Schermann, Raphael (1879-?)

Austrian clairvoyant mostly known as a graphologist but with powers far transcending reading character from handwriting samples. He was credited with telling the past and future with an uncanny precision. From the writing Schermann could visualize the writer, from a face he could visualize and reproduce the script. "Psycho-graphology," the term employed by E. S. Bagger as the title of his book on Schermann, was coined to refer to this strange gift of combining the science of graphology with psychic talents.

Schermann was born in Cracow, then part of Austrian Galicia, in 1879. He was self-educated, and by the age of 12 he had developed a serious study of the characteristics of handwriting. He visited the United States early in the twentieth century, but soon returned to Europe and settled down in Vienna, where he earned a living as a claims inspector for an insurance company. His privately exhibited talents as a psycho-graphologist soon earned him a considerable reputation, and he was consulted by the police to assist their work, eventually being appointed an official handwriting expert at the Vienna Central Law Court.

During World War I, Schermann served in the Austrian army. In 1923, he again visited the United States, where he delivered lectures and cooperated with the New York police in solving a murder mystery. Back in Vienna, he acted in two silent movies based on some of his most interesting cases. After this, he continued to work as a consultant for a group of insurance companies, but spent his spare time on psychographology. He charged nothing for his talents and took part in many experiments conducted by psychical researchers. Oskar Fischer, of the University of Prague, conducted between 1916 and 1918 a series of experiments in character reading from writing with Raphael Schermann.

During World War II, Schermann returned to his birthplace in Cracow and became a victim of the Nazi occupation of Poland.

Sources:

Bagger, E. S. Psycho-Graphology. London; New York: G. P. Putnam's & Sons, 1924.

Fischer, Oskar. Experimente mit Raffael Schermann. Ein Beitrag zum Problem der Graphologie, Telepathie und des Hellsehens. N.p.,1924.

Hayek, Max. Der Schriftdeuter Raffael Schermann. N.p.,1921.

Tabori, Paul. Pioneers of the Unseen. London: Souvenir Press,1972.