Elsbeth Guenther-Geffers

Else Günther-Geffers was a German parapsychological medium. When she was four years old, she had warned neighbors that the Neuwieder Kathedrale (Cathedral in Neuwieder, East Prussia) would burn down. Four days later the cathedral did burn down. While attending Turnschule (physical education class), young Else remarked to a girl who stood next to her in class: "You better not exercise today, for before long you are due to have a baby." An indignant teacher expelled Else for this "wicked and untrue" remark. It didn't take the school authorities long, however, to discover that Else had spoken the truth and she was reinstated. Else married in 1897 at the age of 26. Her husband Kurt Günther was a businessman in Königsberg. The couple had four children. In 1912 Else Günther-Geffers began to read palms and give advice to acquaintances regarding sale of land, investments and petty thievery. Around 1922 she began working professionally with telepathy, in addition to chiromancy (palmistry) and clairvoyance. The media celebrated her as a maverick medium, which lead to her being hired for criminal investigations by police and court officials, as well as members of the public who desperately hoped for cases involving loved ones to be solved. She appeared in the 1929 German silent horror film "Somnambul" directed by Adolf Trotz. Several books were written about Else in the late 1920s, and newspapers continued to report about her as well, such as when she visited her son Armin in New York in 1932. After World War II, Else Günther-Geffers settled in Brandenburg, where she only worked as a spiritual healer. She died on August 19, 1959 in Treuenbrietzen, East Germany.