Death of Wilhelm Reich

1957 Death of Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-born pseudo-scientist who lived in New England, USA, and convinced thousands of his ability to cure with quack remedies such as the 'Orgone Accumulator'. One owned by junkie writer William Burroughs is shown in this photograph.

He was hounded by the US government, which had his books burned. On November 3, 1957, Wilhelm Reich died of a heart attack in the Federal Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pa, USA.

"He claimed to see microscopic bions develop from lifeless matter and organize themselves into living cells.  And he eventually came to believe he had discovered a primordial energy essential for life, which he called orgone energy, and which he was obsessed with for the rest of his life.  Along the way of making these various 'discoveries,' his works were either ignored or heavily criticized by the mainstream scientific community.  Reich seemed to take every criticism of his work as a personal attack.  He was convinced he had made the greatest discoveries in the history of humanity, next to which the discovery of electricity or the law of gravity or the wheel or fire were insignificant."

 

Source: A Skeptical Scrutiny of the Works and Theories of Wilhelm Reich

Response to Irrational Critics and So-Called "Skeptics"