School of Humans. Oh hello, you filthy, filthy filth heads.
Did any of you listen to last week's episode and then be like, Wow, I can improve my life just by thinking. I can think and grow rich. Anybody, did anybody get rich? If so, please give me some money. But yes, last week I was talking about Napoleon Hill, the self help book writer and scammer and schemer, and a lot of his philosophies can be boiled down to positive thinking, or what I might call it being delusional.
Basically, if you can think it, it can happen.
And he isn't the one who came up with this, A lot of people were having similar thoughts at the time.
He was just one of.
The many men of the moment who wrote about it. Positive thinking was even making its way in to religion, and there was this one guy who started a religious cult called the Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians. Wow, very fancy, and he went even further than Napoleon Hill, and he was like, Hey, the only reason we die is because we know about death. If we didn't think about it, that wouldn't happen. And so the leader of this cult, he decided that he would test his theory that he
would prove his theory by raising an immortal baby. Obviously, everyone's got to have one. Cue the theme song. This is American Built and I'm Gabby Watts. Every week I tell you a filthy story from American history. This week's episode how to Raise an Immortal Baby. I like how the name of this cult kind of sounds like it would be in Harry Potter or like some sort of wizard world. The Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians. Well, it was founded around the Great Depression by this guy named
James Bernard Shaeffer and little James Shaeffer. We don't know that much about his early life. He was born in Fargo, North Dakota, at the end of the nineteenth century, and somewhere along the way he became really good at persuasive communication, or you could just say he was a master manipulator, and he had a lot of ambition, a very potent combination.
It does seem that he pursued studies in medicine at some point, perhaps at the University of Meigan, and when he was a young buck making his way in the world, he developed interest in psychology, metaphysics, and esoteric teachings, and he wasn't alone. At the time, the New Thought movement
was making waves throughout the country. That movement was a spiritual and philosophical movement that started up in the United States in the nineteenth century, and it's based on the belief that particularly positive thought has the power to shape reality and influence health, success, and personal well being, just like all this stuff Napoleon Hill was talking about. Basically, it's a movement devoted to good vibes.
Only just have a good vibe and it will be all right.
Shaefer and others were basically like, yeah, positive thinking leads to positive outcomes, while negative thinking results in negative experiences. For example, the reason you're poor is that you simply haven't thought yourself out of poverty. You have too many negative thoughts. It's your own fault. James Shaeffer was hardcore into these ideas. He even said at one point man can have anything he can think. And sure, it's nice to be positive, it's nice to have some sort of
hope for the future. But we're not going to be on Shaeffer's side because, like Napoleon Hill, he liked to scheme, he liked to scam, but here's another fun piece of information about him. He was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. That's crazy that he couldn't think his way out of being a racist. But whatever his background, however he got there, James Shaeffer ended up in New York City by the nineteen thirties, he had a wife, a son,
a daughter, and he began preaching. I mean it was more like lecturing, but by the mid nineteen thirties he had a huge following. Hundreds of people would come out every week on Sundays to hear him talk at Carnegie Hall about how all you needed was your mind to change the world around you. Shaeffer described himself as a messenger and that he was involved with the joyous work of helping others to help themselves. But let's just keep in mind the context that.
He was in the clan.
But for the group of whites that praised him and loved his ideas, it kind of made sense that this was happening at the time that these ideas were in style, because it was the Great Depression. People had lost a lot of money, there was a lot of hopelessness. But here Shaeffer is offering basically a free solution.
To their lives. You can just think, you don't need money, just be thinking.
By the end of the nineteen thirties, some people think he had about ten thousand followers, and of course from those people he started soliciting money. Remember for the cause for the religion was the Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians of Religion. Ah, he would say so, but as we'll see, he mostly probably said that for the tax exemptions. But by the end of the nineteen thirties Shaffer was like, huh,
I think we actually need a physical location. So in nineteen thirty eight he bought a one hundred and ten room mansion that used to belong to the Vanderbilts. It was on Long Island and he renamed it the Peace Haven. It kind of was like a country club, but some people did end up living there. Initially, the fee to become a member was one hundred dollars, but over the three years that he had the property it increased to five hundred dollars, and then you could board there for
two dollars a day. Furnishings were not provided, and it was also suggested to bring along some stuff for the Shafers, so a lit of his followers paid these fees. Of course they were tax exempt because Shaffer was saying this was a religious organization. Many of the contributions that Shaeffer got to the property had no strings attached. But as we'll see, a lot of those contributions were loans. People expected to get that money back at some point once
the movement, once the cult was more profitable. That's right, a religion that's profit based. But with that money he made improvements to the mansion, like installing a swimming pool. You know, if you can think you can have a swimming pool, you can have one. And I know you're not gonna be able to believe this, but a lot of the members of the Royal Fraternity were women, and there seemed to be kind of a weird sexual component
to the cult. Like Shaeffer said a few times that his followers liked to caress and kiss him, and oh boy, he thought it would be rude if he stopped them. But as we all know, religion was created so that men could fornicate with as many women as they like. Is that a negative view of religion?
It's fine.
Also, while the Royal Fraternity was operating, Shaffer also ran a semi secret organization called the Stork Club. The whole group was made up of men, and what they did is they would gather clothing and baby supplies for unwed women and their babies, and to show that they were part of this organization, they wore diaper pins on their lapels. Schaeffer had the role of Chief Stork. Other members of the group had titles like Stork Entertainment Second Assistant Chairman.
And sure, maybe these were all just good hearted men trying to help out unwed women who were struggling with their babies. But at the same time, a lot of people thought the Stork Organization was a bit sus you know, it was men going into unwed mothers' homes under the guise of generosity. I'm sure they didn't expect anything in return. And if that was really all they were doing, then
why did they have several assistant entertainment chair people. But something that was a little bit different about the Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians was that Schaeffer and his followers thought that illness and death resulted from destructive thinking. Now, Napoleon Hill, the crazy man that he was, didn't say this that Hey, the reason you die is because you have bad vibes. He even seemed to be like, Hey, yeah, that's just what happens.
You have a body and it dies.
But Shaeffer was like, Nope, the only reason you die is because you be thinking about it. And Shaffer called himself the secret giver, and that secret was that he could bestow the secret of immortality. Unfortunately, that secret wasn't very helpful with his adult followers. See, if you're an adult, you've already been exposed to the dithers and drudgery of the world. Your mind is already polluted with negative thoughts that can't be undone. Thus you can't achieve immortality. So
what Shaeffer needed was a baby. We'll be right back after these soothing advertisements. So James Schaeffer wasn't the first person to have the idea of an immortal baby, just most people didn't take it literally. Other people in the New Thought movement coined immortal baby more as a concept, a symbol representing the potential for eternal life, not necessarily physical,
but in the soul and the spirit. But Shaeffer, he was like, hell, no, the immortal baby is a real ass thing, and I'm going to show you with an experiment. His idea was that death and disease only happened because you know about them, because you thought about these concepts before.
If sickness, death, disease, if none.
Of that stuff is introduced to you at a young, impressionable age, then you can live forever. But you also must have a pure body. You know, you got to abstain from alcohol, caffeine, drug, sex, Heaven forbid. If you do that, the body should be able to live forever. And James Schaeffer he didn't want to just prove this concept. He also wanted to have an immortal baby to become the supreme Leader of the Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians. If there was an immortal baby at the Helm, that
person could teach and guide everyone throughout the generations. So first things first, Schaeffer needed a baby. In November nineteen thirty nine, the baby Schaeffer found was baby Jean. Her mother, Katherine Gaunt, was a waitress and was going through a hard time. She couldn't afford to raise her babe. Catherine wasn't part of the cult, and it's not clear exactly how she knew Shaeffer. But when Shaeffer offered to take
the baby, she was like yeah. The later she would say that she was coerced into giving up the child. I know. Can you believe it that someone who believes that positive thinking can evade death would be manipulative?
Weird?
Also, Shaeffer never officially adopted the baby, as I imagine presenting this to a government official might be a little suss being like, Hey, I'm going to adopt this baby to make her immortal?
Is that okay?
When Shaeffer adopted her, baby, Jean was five months old at the time, red haired and blue eyed. He brought her to the peace Haven mansion and intended to raise her amongst all the best luxuries and to be doted on and cared for around the clock. All of this to begin her journey to everlasting life. Shaeffer said, I can think of no child outside of Royalty who might have had a better start life. Baby Jean was quote
loved twenty four hours a day. The fact that a bunch of Colt freaks were raising an immortal.
Baby obviously hit the press. What a story.
One reporter talked about how Shaeffer thought that this experiment was so important that he tried to convince the officials running the New York World's Fair to dig up a time capsule so that they could add a memento from Baby Jean. Shaeffer was like, wouldn't that be so great because she would still be alive when you unearthed the capsule. In the year sixty nine forty, another reporter came to the mansion for her six month birthday party. There was a huge cake which did seem to go against her
healthy diet of vegetables and other unseasoned foods. The reporter wrote that the gooey frosting of her birthday cake interested Baby Jean much more than the immortality for which she is being trained by the Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphisians.
The reporter was.
Very sarcastic, having a good time, and said that Baby Jean seemed like a mere mortal. After passing Baby Jean off to her wrinkly, kindly faced old nurse, Schaeffer, who the reporter said was immaculately groomed, explained that Jeane would be raised quote in conformity with the code, which sets up taboos against the eating of meat, use of tobacco, and drinking of alcoholic beverages. The reporter also talked about how she would avoid foods like vinegar and salt, you know,
extreme evils that would corrupt her purity. Baby Jane was also very spoiled at the party. She clutched a teddy bear as big as herself. There was also a rumor that she had been bestowed a fifty thousand dollars ring that she would get when she turned eighteen. And Napoleon Hill, while he didn't come to this birthday party, six months later, he came to her first, and he gave her many gifts, and he also had been named her godfather. Unfortunately for Shaeffer,
but probably better for Baby Jean. Fifteen months after she was adopted by the Shaffers, she was returned to her mother. This was in nineteen forty. Her mother had apparently been able to acquire a better place to live in New York at a boarding house. One newspaper read, now the
parents have adjusted themselves and they want her back. Since Baby Jean was never officially adopted, Shaffer seemed perfectly willing to give the baby back, and he said it was up to them whether or not they were going to raise Baby Jean as an immortal just in case. He gave them instructions on the eternity diet that involved being a vegetarian and avoiding all those horrible things like vinegar and salt.
However, it became very.
Clear that once Baby Jean was home, she was not going to pursue immortality. Her mom gave her some prunes, and prunes were not part of the diet. She immediately started munching on them. So alas Baby Jean was destined to do what the rest of us do die And while on the surface, Schaeffer tried to make this exchange seem very.
Easy, very friendly.
Probably one of the reasons why he gave Baby Jane back so readily was that he was getting slammed with lawsuits. First from Baby Jean's mom. Her lawyer had sent a strongly worded letter demanding Baby Jean's return, and this lawyer was also representing some other folks from the Royal Fraternity of Metaphysicians for fraud and grand larceny whoopsies, and really, ever since the Baby jen experiment began, the Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians was in decline. Shaeffer seemed to be
hemorrhaging money, and he was losing followers. Much of that was probably a lack of return on investment. The members gave Shaeffer money and they didn't get anything in return. Perhaps they found they needed to do more than think in their life to make things happen. Who would have thought. But some people hadn't just invested money in the organization as a whole. They had also invested in some other schemes that Shaffer was up to, specifically with Napoleon Hill. Yes,
self help book writer Napoleon Hill. Shaeffer explained it that Napoleon had got him interested in investing in a magazine that he was trying to revive.
Shaeffer trusted Baby.
Jean's now former godfather and was like, ah, this must be a good investment if Napoleon is suggesting it. And Shaefer had convinced some members of the fraternity to also invest in this magazine. And if you can believe it, it was all a scam. Napoleon was just pocketing the money. Shaffer said he had no idea that this was a scam.
And I'm sure he had no idea.
Things were getting so big and so bad that the new York Attorney General launched an investigation into Shaffer's affairs, and he saw several lawsuits piling up. One woman claimed that the Shaffers owed her twenty five hundred dollars per financing peace Haven. Another woman said that she needed one thousand dollars for an unpaid publicity bill, and Baby Jean's
mom wasn't done. Not only had she demanded the return of her daughter, she also said that Baby Jean had been given that ring that was worth fifty thousand dollars and the mom was like, well, that was a gift for my babe, so it's mine, I get it.
This ring caused quite a hubbub.
One of the members of the cult slash organization Slash Fraternity, claimed to be the gift giver of the ring, and she said that the ring was not in fact worth fifty thousand dollars and in fact had no monetary value. Another big issue that the New York Attorney General found was that Schaeffer had been claiming all of this.
Money tax free, all of.
These donations, all of these membership fees, because he said it was a religious organization. But the Supreme Court of New York ruled that there was nothing religious about the fraternity. By September nineteen forty one, Schaeffer had so many legal suits against him and so many legal fees that he had to pay off, that he ended up having to
auction off Peacehaven, that huge mansion. The Vanderbilts had spent one point five million dollars building this mansion, but in the foreclosure sale, Schaeffer only got twenty two thousand dollars for one hundred and ten rooms and twenty four acres.
Whoops.
Shaeffer did not actually attend the auction, as he was only recently out of jail on a five thousand dollars bail for grand larceny charges, and in nineteen forty two he was sentenced to Sing Sing prison for five years, specifically for embezzling nine thousand dollars from one of his female members. The judge characterized Schaeffer like this as a thief, an ex clansman who swindled his own organization, a spiritual faker, and a religious hypocrite who's been loose preying on misguided
women for too long. Honestly, in my opinion, he sounds presidential.
Yeah, that's right.
Another stab at Trump in this series. Shaeffer served all five years, and once he was out of prison, peace Haven had been foreclosed, but somehow he was living on another estate that was in New York. Like I have no idea, and nobody else seems to know how he got enough money to lease another big ass house. This one had one hundred acres and they named it Oakdale.
I guess he still had some followers.
He still had that charisma, He still had that verve that could get people attracted to his cause. At this estate, he and his wife were teaching metaphysics and they also printed a magazine. But even though they were somehow able to get a new place to live and still had enough people to teach metaphysics too, it seems the situation was dire for Schaeffer and his wife, so dire that on April twenty sixth, nineteen fifty five, Shaffer's daughter found him and his wife dead in their car. The death
was quickly ruled a suicide from carbon monoxide poisoning. A suicide note was found beside them, and in the letter he said he had no way out. Isn't as a fun way to end the story. It's not clear what happened to Baby Jane. But I think it's safe to say that she did not become immortal. And the reason she did not become an immortal is because of the prunes. Obviously, if she had avoided those prunes, everything would be fine.
As always, we learn a lesson on American filth, and I think the lesson we learned today is that if you want to be a healthier person and perhaps live forever, stop eating so much salt and stop having so much vinegar. Salt and vinegar chips are literally the enemy to a
long life. So if you're at a New Year's Eve party, if you're at a Christmas Eve party, if you're at a Hanuka party, whatever events you might be attending this holiday season, if they have salt and vinegar chips there, know that someone is trying to kill you.
All right, guys, talk about you next time.
American Field is a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcast.
This episode was written, hosted, and produced by me Gabby Watts.
Our theme song is by Niswanger. Our executive producers are Virginia Prescott, Elsie Crowley, and Brandon Barr. You can follow along with the show on Instagram at American filth Pod and also.
Make sure to leave a review, leave some.
Stars, share it with your friends. Maybe this could be a fun Christmas gift. People open up their Christmas box and they're like, what a podcast? Amazing? I thought this shit was free, but no, you paid for it. Wouldn't that be terrible if you opened a gift and there's just like me speaking inside of the box.
That would be so freaky. But anyway, talk to you guys next time.
Bye School of Humans.