The world is a crazy place, and it always has been. Looking back through history, there are seemingly endless stories about real-life situations, events, moments, and acts that now seem very hard to believe. But they were real, they were documented, and in many cases, they are every bit as unsettling today as they were […]

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It appears that quite a few people have been killed or brought to justice for having failed to deliver on their promise of turning ordinary metals into gold, in other words, alchemy. One was the English chemist James Price, who took his own life after his deception was exposed. Another was Georg Honauer, whose downfall ended not in disgrace alone but in a spectacular public execution.

Georg Honauer was born in Olomouc, Moravia (now in the Czech Republic), in 1572. In 1596, he entered the service of Friedrich I, Duke of Württemberg, in Stuttgart after persuading the duke that he was both a skilled goldsmith and a successful alchemist.

An etching depicting the execution of the alchemist, Georg Honauer. Credit: Science History Institute