda/ Toland-reported mandrake root ritual that EJH conducted in Hitler's hometown on his behalf exactly 30 days before the Nazis took power. This brings us to mandrake root folkloric etiology; the Hanged Man card of the Tarot, which EJH's counterspell likely evoked; and further mythic valences... And Luke's unexpected discovery about a Polish writer who was an apparent influence on these Satanic lectures Ewers delivered & who was evidently the first ever self-styled "Satanist"—which we found evocative of Crowley's relationship to decadent French literature of the fin de siècle, J.K. Huysmans, & his research w/ the black magic Abbot Boullan.

After which it's on to various reports of EJH's hypnotic & performative tutelage of Hitler. Luke walks us through some of the different versions contained in David Lewis's book, before I append Walter Langer's story (which the OSS supposedly sourced from Strasser) of EJH & Hitler meeting in the early 1920s. This brings us to another concrete connection b/w Langer & Hanussen: namely that both men met Sigmund Freud (Walter Langer helped smuggle him out of Vienna). We try to contend w/ the veracity of the OSS Report, before introducing some of the most shocking claims contained therein: namely, Hitler's sadomasochism & coprophagia... Ending w/ a bunch of puns stemming from the question of whether Erik Jan Hanussen, through his sexual blackmail & orgy organizing for the Nazis, might have played a role in Allied intelligence gaining this radioactive information about Hitler's purported appetites.

Definitely check out Luke Marshall's Things Observed wherever you get your podcasts. I've had a blast working w/ Luke on this series. He's got a stacked back catalog brimming w/ addictive examinations of topics as varied as assorted Titanic conspiracy theories, Roman Catholic high strangeness, & Nazi spy chiefs like Skorzeny. Make sure to give his show a listen & follow him on Twitter at @thingobserver.

Songs:

| The Flaming Lips - "Are You A Hypnotist?" |

| David Bowie - "Quicksand" |

| Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - "Satan Said Dance" |

| Cannibal Corpse - "Under the Rotted Flesh" |